• Northern Ireland Dismantled a plot of the New IRA to attack during Biden's visit
  • The long shadow of the return of violence in Northern Ireland, 25 years later

Joe Biden on Tuesday reiterated America's "commitment to preserving peace and prosperity" in Northern Ireland, as he kicked off his four-day trip to Belfast and Dublin to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Despite the outbreaks of violence in Derry and the alert of "severe risk" for terrorist attacks, the US president said he felt "more than comfortable" with his expected visit to the land of his ancestors.

The second Catholic president in U.S. history (the first was Kennedy) plans to meet with local leaders of the five major political parties, ahead of his speech tomorrow on the campus of the University of Ulster. The US administration has not hidden its concern about the political paralysis for almost a year due to the refusal of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to form a unity government with Sinn Féin, winner in the last elections.

Biden will dispatch with the leaders after meeting with "premier" Rishi Sunak, to whom he will convey the willingness of the United States to "preserve the gains of the last 25 years and support the vast economic potential for the benefit of both communities." The president is expected to take advantage of the visit to announce a new battery of American investments in sectors such as fintech and cybersecurity, which have made Belfast one of the engines of the British economy.

Sunak has yet to rebuild the "special relationship" with Biden, seriously deteriorated during the brief mandate of Liz Truss by the economic discrepancies and the problems created by the Irish Protocol, finally supplanted by the Windsor Agreement, which has not managed however to soften the iron resistance of the unionists to remain in the "legislative orbit" of the EU after Brexit.

Downing Street came to the step of the information about the alleged request of the White House to downplay the bilateral meeting with Sunak and leave it in a simple café. "The prime minister and President Biden will meet twice (Tuesday and Wednesday) and discuss matters of common concern," a British government spokesman said. "We continue to have an incredibly positive working relationship with the U.S. government."

Joe Biden aspires to vindicate with his visit the American influence in the peace process and pick up in his own way the baton of Bill Clinton and Senator George Mitchell, whose role as mediator was key 25 years ago. The US president is assisted by his own envoy to Northern Ireland, Joe Kennedy III (grandson of Robert Kennedy), who recently held a St. Patrick's conclave with Northern Irish companies now clamoring for an "economic" Good Friday Agreement.

The possibility that Biden's visit will serve to unblock the political paralysis in Ulster is however rather remote, given the scepticism traditionally aroused in the unionist ranks by the influence of the Irish lobby in Washington.

Biden initially intended to visit the local Assembly in Stormont, inactive for 11 months due to the veto of the unionists. In return, the presidential delegation has planned at the last minute a brief meeting with the leaders of Sinn Féin, the DUP, the Alliance Party, the Ulster Unionists Party (UUP) and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SLP).

It will be before his massive speech on Wednesday and before leaving for the Republic of Ireland, where he will speak before Parliament and have a longer agenda, including visits to the relatives of his great-grandfather James Finnegan in the border town of Carlingford and the farewell in County Mayo, from where one of the largest waves of immigrants during the Great Irish Famine departed.

Former "premier" Tony Blair has meanwhile described Joe Biden's visit to Northern Ireland as "very significant" and stressed the importance of "using American influence in the peace process in a careful and sensitive way." "There is a difference between influence and pressure," warned the former Labour leader, from his own experience in the Good Friday Agreement. "While the former tends to be positive, the latter may be negative."

"If I learned anything about unionists, it's that it's futile to pressure them to do something they deeply disagree with," said Blair, who praised Bill Clinton's role and ability "to strategically understand the right time and place."

Blair echoed recent calls to review one of the most problematic points of the Friday Agreement: the formation of unity or "power-sharing" governments between unionists and republicans, which has led to power vacuums for nine of the past 25 years. The former "premier" has warned that any modification of the agreement must be made by consensus and warned against the temptation to "circumambulate" the DUP, politically isolated but still influential as a second political force in Ulster.

The police of Northern Ireland has meanwhile put in place a security device unprecedented in the last decade, with the arrival of 300 reinforcement officers from other parts of the country. The anti-terrorism alert rose to the highest level last week ("severe risk") for the first time in 12 years and fears of attacks by the New IRA, the group formed in 2012 by dissidents who do not abide by the peace process.

  • United States
  • Joe Biden
  • Articles Carlos Fresneda

According to The Trust Project criteria

Learn more