Category Archives: European Union

Ukraine war ‘over’ unless EU boosts military support, says top diplomat

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Foreign affairs chief tells Munich security conference provision of ammunition has to be solved quickly

The war with Ukraine will be over unless the EU finds a way in weeks to speed up the provision of ammunition to Ukraine, Josep Borrell, the EU foreign affairs chief, warned on the final day of the Munich security conference.

He said a special meeting of EU defence ministers slated for 8-9 March will provide a chance for countries to offer ammunition from their existing stocks, adding it is taking up to 10 months for European armies to order and receive a single bullet.

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Brussels tries to form united front against Putin’s oligarchs

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The west has made it hard for Russia’s millionaires to retain assets – but not impossible. Now the EU wants to try harder

It has been a long year since Liz Truss launched a rolling programme of sanctions on Russia’s oligarchs. Speaking three days after the invasion of Ukraine, the foreign secretary, as she was then, signalled an end to the UK government’s no-questions-asked approach.

“We are targeting oligarchs’ private jets, we’ll be targeting their properties, we’ll be targeting other possessions that they have,” she told Sky TV. “There will be nowhere to hide.”

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Sunak urges Europe to use weapons stockpiles to help Ukraine war

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UK prime minister says Kyiv needs more ammunition, air defence, heavy armoury and longer range weapons

European countries should stop hoarding weapon stockpiles and give them to Ukraine to allow Kyiv to make a decisive assault, Rishi Sunak has told the Munich security conference.

The British prime minister said Ukraine needed more ammunition, air defence, heavy armoury and longer range weapons, amid frustration in London and Kyiv that some European powers are refusing to hand over arms on the basis they cannot afford to reduce their own defences.

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DUP says ‘progress made but more work needed’ in Northern Ireland protocol talks with Sunak – UK politics live

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Party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson says negotiations should be led by ‘getting it right and not timelines’ as Sinn Féin president says indications are ‘heartening’

Labour will offer Rishi Sunak the additional votes he needs to get a Northern Ireland protocol deal through parliament, the shadow justice secretary has said.

Steve Reed told reporters:

We’ll wait and see what the government is coming forward with. It’s very important for everybody in the United Kingdom that this problem is resolved. It’s a problem that is of this government’s own making, of course.

He added:

We have got the prime minister today in Northern Ireland, we hope with a deal to resolve the issues around the Northern Ireland protocol.

What we do not want to happen is that that self-same prime minister then rips up the Human Rights Act, which underpins the Good Friday agreement, because if he puts peace in Northern Ireland in peril in that way, that is an act of unforgivable irresponsibility for which you would never be forgiven.

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DUP leader keeps hopes of protocol deal on track as he declares ‘progress’ in talks

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Jeffrey Donaldson says ‘big moment’ looming in Rishi Sunak’s effort to cut a post-Brexit deal with EU

The Democratic Unionist party has kept on track Rishi Sunak’s attempt to change the Northern Ireland protocol, declaring “progress” in Downing Street’s talks with the EU.

Jeffrey Donaldson said on Friday a “big moment” was looming in the UK’s effort to cut a deal with Brussels over Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland. The DUP leader said his party would withhold judgment on any deal – which is expected next week – until it had seen the text.

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Rishi Sunak travels to Belfast in sign NI protocol deal is imminent

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Visit suggests announcement of UK-EU solution on Northern Ireland could come as early as Friday

Rishi Sunak arrived in Belfast on Thursday night, in a sign that a deal on the Northern Ireland protocol is imminent.

The foreign secretary, James Cleverly, will also travel to Brussels on Friday for talks with the European Commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič.

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Brussels contacts Sweden over plans to deport British woman with Alzheimer’s

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Kathleen Poole, who lives in a care home, faces removal for not having post-Brexit paperwork in order

The European Commission has contacted the Swedish authorities after it emerged they were planning to deport a 74-year-old British woman with severe Alzheimer’s because she did not have her post-Brexit paperwork in order.

At the same time, the office of the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, is trying to ascertain the exact circumstances that have led to the removal threat faced by Kathleen Poole, who cannot speak, walk or feed herself and is bedbound in a care home.

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European Commission takes Poland to court over ‘legal Polexit’

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‘Bombshell’ step in response to rulings by Polish judges that breach principle of the supremacy of EU law

The European Commission is taking Poland to court over rulings from Polish judges considered by experts as a “legal Polexit” that fundamentally undermine the EU’s legal order.

The decision to refer Poland to the European court of justice on Wednesday – described by one expert as a bombshell – comes as Poland’s rightwing nationalist government battles to secure €35.4bn (£31.4bn) in EU Covid recovery funds that have been frozen over concerns about government-influenced courts.

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Deal on Northern Ireland protocol ‘could be struck next week’

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Negotiations are in crucial final phase with Rishi Sunak preparing to hold calls with EU leaders

Negotiations over the Northern Ireland protocol are in the crucial final phase with a deal possible as early as next week, according to multiple sources.

Rishi Sunak is expected to spend the latter half of the parliamentary recess this week looking at the shape of the deal, with calls pencilled in with EU leaders. However, UK sources stressed that talks were at a delicate phase and there was no guarantee of a final agreement.

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EU tipped to avoid recession after gas crisis eases

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Economic growth forecast to be 0.8% in 2023 but households still face cost of living pressures

The EU is predicted to narrowly avoid recession as a result of a milder-than-expected energy shock, although households face difficult times ahead as cost of living pressures ease only gradually, the European Commission has said.

Economic growth for the 27 countries of the EU is forecast to be 0.8% in 2023, compared with a 0.3% projection last autumn, when fears of winter power outages and the rising cost of living ran high. In the 20-country eurozone, the economy will expand by 0.9% in 2023, boosted by a better-than-expected performance in Germany and Italy, as well as relatively stronger growth in Spain.

