Tag: Europe

UK-EU Post-Brexit Talks: There’s Just 30% Chance of Clinching Trade Deal, British Media Says

– September 4, 2020

In late July, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier blamed Britain for failing to show a “due level of engagement” in the post-Brexit trade talks between Brussels and London.

Senior UK government officials were quoted by The Times as saying on Friday that there is only 30% to 40% chance that Britain and the EU will conclude a trade agreement before the end of this year.

The officials pointed to the current impasse in the talks over state aid rules-related issues.

The British government has repeatedly refused to comply with state aid rules, insisting that Brexit’s essence stipulates the UK alone deciding its own regulations.

Also adding pessimism over the EU-UK trade deal is UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s recent proposal aimed at British fishermen doubling the volume of their catch from the country’s coastal waters.

Brussels responded by rejecting the proposal which it claimed would result in the loss of one in three fishing boats in Europe.

The British officials’ reported prediction comes a few weeks after EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier voiced his disappointment and concern about the latest round of post-Brexit talks between Brussels and London, saying that “the British negotiators have not shown any real willingness to move forward”.

Barnier added that in order to get a deal, Britain should come with “clear and constructive proposals” during the next round of talks scheduled for 7 September in London.

At the same time, the EU chief negotiator said that some progress on technical issues had been made during the talks which must be concluded to have the full legal text be ready by October.

The two sides currently remain at odds over the post-Brexit trade talks as Barnier and his UK counterpart David Frost blame each other for the stalemate.

https://sputniknews.com

Brexit: ‘Clock is ticking,’ warns EU’s Michel Barnier

DW – August 21, 2020

The EU’s chief post-Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier was left ‘disappointed’ at the slow pace of the trade negotiations about the UK’s exit from the European Union, while his UK counterpart David Frost said the EU made talks “unnecessarily difficult.”

“Those who were hoping for negotiations to move swiftly forward this week will have been disappointed,” said Barnier. “Unfortunately, I too am frankly disappointed and concerned.”

“The clock is ticking,” he warned.

Trade discussions between the EU and UK began after Britain officially left the bloc in January.

Both sides are pushing to have a deal in place by the end of a post-Brexit transition period that ends on December 31. The EU said this requires an agreement by October – in two months’ time.

If no deal is struck by then, trading relationships between the two sides will have to use minimum standards set by the World Trade Organization that will see tariffs raised.

“No progress whatsoever” had been made on fisheries, said Barnier. Fair competition rules were also proving to be a sticking point.

“Too often this week it felt as if we were going backwards rather than forwards,” said Barnier.

https://www.dw.com

Too Soon to Say Brexit Will Lead to EU Breakup But It’ll Have Huge Impact on Bloc’s Economy – Expert

Sputnik News – June 25, 2020

According to statements made public in the British press, the European Union is afraid of being left “fighting for its survival” if the UK secures a strong trade deal at the end of the Brexit transition.

The news follows tense negotiations between Britain and the EU over the level of trade relations they will have once the Brexit transition ends in December. Sputnik has spoken to political commentator Keith Rowe to give more insight into the matter.

Sputnik: How significant are these reported fears from Brussels that the EU will be left fighting for its survival if the UK secures a decent trade deal? What do they represent in your eyes?

Keith Rowe: When you say decent trade deal, do you mean a decent trade deal with the EU? Well, I would have thought that’s in the EU’s advantage if we get a decent trade deal. They want to keep us on side. We buy a lot of stuff, of all types, from the EU. It’s in their interests for us to have a deal.

The point is they wanted it to be as strongly biased in their favour as they can get and I think the British position is that we just want a straightforward, Canada++ style trade deal.

That’s in their best interests, I suspect that they won’t be able to agree with that and unless they really knock some heads together very, very quickly and realise that they’ve got to compromise strongly I suspect that, while it might be in their interests to have a good trade deal with the UK, that they won’t achieve one in time for us to leave. They might achieve one after, but they won’t achieve one in time for us to leave.

https://sputniknews.com

Brexit mastermind Nigel Farage is looking to repeat the impossible by helping Italy liberate itself from the EU’s shackles

RT – July 23, 2020

British politician Farage has been revealed as a behind-the-scenes figure in advising a new ‘Italexit’ party that will campaign for a return of Italy’s sovereignty, fuelled by a rising tide of anti-EU sentiment.

