He would no doubt have liked to celebrate a cloudless peace, but he arrives in the midst of political paralysis, and in a climate of tension: Joe Biden is in Northern Ireland on Wednesday, where he will try to encourage dialogue. Belfast is the first stage of a trip that will quickly take a more sentimental turn: the American president will travel to the Republic of Ireland on Wednesday afternoon, where he will spend two days in the footsteps of his maternal ancestors.
In the meantime, he repeated on Tuesday before boarding Air Force One, Joe Biden’s priority is to “keep the peace” so difficult to negotiate twenty-five years ago in Northern Ireland. An episode of violence Monday, in the border town of Londonderry, came as a reminder if it was necessary that all the wounds are not closed. Negotiated with active American participation, the text signed on April 10, 1998, dates that year from “Good Friday”, put an end to decades of deadly clashes between Unionists, especially Protestants, and Republicans, mainly Catholics, with the British Army involvement.
The 80-year-old Democrat does not intend to remain inactive in the face of the institutional paralysis that gripped the British province more than a year ago. The autonomous and shared institutions of the British province, one of the great achievements of the peace agreement, are blocked due to the refusal of the DUP, the main unionist party, to participate.
Joe Biden will have “the opportunity to meet with each of the leaders of the five major political parties” in the province on Wednesday, ahead of a speech at Belfast University, the White House said. However, the executive was careful to specify that it would not be a “formal” meeting, as if to avoid exposing the Democrat too much. It will be very difficult for him to influence the unionists, who are wary of this Catholic president who is so proud of his Irish heritage.
“Northern Ireland doesn’t really matter” for Joe Biden, has already welcomed one of the tenors of the DUP, Ian Paisley. The US president, who will also have a meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, arrives in Belfast with a “double” message, John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council, said on Tuesday.
Joe Biden will want to convey his “congratulations” on this 25th anniversary of the peace agreements, but also to discuss the future and the implementation of “economic and trade policies that benefit all communities”. In short: Washington would like the institutional deadlock to be finally resolved. Above all, this would mean lifting the DUP’s opposition to the provisions concerning the delicate status of the land border with the Republic of Ireland following Brexit.
After his whirlwind stint on British soil, Joe Biden will embark on a part of his seemingly much less complex journey: celebrating his family history.
The Democrat, who previously came to Ireland as vice-president, proudly claims descent from Irishmen who sought a better life in the United States in the 19th century. The White House has even taken care to establish a kind of family tree for the press, and to provide a host of anecdotes about the president’s ancestors.
The American president finds there a perfect surface for political projection, he who intends to run again in 2024. He makes a point of proving to a demoralized middle class that the “American dream” is not dead, while presenting as coming from a hard-working and modest family.
Joe Biden has planned to visit two Irish counties where genealogists have traced his ancestors, those of Louth and Mayo. The welcome will be more overtly warm than in Belfast. In Ballina, a small town in the northwest, American flags are already flying around a mural that has adorned the wall of the local pub since Joe Biden’s presidential victory. Between these two stages, the American president will make a more official visit to Dublin, made up of bilateral meetings and a speech to parliamentarians.
