In searching for an initiative that could break the current impasse in the peace process, everyone involved should return to the Mitchell Principles.

A formula to re-establish the Executive and cross-Border institutions should contain three elements:

First, mutual respect;

Second, a renunciation by the British government of the use of any unilateral right to suspend the institutions; and

Third, a commitment to the Mitchell Principles by all the paramilitaries associated with political parties in the Assembly.

As far as mutual respect is concerned, Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein has said that the peace process cannot be completed unless unionism has ownership of it, adding that bypassing unionists is not an option.

This is a solid basis for mutual respect. This is important because it removes the possibility of some form of one-sided imposed solution.

The unionists should seek to develop this issue in dialogue with Sinn Fein. Unionists should also develop a dialogue on Sinn Fein's comments concerning suspension of the institutions.

Mitchel McLaughlin of Sinn Fein has said that Sinn Fein would not re-enter the Executive unless the British government first gave a commitment that it would not unilaterally suspend the Executive again.

The British government should give this commitment. It would be a political commitment, not a renunciation of sovereignty.

In any event, under the rules either the SDLP or the Ulster Unionists can suspend the Executive, simply by resigning from it.

Most importantly, a commitment to the Mitchell Principles by the paramilitaries themselves can get around the problem with the "no guns, no government" position of many members of the Ulster Unionist Party. Everything, including the ground rules for the negotiations and the agreement which emerged from them, stems from the Mitchell Principles.

All parties accepted these principles as their entry ticket to the talks. The Mitchell Principles call, inter alia, for a commitment to "democratic and exclusively peaceful means of resolving political issues"; "the total disarmament of all paramilitary organisations"; and also a commitment that "punishment killings and beatings stop and take effective steps to prevent such actions".

These commitments can be guaranteed only by the paramilitaries themselves. It appears that their associate political parties cannot deliver the commitments already given by them. The primacy of politics must be established within the republican and loyalist movements. In any civil society, the army must always be subordinate to politics.

The guns are held by paramilitaries. But the paramilitaries were not parties to the Belfast Agreement, so they were not asked to sign up to the Mitchell Principles.

Now, their engagement and status have changed.

It changed once they appointed interlocutors to deal with Gen de Chastelain. This meant that they had accepted that they were now formally in the process. This change opens up a new way for the paramilitaries to break the deadlock, if they would just take the logical step of accepting the Mitchell Principles on which the entire process was founded.

Sinn Fein itself, on behalf of the republican movement, signed up to the six Mitchell Principles before it even entered the all-party talks. The loyalist parties did likewise.

The IRA signing up to the Mitchell Principles could not be portrayed as surrender, because Sinn Fein has already done it. Because Sinn Fein has already accepted them, no one could argue that the Mitchell Principles were being "imposed" on the IRA.

The issue of peace or war is the most fundamental political issue. No coalition could exist between political entities that had different views on that question. The Mitchell Principles are about peace and war. Sinn Fein accepts them. The IRA does not. That contradiction is unsustainable. It must be resolved. Resolving that contradiction is the key that will unlock the political impasse.

John Bruton is leader of Fine Gael