Category Archives: European Union

Covid vaccinations: slow start around world brings dose of reality

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Burst of optimism over approvals has been followed by delays, shortages and bureaucratic errors

The global introduction of newly approved coronavirus vaccines has been marked by delays, shortages and bureaucratic errors as it has become clear that many governments will miss their targets for mass inoculation.

The burst of optimism that arrived with approvals of new vaccines – encouraged by unrealistic expectations raised by politicians – is colliding with the reality of the challenge of vaccinating a large part of the world’s population.

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Netherlands and Germany refuse entry to UK nationals for non-essential travel

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Thirteen people barred since Brexit because UK no longer exempt from EU Covid-related travel restrictions

More than a dozen UK nationals have been refused entry to the Netherlands since 1 January because Britain is no longer exempt from Covid-related restrictions on non-essential travel from outside the EU since it left the bloc.

A Dutch border force spokesman confirmed on Monday that up to 13 British citizens had been turned away at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport since Friday because their trips were not necessary and third-country coronavirus regulations now applied.

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Is the leftwing vision of Brexit Britain just fantasy? | Letters

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Readers respond to an article by Larry Elliott calling for those on the left to see the UK’s departure from the EU as an opportunity to rebalance the economy

Larry Elliott is consistent in his criticism of the EU (The left must stop mourning Brexit – and start seeing its huge potential, 31 December). He points out the neoliberalism inherent in the core EU policies of free movement of goods, services, capital and people. He then extols the advantages for the UK of being freed from EU shackles to pursue its own destiny in the world.

But aren’t we committed to chasing the same neoliberalism on a broader canvas? He says nothing of the EU’s social and political projects – health and safety, employment protection, social welfare, retirement rights and other programmes. He ignores the ambitions of a gradual rapprochement between nations that engaged in monstrous wars in the recent past. Brexit UK is moving backwards, self-condemned to continued national decline, as other countries find ways of developing at least some elements of a progressive agenda in a harsh and divided world.
Peter Taylor-Gooby
Professor of social policy, University of Kent

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Britons living in Spain barred from Madrid flight in post-Brexit travel row

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British embassy says ‘this should not be happening’ after airline staff claim pre-Brexit ID documents are invalid

British residents flying home to Spain have been prevented from boarding a joint BA-Iberia flight to Madrid because the airline claimed their pre-Brexit residency papers were no longer valid, while others were deported back to Britain from Barcelona for the same reason.

Max Duncan said the Iberia desk had refused to recognise his green card as proof of residence despite assurances by the British and Spanish governments that both the old foreign national identification (NIE) document and the new foreign ID card (TIE) remained valid.

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Come clean on logjams at British borders as new Brexit rules kick in, ministers told

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Amid confusion for lorry drivers in Kent, logistics firms call for greater transparency to help lessen disruption

Ministers are facing demands for more honesty and transparency over any logjams at the UK border in the wake of Britain’s exit from the EU, amid concerns that waves of disruption will last for six months.

Several lorry drivers are understood to have been turned away at Dover for not having the right paperwork following the end of the Brexit transition period last week. It has caused concern among logistics and manufacturing companies that more severe problems could occur as trade flows increase later this month.

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Spain says it will have last word on Gibraltar border entries

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Agreement in principle will allow territory to join the Schengen free movement area

Spain will have the last word on who can enter Gibraltar under the terms of the preliminary post-Brexit deal announced this week, Spain’s foreign minister has said, in an assertion that was swiftly challenged by Gibraltar’s chief minister.

The agreement in principle – struck just hours before Gibraltar was poised to become the only frontier marked by a hard Brexit – will allow the British overseas territory to join the Schengen free movement area with Spain acting as a guarantor.

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Brexit is nothing to celebrate, says Ireland’s foreign minister

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As first ferries arrive under new trade rules, Simon Coveney warns of disruption to come

Brexit is “not something to celebrate”, Ireland’s foreign minister Simon Coveney declared after the UK formally severed ties with the EU, as he warned of trading disruptions due to fresh red tape.

Related: Political demands of Brexit now face economic reality

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BioNTech criticises EU failure to order enough Covid vaccine

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Firm races to fill potential gap left by bloc’s gamble on several vaccines being approved

BioNtech has criticised the EU’s failure to order more doses of its coronavirus vaccine, saying it is now racing with its US partner, Pfizer, to boost production amid fears of a European “gap” left by the lack of other approved vaccines.

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was the first to be approved by the bloc late last month, after being accepted by the UK, Canada and the US. They and other countries have also since approved the Moderna or Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, leaving the EU trailing behind.

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Football, flights and food: how the EU reshaped Britain

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As Brexit’s tangible effects kick in, we look at the impact the EU’s most far-reaching project has had on British society

Historians of the future will judge the politics of the half century before the Brexit transition ended on 1 January 2021. What, though, of social and cultural historians, those who study how we live?

Perhaps the most symbolic cultural artefacts of the last 50 years will turn out not to be a blue flag but a bottle of Blue Nun, a block of mozzarella, a Ryanair boarding printout or a ticket to a Bayern Munich v Manchester City football game.

