Between a rock and a hard place. The Irish tricolor is flanked by the Union Flag and European Union Flag.
PHOTOCALL
By Evan Short
Unionists in Northern Ireland will have two unions to consider in the next few years.
The European Union has given a commitment that the post-Brexit North could rejoin the EU - but as part of a reunited Ireland.
It took EU leaders just one minute to back tough guidelines for negotiations with Britain during a summit in Brussels, with Taoiseach Enda Kenny saying he was pleased with the outcome.
Kenny described as hugely important the statement that if Northern Ireland in the future votes to re-unite with the Republic, it would automatically become part of the EU.
“The only new thing here is Brexit, and we need to ensure it doesn’t undermine the Good Friday Agreement,” said the taoiseach.
“This is not about triggering any mechanism. I have been consistent in my view that the conditions for a referendum do not currently exist,” he said in reference to unity in the near term.
The declaration on Ireland reads: “The European Council acknowledge that the Good Friday Agreement expressly provides for an agreed mechanism whereby a united Ireland may be brought about through peaceful and democratic means.
“In this regard, the European Council acknowledges that, in accordance with international law, the entire territory of such a united Ireland would thus be part of the European Union.”
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood also welcomed the declaration.
“Theresa May and the Tories may have demonstrated a tin ear to the discordant voices in Northern Ireland and Scotland, but it’s clear that we have strong friends in the European Union,” Eastwood said.
“As the tectonic plates of our constitutional landscape, in Ireland, Britain and Europe, continue to shift, we should look to the Good Friday Agreement as an anchor of stability.
“An endorsement of the principle of consent and the path to re-entry to the European Union as part of a united Ireland by EU leaders would give further weight to that anchor.”
The new twist on the long running issue of Irish reunification generated considerable international coverage, including a front page report in the Financial Times.
In July of last year, just days after the Brexit referendum in the UK, Enda Kenny stated that “the EU needs to prepare for a united Ireland.”
The bloc’s leaders evidently paid attention.
