Category Archives: European Union

Harry and Meghan could face fight to protect ‘Sussex Royal’ brand

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Pair may have to file objection after EU trademark application is apparently made from Italy

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex face having to potentially make an objection to protect their would-be brand “Sussex Royal” after an application was lodged with EU authorities to trademark a range of goods including beer and jewellery.

In what may be the latest attempt to either squat on or protect the couple’s brand, it was lodged on Thursday by an applicant who appears to be based in Italy and filed it in German, with English listed as a second language. Database searches suggest it was made in the name of Ui Phoenix Kerbl, possibly after the Guardian reported on Thursday that the Sussexes had yet to register their brand outside of the UK.

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Labour leadership: Thornberry gives Corbyn ‘0 out of 10′ for election, but ’10 out of 10’ for principle – live news

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen

The troubled Northern rail franchise faces financial collapse within months, Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, has said, as the government set out a timetable to tackle the “unacceptable services” for rail passengers in the north. My colleague Gwyn Topham has the full story here.

Related: Northern rail franchise could collapse within months, says Shapps

Nadia Whittome, the new Labour MP for Nottingham East, also says she is going to nominate Clive Lewis for Labour leader without necessarily planning to vote for him because she wants his ideas to be part of the debate. Lloyd Russell-Moyle is in this position too. (See 1.55pm.)

I have nominated @DawnButlerBrent for Deputy and @labourlewis for Leader to ensure both are on the ballot.

I haven't decided who I'll endorse but Clive's steadfast commitment to migrants' rights, and electoral reform and party democracy proposals, must be part of the debate.

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UK accused of ‘behaving like cowboys’ over EU database copying

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Dutch Liberal MEP Sophie in ’t Veld says leaked report revealed ‘violations and abuse’

The British government has been accused of “behaving like a bunch of cowboys” after a confidential report revealed it had allowed illegal copying of an EU database.

The issue, discussed publicly for the first time on Thursday, threatens to sour talks on the post-Brexit relationship between the UK and the EU, despite hopes on both sides for close ties in fighting crime and terrorism.

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Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen have ‘positive’ meeting

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EU commission chief calls for focus on common ground on climate change, human rights and security

Boris Johnson and the new European commission president have had a positive first meeting about the next round of Brexit talks in which they discussed their aspirations for a deal based on friendly cooperation, shared history and interests and values, Downing Street has said.

Both sides made a concerted effort to put the bitter divisions of the past three years aside, with Ursula von der Leyen describing the meeting as the start of a new era of “old friends and new beginnings”.

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EU parks post-Brexit demands to avoid clash with Boris Johnson

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Ursula von der Leyen expected to talk up future negotiations during visit to London

The EU’s opening negotiating position on the future relationship will lack detailed demands to avoid an early clash with Boris Johnson as both sides seek to take the heat out of the coming post-Brexit trade and security talks.

In that vein, the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, is expected to talk up the prospects of the coming negotiations during a visit to London on Wednesday.

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MEPs to express ‘grave concern’ about UK stance on EU citizens in Britain

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Exclusive: leaked resolution by main political groups follows threats of deportation made by British minister

The European parliament will express its “grave concern” about the attitude of Boris Johnson’s government to the 3.3 million EU citizens living in the UK following threats of deportation made by a British minister.

In a leaked resolution drafted by the main political groups and due to be backed by MEPs next Wednesday, Johnson’s administration is accused of creating “anxiety” in recent months.

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Croatia’s new president vows to make country a more tolerant place

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Zoran Milanović wins runoff against conservative incumbent after election trail marked by rightward shift

Croatia’s newly elected centre-left president has pledged to make the country a more tolerant place after denying a second term to the rightwing incumbent, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović.

Zoran Milanović won 52.7% of the vote in a second-round runoff against Grabar-Kitarović on Sunday, a few days after the country assumed the rotating presidency of the EU.

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Brexit: Boris Johnson to open trade talks with Ursula von der Leyen

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Prime minister also intends to press his Brexit bill through Commons in three days

Boris Johnson will host the president of the European commission, Ursula Von Der Leyen, in Downing Street this week as he prepares to take Britain out of the EU at the end of this month, kicking off a race against time to secure a free trade deal.

The prime minister will use the comfortable majority he won at last month’s general election to press his Brexit bill through the House of Commons in three days when MPs return to Westminster on Tuesday.

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Mystery of Rolling Stones tracks posted briefly on YouTube

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Vintage recordings may have been published in attempt to extend copyright protection

A mysterious YouTube account that posted, then hid, a collection of 75 rare and unpublished Rolling Stones recordings may have been a canny attempt to avoid EU copyright laws and keep the tracks out of the public domain on the 50th anniversary of their creation.

Shortly before midnight on 31 December, the YouTube account 69RSTRAX posted a collection of recordings including studio out-takes and live performances to its public page on the video-sharing site, with no commentary or explanation. Hours later, on 1 January, again with no warning, the account made all the videos private.

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Can Merkel and Macron get Franco-German relations back on track?

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As a year of big EU decisions begins, the bloc’s most important relationship is stuck in a rut

In early December, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel sat down opposite each other in Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant at the Savoy Hotel, central London, for a two-hour tête-à-tête dinner. They had some talking to do.