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Fear, mistrust – and hope: Britain’s long walk away from the EU

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For many, Friday marks a departure as mind-boggling as it is heartbreaking. But the path to Brexit was laid years before the referendum

As a previous Tory prime minister trying to find his way through difficult times once said: this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

Brexit is hardly complete. The last-minute nature of the UK’s trade deal with the EU and the fact that it barely covers whole swaths of the economy – financial services are a good example – means some negotiations will have to grind on. The new bodies set up to arbitrate between the two sides will soon have work to do. Northern Ireland remains part of the single market for goods and will be enforcing EU customs rules, the most vivid example of the deal’s contorted provisions, which may have no end of political consequences. Certainly, given that public opinion in Scotland now suggests unprecedented levels of support for independence and that elections to the Scottish parliament will take place in May, what Brexit means for the increasingly fragile union between the UK’s four countries will now start to become clearer.

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Brexit: in crisis, without fanfare, UK finally ends the EU era

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Boris Johnson largely ignores Brexit in new year message to focus on toll of Covid and ‘the grimness of 2020’

Four years, 27 weeks and two days after a referendum that split the country almost down the middle, the UK left the EU’s orbit on Thursday night in a departure that was notably low key, and marked by warnings of likely disruption to come.

In a sometimes sombre new year message, Boris Johnson largely ignored Brexit, an outcome he arguably shaped more than any other politician, to focus instead on the toll of Covid-19 and what he called “the grimness of 2020”.

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‘A day for hope’: UK and Spain agree draft deal on post-Brexit status of Gibraltar – video

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British and Spanish negotiators have reached a draft agreement on the future of Gibraltar after Brexit. Spain’s foreign minister, Arancha González Laya, welcomed the deal which she said meant the British Overseas Territory on the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula would be able to join EU programmes and policies such as Schengen

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Spain and UK reach draft deal on post-Brexit status of Gibraltar

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British overseas territory had been left out of deal announced on Christmas Eve

A last-minute deal between the UK and Spain – agreed just hours before Gibraltar was poised to become the only frontier marked by a hard Brexit – will allow for free movement between the British overseas territory and much of the EU.

“Today is a day for hope,” Spain’s foreign minister, Arancha González Laya, said on Thursday as she announced that an agreement in principle had been reached. “In the long history of our relations with the UK, related to Gibraltar, today we’re facing a turning point.”

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View from the EU: Britain ‘taken over by gamblers, liars, clowns and their cheerleaders’

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European commentators weigh in on what Britain’s departure from the EU means

Britain faces an uncertain future as it finally pulls clear of the EU’s orbit, continental commentators have predicted, its reputation for pragmatism and probity shredded by a Brexit process most see as profoundly populist and dangerously dishonest.

“For us, the UK has always been seen as like-minded: economically progressive, politically stable, respect for the rule of law – a beacon of western liberal democracy,” said Rem Korteweg, of the Clingendael Institute thinktank in the Netherlands.

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Messina to Maastricht: the modest European towns that marked the road to Brexit

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As Britain embarks on its solo journey, we celebrate the places put on the map by the UK’s rocky relationship with Europe

Ioannina is no Mykonos. A city on the northern Greek mainland near the border with Albania, it is landlocked and rarely on any tourist trail. As far as guidebook mentions go, it’s silverwork, feta cheese and local spring water.

But back in spring 1994 it burst on to front pages across Europe, seizing the minds of politicians. Ioannina joined the ranks of little-known European cities to host a European summit and become a household name for a fortnight.

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Boris Johnson’s post-Brexit trade deal passes into UK law

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Prime minister thanks MPs and peers after Queen gives royal assent to bill redrawing ties with EU

  • How did your MP vote?
  • Labour frontbenchers quit after defying Starmer on deal

    • Boris Johnson’s post-Brexit trade deal with Brussels has passed into law following a whirlwind 14-hour parliamentary process that has radically redrawn the UK’s ties with Europe.

    The prime minister thanked MPs and peers for passing the European Union (future relationship) bill in one day, in a statement urging the nation to “seize” the moment when the transition period with the bloc ends at 11pm on Thursday.

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    Johnson to hail ‘historic resolution’ as Brexit bill comes before Commons

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    Prime minister to celebrate bill to MPs ahead of vote, but fast-tracking of legislation faces condemnation

    The UK’s post-Brexit trade deal with Brussels delivers a “historic resolution” making the country a “friendly neighbour” to the EU, Boris Johnson will tell MPs on Wednesday as they vote on the agreement.

    The deal is expected to sail through the parliamentary approval process in just a day, with the backing of Labour and after the pro-Brexit European Research Group of Conservative MPs indicated on Tuesday that it would support it.

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    Global report: India finds six cases of new UK variant; South Africa bans alcohol sales

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    Germany says infectious variant has been present since November; Spain sets up Covid vaccine register

    India has found six cases of a more infectious variant of the coronavirus in people arriving from Britain, while South Africa reimposed a ban on alcohol sales and ordered the closure of all bars as it battles a resurgence of the virus, including another new variant.

    All six of the infected people in India are in isolation and their fellow travellers are being traced, the health ministry said.

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    Starmer faces high-profile Labour rebellion before Brexit deal vote

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    MPs including John McDonnell say party must not ‘fall into trap of rallying around rotten deal’

    Keir Starmer is facing a high-profile rebellion against Labour’s Brexit position on the eve of the vote in parliament, as prominent MPs including John McDonnell and Clive Lewis accused him of “falling into the trap of rallying around this rotten deal”.

    Labour is likely to contain a major rebellion of frontbench MPs but an increasing number of prominent supporters are urging Starmer to change course. Backbenchers have also raised concerns on private WhatsApp groups that Labour’s endorsement for the deal has been given without the legislation being published.

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