Biden advised that peace in Northern Ireland “is not inevitable” | International

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, announced this Wednesday in Belfast (United Kingdom) that “peace is not inevitable” and has paid tribute to the “dividends” generated by the Good Friday Agreement that in 1998 put an end to three decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. His only public act on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of negotiations in which the White House, with Bill Clinton as tenant, had invested significant political capital has been marked by the extraordinary dichotomy between the progress experienced in the last quarter of a century and the disappointment of finding a territory that has accumulated 14 months without a government. The contrast was not lost on Biden, who with scrupulously choreographed rhetoric registered to local political forces that the future of the region depends on the restoration of institutional normality.

The formation of an Executive in the territory will remain blocked after the historic victory of Sinn Féin last May, and with the tension over the post-Brexit lace of the Northern Irish territory in the background, the unionists refused to enter the Government, as provided for in the agreement of peace.

In his barely 17 hours in Belfast, the US president complied with a script carefully calibrated to avoid exacerbating political volatility in Northern Ireland, especially by a faction of unionism that is suspicious of his pride in ascending to Irish heritage. In such an appearance at the University of Ulster, Biden referred to the recent increase in tensions in the territory, which have led to the return of the terrorist alert to the second most serious level. “The enemies of peace will not prevail, the Good Friday Agreement taught us that there is hope for settlement, even in the most terrible damage,” he proclaimed, to draw a parallel with the current situation and declare that “when times are fragile , that’s where hope and hard work are most needed.”

Apparently aware of the pernicious perception of interference in the Northern Irish reality, Biden confessed that he “hopes” that the parties can resume “soon” the democratic bodies illuminated by the agreement of 25 years ago, both the Executive and the regional Assembly, but clarified that their fate is not up to the United States. “It is a decision that you have to make, not me, but I hope they start,” he declared before an audience in which the leaders of the formations responsible for restoring the unity government met, one of the key conditions stipulated in 1998, with whom they had met informally before their appearance, along with other local leaders.

The meticulous calculation of his words reflects the high voltage of a visit in which Biden wanted to make it clear that “peace and economic opportunities go together”, a message that is easy to interpret: the future of the territory depends on institutional normalization and maximizing the investment potential depends on resolving the political blockade. This resource of the economic wild card as an incentive to break the paralysis allowed him to come out relatively unscathed from the most intricate challenge of his visit, that of inciting to restore the Government and Parliament, without instructing or meddling in the domestic dynamics. Biden confirmed that US investors were set to “triple” the 2,000 million dollars already invested (1,800 million euros) in the last decade, according to The Guardian.

Stability in exchange for investments

The reasoning is simple: the United States wants to invest in Northern Ireland, but it needs stability as an inalienable condition. “Keep the peace and unfold this incredible economic opportunity, which is just beginning,” he asked, as a synthesis of a speech in which he claimed the importance that Washington attached to the 1998 agreement, “both Democrats and Republicans, and that is little usual nowadays” between two parties that have “been very divided”.

Biden also did not miss the opportunity to build bridges with the Rishi Sunak government, after the tensions generated by the definition of the president’s agenda on this anniversary of the peace process. Both leaders had shared a working coffee on Wednesday morning during which, according to the Prime Minister, they discussed “economic opportunities” and their “shared ambition to see Northern Irish institutions back on track”, but the most diplomatic gesture Expected by London, it came with Biden’s explicit referendum on the recent renegotiation between the United Kingdom and the European Union of the post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland, the so-called Windsor Framework Agreement.

Biden called it a “fundamental step” to “preserve and reform” what was agreed 25 years ago and praised the “stability and certainty” facilitated by the concessions Sunak obtained from the EU, which “cope with the practical realities of Brexit” and which, according to him, generally “significant investments” in Northern Ireland. Downing Street considers that the consent of the United States reinforces the international endorsement of the mechanism with which it hoped to convince the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the main Protestant formation, to agree to resume the unity government with Sinn Féin , the largest nationalist party, considered for decades the political arm of the IRA terrorist organization, and winner of the elections last May. For the DUP, however, the agreement with the European Union is still insufficient, considering that trade barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom persist.

This dispute keeps the governorship in the territory paralyzed, a blockade that was noted on Biden’s agenda, who has reserved the frightening trip to the Republic of Ireland, where he will spend three days. On Thursday he awaits a speech before both houses of parliament at Leinster House in Dublin, and he will also have the opportunity to visit distant relatives who still live on the island.

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