U.S. President Joe Biden is to push a pro-Brexit party in Northern Ireland into rejoining power-sharing despite its feared increase in EU control of the region.
Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is to face down Joe Biden in the coming days, with the U.S. president reportedly aiming to push the pro-Brexit party into rejoining the region’s parliament.
Despite an election in 2022, the DUP has so far refused to rejoin the devolved parliament over fears that Northern Ireland is being split off from Britain by the European Union, sabotaging the area’s ability to retain full membership of the United Kingdom as well as benefit from Brexit.
Due to power-sharing laws set up under the Good Friday Agreement, no government in the country can operate without the support of the DUP.
According to a report by The Telegraph, long-time Brexit critic Joe Biden will aim to get the DUP to retreat from this position during his four-day visit to Ireland, which is set to begin when he flies in today.
Biden is reportedly set to meet with the leaders of all five major parties in the region over the coming days, with U.S. Democrats reportedly hoping that the President can revive the local parliament in Stormont, putting an end to direct rule from Westminster.
“I think there can be some gentle nudging here,” Democratic congressman Richard Neal said regarding how he expects Biden to interact with the DUP, with the UK government also reportedly hoping the American leader will be able to help foster the DUP’s return to government.
Joe Biden’s visit to the island coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, a deal that largely put to an end a decades-old terror conflict between pro-Irish nationalists and pro-UK unionists that had seen thousands in Northern Ireland killed.
The agreement is seen as a major positive legacy for the U.S. democrats, being successfully brokered in part by then-President Bill Clinton whose time in office is otherwise tainted by various scandals.
Since the deal’s signing in 1998, Democratic politicians have been keen to see its continued success in the region, with many turning harshly against the UK’s decision to leave the EU over fears it could undermine the agreement by splitting the northern region off from the rest of Ireland, which remains inside the European bloc to this day.
Such a desire to see Brexit diminished in Northern Ireland has largely alienated pro-UK Unionists from both Democratic lawmakers as well as even American politicians as a whole, who are perceived as being on the side of Irish nationalists that want to see the region leave the United Kingdom entirely.
This perception has only deepened with the ascension of Joe Biden to the presidency, with the veteran Democrat openly boasting about his allegiance to Irish national identity.
Meanwhile, emboldened by demographic change in the region and increasing U.S. support, Ireland’s preeminent Republican party, Sinn Féin, is now pushing for a referendum to be held on Northern Ireland leaving the United Kingdom and rejoining the independent 26-county state.
“It is time to agree on a date for the Unity referendums,” an advert run by Sinn Féin in the New York Times and Washington Post last month read, which told the UK, Irish and U.S. governments that they should allow “the people have their say”.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.