Премьер-министр Ирландии Лео Варадкар объявил о своей отставке с поста лидера правящей партии. После избрания нового лидера партии Финэ Гэл он оставит и должность главы правительства.
While speaking in Dublin, Varadkar clarified that he is stepping down as the leader of Fine Gael effectively immediately. He will continue to lead the government until the party selects a new leader, which he believes should not take much time. Varadkar expects a new prime minister to be in place after the parliamentary recess, which ends after Easter (March 31) and before the party conference set for April 16.
The new prime minister and leader of Fine Gael will have up to a year to try to win the next election.
Varadkar himself stated that he has no personal or political plans going forward.
«After careful consideration and introspection, I believe that a new prime minister and new party leader will be better prepared than me to achieve [government re-election], refresh and strengthen the team, focus our message and policy, and advance its implementation. After seven years in office, I no longer feel like the best person for such a job,» Varadkar said.
Varadkar first became leader of both the party and the government in 2017, becoming the youngest Taoiseach in the history of the Irish Republic. He held the position until 2020 and then became Taoiseach again in 2022.
In 2015, shortly before the referendum on constitutional amendments legalizing same-sex marriage (which was successfully passed), Varadkar, who was then a minister in the government, came out as gay, becoming the first active minister in the country to openly acknowledge his sexual orientation.
During Varadkar’s tenure as Taoiseach, Ireland strongly supported Ukraine in its confrontation with Russian aggression; Varadkar himself visited Ukraine. A country with a population of just over 5 million people, Ireland also accepted, as Varadkar noted, over 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.
Ireland is a member of the European Union, but not NATO. Varadkar has stated that Dublin senses a growing external threat, but has no plans to join the alliance for now.
