Category Archives: European Union

Brunei defends death by stoning for gay sex in letter to EU

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Kingdom’s mission to bloc calls for tolerance and understanding over penal code

Brunei has written to the European parliament defending its decision to start imposing death by stoning as a punishment for gay sex, claiming convictions will be rare as it requires two men of “high moral standing piety” to be witnesses.

In a four-page letter to MEPs, the kingdom’s mission to the EU called for “tolerance, respect and understanding” with regard to the country’s desire to preserve its traditional values and “family lineage”.

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Romanian hospitals in crisis as emigration takes its toll

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Thousands of doctors and nurses have left Romania in past decade, leading to dire staff shortages

Gabriela Dumitru was supposed to retire years ago, but instead, she’s working longer hours than ever before. The 65-year-old is one half of a team of two doctors at the neonatology ward in Slobozia, a depressed town about two hours’ drive from Romania’s capital, Bucharest.

Dumitru works three or four 24-hour shifts a week, catching an hour of sleep where possible on a sofa in a small box room decorated with pictures of kittens. Her colleague is 75, and he officially retired 15 years ago. Between them, they do the work of four or five doctors, delivering approximately 1,200 babies a year and caring for those born with difficulties or disabilities.

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Second referendum is only way to beat Nigel Farage, warns Tom Watson

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Labour deputy leader in shock intervention that threatens to ignite row at party’s highest levels

Labour will never defeat Nigel Farage if it continues to “sit on the fence” over Brexit and offers only “mealy-mouthed” support for a second referendum, the party’s deputy leader says today.

In an extraordinary intervention that exposes the tensions at the top of the party over Brexit strategy, Tom Watson warns that Labour will lose to Farage’s new “far right” Brexit party in May’s European elections if it continues to give the impression that “we half agree with him”.

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Life as the Guardian’s Ireland reporter: my return home to a nation in flux

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After two decades away, Rory Carroll reflects on going back to Dublin to cover everything from Brexit and border issues to abortion law and Game of Thrones

I managed five months back in Ireland before falling into a bog. The patch of green moss looked firm, but when stepped on it dissolved into a pool of dark water. It swallowed my leg and encased a foot in muck, heralding a long day of squelching.

A daft thing to happen, but in my defence I was doing a story about bogs. Bord na Móna, the semi-state company that harvests peatlands, was closing “active bogs”, partly in response to climate change, so last November I found myself touring peatlands in County Kildare.

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Labour MPs to urge Jeremy Corbyn not to ‘torpedo’ Brexit deal

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Second referendum would be ‘divisive but not decisive’, MPs will say in letter to leader

Jeremy Corbyn is to be urged by a group of Labour MPs not to “torpedo” the prospect of a Brexit deal with Theresa May by insisting on a second referendum.

The MPs, including Stephen Kinnock and Gloria De Piero, are set to send the Labour leader a letter early next week setting out their “deep-seated reservations about a second referendum”, which they believe would be “divisive but … not decisive”.

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The Guardian view on Britain and the EU elections: get together to stay together | Editorial

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There is a public majority against Brexit. The political parties must cooperate to ensure that its voice is heard in any elections

If they take place, European elections in Britain would ideally serve three complementary purposes. The first would be to widen the national debate about Britain’s relations with Europe. The second would be to ensure the electoral argument has a pro-European outcome. The third would be to send a clear pro-European message from British voters to the EU. All this is not going as well for the pro-European side as it should be.

The political context for EU elections remains healthy for pro-Europeans. Brexit has proved far more difficult than leavers originally claimed. Leavers are very deeply divided. The problems have contributed to some public rethinking. Since Britain voted to leave the EU in 2016, public opinion has slowly but steadily shifted towards remaining. The current poll of polls on the issue shows a 54%-46% remain lead. A ComRes poll this week has the gap at 58%-42%.

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Bill Drummond to lead Irish border poll and hand out hot cross buns

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The KLF founder will ask citizens if they agree with a clause he proposes adding to the Good Friday agreement

His best-known actions include burning £1m, firing blanks at the 1992 Brit awards and dropping a dead sheep on the red carpet of a luxury hotel as a member of the KLF. But Bill Drummond’s latest public display is more sedate: on Good Friday, he will stand on the Irish border, handing out homemade hot cross buns and conducting an informal referendum.

Between 10am and 12pm on 19 April, Drummond will ask the first 40 people who cross the border between Derry and Donegal whether they agree or disagree with adding a clause of his creation to the Good Friday agreement:

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Forget Brexit and focus on climate change, Greta Thunberg tells EU

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Teenager who started school strike movement urges MEPs to ‘wake up and take action’

The teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg has chided EU leaders for holding three emergency summits on Brexit and none on the threat posed by climate change.

