A ceremony to mark the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement is organised during the plenary session in the European Parliament, in Brussels. The GFA, also known as the Belfast Agreement, was signed on 10 April 1998 by the British and Irish governments, and confirmed by referendums in Ireland and Northern Ireland in May the same year. The agreement established devolved political power-sharing structures for the nationalist and unionist communities in Northern Ireland, and brought the 30-year period of violent conflict in Northern Ireland, known as The Troubles, to an end.

Brussels

statement

EU - United Kingdom (T)

plenary session

ceremony

METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

MICHEL, Charles (BE)

EU - Ireland (T)

peace process in Northern Ireland (T)

VON DER LEYEN, Ursula (DE, EC)

Celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement: extracts

Title: Celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement: extracts from the ceremony 

Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, and Maros SEFCOVIC, vice-president of the European Commission

Charles MICHEL, President of the Euroepan Council salutes Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, and Maros SEFCOVIC, vice-president of the European Commission (2 shots)

Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission and Lindsay CROISDALE-APPLEBY, British Ambassdor to the EU

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, There are few examples in European history of a people's peace agreement, such as the 1998 Belfast Good Friday Agreement brokered by the people of all of Northern Ireland, aided by the governments of the United Kingdom and Ireland and supported by the European Union and the United States of America, endorsed by people on both parts of the Island of Ireland agreeing to lift borders that divided communities defended by the people during post-Brexit uncertainty when the importance of the agreement became even more relevant.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, Nobel Peace Prize laureate John HUME said in this House, and as we just heard in the video, "we all have to learn", is what people of Europe learned. Difference is not something we should be engaged in conflict about. It is something we should respect. Europe is a place of reconciliation where everyone's voice counts and this European Parliament is a place where the peoples of Europe have come together. Setting aside past resentment to talk and to listen.

SOUNDBITE (English), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, The EU was crucial to reach the Good Friday Agreement and has been essential to ensure its survival throughout all these years. In fact, the Good Friday Agreement also it was much another major moment in history. 41 years earlier, the Treaty of from the Founding Treaty of our European Union, despite the tragedy of World War Two, to build up a spirit that unites and to draw down borders that divide peace in Ireland and European integration are staged in the same ideal, exploiting the richness of diversity rather than stirring division.

SOUNDBITE (English), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, The Good Friday agreement is also an important reminder that we are all capable of feelings to emotion and connection to more than one nation. This is not something to feel multiple identities are part of human nature and you should keep this in mind across the regions that are on their own journeys of peace, conciliation and cooperation within a big European family.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula von der LEYEN, President of the European Commission, The Good Friday Belfast Agreement not only ended 30 years of the Troubles, it also opened a new era of cooperation. As the first line of the agreement says it is, and I quote, the opportunity for a new beginning. End of quote, for the two communities and the two islands. And it was indeed a new beginning in these 25 years. Northern Ireland has taken giant steps forward also thanks to its European support. Checkpoints have been replaced with sport venues and schools. Just recently, a wall was torn down in West Belfast to make room for an EU funded community centre. Of course, many other walls still stand. Not all wounds have healed while a peace deal can be signed with a stroke of a pen, reconciliation is always the work of generations.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula von der LEYEN, President of the European Commission, Peace and prosperity must be re one day after day, generation after generation. So today, we don't just gather for commemoration, but for a new commitment to keep working for reconciliation in Northern Ireland in spite of all setbacks for the next 25 years and way beyond, the UK may have left our union. But peace remains the European promise. Long live Europe.