Shortly before the European Union summit in Brussels on Thursday, Ireland's Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, announced his resignation, citing personal and political reasons. According to him, the current government coalition will be able to succeed in next year's elections as well, but after long thought, he came to the conclusion that he is not the right leader to achieve this. His decision may also have been contributed by the fact that Ireland's ruling parties have recently seriously failed to hold two referendums they called for, the newspaper says. guardian.
In the early afternoon, Irish newspapers reported that Varadkar would resign, which the Prime Minister announced shortly afterwards at a press conference. Varadkar said here that with today's resignation, the next prime minister will have two months to prepare for local government and European Parliament elections, and it could take up to a year before next year's parliamentary elections. As he said, he believes the current government has good chances and this coalition will be best for Ireland.
At the same time, he added that there was a need for another leader to achieve the goals, because after seven years he no longer felt that he was best suited for the task. He also added that he wants to give his colleagues the best possible chance in the European Parliament elections, which he also believes requires a new prime minister. He also talked about how politicians are only human, that they also have their limits, and if they can no longer offer everything, they should move on.
Varadkar does not yet know what he will do next, but according to The Guardian, despite speculation that is likely to begin soon, it does not seem likely that he would have resigned for an influential EU position, as the most important one has already been earmarked. Foreign Minister Micheal Martin responded to the resignation by saying he believed the government should serve its full term, while the Sinn Féin leader said
The people must elect the new prime minister instead of Parliament, and he called for early elections.
It is not yet clear why Varadkar resigned, despite two referendums called by the ruling parties, as they wanted to update clauses on the family and women's role in the home of the constitution written in the first half of the 20th century under the rule. A strong Catholic influence may have played a role.
The referendums on the constitutional amendment ultimately ended disastrously, not only for the government coalition, but also for the opposition parties that supported it in the majority, both of which were rejected by an overwhelming majority. At the same time, this did not put any particular pressure on Varadkar, and there were no obvious internal tensions within the government, so it is difficult to say what might be behind this at the moment.
