The European Union has given a firm commitment to the Irish government that if Northern Ireland reunites with the Irish Republic the united country would immediately be admitted to the European Union despite Brexit.

Currently Northern Ireland is part of the UK and will be outside the EU when Brexit takes effect.

However, a majority of voters in the North opposed Brexit in the 2016 referendum and the region faces a difficult scenario with possible physical land borders reinstituted when Brexit is in effect as well as the loss of critical EU subsidies for agriculture and infrastructure.

The commitment by the EU to accept a united Ireland is a huge victory for the Irish government and creates a new opportunity for Irish nationalists to push a new incentive for a united Ireland which would bring along with it the benefit of EU membership.

The European Union agreement was based on two factors, the Good Friday Agreement which allows for a vote on a united Ireland at a future date and West Germany’s ability to bring East Germany into the EU when the country was reunited.

EU leaders promised the issue of Northern Ireland and access to the EU “will remain of paramount importance” in the talks on the terms for Brexit.

Irish leader Enda Kenny welcomed the new commitment.”The new thing here is Brexit and it is important to provide reassurance that it does not undermine any provision of the Good Friday Agreement and that if the provision on unity by peaceful means and by consent and democratic means is invoked at some time in the future EU membership is assured and it is now unanimously accepted by the European Council to endorse that legal base.” he stated.

He did add, however, he felt the time was not right to hold a referendum on a united Ireland. “This is not about triggering any mechanism; I have been consistent in my view that the conditions for a referendum do not currently exist,” Mr Kenny said

He stated that the British government also accepted if a vote for reunification happened that membership of the EU for the new entity would be carpeted.

David Davis, the UK’s Brexit secretary, had acknowledged that Northern Ireland would rejoin the EU in the event of a vote for Irish unity.

“In that event, Northern Ireland would be in a position of becoming part of an existing EU member state, rather than seeking to join the EU as a new independent state,” Davis said in a letter to Mark Durkan of the nationalist SDLP. “It would of course be for the EU Commission to respond to any specific questions about the procedural requirements for that to happen,” Davis added.

Brexit strangely enough has reinvigorated discussion about a united Ireland. The recent assembly elections in the North for the first time did not result in a unionist majority vote and demographic trends mean that in the not too distant future there will be a nationalist majority though without agreement from a large percentage of unionism it would be very difficult to bring unity about peacefully.</s>Thousands participate in pro-EU, anti-Russia march

Christian Keszthelyi

The recently formed Momentum Mozgalom (Momentum Movement) held a pro-EU, anti-Russia march attended by thousands in Budapest during yesterdayʼs May 1 national holiday, which was also the 13th anniversary of Hungary joining the EU. Momentum has announced it will run as a political party in the 2018 general election.

(Photo: MTI / Zoltán Balogh)

Momentum — which surfaced five months ago with its successful signature collection campaign for a referendum on Budapest’s since abandoned Olympics bid — promised to publish its program by October 15, and to run in the elections to be held next year, Hungarian online news portal index.hu reported.

According to on-field reports, the May 1 march was quiet and peaceful, except for occasional chanting of pro-EU and anti-Russia and anti-governing Fidesz party slogans. Estimates said thousands of people marched through Andrássy út to Hősök tere (Heroes’ square), where leaders of Momentum gave speeches.

Momentum speakers condemned the government’s “Stop Brussels” national consultation campaign as “hate-mongering”. Momentum’s Tamás Soproni said he was “angered” about the campaign and the government. He said he believes that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wants to “link Hungary to Russia”, and it is all politicians’ joint responsibility to prevent this from happening.

Edina Potyondy stressed during her speech that Hungary has developed in the past 13 years thanks to funds from the EU, while Orbán and Fidesz “act as teenegers: If anything happens there is somebody else to blame, but pocket money comes good anytime”, according to index.hu. She called on to all the Hungarian youth studying abroad to come home and help “kickstart” Hungary.

