This Wednesday, April 12, US President Joe Biden arrived in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, where he met British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and gave a speech from Ulster University. In his first presidential visit to the UK-owned nation, the president called for an end to the institutional deadlock in which the Northern Irish government is embroiled and promised US investment if the coalition parties reach an agreement.
Joe Biden arrived in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, this Wednesday, April 12, with a double feeling: fear of being involved in the country’s nationalist entanglements and eagerness to learn the history of his Irish ancestry.
Hours after landing, the President of the United States addressed the Northern Irish people just two days after the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to the island and in which the United States mediated.
“It took long, hard years of work to get here. It’s up to us to keep this going (…) Your story is our story. And even more importantly, your future is the future of the United States,” Biden said in a statement. speech in from the University of Ulster, in which he recalled how much the city had changed since his visit during his youth as a senator for the Democratic Party.
In his first presidential visit to Northern Ireland, Biden urged political leaders to restore the Government -in full institutional blockade- with a very promising promise: the investment of dozens of American companies if the political situation normalizes in the nation of the Kingdom Kingdom, something that would help boost its economic growth.
And it is that the backdrop of this official visit is the political stagnation of the Government of shared powers, a key piece of the 1998 peace agreement, which has not met for more than a year due to a dispute over trade agreements after Brexit.
After much wrangling, Britain and the European Union reached an agreement in February to address trade tensions, a proposal welcomed by the United States. However, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) argued that the Windsor Framework “does not go far enough in its protection of Northern Ireland” and refused to return to government.
“I hope that the Assembly and the Executive are restored soon. It is a decision for you to make, not me, but I hope that it is,” Biden declared before the leaders of the five main political parties in Northern Ireland.
Before his speech, Biden’s agenda started this Wednesday with a date for tea with Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. And while Biden said the recent Windsor Framework agreement offered the necessary stability and predictability to encourage more investment, he also said he did not plan to try to interfere in national politics.
Asked by Sunak what he planned to tell the leaders of Northern Ireland’s five main political parties when he meets them, Biden replied: “I’m going to listen.”
Later, the White House assured that the United States would not impose conditions on investments in Northern Ireland, but that “it was fair to say that a government in office would provide more stability and certainty to companies.”
On the nationalist or unionist side?
The democrat has Irish and Catholic roots. In fact, he plans to travel this Wednesday to County Louth in the Republic of Ireland -halfway between Belfast and Dublin-, where his great-grandfather was born.
Biden’s great-great-grandfather, Owen Finnegan, a shoemaker from County Louth, immigrated to the United States in 1849. His family, including Biden’s great-grandfather, James Finnegan, followed in 1850.
The part of his family that stayed on the island now lives in County Mayo, and Biden is scheduled to join them next Friday, April 14. His Irish and Catholic ancestry, always claimed by the President of the United States, has made many ask themselves a question: is the president on the nationalist -Catholic- or unionist -Protestant- side?
A distrust professed especially by some unionists. Sammy Wilson, a DUP lawmaker in the British Parliament, told Talk TV that Biden “has a history of being pro-Republican, anti-Union and anti-British.”
In addition, several journalists repeatedly asked him if he “hated” the United Kingdom. Others have reminded him that in 1985, when he was a senator, Biden spoke out against facilitating the extradition of members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to the United Kingdom from the United States.
Some statements that the White House has flatly denied. Amanda Sloat, director for Europe of the National Security Council, assured that Biden’s record “shows that he is not anti-British.”
Before his speech at Ulster University, Biden met one on one with Northern Ireland’s political leaders. Among them, Jeffrey Donaldson, the president of the DUP. And, although this meeting has calmed mistrust, Donaldson assured that the president’s visit to Northern Ireland will not put an end to the boycott that his party has maintained for more than a year against the Government.
“This does not change the political dynamics in Northern Ireland. We know what has to happen,” Donaldson said at a press conference when asked by reporters if his conversation with Biden meant any change.
In the coming days, Biden has some public events planned in the neighboring Republic of Ireland, but his trip is expected to be mostly personal. In fact, this is not his first personal visit there. In his final months as vice president, Biden spent six days touring the country of leprechaun legends and the Gaelic language.
There, he was invested doctor honoris causa in Law from Trinity College – the most prestigious university in the country – and gave a speech at Dublin Castle. Now, he hopes to be able to enjoy his family and heritage in the country again, although this time he will have to do it as president of the United States.
With AP, Reuters and local media
