Exclusive: Price of importing drugs for a Paris and Birmingham study has almost quadrupled to £175,000
British clinical trials of revolutionary cancer treatments are being derailed by red tape and extra costs caused by Brexit, according to a report obtained by the Guardian.
These two examples illustrate how the UK’s departure from the EU is harming UK cancer research, leaving patients in limbo and unable to access pioneering treatments.
Continue reading...Member states are considering removing the country’s voting rights after its attempts to stymie support for Kyiv
The posters are going up all over Hungary. “Let’s not allow them to decide for us,” runs the slogan alongside three classic villains of Hungarian government propaganda.
They are: Ukraine’s wartime leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy; the European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen; and Manfred Weber, the German politician who leads the centre-right European People’s party in the European parliament, which counts Hungary’s most potent opposition politician among its ranks.
Continue reading...Trump praises Italian PM and accepts invitation that could present chance for him to meet other European leaders
Giorgia Meloni said Donald Trump had accepted her invitation for an official trip to Rome, as the pair met in Washington in an attempt by the Italian prime minister to bridge the gap between the EU and US amid trade tariff tensions.
Meloni said Trump’s trip could happen “in the near future” and could present an opportunity for him to meet other European leaders.
Continue reading...Quarter-point cut in main rate to 2.25% aimed at tackling slowdown in eurozone growth and impact of US border taxes
The cost of borrowing has fallen across the 20-member euro area for the third time this year after the European Central Bank cut its main interest rate to 2.25% in response to slowing growth and Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The Frankfurt-based bank cut its benchmark deposit rate by a quarter of a percentage point on Thursday, in line with economist expectations, to tackle a slowdown in the bloc and the impact from the border taxes imposed earlier this month on all EU imports into the US.
Continue reading...Human rights groups say drop is partly due to EU policies that turn blind eye to rights abuses in countries such as Libya and Tunisia
Irregular crossings at Europe’s borders have fallen by 30% in the first quarter of the year compared with the same period last year, in a decrease that rights groups partly attributed to EU policies that have emphasised deterrence while seemingly turning a blind eye to the risk of rights abuses.
The decline was seen across all the major migratory routes into Europe, the EU’s border agency Frontex said in a statement, amounting to nearly 33,600 fewer arrivals in the first three months of the year.
Continue reading...European Commission may reportedly let companies declare force majeure as part of strategy to rid bloc of Russian fossil fuels by 2027
The European Commission is considering plans that would allow European companies to break long-term Russian gas contracts without paying penalties to Moscow, it has been reported.
Citing three officials with knowledge of the plan, the Financial Times reported that the commission was studying the possibility of allowing companies to declare force majeure, which would absolve importers of their obligations to pay penalty fees for ending contracts.
Continue reading...NGOs warn of ‘some difficult years’ ahead as increasing humanitarian needs meet shrinking finances
The dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has captured headlines, but “very regrettable” reductions in European aid budgets are also contributing to a void in support for some of the poorest people in the world’s most fragile states, according to MEPs and NGOs.
Isabella Lövin, a deputy chair of the European parliament’s development committee, said USAID cuts would have “very dramatic consequences around the world”. But she also criticised recent decisions by EU member states to reduce their aid budgets as “very regrettable” and “wrong”. It would be impossible for the EU to fill the gap, she added.
Continue reading...Open trade with Europe is more important to the UK than a deal with Donald Trump, most Britons believe
A clear majority of UK voters want the government to concentrate on rebuilding trade ties with the EU over forging a new economic deal with the US, according to research published this weekend.
The study, based on analysis of polling that used new methods of questioning participants, suggests people of voting age now see their economic interests, and the UK’s, as far more closely linked to open trade relations with our EU neighbours than any deals that Keir Starmer might or might not strike with the US.
Continue reading...Government introduces measure to prevent spread of foot-and-mouth disease after rise in cases across Europe
Tourists from Great Britain who travel to the continent to satisfy their epicurean desires for cured meats and fragrant cheeses will be frustrated in their attempts to bring home some of their favourite foods after a ban on meat and dairy imports from EU countries came into force this weekend.
From Saturday, holidaymakers will no longer be able to bring meat from cattle, sheep, goats or pigs, or dairy products, from EU countries into Great Britain for personal use, in a move aimed at preventing the spread of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) after a rise in cases across Europe.
Continue reading...Chinese leader canvasses Spain and other trading partners on how to tackle economic fallout as market turmoil continues
China has raised its tariffs on US products to 125% in the latest salvo of the trade dispute with Washington, just hours after Xi Jinping said there were “no winners in a tariff war”.
