UK, EU leaders mark 25th anniversary of Good Friday Agreement

LONDON/GENEVA

EU leaders, and the UK and Irish premiers on Wednesday marked the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in Belfast.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Ireland's premier Leo Varadkar, European Council President Charles Michel, and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gathered at the Agreement 25 Conference in Belfast.

Former US President Bill Clinton, ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and former Irish premier Bertie Ahern were also among the attendees.

The agreement was signed by Blair and former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern -- and partly brokered by the US. It ended three decades of violence, also known as "Troubles" in Northern Ireland.

Speaking at the event at Queen's University, Sunak vowed to "give everything" to deliver on the Good Friday Agreement's vision: "I will give everything to help deliver that vision because I talked earlier about learning the lessons from history ... Together we must fulfil the true promise of the 1998 Agreement.

"That future enshrined in the very words of the text - of 'sustained economic growth', and where we tackle the problems of 'a divided society'."

For his part, Varadkar praised the deal, saying that the Good Friday Agreement gave them a pathway to a better future.

"Without the courage and vision of leaders from right across the political traditions of these islands, we would not have a peace to celebrate today," added Varadkar.

"We would not have had prosperity or investment on the scale we have experienced," he said.

Powerful symbol

Stating that the future of Northern Ireland belongs to its people, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: "Only you can make the seed of the Good Friday Belfast agreement continue to grow and to flourish."

"I can reassure you that we the European Union will continue to do our part and to accompany you on the path of peace and prosperity,” Von der Leyen said and added that “the gateway to a bright future is open."

"All you need to do is walk through it," she urged.

European Council President Charles Michel, for his part, said that the EU is "fully committed" to fostering peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

"It's no secret that the United Kingdom's sovereign decision to leave the EU posed serious new challenges, for instance, the complexities at the border," Michel said. "For the EU our main goal has always been to make sure that Brexit does not undermine the Belfast Good Friday Agreement and that it does not resurrect the borders into divisions of the past."

In this “increasingly dangerous” world, Northern Ireland and the Belfast Good Friday agreement are “a powerful symbol” of what shared values can achieve, he said.

“Let's continue to build on this unstoppable belief in the potential of peace, for more freedom, more prosperity, more democracy for the people of Northern Ireland, and for all people across the world,” he added.

For his part, Clinton hailed the agreement, saying it was orchestrated by "vigorous, able, comprehensive, combative leaders."

He also touched on the political problems in Northern Ireland, saying the blocking of the power sharing system has a "perfectly predictable result."

"Whenever you make a big deal like this and people have to compromise and everybody wants to compromise, then they wake up the next day and a certain number of people, who almost always vote in elections, have buyer’s remorse," he said.

This makes governments more vulnerable and there was a period where it went "down and up, down and up," Clinton added.