Cordial and constructive, diplomats in Paris and Berlin said, the evening apparently cleared the air. But it will take more than a dinner to clear the structural obstacles to a relationship that is critical to what Europe can achieve in 2020.

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EU accused of seeking to cut funds for poor in post-Brexit cost savings

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Plan to drop dedicated fund while defence spending rises dismissed as false economy

The European commission has been accused of seeking to cut EU funding for the continent’s poorest people by 50% to secure post-Brexit cost savings and extra funds for defence projects.

Jacques Vandenschrik, the president of the European Food Banks Federation, said the EU executive’s proposed spending plans for the next seven years posed a risk not only to the most vulnerable but to the stability of wider society.

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Brexit talks: EU chief questions feasibility of Johnson’s time limit

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Ursula von der Leyen airs concerns about PM’s refusal to extend negotiations past 2020

Boris Johnson should reconsider his refusal to extend the 11-month timeframe available for agreeing a deal on the UK’s future relationship with the EU after Brexit, Ursula von der Leyen has suggested.

The European commission president said she had “serious concern” about the limited time available for the negotiations and emphasised the need to keep all options open.

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Nearly a million Irish passports issued in record-breaking 2019

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Total monthly applications exceeded 100,000 in January, March, April and May

Almost a million Irish passports were issued in 2019, the country’s government has announced.

The figure is a new record and represents a 7% increase on 2018. Simon Coveney, Ireland’s foreign affairs minister, said: “2019 was another bumper year for the Passport Service. The award-winning Passport Online [service] expanded in 2019 to include first-time applicants in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Great Britain and Europe. Irish citizens including children can also renew their passports online 24/7, from anywhere in the world.”

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Varadkar dismisses Johnson plan to make EU pay for ‘interesting’ bridge

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Irish PM says UK must pay for any bridge between Northern Ireland and Scotland

Ireland’s prime minister has said he will not dismiss the idea of building a bridge between Northern Ireland and Scotland, but insisted the UK must pay for it.

Boris Johnson and the Democratic Unionist party have spoken in favour of the idea.

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Post-Brexit UK always welcome back in EU, says Timmermans

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European commission’s VP writes ‘love letter’ to Britons, saying UK unnecessarily damaged by Brexit

Britain has been unnecessarily damaged by Brexit and “more will follow”, the vice-president of the European commission has written in a “love letter” to the British people in which he promises a warm welcome back should attitudes change.

Frans Timmermans, who is Ursula von der Leyen’s deputy in her role as European commission president, writes that British scepticism of the EU had been an asset to the bloc as he expresses his own feelings of rejection ahead of the country’s impending departure on 31 January, likening himself to a jilted “old lover”.

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London expected to co-host next stage of post-Brexit negotiations

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Location for talks to be split with Brussels in symbolic shift marking UK’s non-EU status

London is expected to co-host the next stage of post-Brexit negotiations with Brussels in a symbolic shift marking the UK’s position outside the EU after 31 January.

The most likely location for the talks involving teams led by Michel Barnier for the EU and a yet-to-be-identified minister for the British government is the Cabinet Office in Whitehall.

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Brexit: Johnson condemned for dropping pledge to replace family reunion law

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Lawyers warn loss of reunion rights for unaccompanied refugee children will put them in danger

The loss of family reunion rights for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children will leave them with “no options” except taking dangerous routes and using smugglers, charities in France and Greece are warning.

The prime minister, Boris Johnson, faced criticism after he told parliament he had dropped a promise to replace the EU law that allows child refugees stranded in Europe to reunite with family members in the UK after Brexit.

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Boris Johnson dances around Varadkar’s claim of ‘hard’ Brexit

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Irish leader fears UK wants to ‘undercut’ European rivals in areas such as food after exit

Boris Johnson appeared to sidestep accusations from European leaders that he is on course to deliver a “harder Brexit”.

The prime minister is expected to have combative trade talks in the new year after ruling out adhering to Brussels’ rules after 2020 when the transition period ends.

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Brexit: MPs voting on withdrawal agreement bill – live news

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MPs vote on the EU withdrawal agreement bill, and Clive Lewis becomes the second Labour MP to enter party’s leadership contest

Brexit secretary Steve Barclay said the general election had delivered a clear instruction to parliament to leave the EU and so MP should respect that decision and back the bill.

This bill is not a victory for one side over the other. The time has come to discard the old labels to move from the past divisions and to come together as one United Kingdom.

Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary who is predicted to run for the Labour leadership, warned Conservative MPs to “be careful”. “Doing things because the government has a majority doesn’t mean those things are right,” he said.

He said that the move to water down commitments to child refugees is an example of that. “That is a moral disgrace,” he said.

I turn to my own benches. We may have lost the general election, but we have not lost our values and our beliefs and we must fight for them – day in, day out – in this parliament and we will.

That doesn’t mean that the deal negotiated by the prime minister is a good deal. It isn’t. It was a bad deal in October when it was signed. It was a bad deal when it was first debated in this House in October. It was a bad deal last Thursday and it’s a bad deal today.

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EU headquarters built by undocumented migrants, workers claim

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‘Space Egg’ in Brussels under fire after investigation into subcontractors’ practices

The EU is facing embarrassment over claims that its new Europa headquarters, also known as the Space Egg building, was built with the help of undocumented migrant workers who at times went without pay.

The European council building in Brussels, which contains an ovoid glass structure, was opened in 2016 at a cost of £300m.

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