András Fekete-Győr, the president of Momentum, said that while Orbán “wants to stop Brussels”, his new party would like to “kickstart Hungary and catch up with Brussels”. He added that Orbán wants to “close down the country and undermine the press because he is afraid that his incompetence will be revealed and that development [in the country] is not due to him”, index.hu reported.</s>Thousands of Hungarians rallied in Budapest Monday, chanting “Europe, not Moscow” in support of the EU and against Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whom protesters said is too close to Russia.

Orbán has been accused by opponents of cosying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has visited Budapest twice in the last three years.

Carrying EU flags, the anti-Moscow slogans rang out among the crowd, estimated by local media at 10,000, as they passed the Russian embassy.

Thousands marching for democracy and against Orban regime in Budapest #Hungary pic.twitter.com/4TPqXJSjJX — Lili Bayer (@liliebayer) May 1, 2017

Orbán signed a controversial loan deal with Putin in 2014 to finance the expansion of Hungary’s only nuclear facility.

Hungary's Orbán: We'll choose our own path with Russia Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, seen by some in Brussels and Washington as cosying up to the Kremlin, said his country would not be forced to pick one side or another in a Cold War-style standoff in Europe.

The same year, the Hungarian leader also said that rather than liberal democracy he favoured building an “illiberal state” and praised Russia as a model.

Trócsányi: 'There are different interpretations of democracy' Critics of Hungary “lack objectivity” and it is a “fantasy” to say the press is not free in this country, said László Trócsányi, Hungary’s Minister of Justice. The Orbán loyalist maintains that democracy can exist in both neo-liberal and “more conservative” contexts. He spoke to Georgi Gotev for EURACTIV France.

Rights groups say Orbán has copied some of Putin’s methods by clamping down on independent institutions, NGOs and press freedoms.

“In Hungary, a system of fear is being built on the Russian model,” the rally’s organisers Momentum, a political party formed by young activists, said before the march began.

Momentum was set up in March after a signature drive it organised forced Orbán to drop Budapest’s bid to host the Olympics in 2024.</s>A demonstration with the slogan “We belong to Europe”, organised by the Momentum Movement, was held in the capital on Monday evening, on the 13th anniversary of Hungary’s EU accession.

Momentum Movement leader András Fekete-Győr told the crowd assembled in Heroes’ Square that his party would run in the 2018 general election. He said the party would announce its election programme on October 15.

Fekete-Győr said that over the coming year Momentum would do everything it can to “tear down the regime of fear”.</s>Thousands of Hungarians have marched across central Budapest in a show of support for the European Union, protesting against what a new political movement sees as a creeping rise in Russian influence under prime minister Viktor Orbán.

The rally follows a series of major demonstrations in Budapest in recent weeks, triggered by a new law that would drive out of Hungary a top university founded by US financier George Soros.

Momentum, an upstart political movement that called for Monday’s rally dubbed “We belong to Europe,” announced it would run at a parliamentary election next April.

“Healthcare, education, [public] transportation are failing,” András Fekete-Győr, the Momentum leader, told demonstrators. “We struggle to make things work every day.”

Fekete-Győr added that the group would unveil its election manifesto in October.

The group gained national prominence with a referendum campaign that torpedoed Orbán’s bid for Budapest to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Orbán, a former critic of Moscow, changed tack after returning to power in a 2010 landslide. In a key speech, he called for transforming Hungary into an “illiberal state,” citing Russia and Turkey as templates for success.

He still holds a firm lead in opinion polls. But on Saturday he told leaders of his centre-right EU political group he would comply with demands from Brussels to change measures branded an attack on academic freedom.

“Viktor Orbán’s performance at the European parliament has shown that it is not only Hungarians who are tired of Orbán and his Fidesz party,” said Daniel Kiss, a 23-year-old university student, who carried EU flags at the rally with his girlfriend.

“He blasts the EU, but at the same time we need European money to stay afloat,” he said. “We have had enough.”

Orbán has said Hungary should remain a member of the EU, but is also seeking reforms and wants to avoid a further loss of national sovereignty.

In the past seven years, Orbán has eliminated checks on his power by taking control of the public media, curbing the powers of the constitutional court, and placing loyalists in top positions at public institutions.

