The government in Northern Ireland has not been operational since February 2022 amid controversy over post-Brexit requirements.
President Joe Biden travels to Northern Ireland on Tuesday to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the signing of a historic peace agreement that helped to end decades of conflict.
The president will celebrate 25 years of the Good Friday Agreement, also known as the GFA or the Belfast Agreement, which was a landmark deal aimed at ending more than 30 years of sectarian violence that saw more than 3,500 killed.
However, Biden’s visit comes at a time when the agreement appears to be threatened because of new requirements following Brexit—the U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union.
Under the GFA, a new parliament—Northern Ireland Assembly—was established that saw power-sharing between unionists and nationalists but that assembly is not currently operating.
Unionists believe that Northern Ireland should remain part of the U.K., while nationalists believe Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland should become a single, independent nation.
While political parties representing both communities have worked together in government in the past, the largest unionist party—the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)—has said it will not return to power-sharing until its concerns are addressed.
The major stumbling block is the fact that Northern Ireland is now the only part of the U.K. that shares a land border with the EU and goods traveling from the EU into the U.K. are subject to checks.
In order to avoid border checks on the island of Ireland, the U.K. and the EU agreed to the Northern Ireland Protocol, which saw goods checked when they entered Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.
