Category Archives: Foreign policy

Revealed: UK concealed failure to alert EU over 75,000 criminal convictions

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Calls in UK and Europe for inquiries into scandal in which details of crimes by foreigners not passed on

The UK has failed to pass on the details of 75,000 convictions of foreign criminals to their home EU countries and concealed the scandal for fear of damaging Britain’s reputation in Europe’s capitals, the Guardian can reveal.

European trust in the UK on security issues sank to a new low on Tuesday night after details emerged of the apparent cover-up, which prompted calls for an investigation in the UK and a warning from one senior MEP that a Brussels inquiry was inevitable.

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EU trade chief foresees ‘financial services for fishing’ Brexit bargain

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Commissioner says Europe will seek fishery access and UK will want concessions for City

The EU’s trade commissioner has suggested there could be a last-minute trade-off with Brussels offering the City of London access to European markets in return for European fleets retaining their fishing rights in British waters.

The UK’s financial services sector will lose its automatic right to serve Europe-based clients at the end of the transition period and the EU will need to negotiate access to UK waters for its fishing boats.

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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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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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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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Papers reveal Anglo-French distrust before Srebrenica massacre

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Archives show British PM was warned France may have made secret deal with Bosnian Serbs

Days before the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995, John Major was warned France had possibly brokered a secret deal with the Bosnian Serbs to halt airstrikes in return for the release of western military hostages.

This claim, detailed in a secret Foreign Office note to the prime minister, is among documents available to read at the National Archives in Kew fromTuesday that expose the depth of Anglo-French distrust during the Balkans conflict.

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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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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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Johnson visit to Lebedev party after victory odd move for ‘people’s PM’

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PM mingled with Russian elite amid claims of Moscow interference in UK politics

It was the equivalent of a V-sign cheerfully flashed at his critics. The day after his landslide election victory, Boris Johnson and his girlfriend Carrie Symonds dropped into a caviar-fuelled Christmas party in London hosted by former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev and his son Evgeny.

During the campaign Johnson had stubbornly refused to publish the Russia report, written by the last parliament’s intelligence and security committee.

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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 pass withdrawal agreement bill by 124 majority

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Bill passes second reading by 358 votes to 234 leaving UK on course to leave EU by end of January

Britain has taken a pivotal step towards leaving the European Union as Boris Johnson was rewarded for the Conservatives’ thumping general election victory with a majority of 124 for his Brexit deal in the House of Commons.

Addressing MPs on Friday morning, the prime minister sought to draw a line under three years of bitter parliamentary conflict, urging his colleagues to “discard the old labels of leave and remain”.

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Aid groups warn Boris Johnson against combining DfID with Foreign Office

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Charities caution that ‘UK aid risks becoming a vehicle for UK foreign policy’ if post-Brexit merger comes to fruition

A coalition of aid groups including the British Red Cross, Cafod and Oxfam GB has warned Boris Johnson that to abolish the Department for International Development would suggest Britain is “turning our backs on the world’s poorest people”.

One climate diplomacy expert said it would be “political suicide” to merge DfID with the Foreign Office in 2020, the same year the UK is hosting the UN climate summit, since the move would tie up senior civil servants when they were most needed to tackle the response to the climate crisis.

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Cliff-edge Brexit will hurt UK more than EU, says Von der Leyen

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EU president warns of time running out in the expected 11 months available to strike deal

Ursula von der Leyen has warned that a cliff-edge Brexit at the end of 2020 will hurt the UK more than the EU as she laid out her intentions to “make the most” out of the “extremely challenging” 11 months available to strike a trade deal.

The European commission president acknowledged the danger of time running out during the negotiations, a risk many fear has been amplified by Boris Johnson’s symbolic decision to legislate to block an extension of the transition period.

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Now Britain’s navel-gazing has to end. It’s time to keep our aid pledge to the world

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DfID must remain independent to safeguard aid commitments and our global reputation, says former minister

We are standing at a pivotal moment in the UK’s relationship with the rest of the world.

As parliament reassembles post-election, nations around the world, both within the EU and beyond, are waiting to see what direction the UK will take.

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Boris Johnson’s Brexit extension block ‘will limit UK options’

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Brussels prepares to restrict scope of talks in light of British PM’s ‘strange’ move

Boris Johnson’s plan to make it illegal for the government to extend the Brexit transition period beyond 11 months has been described as “strange” by Ireland’s deputy prime minister, as Brussels prepared to limit the scope of the coming negotiations.

Simon Coveney said it amounted to the “UK deciding to tie itself in terms of options” while the director general for trade in the European commission, Sabine Weyand, said the ambition of any deal would need to be pared back.

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