Just when you thought he’d been consigned to history, Mr. Brexit himself, Nigel Farage, is back. Only this time, he’s franchising out his brand to take another swing at the establishment.

Italexit is all systems go after publicly confirming its plan and Farage is on board. The leader of the party that was officially launched on Thursday, Gianluigi Paragone, is an Italian senator who was expelled from the Five Star Movement after refusing to vote in line with the party’s wishes.

Paragone is a charismatic speaker, has right-wing leanings and was formerly the editor of the nationalist party Northern League’s newspaper.

“I met Nigel Farage, leader of the Brexit Party in London, who triumphed in the British referendum by bringing the United Kingdom out of the European Union cage,” Paragone said earlier this week. “I confronted him on the present and future of a truly sovereign country which, even more so after Brexit, is able to give real answers to citizens.”

Even with a solid CV, Paragone is a mere rookie and Farage is the Grand Wizard. No one would dispute that without him, Brexit wouldn’t have happened. Farage drove the bus at top speed, crashing through any obstacle that got in his way. He’s often seen bobbing about in the English Channel documenting the illegal arrival of immigrants.

He beat the drum for national pride and escaped the clutches of EU bureaucrats. His rivals brand him racist, heartless, and arrogant.

What maybe isn’t so widely known is that Farage was the classic Trojan Horse. He had been a member of the European Parliament since 1999. The reason he lost his seat?

https://www.rt.com

Goodbye to EU: Finnish MEP Predicts Bloc’s Collapse as Brussels Eyes More Power Over Member States

Sputnik News – July 11, 2020

Predictions about the end of the European project have long been bandied about in the corridors of power and in newspaper columns. However, one Finnish MEP has joined the long list of those making the claim that the end may be on the horizon.

The European Union is on track to “inevitably” collapse due to increasing concerns over the bloc’s plan to further centralise power in Brussels, a Finnish MEP has told The Express.

Laura Huhtasaari, an MEP for the Finns Party and a well-known Eurosceptic in her country, has said that the EU’s continued attempts to bring member states under the command of Brussels, and to increasingly concentrate law-making powers there, will result in the union’s demise.

Referring to what she says is the inescapable end of the EU, the Finnish MEP said, “I think it’s inevitable that it will collapse, but probably not right now.”

“I want my country back, I want to get out of the EU. I don’t want to be part of this new Soviet Union-like union. I definitely want to be an independent state, doing a free trade agreement and other kinds of loose operations,” Ms. Huhtasaari added.

https://sputniknews.com

U.N. Chief Guterres Calls for One Supreme Body of ‘Global Governance’

Simon Kent – June 26, 2020

The world needs an overarching level of multilateral governance that can sideline problematic “national interests” U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Thursday, as he lamented existing U.N. instruments such as the Security Council have teeth but “show little or no appetite to bite.”

As the world body on Friday commemorates the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the U.N. Charter, the founding instrument of the globalist organisation, Guterres said there is a need to “re-imagine the way nations cooperate.”

“We need a networked multilateralism, bringing together the U.N. system, regional organisations, international financial institutions and others. And we need an inclusive multilateralism, drawing on the indispensable contributions of civil society, business, cities, regions and, in particular, with greater weight given to the voices of youth,” Guterres said at a virtual press conference Thursday.

He claimed in the 21st century, governments are no longer the only political and power reality, adding “we need an effective multilateralism that can function as an instrument of global governance where it is needed.”

https://www.breitbart.com

Some nations said gearing up to recognize Palestine if annexation goes ahead

TOI staff – June 10,2020

Palestinian and European officials have indicated some countries could retaliate for unilateral Israeli annexation of sections of the West Bank by recognizing a Palestinian state and sanctioning Israel, Hebrew media outlets reported Wednesday.

Quoting unnamed Palestinian officials, Kan TV news reported that several European countries, among them Ireland, have said they will recognize a Palestinian state if Israel extends sovereignty over areas designated for it under US President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

The report said the Palestinian Authority was also querying the positions of France, Spain, Luxembourg, Portugal and Belgium. A committee in the latter’s lower house of parliament passed a resolution Wednesday calling on the government to recognize a Palestinian state. That resolution is slated to be debated in the full chamber in the next 15 days.

