Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, compared the Russian invasion of Ukraine to Ireland’s “right to exist” as an independent country from Britain on Thursday, December 1st. Her statement was made in an address to both houses of the Irish Parliament to commemorate Ireland’s 50 years of membership in the European Union (EU).
In her speech von der Leyen praised
the Irish passion for freedom. This country knows what it means to struggle for the right to exist. Today, another European nation is fighting for independence. Of course, Ireland is far away from the front line in Ukraine. But you understand better than most why this war matters so much to all of us. Just like our friends in Eastern Europe, you know that in Ukraine there is more at stake than the future of one country alone. Ukraine is fighting for freedom itself; for self-rule; for the rules-based global order.
British Conservatives are furious at what they see as a major diplomatic blunder and another excuse to attack Britain. It also infuriated the Northern Irish who, through the EU-negotiated Northern Ireland Protocol, are still a part of the Single Market so exports from mainland Britain are subject to checks and tariffs as if it were from a foreign country. Further, with Sein Fein now the largest party in Northern Ireland, her words were seen as dangerously inflammatory. Many saw it as a deliberate ploy to politically undermine Britain, which has been among the most ardent supporters of Ukraine.
Former Brexit minister David Jones of the Eurosceptic European Research Group (ERG) warned:
It is extremely worrying that President Von Der Leyen should make such a statement, apparently without considering the potential consequences.
The Belfast Good Friday agreement was hard won. It has preserved the peace for almost 25 years. It would be easy to destabilise it.
The last thing the people of Northern Ireland need is to hear unwise, provocative comments such as this.
Jones told The Telegraph:
It would be easy to laugh off von der Leyen’s statement as just another EU presidential faux pas, in the finest traditions of Jean-Claude Juncker.
However, this is a much more serious gaffe. The Northern Ireland peace process is a fragile creature, and it is hard to think of anything more provocative than to compare the Irish context with that of Ukraine, whose brave people are resisting the unwarranted aggression of Putin’s Russia.
Someone in the Commission should take her gently aside and point out that ill-considered words can have the most devastating consequences.
Craig Mackinlay, also of the ERG said,
Ursula von der Leyen’s comparison is beyond disgusting. Britain outside the EU has led the international coalition against Russia. The UK and Ireland had a tetchy relationship in the early years, but it was settled through negotiation and treaty. It seems that UK bashing is alive and well in Brussels.
Former business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg commented,
It is an extraordinary thing for Ursula von der Leyen to say, undiplomatic, unwise and wrong. It shows she is not entirely aware of the historic circumstances.
And it shows ignorance of the UK’s relations with Ireland and a tragic failure to understand the depths of the wickedness of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine which has led to the slaughter of innocent people.
Baroness Hoey, a Northern Irish politician who supported Brexit, said:
Her words show the clear EU bias for the Republic of Ireland and her ignorance about the Belfast /Good Friday Agreement.
She may not have directly mentioned the IRA but she did not condemn terrorists who killed so many innocent Protestant and Catholic people in Northern Ireland all in the name of Irish freedom. How dare she equate their violence with the struggle of the Ukrainian people against Putin.
After 30 years of Irish Catholic and British Protestant sectarian violence, ended by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, some need to choose their words with more care.