But Orbán’s unorthodox fiscal stabilisation measures have slashed the budget deficit, sent unemployment to record lows and Budapest forecasts economic growth above 4% this year and next, which would be the fastest rates since Orbán took power.

Despite the street protests, the fragmented Hungarian opposition so far looks unable to mount a serious challenge.

A survey in April by thinktank Zavecz Research put support for Orbán’s Fidesz party at 27% of voters. The Socialist party scored 13%, the nationalist Jobbik 11% and Momentum just 2%.

Even some protesters, like 26-year-old Bence, who wore a mask of Vladimir Putin on the back of his head, were sceptical of a breakthrough next April.

“In such an election system, even Momentum or some other smaller opposition party getting into parliament would be a big deal,” he said. “But that is just what this is all about.”</s>Youth movement Momentum led a march of a few thousand from Szabadság tér (Freedom Square) to Heroes’ Square on Monday night, culminating in a rally where the group’s leaders declared that “there is one year, there is hope” for change in the 2018 parliamentary elections.

The demonstration focused heavily on Russian influence in Hungary, with the crowd chanting anti-Kremlin slogans and organizers handing out “Let’s Stop Moscow” and “Let’s Stop Orbán” stickers. As protesters marched along Andrassy boulevard, passing the Russian embassy compound—which was surrounded by lines of riot police—demonstrators booed and shouted.

“I’ve heard enough nightmare stories from my parents, I don’t want Orbán and Putin to bring back that world,” Momentum activist Tamás Soproni told the crowd on Heroes’ Square. Soproni referred directly to Russian intelligence activities on Hungarian territory, as well as alleged secret deals surrounding the Paks nuclear power plant and the appearance of a Chechen who recently threatened a Hungarian activist. He also criticized the Hungarian government for formally deeming Russia not to be a threat to Hungary.

András Fekete-Győr, Momentum’s leader, also highlighted the Russian threat, but focused most of his speech on the need to combat fear in Hungarian society.

“Orbán creates fear because he is afraid… most of all he is afraid of us, people,” Fekete-Győr told the protesters. Urging the crowd to put aside differences, he pledged that Momentum will help those who fear losing their jobs or facing other kinds of retribution for speaking out against the Orbán government. “We will protect you,” he said.

The protest displayed signs of a high level of organization, with activists carrying Momentum flags and the stage lighting even matching the movement’s color, purple.

But despite the relatively high turnout and professional-style organization, the movement’s precise ideological direction and policy aspirations remain unclear. While Momentum’s leader introduced his speech by saying that he will now explain what must be done over the next year, no concrete policy ideas were mentioned. According to Fekete-Győr, Momentum will continue travelling around the country to hold a “real consultation”, and plans to present its policy agenda in the fall.

Following the end of the formal protest, a group of several hundred demonstrators moved toward the nearby headquarters of ruling party Fidesz, and from there marched to the city center, and as in several recent protests, occupied Oktogon intersection. As of 10:20pm local time, protesters were still in the streets of central Budapest.

Budapest police are now implementing a strategy of targeting street protesters who display leadership. While protesters walking on Andrássy and occupying Oktogon are not detained, protesters who try to direct the crowd—for example by calling out a new location where protesters should head—are targeted. A young man who called out “Oktogon” repeatedly on a megaphone was pulled aside and asked to present identification papers.

The Momentum-led protest notably did not formally include any other political parties or movements. Earlier in the day, the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) and the Democratic Coalition (DK) each held its own event in City Park, a May 1 tradition. Momentum plans to run as a political party in next year’s election.</s>* Move comes days before EU summit due to address migrant crisis

* Italy says ships rescued 3,700 in just two days

By Alastair Macdonald and Krisztina Than

BRUSSELS/BUDAPEST, June 23 In a challenge to European leaders before a summit that aims to tackle a refugee crisis, Hungary unilaterally suspended an EU asylum programme on Tuesday, saying it was overburdened by illegal migrants.