Xi made the comments during a meeting with the Spanish prime minister in which he invited the EU to work with China to resist “bullying”, part of an apparent campaign to shore up other trading partners.
Continue reading...Bloc is ‘very committed’ to laws on big tech and is not targeting US companies, says European Commission’s Henna Virkkunen
The EU will not rip up its tech rules in an attempt to reach a trade deal with Donald Trump, the bloc’s most senior official on digital policy has said.
Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission vice-president responsible for tech sovereignty, indicated the EU was not going to compromise on its digital rulebook to reach an agreement on trade with the US – a key demand of Trump administration officials.
Continue reading...As China retaliates against tariffs, it is also making strategic manoeuvres on EU and Asia to maximise opportunities
On the basis of Napoleon’s dictum “never interrupt your enemy while they are making a mistake”, there was a large incentive for China to do precisely nothing as Donald Trump displayed his determination to lose friends and induce market panic. Indeed, the Chinese advocates of passivity cited a social media meme attributed to President Xi Jinping: “Do nothing. Win.”
Initially it was tempting for China to sit back and watch the US’s former allies recoil at Trump’s disruptive war on globalisation and let them realise that, by comparison, China represented an oasis of stability, modernity and predictability.
Continue reading...Former PM says it is also the moment for the UK to go even further in renewing ties with the EU
Gordon Brown has called for an “economic coalition of the willing” to respond to Donald Trump’s tariffs with coordinated economic policies, including a reduction of interest rates.
The former prime minister also said it was a moment for the UK to go even further in renewing ties with the EU, suggesting it should mean “collaboration that is even more extensive than removing post-Brexit trade barriers”.
Continue reading...Bloc says it ‘considers US tariffs unjustified and damaging, causing economic harm to both sides’
The EU has agreed to impose retaliatory tariffs on €21bn (£18bn) of US goods, targeting farm produce and products from Republican states, in Europe’s first act of retaliation against Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The EU plans to introduce 25% tariffs on scores of goods from almonds to yachts, with the first duties being collected from 15 April, while the bulk apply from 15 May and the remainder from 1 December.
Continue reading...Up to five sites with power-hungry supercomputers and datacentres planned to drive AI ‘moonshots’
The EU has revealed details of a €20bn (£17bn) plan to create new sites equipped with vast supercomputers in Europe to develop the next generation of artificial intelligence models, while opening the door to amending its landmark law that regulates the technology.
Publishing a strategy to turn Europe into an “AI continent”, the European Commission vice-president Henna Virkkunen said the technology was at the heart of making Europe more competitive, secure and technologically sovereign, adding: “The global race for AI is far from over.”
Continue reading...Chancellor rules out rejoining customs union but says Britain must bolster post-Brexit trade with partners
Donald Trump’s unfolding trade war makes it even more “imperative” for the UK to improve its post-Brexit trading relations with the European Union, Rachel Reeves has said.
The government has ruled out rejoining the EU customs union, but the chancellor has insisted the UK wants to improve its trade relationship with “partners in Europe”, given the difficulties British firms have found in exporting their products around Europe.
Continue reading...Von der Leyen urged to take ‘rapid and radical action’ as president says tariffs on pharmaceuticals coming ‘shortly’
Pharmaceutical companies in the EU have warned of a “risk of exodus” to the US as stocks in the sector slid around the world on the back of Donald Trump’s renewed threat to impose tariffs on US drugs imports.
Drugmakers’ shares across Europe and India, another foreign drugs hub, slipped on Wednesday after Trump indicated further carnage was on the way in addition to the 20% “reciprocal tariffs” on imports that kicked in overnight.
Continue reading...Far-right leader tells supporters she is victim of ‘witch-hunt’, while radical left says RN’s mask has slipped
• What is Marine Le Pen guilty of in National Rally embezzlement case?
The French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has told supporters in Paris she would fight “a political, not a judicial ruling” that could bar her from the next presidential election, as a rival rally denounced an “existential threat” to the rule of law after her conviction for embezzling public funds.
“This decision has trampled on everything I hold most dear: my people, my country and my honour,” the figurehead of National Rally (RN) told a crowd of flag-waving supporters as the country’s three main political movements staged events in the Paris.
Continue reading...Carmaker says action will allow it to consider how to mitigate cost of 25% tariff on imports
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will pause shipments of its UK-made cars to the US for a month as it considers how to mitigate the cost of Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The 25% tariff imposed by the US on imported cars and light trucks took effect on 3 April.
Continue reading...Bloc to discuss trade, security and energy with leaders of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan
The EU is being urged to put human rights centre stage as it begins its first summit with the leaders of central Asia.
The president of the European Council, António Costa, and the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, are meeting the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan on Friday.
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