Category Archives: Europe

Nord Stream 2 Russian gas pipeline likely to go ahead after EU deal

Posted on by

Concerns had been raised over project increasing German reliance on Russian energy

Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, called it a mistake, while the US president, Donald Trump, has branded it very inappropriate and a “very bad thing for Nato”.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline to take Russian gas to Germany is arguably Europe’s most controversial energy project, drawing opposition from Ukraine, which it will bypass, and uniting the US, eastern EU states, and the European Commission which fears it will undermine the bloc’s ‘energy union’ plans.

Continue reading...

UK faces chaotic Brexit or extension of article 50, says Donald Tusk

Posted on by

European council president has walked through process of delaying Britain’s departure

Theresa May will not get her Brexit deal through the Commons, Donald Tusk has warned, leaving the UK with the option of “a chaotic Brexit” or an extension of its membership of the EU beyond 29 March.

The European council president, to quell “speculation”, disclosed that, during private talks with the prime minister at a summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, he had walked through the legal process that would need to be followed to delay Brexit.

Continue reading...

French teachers give top grades in protest at baccalaureate changes

Posted on by

Protesters use tactic to fight Emmanuel Macron’s proposed changes to high school exam

Teachers in Paris and western France have begun giving every pupil in their classes top marks in tests and evaluations in protest at changes to France’s baccalaureate exams.

The baccalaureate, which pupils take in their last year of high school, is based on a structure created under Napoleon in 1808. A revamp of the education system by the president, Emmanuel Macron, has been presented as key to his pro-business project to modernise the Frenc economy.

Continue reading...

Cyprus: likely gas field find raises prospect of tension with Turkey

Posted on by

Expected announcement by ExxonMobil of discovery off island’s south coast seen as potential game changer

Tensions between Cyprus and Turkey over energy could soon come to a head, with ExxonMobil apparently poised to announce a significant natural gas find off the divided island’s southern coast.

After more than three months of deep-water exploration in the eastern Mediterranean, the US firm is expected to unveil findings this week in what is being described as a seminal moment in the race to tap potentially profitable underwater resources.

Continue reading...

Italy’s hardline stance on immigration leaves sex trafficked women fearful

Posted on by

Thousands of Nigerian women could be expelled or left homeless as Salvini decree abolishes protective measures

Princess stares out of the window of a welcome centre an hour outside Rome, watching the sky turn red. She clutches her three-month-old child tightly. The baby is all she has left after Nigeria stole her freedom, and Italy her hope.

Princess, 31, born among the muddy streets and shacks of Benin City, left everything to come to Italy in 2008. Now she is one of the thousands of women trafficked into the country who could soon find themselves on the streets, or deported back to Nigeria, under a decree that cements the populist government’s hardline immigration stance.

Continue reading...

Theresa May dismisses pressure to step down as PM after Brexit

Posted on by

May insists she will stay on after delaying ‘meaningful vote’ on revised exit deal

Theresa May has insisted that she will stay on in Downing Street beyond Brexit despite pressure from cabinet colleagues to step down, after she angered MPs by conceding that there would be no “meaningful vote” this week on a revised withdrawal deal.

The prime minister sparked a fierce backlash on Sunday by admitting that the vote may now not be held before 12 March because her team are still negotiating with EU officials on changes to the deal that she hopes will reassure MPs.

Continue reading...

The Guardian view on Egypt and Europe: embracing authoritarianism | Editorial

Posted on by
The summit of the EU and the Arab League in Sharm el-Sheikh highlights the ongoing and ill-advised support for President Sisi

Days after Egypt executed men who said they were tortured into confessions of killing the country’s former top prosecutor, Europe’s heads of state are enjoying the hospitality of its president. The resort of Sharm el-Sheikh is hosting the inaugural summit of the European Union and the Arab League. Donald Tusk, president of the European council, is co-chairing with Abdel Fatah al-Sisi; Britain’s Theresa May is among the guests.