As Italy said its ships had rescued 3,700 migrants at sea since Monday and Libyans threatened military action against EU moves to curb human trafficking, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government demonstrated Budapest's frustration with proposals to spread asylum seekers around the continent by refusing to take any more migrants sent there under EU regulations.

With EU leaders due to debate a new scheme on Thursday to relocate Mediterranean migrants landing in Italy and Greece, the European Commission demanded an immediate explanation after Hungary stopped accepting foreigners returned there from other EU states for their asylum requests to be handled by Budapest.

The move, made by a government already at odds with Brussels over civil rights, was seen as a challenge to the Dublin Regulations which state that asylum claims be handled in the EU country where migrants first arrive or first request protection.

The issue has this month sparked a row between founder EU members Italy and France after Paris began stopping suspected illegal migrants at their normally open border.

Hungarian officials have said an EU plan to relieve the strain on Italy and Greece fails to recognise their own problem with some 60,000 migrants who have crossed Hungary's EU land borders, mostly from non-EU Serbia. Orban has said a Commission proposal to force states to take a quota "borders on insanity."

A government spokesman said on Tuesday: "Hungary's asylum system is overburdened, the most overburdened among EU member states affected by illegal immigration."

EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos spoke to Hungarian officials late on Tuesday, seeking an explanation of a move the Commission said Budapest described as "technical."

"As the Dublin rules do not foresee the suspension of transfers by the receiving member states, the Commission has asked Hungary for immediate clarification on the nature and extent of the technical failure, and on the measures taken to remedy the situation," a Commission spokeswoman said.

The Hungarian government said in a statement: "Hungary has used up the capacities at its disposal."

"The situation requires fast action; in this escalated situation Hungary needs to take a move ahead of EU decisions," it said.

Hungary last week announced plans to build a fence along its border with Serbia to stem the flow of migrants from the Middle East and Africa who enter Europe through the Balkans. Most eventually move on to wealthier Western Europe.

Meanwhile, neighbouring Austria said it was pushing to resolve the latest problem with Hungary.

Facing a growing crisis as hundreds of thousands of people every year risk their lives to flee civil war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa, European leaders were pushed into action after some 800 people drowned on a single boat in April.

But the 28 member states of the EU, whose leaders will meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, are divided on a plan from the EU executive to oblige them to take a share of 24,000 Syrians and Eritreans now in Italy and 16,000 from Greece. Diplomats say they may compromise by accepting such numbers on a voluntary basis.

With voters increasingly hostile to immigration as the bloc continues to struggle with economic malaise that has pushed Greece to the point of bankruptcy, the Dublin system dating from the 1990s is widely viewed as deeply flawed.

There is little consensus on how to address the problem in the short term, but longer-term responses - such as boosting aid, discouraging economic migrants in Africa and accelerating the return of failed asylum seekers - are on the summit agenda.

On Monday, EU foreign ministers agreed a naval operation to combat people-traffickers who have carried thousands of migrants on perilous journeys across the Mediterranean.

But the air force commander of Libya's internationally-recognised government warned that any vessels entering Libyan waters without permission faced air strikes.

"Any vessel found in Libyan waters without previous cooperation or permission will be targeted by the air force," Saqr Al-Jaroushi told Reuters. His administration is one of two rival governments battling for control following the Western-backed overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi four years ago.

The self-declared National Salvation government, set up last summer when an armed faction called Libya Dawn took over the capital, has also expressed its "deep concern" over the EU plan.

The EU naval initiative will be limited to intelligence-gathering for now using submarines, warships, drones and helicopters because it has yet to obtain the United Nations' authorisation for a wider scope of operations. An initial plan was to disrupt the traffickers' business and to capture and destroy their ships, possibly even in Libyan waters.

Ships patrolling the Mediterranean have plucked more than 3,700 migrants from overcrowded and unsafe boats in the last two days alone, Italy's coast guard said on Tuesday.

