Sea-Watch 4 is result of crowdfunding and is set to leave from Spain in few days
The German Protestant church will send a ship to the central Mediterranean to rescue migrants attempting to reach Europe from north Africa.
The boat, named Sea-Watch 4, will depart in a few days from the seaport of Burriana, near Valencia, in Spain, where volunteers are finalising preparations, the crew has said.
Continue reading...Police discover agents in stolen car with false plates while plot to kill woman was not part of duties
Preliminary attempted murder charges have been filed against two agents from France’s foreign intelligence agency over an alleged plan to kill a 54-year-old woman last month in the Creteil suburb of Paris, the city prosecutor’s office has said.
French media reported on Wednesday that the directorate-general for external security (DGSE) agents were believed to have been plotting to kill a target, but not as part of their job duties. The agency is the French equivalent of the CIA.
Continue reading...Exclusive: crisis has led to 500% increase in Britons taking up citizenship in an EU state
The number of British nationals emigrating to other EU countries has risen by 30% since the Brexit referendum, with half making their decision to leave in the first three months after the vote, research has found.
Analysis of data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Eurostat shows that migration from Britain to EU states averaged 56,832 people a year in 2008-15, growing to 73,642 a year in 2016-18.
Continue reading...Architect of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign reveals admiration for Boris Johnson’s aide in interview on dark politics
Steve Bannon, who has previously backed a range of notorious far-right political figures, has publicly endorsed Dominic Cummings for the first time, calling him a “brilliant guy”.
Donald Trump’s former chief strategist also said that Boris Johnson will become an increasingly populist prime minister after jettisoning his political positioning as a “globalist” to “opportunistically jump on Brexit”.
Continue reading...UK and EU at odds over role of European court of justice in settling disputes
Boris Johnson is facing a major Brexit test with the future of Eurotunnel operations at stake, it has emerged.
The EU wants the UK to drop its opposition to a role for the European court of justice in British affairs to ensure trains keep running between France and the UK after Brexit is implemented on 1 January.
Continue reading...Both sides seeking deal to secure continuous trade once Brexit implemented on 1 January
The UK is close to sealing a “continuity” trade deal with Japan that will mirror that of the EU pact that Britain will no longer be part of next January.
But in order to strike an agreement in time for it to be ratified by the Japanese parliament, the international trade secretary, Liz Truss, has had to drop her ambitions for preferential treatment for British food exports.
Continue reading...Both Brussels and London have moved in talks, and both grasp the political advantages of even a minimal free trade agreement
• Charles Grant is the director of the Centre for European Reform
After six rounds of talks, the UK and the EU are far from reaching an accord on their future relationship. Both sides are warning that failure – meaning that Britain would leave after the transition period on 31 December without a deal – is a real prospect. Those working for Michel Barnier, the EU negotiator, complain that the British have wasted July by refusing to offer meaningful compromises.
Failure is certainly possible. But a deal this year is more likely, for several reasons. First, there has been more progress than one might suppose from the public comments of Barnier and David Frost, the UK negotiator. The EU has hinted at a softer line on fisheries and state aid, and agreed that an arbitration mechanism rather than the European court of justice should adjudicate on disputes.
Continue reading...European countries are spending big to revive their economies, but they will have no legitimacy with young people if they ignore the climate
The future of Europe depends on climate action. This is the resounding message that young Europeans have delivered to their leaders over the past two years. To be sure, the wave of young climate activists across the continent, from Fridays for Future to Extinction Rebellion, is part of a global response to the climate crisis. But for the EU in particular, it is also a warning from a new generation of Europeans to their leaders: our European identity hinges on your climate policies.
For our parents’ generation, the European Union defined itself as a protector of peace, a fortress against fascism and a society of (relative) social security. For our generation – we are in our mid-20s – this narrative does not resonate. We came of age in a Europe of crises: a financial collapse, a panic over migration, a surge of populism. These formative moments gave the lie to the notion of a united European identity. To many of us, the EU appeared less a project of democracy, diversity or solidarity than one of bureaucracy, xenophobia and fracture. What is more, Europe’s responses to these crises were hardly material for a new common narrative. Just the opposite: the responses were the crises.
Continue reading...MPs who compiled the Russia report were incredulous at Britain’s reluctance to tackle Kremlin
In September 2015 a tall young man with jet black hair and a pleasant grin made his way to Doncaster. His name was Alexander Udod. With the EU referendum vote on the horizon, Udod was attending Ukip’s annual conference. In theory he was a political observer. Actually Udod was an undercover spy, based at the Russian embassy in London.
Udod chatted with the man who would play a key role in Brexit – the Bristol businessman Arron Banks. The spy invited Banks to meet the Russian ambassador Alexander Yakovenko. What allegedly followed was a series of friendly encounters between Leave.EU and the Russians in the crucial months before the June 2016 poll: a boozy lunch, pints in a Notting Hill pub, and the offer of a Siberian gold deal. (Banks denies receiving money from Russia and previously stated his only contact with the Russian government in the run-up to the referendum consisted of “one boozy lunch” with the ambassador.)
Continue reading...Comments will be a blow to No 10, which had hoped Merkel would help break deadlock
Angela Merkel’s government has called for more realism from the UK in the ongoing trade and security talks, after the EU capitals were given a “sobering” update by Michel Barnier following the recent round of Brexit negotiations.
