euro|topics - Northern Ireland, a model for peace

Main focus of Thursday, April 10, 2008

Northern Ireland, a model for peace

Northern Ireland marks the ten year anniversary of the Belfast Agreement, also called the Good Friday Agreement, signed April 10, 1998. The European press notes that this province has succeeded in establishing a lasting peace, and a power-sharing arrangement between former enemies.

The Times - United Kingdom

"It sums up much about Northern Ireland that the tenth anniversary of the Good Friday agreement will be marked in such a strange fashion," writes the English daily. The Irish peace deal was commemorated by the republicans on Good Friday this year, which fell on March 21st, while the Unionist community doesn't celebrate the original 1998 agreement, and prefers to celebrate the St Andrew's agreement signed in 2006. "It also sums up much about Northern Ireland today that the two sides can hold such contrasting views and yet maintain a political dialogue and partnership. This is because both claims about the past are valid. The fundamental principles of consent, power-sharing and an end to violence are the essence of the Good Friday agreement and remain the core of the astonishing if fragile settlement." (10/04/2008)

Frankfurter Rundschau - Germany

"For the first time, a generation is growing up that doesn't have to live under the shadow of terror in Northern Ireland," Peter Nonnenmacher writes. "Today, Northern Ireland presents itself as a community whose foundations are linked by an increasingly strong bond. There are still a couple of concerns. For example, how serious are Paisley and his supporters about their recent demand that the IRA dissolve itself completely? When will Northern Ireland finally be given control over its police force? And above all, the signs that Ireland's economic miracle and the "golden years" are drawing to an end are a source of concern in the UK. ... Perhaps the process will slow down, and setbacks are always a possibility. But no one here mourns the passing of a society that lived in hopeless self-destruction. Northern Ireland has moved on. The agreement has given its inhabitants a future. The peace can no longer be disrupted." (10/04/2008)

Neue Zürcher Zeitung - Switzerland

Martin Alioth is optimistic about Northern Ireland's peace process. According to him, in 1998 anything more that an ideological and denominational proportional representation would not have been possible. "Yet it's undisputable that the situation remains fundamentally disappointing. There's hardly any bloodshed and the neuralgic parades of the Orange order have lost their intensity, but the walls that divide Catholics from Protestants at the behest of the residents have grown stronger over the past ten years instead of shrinking. Encounters between members of the two religious communities across the denominational divide have become fewer rather than more frequent. The hope of a gradual process of self-healing within this society remain unfulfilled, and there's no sign of concrete aid because the peace was imposed from above rather than coming from the base." (10/04/2008)

The Irish Times - Ireland

The Irish daily devotes its lead editorial to commemorating the peace accord, writing that the 1998 document was a turning point in the long process of reconciliation. "The Belfast Agreement was a watershed in Ireland's political development. It embeds an ethos of mutual recognition, respect and toleration in inter-community and inter-state relations. It entrenches compulsory powersharing between competing parties and different national and community traditions. And it enables a specified yet dynamic process of North-South and East-West co-operation between the two states. These elements have been recognised around the world as a major contribution to the resolution of conflicts in deeply divided societies. Ireland has thereby benefited in numerous ways as a potential model for others." (10/04/2008)

» To the complete press review of Thursday, April 10, 2008

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