Italy estimates 60,000 people have made it across so far this year while the U.N. says almost 2,000 have died in the attempt. (Additional reporting by Shadia Nasralla in Vienna; Writing by Alastair Macdonald)</s>Hungary's 10 billion euro ($10.6 billion) plan to expand its Soviet-era Paks nuclear power plant in a deal with Russia has hit an objection in the European Commission that may oblige Budapest to revise the terms, EU sources said on Thursday.

Confirming a report in Friday's Financial Times (on.ft.com/1EDM5FZ), one diplomat said objections by the EU's nuclear fuel purchasing agency Euratom against a plan for Moscow to supply fuel to new reactors at the Paks facility had been upheld by the commission. Hungary may have to review the deal.

A government spokesman in Budapest, Zoltan Kovacs, denied that the EU executive had "blocked" the expansion of Paks. Sources in Brussels said the deal agreed a year ago, which has raised concerns about Hungary's ties to a Russia increasingly hostile to the European Union, could still be modified.

Benedek Javor, a Hungarian member of the Greens bloc in the European Parliament who has opposed the deal, told Reuters the EU objection was to a fuel supply contract signed with Russia.

The European Commission and Euratom had no immediate comment.</s>Thousands of protesters in Hungary rejected the government's growing ties to Russia on Sunday, the 13th anniversary of Hungary's European Union membership.

Participants marched through downtown Budapest carrying Hungarian and European flags, shouting "Europe! Europe!" and reciting slogans against Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government. The Momentum Movement, a new political party, organized the event.

Orban is "driving the nation toward Moscow," party chairman Andras Fekete-Gyor said. "Instead of the rich, modern and free Europe, he sets the poor, oppressed and underdeveloped Russia as the example for our country."

In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Hungary for the second time in two years. Critics say a draft law seen designed to stigmatize and intimidate civic groups that receive foreign funding is similar to a law Russia already has.

Moscow is also expanding Hungary's Soviet-built nuclear power plant while loaning Hungary 10 billion euros ($10.9 billion), about 80 percent of the project's cost. Hungary already depends on Russia for much of its imported oil and gas.

Fekete-Gyor also criticized the Hungarian government's "Let's Stop Brussels" campaign, which claims among other things that the EU wants Hungary to raise energy prices and take in potentially large numbers of illegal migrants.

The protest was the latest against Orban's government in recent weeks.

Previous demonstrations have been held over the new requirements for NGOs that receive foreign funding and against amendments to the country's higher education law that could lead to the move or closure of Budapest's Central European University.

The European Union, the Council of Europe, as well as the European People's Party to which Orban's Fidesz party belongs, have called on the government to stick to European rules and suspend or modify the both laws.

"The constant attacks on Europe, which Fidesz has launched for years, have reached a level we cannot tolerate," EPP president Joseph Daul said after meeting Orban in Brussels on Saturday.

Despite the protests, one of which attracted some 70,000 people, Fidesz retains a large lead in opinion polls one year ahead of the next parliamentary election.</s>Thousands of Hungarians marched across central Budapest on May 1 in a show of support for the European Union, protesting against what they described as a rise in Russian influence under Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The rally follows a series of major demonstrations in Budapest in recent weeks, triggered by a new law inspired by Russia that would drive out of Hungary a top university founded by U.S. financier George Soros.

Momentum, an upstart political movement, called for the May Day rally, where an estimated 10,000 protesters chanted "Europe, not Moscow" as they passed the Russian Embassy. It announced it would run candidates in parliamentary elections next April.

Orban is "driving the nation toward Moscow," party chairman Andras Fekete-Gyor said. "Instead of the rich, modern and free Europe, he sets the poor, oppressed, and underdeveloped Russia as the example for our country."

The group gained national prominence with a campaign that torpedoed Orban's bid for Budapest to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Orban, a former critic of Moscow, changed tack after returning to power in a 2010 landslide. In a key speech, he called for transforming Hungary into an "illiberal state," citing Russia and Turkey as templates for success.

Based on reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters
The Momentum Movement holds a pro-EU, anti-Russia march attended by approximately 10,000 in Budapest, Hungary, chanting “Europe, not Moscow” in support of the EU and against Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.