Biden receives Irish Prime Minister for St. Patrick’s Day

(Washington) The occasion was festive, but Joe Biden took advantage of the celebration of Saint Patrick’s Day on Friday with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar to call for a political compromise in Northern Ireland.

Green water in the fountain and abundance of shamrocks in the Oval office in honor of the patron saint of Ireland: the White House was adorned, as is the tradition each year, with Irish colors.

The American president praised the “friendship” between the two countries, on this day which is also a holiday for many Americans of Irish origin, by receiving the Irish head of government.

Celebrating the shared “love” of Ireland is a moment of “great political unity” in Washington, recalled a sometimes joking, sometimes lyrical Joe Biden, who recalled, as he very willingly does, his Irish roots.

Irish singer Niall Horan, who rose to fame with One Direction and is now pursuing a solo career, provided vocals for guests at the ceremony.

The American president assured that he would go “soon” to Ireland, as a symbolic date approaches: April 10, which will mark the 25^e anniversary of the peace agreement in Northern Ireland.

The subject remains more relevant than ever: the European Union and the United Kingdom recently concluded, after difficult negotiations, an agreement supposed to preserve the fragile balance of the British province after Brexit.

And Joe Biden has thrown his weight behind this compromise called “the Windsor framework”, which he says “preserves the essence” of the 1998 Good Friday agreements.

“Peaceful Future”

In front of the Northern Irish leaders of the DUP (unionists fiercely attached to London) and those of Sinn-Fein (nationalists in favor of attachment to Dublin), all invited to a large reception at the White House, the Democratic president went there from his warning.

“Even after 25 years, we cannot take a peaceful future in Northern Ireland for granted,” he said, calling for “compromise” and “cooperation”.

The DUP takes a dim view of dealings with Brussels and for this reason has been boycotting the local government in which it shares power with Sinn Fein for the past year.

Leo Varadkar said he wanted “the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement to be restored”.

“I think we have arrived, with the “Windsor framework”, at a good conclusion, which will last”, also said the head of the Irish government.

The “Taoiseach”, its title in Gaelic, also confided in the Oval Office that he was “eager” to “roll out the red carpet” for the visit of the American president, whose White House has not yet given the dates.

Joe Biden has already been formally invited by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to come and mark the 25th anniversary of the peace agreement.

The Good Friday Agreement, the day that designates the Friday before Easter for Christians, was signed on April 10, 1998.

It ended decades of clashes between Catholic nationalists and Protestant unionists.

The treaty binds on one side Ireland and the United Kingdom, on the other the opposing parties of Northern Ireland.

It lays down the principle of self-determination for the inhabitants of Northern Ireland and also provides for the creation of mixed autonomous institutions and the disarmament of the province.