After a presentation by the EU’s chief negotiator to ambassadors from the 27 member states on Friday, a spokesman for the German government, which holds the rolling EU presidency, said the bloc was ready to move negotiations quickly forward but “expressed the need for more realism in London”.
Continue reading...The recovery package promises deeper integration between European countries. Here’s why I think it won’t work
During the early years of the eurozone crisis, I remember gauging its depths by the rapidly diminishing half-life of the celebrations that followed every European Union summit. Premature proclamations that the crisis was over inspired hope, which caused the money markets to rebound. But then, at some point, gloom would unfailingly return. As the years of austerity for the many and socialism for the few ground on, that point arrived sooner after each EU summit.
Could it be that, at long last, this sad pattern has been broken by last week’s summit, which resulted in a brand new, €750bn post-pandemic EU recovery fund?
Continue reading...Downing Street officials say there has been neither ‘breakthrough nor breakdown’ on major sticking points
Downing Street sources have denied Brexit negotiations between the UK and European Union have broken down, but admit they are at an impasse.
After two full days of talks in London, No 10 officials described the current state of play as neither a “breakthrough nor a breakdown”. The latest round is expected to end on Thursday without advancing on a deal.
Continue reading...In the week that MPs published their report, ministers said Russian state-sponsored hackers were targeting UK scientists developing a coronavirus vaccine
Continue reading...EU leaders have reached an agreement on a €750bn coronavirus recovery fund and long-term spending plans after more than four days of debate at the bloc’s longest summit in nearly two decades. EU states will jointly borrow debt to be disbursed through grants on an unprecedented scale, in the face of an economic downturn not seen since the Great Depression. The leaders say the new plan will also put the EU's climate objectives at the forefront of policies for the first time in its history
Exclusive: Activist says €750bn fund shows leaders not treating global heating as emergency
Greta Thunberg has accused EU politicians of failing to acknowledge the scale of the climate crisis and said its €750bn Covid-19 recovery plan does not do enough to tackle the issue.
The climate campaigner said the package of measures agreed by EU leaders proved that politicians were still not treating climate change as an emergency.
Continue reading...Intelligence and security committee publishes long-delayed findings on Russian influence over UK politics
The British government and intelligence agencies failed to conduct any proper assessment of Kremlin attempts to interfere with the 2016 Brexit referendum, according to the long-delayed Russia report.
The damning conclusion is contained within the 50-page document from parliament’s intelligence and security committee, which said ministers in effect turned a blind eye to allegations of Russian disruption.
Continue reading...Some central American nations seeing highest weekly increase in cases; official UK death toll now stands at 45,422
The Nobel Foundation, which manages the Nobel Prizes, on Tuesday cancelled its traditional December banquet because of the coronavirus pandemic and said the award ceremonies would be held in “new forms”, AFP reports.
This is the first time since 1956 that the lavish banquet has been cancelled, according to the foundation. The event traditionally marks the end of the so-called Nobel Week, when the year’s prize-winners are invited to Swedish capital Stockholm for talks and the award ceremony.
Joe Biden, in a scathing speech in his campaign to become the next US president, said Donald Trump had ‘quit’ on US citizens and did not care about America.
In a speech on his plan for the economy, in which he promised to expand access to preschool for working families, directly linking the need for affordable childcare to America’s economic recovery, Biden said Trump was not taking the public health crisis seriously:
Continue reading...€750bn EU Covid-19 recovery plan agreed in early morning talks; Trump to resume daily briefings, backs face masks as ‘patriotic’; two Brazil ministers test positive. Follow latest updates
Passengers of China-bound flights must provide negative Covid-19 test results before boarding, China’s aviation authority has said.
The Chinese government has sought to reduce the risk of imported coronavirus cases as international travel resumes.
The €750bn deal is the “most important economic decision since the introduction of the euro,” according to the EU’s economy commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, who said the most difficult challenge for the commission starts now.
Il vertice infinito è finito con un’intesa. #NextGenerationEU è la più importante decisione economica dall’introduzione dell’euro. Per la Commissione, che ha proposto il piano, comincia la sfida più difficile. #21luglio L’Europa è più forte delle proprie divisioni.
Continue reading...Euro rises as heads of state finally thrash out agreement on day five
EU leaders have reached a historic agreement on a €750bn coronavirus pandemic recovery fund and their long-term spending plans following days of acrimonious debate at the bloc’s longest summit in nearly two decades.
As the meeting reached its fifth day, the 27 exhausted heads of state and government finally gave their seal of approval to a plan for the EU to jointly borrow debt to be disbursed through grants on an unprecedented scale, in the face of an economic downturn not seen since the Great Depression.
Continue reading...Confrontation between ‘frugals’ and countries dubious over rule of law highlights acrimony at heart of union
Bad-tempered, late-running EU summits have hardly been unusual over the last decade of eurozone crisis and endless rows over migration. But the latest gathering of EU leaders, now in its fourth day with no end in sight, may be one of the most acrimonious yet.
With a €1.8tn (£1.6tn) financial plan on the table, the stakes are huge. Nobody expected talks to be easy, but expectations of a historic step towards EU fiscal union had risen since Angela Merkel abandoned Germany’s long-standing opposition to shared debt – reversing the position she took during the eurozone crisis.
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