The President of the United States boards Air Force One before flying to Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Credit: AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
The DUPD will not succumb to Joe Biden's «anti-British» pressure to accept Rishi Sunak's Brexit deal for Northern Ireland, unionist politicians have said.
They have vowed to resist the US President's call to return to Stormont before Air Force One lands at Belfast International Airport on Tuesday evening.
Biden, a Catholic who regularly refers to his Irish roots, will on Wednesday demand that the DUP abandon its year-long boycott of the Assembly over the Brexit deal.
“I look forward to commemorating the anniversary in Belfast , highlighting the US commitment to maintaining peace and promoting prosperity,” he said.
Senior DUP politicians have accused Biden, who will spend less than 24 hours in Northern Ireland ahead of a four-day state visit to the Republic, of wanting Irish reunification.
“The pressure from a US administration that is so overtly pro-nationalist is no pressure on us,” said Nigel Dodds, a DUP colleague.
“Our decisions will be made with Northern Ireland at the core of our thinking. That's not what Americans do, especially Joe Biden.»
Biden, surrounded by Secret Service agents, makes his way to his plane, accompanied by his sister Valerie, who is traveling with him. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg
Sammy Wilson, MP for the DUP, said: «He is anti-British. He is pro-Republican and he has made his antipathy towards Protestants in particular very well known.
» «He has fully supported the EU in this whole Protocol process. He refuses to go to the coronation. I don't think any of us are rushing through the door to greet him.»
Mr Biden angered Unionists when he warned the UK that there would be no trade deal with the US after Brexit if the UK followed through on his threat to sever the Northern Ireland Protocol with the EU.
The Prime Minister, who will also meet Mr Biden during his visit to the province, has since entered into a new Windsor Framework Agreement with the EU. .
But DUP leader Sir Geoffrey Donaldson said the new treaty did not adequately protect Northern Ireland's place in the UK and refused to return to power-sharing.
Mr. Biden was expected to speak with Stormont during a visit to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which created a devolved government in Northern Ireland.
Instead, he will meet with the five leaders of Northern Ireland's main political parties at the opening of the new branch of the University of Ulster in Belfast and personally call on the DUP to break the deadlock.
But the Unionists have not forgiven Mr. Biden for several gaffes and accuse him of speaking out against laws that make it easier to extradite IRA terrorists from the US when he was a senator.
In 2021, the president said that his great-grandfather, who had fled famine-ravaged Ireland for the United States, left because of what the «British» were doing.
A year earlier, after his election, he had answered a question from a BBC journalist with a joke: “BBC? I'm Irish.»
“If you wear orange, you are not welcome here,” the then Vice President said when welcoming the Irish Prime Minister to the White House in 2015.
“Unions are more critical and wary of the US role,” said Cathy Hayward, a professor at Queen’s University Belfast, “in part because they see President Biden as a particularly green president.”
DUP clashes with local authorities. elections in May and the prospect of bloody support for the hardline and vehemently anti-deal Traditional Unionist voice that made them more determined to resist the attempts of the most powerful man in the world.
“Biden is hopelessly partisan,” TUV leader Jim Allister told The Telegraph.
“His ongoing stance is anti-British and anti-unionist. Since our public finances are so tight, we could very well get by without spending £7m on his security.”
Joe Biden Diary
But Stephen Kelly, CEO of Manufacturing NI, said the president's visit was a great opportunity for Northern Ireland, the UK's poorest region. “This is not just a chance to celebrate and reflect on 25 years of peace, but to start the next 25 years of prosperity.”
On Shankill Road in Belfast, the city's most prominent Unionist district, local residents said the president's visit would do more harm than good as they stood amid murals including tributes to the late Queen and memorials to civilians killed by the IRA. /p>
«He shouldn't have bothered,» said Elizabeth Jones, 65, as she watched a union group march down the street with her 44-year-old daughter, Miriam Martin.
«He should have just went south. Not that we wanted it anyway. He reopens old wounds, as the Kennedys did"
She added: “He is not interested in the peace process, he is only interested in republicanism. It's none of his business, he better focus on his country and what's going on there.»
Sandra Smith said, that Biden was «just another American president who goes to other countries, creates trouble, and then comes back home.» Photo: Alan Lewis, Photopress Belfast.
Sandra Smith watched the parade with her granddaughter Clara, three, who waved the Union Flag from a stroller as family members passed.
Ms Smith, a 63-year-old retired nursing home worker, said : «He's just another American president doing what American presidents do best, travel to other countries, cause trouble, and then come home.»
Others were more concerned about the situation. the disruption to their daily lives caused by a massive security operation following Mr. Biden's arrival.
«He's very welcome, but a big football game was canceled because of his visit,» said one man, passing by the Rangers pub.
Свежие комментарии