London US President Joe Biden has called on Northern Ireland’s political parties to work together to reap the peace dividend from the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. “Peace and economic prosperity go hand in hand,” said the American in a speech at Ulster University in Belfast. Numerous US companies were just waiting to come and invest in Northern Ireland.
Biden praised the framework agreement recently agreed between London and Brussels. The so-called “Windsor Framework” creates political stability and thus the prerequisites for more investments.
In March, the EU and the British government agreed on trade facilitation for Northern Ireland, while at the same time enshrining the province’s membership in the European single market. London-leaning Unionists in Northern Ireland disagree with the deal and have been blocking the formation of a regional government in Belfast for almost a year.
The US President arrived in Northern Ireland on Tuesday evening for a politically sensitive short visit to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1998 peace agreement. The Good Friday Agreement officially ended the three-decade civil war between Protestant unionists and Catholic nationalists. At that time, the American special envoy George Mitchell acted as a mediator between the civil war parties.
The conflict between Unionists and Nationalists in Northern Ireland has shifted to the political arena since the end of the so-called Troubles.
Despite this, there were renewed outbreaks of violence in Derry on Easter Monday. The authorities consider the threat of terrorism in Northern Ireland to be high. Political, cultural and religious identity still play an important role in Northern Ireland today.
The Northern Irish are counting on US companies investing billions to help make up for the prosperity gap between the province and the rest of Great Britain. The fact that Northern Ireland is part of both the European and the British domestic market is considered a locational advantage. At the same time, however, competition is growing from the Republic of Ireland in the south, which has so far been a magnet for US investment in Europe.
Pressure on Northern Ireland regional politicians
With his visit, the US President also wants to help to overcome the blockade in the Belfast regional parliament that has been going on for a year and to cement the power-sharing between unionists and nationalists agreed in the Good Friday Agreement.
To this end, he met the leaders of the main political parties in Northern Ireland on Wednesday morning. “Effective devolved government will create even greater opportunity in this region,” Biden said.
He hoped Parliament and Government would soon be restored to Stormont. “It’s a decision you have to make, not me, but I hope it happens,” said the American, addressing Northern Ireland politicians.
Joe Biden called on Northern Ireland’s political parties to work together to break the political deadlock.
(Photo: Bloomberg)
Even before the meeting, however, representatives of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) made their distrust of the US President with Irish ancestry clear: “He is known to be pro-Republican, anti-unionist and anti-British, as we have seen in the debates on Brexit and have seen the Northern Ireland Minutes,” said Sammy Wilson, leader of the DUP group in the UK House of Commons.
He hopes that Biden will not come to Belfast to give a lecture on democracy to the Unionists. The White House dismissed accusations that Biden was “anti-British” and unilaterally committed to Irish reunification as “untrue”.
The DUP is blocking the formation of a government led by the nationalist Sinn Fein party, which became the strongest force in Stormont’s parliament for the first time last year. With their blockade, the unionists want to enforce their demands for closer ties with Great Britain.
In particular, all EU rules in the province are to be eliminated. The DUP therefore rejects the framework agreement. London has buckled under pressure from the US government, Wilson said. However, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has ruled out renegotiations with Brussels and has called on the DUP to end its blockade.
Former Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin is already calling for a reform of the Good Friday Agreement in the face of the deadlock in Belfast. However, his predecessor Bertie Ahern and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who sealed the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, warned against pushing through changes against Unionist opposition.
A review will only work “if it brings communities together,” Blair said. London, meanwhile, is threatening to take over government business if the regional parliament is unable to act.
No progress on free trade agreement
Sunak met Biden for political talks in Belfast on Wednesday morning. However, the most important issue for the British prime minister was not on the agenda: London has been pushing for a free trade agreement with the USA since Brexit, but Washington is reluctant to do so.
The talks were said to be primarily about the situation in Northern Ireland and the conflict in Ukraine.
(Photo: dpa)
With his massive subsidies for green technologies, the US President has not only alienated the EU, but also Great Britain. British Trade Minister Kemi Badenoch recently criticized the US approach as “protectionist”.
Instead of a comprehensive free trade agreement, the British are now hoping that they will at least succeed in preventing new export barriers for their car industry in the important US market, similar to the Japanese. “If you look at recent history, Japan is always first. We should follow soon,” the news platform Politico quoted British government officials as saying. However, no concrete progress was made in Belfast.
The US President continued to travel to Dublin on Wednesday afternoon. In Ireland he wants to meet the roots of his Irish ancestors together with his sister Valerie and son Hunter, among others, before returning to the USA on Friday.
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