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TAOISEACH Micheál Martin has said that President-elect Joe Biden will restore America’s relationship with the EU. He also expressed his hope to visit Washington DC for St. Patrick’s Day next year.
r Martin said it was “very, very disappointing” that outgoing President Donald Trump did not grant the November election. However, he believes that it will eventually give in and that American democracy is not threatened as a result.
Speaking at the pre-Christmas briefing for political journalists in government buildings this week, Martin said that a St. Patrick’s Day trip to Washington DC, the first like Taoiseach, would depend on the Covid-19 status in the US. ., Internationally and In Ireland.
“When I invited President Biden to Ireland, he said ‘just try to keep me out.’ I thought it was interesting. I look forward to meeting with President Biden. I met him before as vice president and when he was in foreign relations, ”he said.
“He has genuine affection for the country and is a multilateralist at heart. He wants to reestablish the relationship with the European Union. He made it very clear to me on the first day that he wants to rejoin the Paris Agreement, that he wants to join WHO again and that he is a friend of Ireland. In commercial terms, he wants nothing in the context of Brexit that undermines the Good Friday Agreement.
“I think it will be a very interesting year from a political perspective, in terms of re-establishing relations with Europe and hopefully the UK. Basically marrying the alliance between the United States, Europe and the United Kingdom, who after all, despite their differences, have common values in terms of democracy, freedom of expression and all that.
“Yes, I would love to be able to get to Washington DC on St. Patrick’s Day, but we will have to see where we are in terms of where Covid is.”
Martin suggested that Trump’s failure to budge was part of an agenda around the next U.S. presidential election in 2024, but said he believed he would eventually budge.
“It is very, very disappointing. I think it will concede. I think maybe there is an agenda going, a political agenda, regarding American politics and people are already thinking about the next election, in terms of the argumentation that is going on right now. But I do believe that in any democracy one should, of course, accept the election results, ”he said.
“It is important for the younger generation to see that the transfer of power is honorable and that it reflects the enduring nature of our parliamentary democracies.
“I think of our own government in 1932, when [Cumann na nGaedheal] they were in power and the smooth transition of Fianna Fáil, which people at the time perhaps thought would not have happened. That has been a very strong position in our system. I think it is an example for the young of the older generations that this should be the case, in relation to the transfer of power.
“We have great examples in democracies of losing candidate speeches. In the previous presidential elections everyone was very nice. They want to recognize the primacy of the ballot box, despite very close elections. I think that’s the spirit in which this should also be handled. But I really don’t think there is a danger to American democracy. “
When asked if he set a dangerous precedent that President Trump had not conceded, Martin said: “It is not a good precedent.”
Meanwhile, Martin said that he would be spending Christmas with his family at home, but that he could visit his in-laws on Valentine’s Day.
“Normally my twin brother would join us with his family, but we had decided even before the recent [restrictions] We weren’t going to do it this year. It’s interesting because they are a family bubble and so on … it’s just the family this year and that’s it.
“Maybe on Stephen’s Day we could go see my brother-in-law, but again, everything is very cautious now, right?”
Martin said he was looking forward to movies on Christmas Day.
“I hope someone shows Casablanca, that kind of thing, just a day off. I have too many books, they have sent me an interesting one in the mail about the invasion of Australia, the relationship between China and Australia, very interesting.
“Someone else sent me a large volume of [Thomas] Latest from Piketty [work] about capitalism, but I don’t think I’ll get over it over the Christmas holidays. “
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