Category Archives: European Union

‘Dirty methods’ in Brexit vote cited in push for new laws on Europe’s elections

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Sites such as Facebook will have to publicly disclose identity of people and entities funding such advertising

The “dirty methods” of the Brexit referendum have been cited as a reason for new EU laws aimed at tackling disinformation and forcing online platforms including Facebook to publicly disclose the identity of people and entities funding political adverts.

Věra Jourová, a vice president of the European commission, said the EU rule-book needed to be updated to deal with on-line political campaigning, as she unveiled draft legislation at a press conference in Brussels.

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Brexit: UK has lowered demands on fish catches, says EU

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Significant gap remains as two sides enter crucial 48 hours of talks

Boris Johnson has lowered his Brexit demands by asking EU fishing fleets to hand over up to 60% of the value of stocks it takes from British waters, but the gap with Brussels remains wide, Michel Barnier has said ahead of what he described as a crucial 36 hours.

In briefings to EU ambassadors and MEPs in Brussels, the bloc’s chief negotiator said Downing Street had revised its demand down from 80%, but that it was unclear whether the divide could be bridged in the time remaining, prompting member states to caution against rushing into a deal.

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Hungary’s rightwing rulers downplay MEP ‘gay orgy’ scandal amid hypocrisy accusations

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József Szájer has boasted of rewriting constitution to define marriage as heterosexual institution

Hungary’s rightwing ruling party has tried to brush off accusations of hypocrisy over a “gay orgy” scandal in Brussels, involving one of its inner circle, the MEP József Szájer.

The prime minister, Viktor Orbán, and his ruling Fidesz party have enacted a range of legislation over the past decade infringing on LGBT rights, and Szájer himself boasted of personally rewriting Hungary’s constitution to define marriage as a heterosexual institution in 2011.

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Right-wing Hungarian MEP resigns for attending ‘sex party’ that broke Belgian lockdown

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Politician in Viktor Orbán’s party apologises as Belgian police arrest 25 men over gathering

A Hungarian MEP in Viktor Orbán’s rightwing party, spotted fleeing along a gutter to escape police raiding a “sex party” above a Brussels bar, has apologised for breaching Belgium’s lockdown rules.

József Szájer, a senior member of the Fidesz party who helped write Hungary’s constitution in 2011, was one of about 20 people, mainly men and including at least two EU diplomats, who attended a party held near the Grand Place in the Belgian capital’s historical centre on Friday evening.

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EU will not fall into Brexit ‘negotiating trap’, UK told

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Irish foreign minister also calls for avoidance of blame game as ‘truth of Brexit’ becomes clear

Senior Irish and French and ministers have warned that the EU is not going to fall into a Brexit “negotiating trap” being laid by the UK as both sides entered into what the British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has described as “the last week or so” of substantive talks.

Simon Coveney, who has had a leading role in the first phase of negotiations over the Irish border, said at the same time both sides must avoid engaging in a blame game as the “truth of Brexit” and its subsequent challenges become clear.

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‘This lack of humanity can’t go on’: Canary Islands struggle with huge rise in migration

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Spanish archipelago has received 20,000 migrants and refugees this year, 8,000 in the last month

In the Canary Islands, 2020 will be remembered as more than just the year of the coronavirus.

The streets of Arguineguín, a small town on the island of Gran Canaria, are thronged not with tourists in search of winter warmth, but with police officers, health workers and journalists, all scurrying to and from the crowded dock, which has become the newest symbol of an old phenomenon.

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‘It’s impossible’: how Brexit has left British families unable to return to the UK

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Up to 40% of Britons in dual-national relationships likely to want to return fear they do not fulfil the income requirement

When Britain’s new immigration bill became law earlier this month, the home secretary, Priti Patel, tweeted her “delight, after many years of campaigning,” that free movement between the EU and Britain would at last end on 31 December.

But the bill does not just repeal EU citizens’ right to work and live in UK – a key Brexit ask – or British nationals’ right to do the same across the bloc. It will also make it very hard indeed for many Britons who have already moved to ever come home again.

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Keir Starmer warned not to insist Labour MPs vote for Brexit deal

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Leader faces resignations from his front bench in a ‘dangerous moment’ for his authority

Keir Starmer, the Labour party leader, faces the threat of resignations from his frontbench team should he order MPs to vote in favour of a Brexit deal agreed by the government.

Labour sources said that there were shadow ministers willing to step down if ordered to vote for the deal that could be agreed this week, with one describing it as a “dangerous moment” for the Starmer’s authority.

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Last-ditch Brexit trade talks resume amid growing EU scepticism

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Michel Barnier has told bloc he is prepared for four more days of make-or-break negotiations

Michel Barnier has told MEPs he is prepared for a further four days of make-or-break Brexit negotiations, with growing scepticism among EU member states about the utility of further talks.

Having spent a week in isolation after a member of the bloc’s team tested positive for coronavirus, Barnier and his staff resumed face-to-face negotiations in London on Saturday morning.

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UK ski holiday firms in limbo as Covid restrictions and Brexit bite

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British tourists, chalet owners and resort staff wait for winter season decisions across Europe

British holidaymakers, chalet owners and resort staff are in limbo as countries across Europe decide whether or not this winter’s ski season will go ahead.