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Brexiters claim ‘sellout’ after Tories discuss rapprochement with EU

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Nigel Farage, John Redwood and Lord Frost rail against news of senior Tories joining cross-party summit to tackle failings of Brexit

Prominent Brexit supporters have hit out at senior Conservative figures after the Observer revealed they had taken part in a private cross-party summit entitled: “How can we make Brexit work better with our neighbours in Europe?”

John Redwood, the prominent Brexit-supporting Tory MP, and Nigel Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence party, criticised those attending the summit at Oxfordshire’s Ditchley Park retreat, including the cabinet minister Michael Gove.

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Brexit is a self-inflicted wound of unparalleled severity | Phillip Inman

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Quitting the EU has stalled business investment, making us reliant on workers who are now scarce. Hence rising wages, high inflation and increased interest rates. Result? A looming recession

Whenever Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, talks about the economy, he is forced to mention the toll taken by Brexit.

Business leaders, initially reluctant to criticise the Tory decision to quit the EU, have begun to find their voice. Most recently, leading City figure Guy Hands called Brexit a “complete disaster” and a “bunch of total lies” that has harmed large parts of the economy.

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Belgian MEP arrested in ‘cash for influence’ inquiry

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Police search Marc Tarabella’s safe deposit box and offices as part of anti-corruption investigation

A second MEP has been arrested as part of a criminal investigation into alleged bribery, corruption and money laundering at the European parliament.

Marc Tarabella of Belgium was taken in for questioning after police arrived at his home at about 6am on Friday, according to Belgian press reports. Tarabella has previously declared his innocence.

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EU urged to use frozen Russian assets to ‘cover costs of aggression’ in Ukraine

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Poland and Baltic states say bloc should seize funds to start rebuilding country, amid questions of legality

Poland and the Baltic states have urged the EU to work on seizing frozen Russian state assets for the reconstruction of Ukraine “as soon as possible”, raising pressure to act on a legally fraught question.

In the run-up to a two-day EU summit that will discuss the Russian invasion, the leaders of Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia said that, “in order to be credible on this matter vis-a-vis Ukraine”, the bloc had to go beyond reiterating previous commitments and “accelerate our work in the council right now”.

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Brexit Northern Ireland protocol is lawful, supreme court rules

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Judges reject legal challenge to UK-EU trade arrangements by group of unionist leaders

The Northern Ireland protocol is lawful, the supreme court has ruled, rejecting a legal challenge to the Brexit arrangements by a group of unionist leaders including the former first ministers the late David Trimble and Arlene Foster.

Five law lords presiding in the highest court in the UK unanimously dismissed the appeal on all three grounds including the claims that the Brexit trading arrangements breached the 1800 Act of Union and the Northern Ireland Act 1998.

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Boris Johnson agreed Brexit protocol knowing it was ‘mess’, says John Major

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Johnson’s administration made promises over Northern Ireland deal that it knew were unworkable, former PM tells MPs

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John Major has launched a scathing attack on Boris Johnson’s handling of Brexit, saying his administration agreed to the Northern Ireland protocol despite knowing it was unworkable.

“That must be the first agreement in history that was signed by people who decided it was useless in the first place,” Major told a Westminster committee on Tuesday.

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EU institutions in row over leaking of details of potential Zelenskiy visit

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Ukraine president reported to be planning trip to Brussels this week to meet EU leaders in person

Recriminations have broken out among EU officials after a possible visit by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to Brussels was leaked, raising concerns over his security.

Zelenskiy was reported to be planning a trip to Brussels this Thursday to meet EU leaders in person at a summit and address the European parliament in an extraordinary session.

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Negotiators make breakthrough in Northern Irish protocol dispute

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Agreement on food and animal health checks ‘close to being done’, but no progress on trickier issues

EU and UK negotiators have made a breakthrough in reducing checks on goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as part of efforts to resolve the long-running dispute over the Northern Irish protocol.

A senior EU official confirmed to the Guardian that an agreement on food and animal health checks was “close to being done” as part of a deal that would create red and green lanes at Northern Irish ports to differentiate between goods staying in the region and those moving south to the EU’s single market.

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Yes, the mood has shifted against Brexit. But the road back to Brussels is long and hard

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Three years on, the reality of the split with the EU has changed minds. But dashed hopes could come to haunt Labour, too

Brexit is three years old and less popular than ever. More people are unhappy with Brexit outcomes to date, and pessimistic about the gains to come today than at any point in the Brexit process so far. “Rejoin” has opened up a double-digit lead over staying out in polls asking voters how they would choose in a second referendum on EU membership.

While voters have swung against Brexit before, the current shift is different. Earlier remain gains were driven by abstainers and those too young to vote in 2016 breaking against Brexit and by demographic changes which have slowly pulled the electorate in a pro-EU direction. The vast majority of leave and remain voters have hitherto stood by the choices they made in June 2016. That is now changing, and it is Brexiters who are reconsidering. One in five leave voters now say they would vote to rejoin the EU, while remain switching has stayed much lower. The scales of opinion are being tipped against Brexit by growing doubts among its original supporters.

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Sunak ‘risks full-scale trade war’ with Brussels by scrapping EU laws

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Leading European politicians have warned that the prime minister’s plan to ditch EU legislation will trigger retaliatory countermeasures, including imposing tariffs on goods

Rishi Sunak’s plan to scrap thousands of EU laws by the end of this year risks triggering a full-scale trade war between the UK and Brussels, senior figures in the European Union have warned.

Letters from leading EU politicians, seen by the Observer, reveal deep concern that the UK is about to lower standards in areas such as environmental protection and workers’ rights – breaching “level playing field” provisions that were at the heart of the post-Brexit trade and cooperation agreement (TCA).

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