Dear readers,
Welcome to EU Politics Decoded, where Benjamin Fox and Eleonora Vasques will bring you a round-up of the latest political news in Europe and beyond every Thursday. In this edition, we look at the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
Editor’s Take: A monument to peace and pragmatism
Most Britons over the age of 35 remember the Good Friday Agreement. This reporter remembers the IRA bombings in Manchester in 1996 and Omagh in 1998 that bookended the fiendishly difficult peace process and the massive sense of relief, optimism and anxiety when agreement was reached.
This week’s visit to Northern Ireland by US President Joe Biden, whose predecessor Bill Clinton played an essential role in the peace talks, marked the 25th anniversary of the signing of the agreement.
It’s easy to take its achievements for granted, yet unfortunately, many still do, typically those on the hard right and hard left of British politics. The opposition from those on the right is mainly because they cannot accept that a large proportion of Northern Ireland’s people – now perhaps a majority – simply do not want to be part of the UK.
Dan Hannan, usually one of the more thoughtful Conservative politicians, believes that Northern Ireland was hard done by under the Agreement.
“Let’s not pretend that this is the best we could have done,” he concludes.
On the contrary, let’s not pretend that – after over a decade of talks which had collapsed many times before – anything better was possible.
The GFA is not perfect. In the past 25 years, the political process in Stormont has been repeatedly stalled – unsurprising since the two main parties over the past two decades, the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein, have diametrically opposed views of what Northern Ireland’s constitutional future should be.
But politics rarely works in black and white. Just over a generation ago, leading members of Sinn Fein and the DUP were either linked to or actively involved in terrorism and political violence. Now they sit in government together.
Arguably the greatest sin of leading Brexiteers was their staggering naivety or disingenuousness about the effect of Brexit on Northern Ireland.
The peace process essentially gave Northern Ireland ‘special status’ within the UK. A constitutional revolution like Brexit was always likely to challenge that status, especially when the UK government insisted on leaving the EU Single Market. Yet they repeatedly denied that there was anything to worry about.
The consequences of the ‘hard Brexit’ demanded by Boris Johnson and his true believers were blamed, as usual, on the EU.
Those of us who have been to Belfast, Derry and elsewhere have seen their economic transformation. Though the neighbourhoods are still poor, the sectarian murals of the Troubles on the Shankill and Falls roads are now tourist attractions.
But let us also not forget that some 100 peace walls are still very much in place, separating the pro-Irish Catholics from pro-British Protestants. While the GFA is in place, the fact these structures remain show just how fragile the peace is and that treading carefully politically is a necessity.
One of the lessons of the Brexit process, seven years after the referendum, is that ‘sunlit uplands’ are a chimaera. In truth, it never existed because the world does not work like that.
Politics, famously, is the art of the possible. For decades, the Good Friday Agreement was impossible until a group of extremely brave political leaders who knew how to negotiate and the value of compromise made it possible.
It is a monument to peace and pragmatism.
Who’s electioneering?
Finland changed its colour after the last general elections, where the National Coalition Party obtained first place (20.8%), followed by the right-wing Finns Party (20.1%), while ex-Prime Minister Sanna Marin positioned third (19.9%). Different scenarios are possible with such percentages, one of them is the forming of a government with the centre-right (EPP) and the right-wing (ECR), as happened in Italy and Sweden. However, a possible more “centrist” government cannot be excluded, with the centre-right and the centre-left leading.
The socialist’s group at the European Parliament “regrets” the possibility of having the centre and the far right in power, which according to S&D Vice-President Pedro Marques, is a “likely scenario”, he told the press on Thursday (13 April).
Marques condemns national parties in the European People’s Party (EPP) across Europe to keep “flirting” with the far-right, as “happening in Italy and Sweden,” he specified.
Capitals-in-brief
Worst migrant death toll in the Mediterranean since 2017, UN agency reports. The first three months of 2023 were the deadliest since 2017 for migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean, according to data published on Wednesday (12 March) by the International Organisation for Migration.
Parliamentary report: France is behind on climate action. France is behind on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, according to a parliamentary report adopted on Wednesday in which implementing “real ecological planning” was also recommended.
German Social Democrats split over Macron’s China remarks. The controversy caused by French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent comments on China relations has shed light on differences of opinion and stance within Germany’s ruling Social Democrats.
Belgian pension reform should contribute to gender equality: study. The upcoming pension system reform in Belgium should help reduce the gender gap as the current one no longer meets the standards of gender equality and the diversity of family models, a study published by the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men on Wednesday reads. Read more.
Finns show support for increased labour migration. Over half of Finns would favour Increasing work-based immigration, a survey published by Ilta-Sanomat on Wednesday, ahead of Friday’s upcoming coalition talks reads.
US concerned over Hungary’s close relations with Russia. The US is worried about Hungarian leaders seeking closer ties with Russia, as close economic cooperation with Russia feeds the Russian war machine and threatens the security of the transatlantic alliance, the US Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman told a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
Inside the institutions
Rules on refugee costs make EU states main recipients of development aid. EU countries have become the main recipients of their own development aid, statistics published on Wednesday (12 April) have revealed.
EU carbon market: Gas, petrol prices could spike from 2027, experts say. The price surcharge on fossil fuels such as heating gas, petrol and diesel under the EU’s new carbon market as of 2027 could be well above the €45 limit EU institutions aim for, experts say, blaming lawmakers for creating false expectations.
European Conservatives group admits Finns Party as new member. The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) accepted the candidacy of the Finns Party (Perussuomalaiset) as a new member on Tuesday (11 April), less than ten days after the Finnish right-wing party placed second at general elections.
Progress on forced labour products ban too slow says leading rapporteur. The Swedish Presidency’s progress on the regulation to prohibit products made with forced labour from the EU is “good news, but not enough”, according to the European Parliament’s co-rapporteur on the file, Maria-Manuel Leitão-Marques.
What we are reading
There’s only one winner from Macron’s hardline response to pension protests: the far right, writes Oliver Haynes for The Guardian.
EU to study Italian state of emergency on migration reports Nikolaj Nielsen for the EU Observer.
Leaders should update our financial system for women — and the world, Melinda French Gates writes for the Financial Times.
The next week in politics
Informal meeting of EU environment ministers at the Council next week (18-19 April). The European Parliament will have the monthly plenary session. The special guest of the so-called “This is Europe” debate will be Xavier Bettel, Prime Minister of Luxembourg.
Thanks for reading. If you’d like to contact us for leaks, tips or comments, drop us a line at [email protected] / [email protected] or contact us on Twitter: @EleonorasVasques & @benfox83
[Edited by Alice Taylor]
Source: euractiv.com