This week, Britain’s biggest ski operator Crystal Ski Holidays was forced to cancel all its French ski trips in December after President Macron ordered the nation’s resorts to stay shut until the new year.

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Starmer prepares to reopen old Labour wounds over Brexit deal vote

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Leader planning to throw weight behind a deal if last-minute negotiations succeed in coming days

Keir Starmer is preparing to risk a party rift by throwing Labour’s weight behind a Brexit deal if last-minute negotiations succeed in the coming days.

In what he hopes will be a signal to red wall voters that the party has heard them, multiple Labour sources said Starmer, and Cabinet Office shadow minister Rachel Reeves – who has been liaising with backbenchers on the issue – are minded to impose a three-line whip in support of a deal, subject to the detail.

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EU to use Magnitsky-style law to impose sanctions on human rights abusers

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Provisionally approved act will allow EU to freeze assets and impose travel bans

The EU will take on powers to freeze assets and impose travel bans on individuals involved in human rights abuses from next month, after the bloc’s member states provisionally approved a European Magnitsky Act.

The restrictive measures – set to be formally signed off on Human Rights Day on 10 December, marking the 77th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – would target those involved in crimes ranging from genocide and torture to arbitrary arrests or detentions.

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Barnier to travel to UK for Brexit talks despite lack of progress

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EU chief negotiator had told British counterpart he could not see any point in coming to London

Michel Barnier has backed down from his threat to pull out of planned Brexit negotiations in London, telling EU ambassadors that he will persist despite a lack of progress over the last week.

The bloc’s chief negotiator told representatives for member states that he would travel on Friday evening to try to break the logjam over the most contentious issues.

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EU threatens to pull out of Brexit talks if UK refuses to compromise

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Michel Barnier says further negotiations would be pointless if UK does not change stance

The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has warned David Frost that without a major negotiating shift by Downing Street within the next 48 hours he will pull out of the Brexit negotiations in London this weekend, pushing the talks into a fresh crisis.

In talks via videoconference on Tuesday, Barnier told his British counterpart that further negotiations would be pointless if the UK was not willing to compromise on the outstanding issues.

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No-deal Brexit to cost more than Covid, Bank of England governor says

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Andrew Bailey said failure to agree to deal would cause long-term damage to UK economy

The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, has warned that the economic cost of a no-deal Brexit would be bigger in the long term than the damage caused by Covid-19.

Bailey said failure to agree to a deal before the Brexit transition expires at the end of December would cause disruption to cross-border trade and damage the goodwill between London and Brussels needed to build a future economic partnership.

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UK and Canada to trade on EU terms after Brexit transition

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Conservative government says agreement paves the way for new bespoke deal with Canada

The UK and Canada have agreed to continue trading under the same terms as the current EU agreement after the Brexit transition period ends.

The Conservative government said the agreement paved the way for negotiations to begin next year on a new comprehensive deal with Canada, which has long been trumpeted as one of the benefits of the UK leaving the EU.

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Brexit deal close to being finalised, EU ambassadors told

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Most key issues largely agreed, but there is still a danger of no deal by accident, envoys hear

A trade and security agreement with Britain is close to being finalised but the risk remains of an accidental no-deal Brexit in six weeks, with gaps on the contentious issues “slowly shrinking”, EU ambassadors have been told.

With Michel Barnier in self-isolation after an EU negotiator tested positive for coronavirus, the talks will be conducted almost entirely online over the next few days.

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Northern Ireland businesses call for Brexit transition extension

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MPs are told region ‘simply will not be ready’ for mandatory border checks on 1 January

Northern Ireland businesses have called for an extension of the Brexit transition period in the region, warning they “simply will not be ready” for the mandatory border checks on 1 January.

They say they are the “rope in a tug of war” between the UK and the EU and warned of a “huge black hole” in information and a “disconnect” with Westminster and Brussels over the reality of Brexit checks kicking in 43 days’ time.

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It was always lost on Brexiteers – but the EU is fundamentally about peace | Rafael Behr

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The 75th anniversary of the Nuremberg trials puts the fantasy of resistance to tyrannical Brussels into proper perspective

“I would rather not shake hands with a German of my age,” says Colette Marin-Catherine. “But I give all possible credit to the generations that came after.” There is steel in the elderly voice, but no anger.

When Colette was 16, her older brother, Jean-Pierre, was deported to a German concentration camp. He was put to work as a slave labourer in underground tunnels assembling V2 rocket-propelled bombs. He died weeks before the camp was liberated by US soldiers. Brother and sister had both been active in the French resistance, but Colette escaped capture. She refused to set foot in Germany for another 74 years.

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Failure to seal post-Brexit deal would more than halve UK growth, says KPMG

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Accountancy firm warns of stalled economic recovery without EU trade agreement

Failure to strike a post-Brexit trade deal would cut the UK’s economic growth rate by more than half next year, delaying a full recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report.

The accountancy firm KPMG said the economy would suffer heavily should the UK fail to secure a trade deal with the EU before the end of the Brexit transition period at the end of December, just as the country attempts to escape the deepest recession since records began.

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