Meanwhile, during meetings with Israeli leaders Wednesday, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas was said to issue similar warnings.

According to reports in Haaretz and Walla news, Maas warned that while Germany was unlikely to take punitive measures against Israel if it moves forward with annexation, other countries could impose sanctions or recognize a Palestinian state.

Maas, who held separate meetings during a quick visit to Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and Defense Minister Benny Gantz, told them some countries in the European Union were pushing to sanction Israel if annexation moves forward, the reports said.

https://www.timesofisrael.com

George Soros: Germany’s ECB Ruling May Spell ‘the End of the EU as We Know It’

Sputnik News – May 12, 2020

Germany’s Constitutional Court ruled last week that the eurozone’s central bank had overstepped its mandate when purchasing government debt under its quantitative easing (QE) programme and threatened to block new purchases of German bonds by the bank.

Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros has predicted that the ripening institutional showdown in the EU may bring about an end to the union as we know it.

“I am particularly concerned about the survival of the EU because it is an incomplete union,” Soros said in an interview with the Independent.

He added that the EU’s creation process was never completed, and that makes Europe “exceptionally vulnerable – more vulnerable than the US not just because it is an incomplete union but also because it is based on the rule of law. And the wheels of justice move very slowly, while threats such as the Covid-19 virus move very fast.”

The 89-year-old investor expressed grave concern over Germany’s Constitutional Court, which last week challenged the European Central Bank’s mass government debt-buying programme and gave the bank a three-month ultimatum to justify the proportionality of its bond purchases or risk losing the Bundesbank as a participant.

The European Commission in response threatened to sue Germany, although EU officials said on Monday that immediate legal action against Berlin is unlikely.

https://sputniknews.com

German Military Spending Up by Double Digits as World Total Hits Highest Level Since Cold War

Sputnik News – April 27, 2020

The Trump administration has repeatedly pressured Berlin to ramp up its military spending, threatening to pull troops out of the country and station them in Poland if the country doesn’t meet NATO’s 2 percent of GDP spending guidelines.

German defence spending jumped upward by a whopping 10 percent between 2018 and 2019, with the country’s military budget rising faster than that of any other major power, new figures by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) suggest.

According to the think tank’s figures, Berlin’s defence commitments, which reached the equivalent of $49.3 billion in 2019, grew faster than any of the world’s top 15 countries by total military expenditures.

The spending increase comes amid US President Donald Trump’s repeated berating of Germany and other European NATO members over their failure to meet the 2 percent of GDP military spending goal set at the alliance’s 2014 summit in Wales. Washington has repeatedly singled out German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her failure to increase defence commitments, even though Germany is one of 19 alliance members that failed to meet the spending requirements.

Germany has already committed some €45 billion (about $50 billion) on defence in 2020, increasing spending from 1.23 percent of GDP on defence in 2018 to 1.38 percent this year. Merkel also promised to increase Berlin’s defence outlays to 1.5 percent of GDP by 2023, and to 2 percent by 2031.

https://sputniknews.com

Iran Warns Germany of ‘Consequences’ for Total Ban on Hezbollah

Simon Kent – May 1, 2020

Germany’s total ban on Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorist organization drew a swift response Friday from Iran, with the Islamic republic saying “consequences” would follow.

As Breitbart News reported, Hezbollah was labeled a “Shiite terrorist organisation” with dozens of police and special forces storming mosques and associations across Germany linked to the terror group.

German political support followed swiftly.

Hezbollah activities “violate criminal law and the organization opposes the concept of international understanding,” German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said in announcing the move.

“Hezbollah denies Israel’s right to exist, threatens violence and terror and continues to massively upgrade its rocket arsenal,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Twitter. “We in Germany must exhaust the means of the rule of law to take action against the criminal and terrorist activities of Hezbollah.”

The German crackdown on Hezbollah means its flags are banned at all demonstrations and meetings across the country. Berlin’s municipal government already bans Hezbollah symbols and flags at demonstrations.

Germany, like most of Europe, has until now dragged its feet in outlawing both the military and political arms of the Lebanon-based group to protect relations with Beirut and Tehran.

The U.S., UK, Netherlands and Israel designates the anti-Israel group in its entirety a terror organization.

https://www.breitbart.com