Rishi Sunak insists priority in Northern Ireland is not ‘constitutional change’
Rishi Sunak has insisted the priority in Northern Ireland is day-to-day governing rather than “constitutional change”.
The prime minister was in Northern Ireland to celebrate the restoration of power sharing in the nation.
This came after changes were made to the post-Brexit settlement, reducing the checks on goods travelling between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
Follow live: PM meets Northern Ireland’s leaders
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) had held up the formation of an executive since 2022 due to their opposition to the situation.
This executive is the first to feature a nationalist as first minister, with Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill taking that role.
The deputy first minister – the DUP’s Emma Little-Pengelly – holds equal responsibility and power to Ms O’Neill under the Good Friday Agreement.
Mr Sunak said: “I had very constructive meetings this morning with the executive, with political leaders across Stormont, and it is a historic and important day for the country, because Northern Ireland’s politicians are back in charge, making decisions on behalf of their people, which is exactly how it should be.
“Now, our new deal gives them more funding and more powers than they have ever had, so they can deliver for families and businesses across Northern Ireland. And that’s what everyone’s priority is now.
“It is not constitutional change, it is delivering on the day-to-day things that matter to people.”
Leo Varadkar. Pic: PA
Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, was also in Stormont today.
He and Mr Sunak met, after which a Downing Street spokesperson said: “The prime minister began by congratulating the Ireland rugby team for their emphatic win against France in the Six Nations on Friday.
“The prime minister turned to the day’s events and thanked the Taoiseach for the Irish government’s support for the UK government efforts to see restoration of devolution in Northern Ireland.
“This had been a challenging time, but patience had proved key to a deal. Now that the institutions were up and running again, he wanted to see all three strands functioning equally well. The sense of relief and optimism from people in Northern Ireland had been very striking and made it all worthwhile.
“The leaders reiterated their shared view that a stable, effective and successful Northern Ireland benefitted the UK-Irish relationship immensely. They looked forward to remaining in close contact.”
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Speaking afterwards, Mr Varadkar said: “I think the priority for any new executive in any government, in any country, has to be the day-to-day concerns of people.
“So, as you know, there are very long waiting lists in Northern Ireland – not a problem unique to Northern Ireland by any means.
“We have similar problems to others – issues around the economy and around public sector pay – and certainly the sense that I got from the first minister and deputy first minister and the executive is very keen to get stuck into their briefs.”
He repeated Mr Sunak’s words, saying that the focus of today should be on the re-establishment of the executive rather than “constitutional questions”.
Speaking over the weekend, Ms O’Neill said she could see a vote on Irish unification happening within the next decade.
In an article in the Belfast Telegraph this morning, Mr Sunak said: “The shape of Northern Ireland’s future is now clear: devolved government, within the United Kingdom, for as long as the majority wish it.”
He added: “The government will always give full and equal respect to constitutional nationalism and the desire for a united Ireland, pursued through peaceful and democratic means – just as we recognise that there are a growing number of people who do not define their aspirations by reference to one tradition or another.”
As part of the attempts to restore the executive, the UK government made a £3.3bn “final offer” to Northern Ireland.
Read more:
Adam Boulton: Is a united Ireland within ‘touching distance’?
Paul Kelso: British businesses will be envious of Northern Ireland
Mr Sunak said this has “been widely recognised as being significant and generous”.
He added that it was focused on “long-term sustainability, ensuring that Northern Ireland has the funding it needs, not just for today to deal with the immediate challenges, but it is on a path to be able to provide high-quality public services into the future”.
Speaking at a meeting with Ms O’Neill and Ms Little-Pengelly, Mr Varadkar said: “It’s great that the institutions are back up and running again, we want the executive to be a success and to last, and keen to help in any way we can but not to interfere, but definitely to help, and keen to see the North South Ministerial Council up and running again as soon as possible, and the British Irish Council as well of course.”
Spain’s Sumar parliamentary group has introduced amendments to reform three major tax laws affecting cryptocurrencies, including the General Tax Law, Income Tax Law and Inheritance and Gift Tax Law, according to local media.
The proposal would change how crypto profits are taxed, shifting gains from non-financial-instrument assets into the general income tax bracket, which would raise the top rate to 47% instead of the current 30% savings rate, while setting a flat 30% tax for corporate holders, according to a Tuesday report from CriptoNoticias.
Sumar is a left-wing political alliance that holds 26 of the 350 seats in Spain’s Congress of Deputies as of early 2024. It is also a junior partner in the governing coalition with the Socialist Party.
The plan by the left-wing political platform would also require the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) to create a visual “risk traffic light” system for cryptocurrencies, to be displayed on investor platforms.
Another controversial element is the proposal to classify all cryptocurrencies as attachable assets eligible for seizure. Lawyer Cris Carrascosa said on X that this is unenforceable, especially for tokens like Tether’s USDt (USDT), which cannot be held by regulated custodians under MiCA rules.