In a clarion call to Europe’s political leaders ahead of European parliament elections in May, the founder of the school strike movement said if politicians were serious about tackling climate change they would not spend all their time “talking about taxes or Brexit”.

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Downing Street under pressure to close down Labour talks on Brexit

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No 10 scrambles to explore options before possible heavy losses in EU elections

No 10 is feeling the pressure to pull the plug on Brexit talks with Labour and move to an alternative plan, amid warnings that the opposition is in no hurry for a deal before the European elections.

With talks deadlocked and no sign that the government moving on its red lines, neither the Conservatives or Labour want to appear responsible for the breakdown in discussions.

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Fear and despair engulf refugees in Libya’s ‘market of human beings’

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Long the target of reported abuses, refugees in Libya now claim they are being recruited by militias – a potential war crime

On the roofs of the highest buildings in Tajoura, a military complex and migrant detention centre in southern Tripoli, snipers are taking position.

“Tonight nobody will sleep because of fear,” said a refugee locked up there. “We can hear the sound of guns and explosion of bombs very close to the detention centre.”

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Europe urged to reject US Middle East plan if it is unfair to Palestinians

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Exclusive: letter from former officials says Europe must stand by the two-state solution

High-ranking former European politicians have condemned the Trump administration’s one-sided Israel-Palestine policy and called in a letter for Europe to reject any US Middle East peace plan unless it is fair to Palestinians.

The letter, sent to the Guardian, the EU and European governments, was signed by 25 former foreign ministers, six former prime ministers, and two former Nato secretary generals.

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Corbyn told to back new EU referendum or lose millions of supporters

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A generation of young people could desert the party, says Richard Corbett, leader of Labour MEPs

Jeremy Corbyn has been warned by Labour’s leader in the European parliament and other grandees that the party will be deserted by millions of anti-Brexit voters if it fails to clearly back a second referendum in its manifesto for next month’s EU elections.

The message from Richard Corbett, who leads Labour’s 20 MEPs, comes amid growing fears at the top of the party that it could lose a generation of young, pro-EU voters if it does not guarantee another public vote.

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Brexit: pro-EU parties to use European elections as ‘soft referendum’

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Lib Dems, Greens and TIG will not form pacts as they look for surge in support for remain

Pro-EU parties, including the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and the Independent Group, will not form pacts or alliances at the forthcoming EU elections, hoping to use the poll as a “soft referendum” to show a surge in support for remain.

If no Brexit deal is passed by parliament, the UK will be required to hold the poll on 23 May. The Lib Dems, the mainstream party hoping to capitalise most on anti-Brexit discontent, has almost finalised its manifesto and plans a huge operation of ground campaigning targeting remain voters.

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Hammond plays down Brexit delay increasing chance of second vote

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Time likely to be too tight for referendum before end of October, says chancellor

Philip Hammond has played down the possibility that the UK could use the delay to Brexit to hold a second referendum and stressed that he still expects Britain to leave the European Union.

Speaking in Washington, the chancellor said time would be too tight to hold a confirmatory vote before the new deadline of the end of October unless it was triggered over the coming weeks.

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UK stands down 6,000 no-deal Brexit staff – after spending £1.5bn

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Civil service to stand down its no-deal contingency plans in light of new departure date

The government has stood down an army of 6,000 civil servants who had been preparing for a no-deal Brexit, at an estimated cost of £1.5bn.

The civil servants who had been seconded from elsewhere will now return to their normal duties, but there is no clear role for an estimated 4,500 new recruits after article 50 was extended until Halloween.

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What were Merkel and May laughing about at the EU summit? – video

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The summit on Wednesday was off to promising start as Angela Merkel approached Theresa May to share something on her iPad. May burst out laughing with Merkel when she saw what was on the device: a photo montage of the two leaders speaking in their respective parliaments earlier that day. Both were wearing a jacket in the same vivid shade of blue – which could be described as EU flag blue. The European council president, Donald Tusk, and Luxembourg's prime minister, Xavier Bettel, were also amused. One of the council’s most senior officials smiled politely.

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Macron’s tough-guy stance on Brexit is part of his political project

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French president compared to De Gaulle as he seeks to get on with mission to change EU

Emmanuel Macron’s tough-guy stance at the EU summit – refusing the UK a much longer Brexit extension – was partly down to the French president’s personality, but his reasoning was political.

The 41-year-old, who stood for president without ever having run an election campaign then promised a grand plan to reform the European Union, is known for his impatience. He wants action. He likes to be centre stage.

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