Related: How to file crypto taxes in 2025 (US, UK, Germany guide)
Critics call it an attack on Bitcoin
In a post on X, economist and tax adviser José Antonio Bravo Mateu denounced the amendments as “useless attacks against Bitcoin,” arguing that the measures misunderstand how decentralized assets work. He noted that Bitcoin held in self-custody cannot be seized or monitored in the same way as traditional financial assets.
“The only thing these measures achieve is to make its holders residing in Spain think about fleeing when BTC rises so high that they no longer care what politicians say,” he warned.
Meanwhile, tax inspectors Juan Faus and José María Gentil have recently suggested creating a special, more favorable tax regime specifically for Bitcoin (BTC). Their proposal allows taxpayers to separate wallets and apply either FIFO (first-in, first-out) or weighted-average methods, with value adjustments when moving assets between wallets to prevent tax gaming.
Spain’s tax agency has been warning crypto holders about taxes for years, sending 328,000 warning notices for taxes on crypto for the 2022 fiscal year in 2023, followed by 620,000 similar notices a year later.
Related: Bitcoin for taxes? Proposed bill would let Americans pay the IRS in BTC
Japan plans 20% flat tax
While Spain considers increasing taxes on crypto gains, Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) is pushing for a tax reform that would dramatically reduce the burden on crypto investors.
Instead of taxing crypto earnings as “miscellaneous income” at rates that can reach 55%, Japan aims to apply a flat 20% capital gains tax, bringing digital assets in line with equities and making the country more competitive for traders and businesses.
Magazine: 2026 is the year of pragmatic privacy in crypto — Canton, Zcash and more
Market infrastructure provider Deutsche Börse plans to integrate the EURAU euro-pegged stablecoin issued by AllUnity, expanding the exchange group’s digital-asset strategy following earlier ties with Circle’s Euro Coin (EURC) and Societe Generale-Forge’s EUR CoinVertible (EURCV).
According to a Wednesday announcement shared with Cointelegraph, Deutsche Börse plans to integrate EURAU into its financial market infrastructure, starting with institutional custody through its central securities depository arm, Clearstream. The announcement also promised a future “integration of the euro stablecoin across the entire service portfolio.”
This would integrate the stablecoin into a sizable and growing market. According to World Federation of Exchanges data, Deutsche Börse’s domestic equity market capitalization is about $2.23 trillion with 474 listed companies.
The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding, but have not yet shared a specific date for when the new features will go live. AllUnity CEO Alexander Höptner said that the partnership is “making onchain cross-border payments and digital assets accessible to institutional market participants.”
Deutsche Börse Group executive board member Stephanie Eckermann said the “goal is to build a seamless bridge between the established financial world and the future of digital assets.” She added that this partnership is an important part of the effort and that embedding institutional-grade stablecoins allows clients “to confidently explore new possibilities in digital finance.”
Deutsche Börse and AllUnity had not responded to Cointelegraph’s inquiry by time of publication.
Related: Stablecoin panic could upend ECB policy, Dutch central bank governor warns
Deutsche Börse expands euro stablecoin strategy
Deutsche Börse’s EURAU integration follows its partnership with major stablecoin issuer Circle to adopt its EURC token in late September. Earlier this month, the company also announced that it had partnered with Societe Generale-Forge to integrate its EURCV stablecoin.
With this latest deal, Deutsche Börse appears to be playing the stablecoin game on all fronts, adding EURAU, issued by a German BaFin-licensed e-money institution. This complements EURCV, a bank-tied stablecoin, as Societe Generale-Forge is the blockchain arm of major French multinational bank Societe Generale; EURC comes from a US tech-sector issuer.
Related: Aave to offer zero-fee stablecoin ramps in Europe after MiCA approval
EU stablecoin adoption is taking shape with MiCA
While not leading to as many headlines as the United States, the European Union is also making progress in stablecoin adoption following the full introduction of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) framework at the end of 2024. The announcement noted that the partnership “aligns with MiCA” and “represents a tangible step toward digitizing European markets and enhancing settlement and liquidity processes.”
Höptner said, “Europe is taking a global lead in regulated digital finance.”
Still, while picking up speed, stablecoin adoption remains low in Europe. Earlier this month, financial stability experts at the European Central Bank (ECB) said stablecoin-related risks in the euro area were limited due to low adoption and preventative regulation.
Some analyses point to euro stablecoins as a response to concerns that US dollar-backed stablecoins could threaten the European Union’s monetary independence. “Europe should not be dependent on US dollar-denominated stablecoins, which are currently dominating markets,” Pierre Gramegna, the managing director of the European Stability Mechanism, said earlier this month.
The industry is also seeing increasing involvement by local traditional financial players. In mid-October, Franco-German banking group ODDO BHF launched a stablecoin pegged to the euro under the MiCA framework.
In late September, a group of major European banks joined forces to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin under MiCA. The list of nine banks includes Dutch lender ING and Italy’s UniCredit.
Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight
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