If the event itself is a first, the approach is familiar. As Mr Sisi entrenches his rule, presiding over what Human Rights Watch calls Egypt’s worst human rights crisis in decades, European countries murmur about their “quiet diplomacy” on such issues. Then they carry on building ties and providing the air of international legitimacy that he needs given his grim record since seizing power in 2013’s coup. Mr Sisi’s recent spate of executions is instructive: he must have felt confident there would be no repercussions for putting people to death so close to the summit – despite their blatantly unfair trials.

Continue reading...

‘I felt the hatred’, says philosopher attacked by gilets jaunes

Posted on by

Alain Finkielkraut says the protester who screamed ‘go back to Tel Aviv’ is part of a new wave of antisemitism

The French philosopher Alain Finkielkraut is at home: an airy apartment with walls packed floor to ceiling with books in one of Paris’s more chic arrondissements.

Today, however, the writer and commentator does not feel entirely at home in France. That feeling was heightened dramatically when, last weekend, a gilet jaune protester shouted at him that he was a “dirty Zionist shit” who should “go back to Tel Aviv”.

Continue reading...

Theresa May insists Brexit ‘must not, will not’ be blocked

Posted on by

PM’s vow comes after three ministers signal they could back moves to delay withdrawal

Theresa May has vowed to Tory grassroots activists that she will not allow the referendum vote for Britain to leave the EU to be frustrated.

The prime minister is flying to Egypt for an EU-League of Arab States summit where she is expected to hold talks with key EU figures as she battles to break the deadlock in the Brexit talks.

Continue reading...

Catholic nun condemns church hierarchy over failure to tackle abuse

Posted on by

Sister Veronica Openibo says leaders must accept they have brought disgrace upon church

A nun has condemned the Catholic church’s hierarchy for its failure to tackle the scourge of clerical sexual abuse, saying leaders must concede that their “mediocrity, hypocrisy and complacency” has brought the church to a “disgraceful place”.

In her speech, delivered at the Vatican’s unprecedented summit on the issue, , Sister Veronica Openibo from Nigeria said the church was in a state of “crisis and shame”.

Continue reading...

‘Soviet vassal state’: Jeremy Hunt makes gaffe in Slovenia

Posted on by

UK foreign secretary criticised after statement displaying lack of awareness country was part of Non-Aligned Movement

The UK foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has incorrectly claimed Slovenia was a Soviet vassal state during his visit to Ljubljana to discuss the Brexit negotiations with his counterpart Miro Cerar.

Slovenia was in fact the wealthiest state within the former Yugoslavia, which was outside the iron curtain and formed part of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

Continue reading...

Italian MPs demand answers over claims Salvini’s League sought Kremlin funding

Posted on by

Salvini spokesman says claims of Moscow meeting to fund the party are ‘fantasies’

Italian opposition politicians have demanded an urgent explanation from the government after allegations surfaced accusing Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party of links to the Kremlin.

According to claims made in L’Espresso magazine, an arrangement was struck to sell 3m tonnes of diesel fuel to an Italian oil company by Russian representatives close to the government of Vladmir Putin, diverting profits to the League.

Continue reading...

Theresa May must go in three months, cabinet ministers say

Posted on by

Senior Tories to make clear PM should give way to new leader for next phase of Brexit

Cabinet ministers will make it clear they believe Theresa May should step down after the local elections in May and allow a new leader to deliver the next phase of the Brexit negotiations, the Guardian understands.

Senior figures in government have suggested they want the prime minister to leave shortly after the first phase of the Brexit negotiations finishes – or risk being defeated in a vote of no confidence at the end of the year.

Continue reading...

Labour must move faster on antisemitism, says McDonnell, as Austin quits – politics live

Posted on by

As Ian Austin quits the party, John McDonnell says it has been to slow to tackle antisemitism

Some Corbyn supporters have argued that Austin’s views meant that he was no longer credible as a member of the Labour party. He is generally viewed as having been on the right of the party. Some have taken issue with him citing racism as a reason for leaving the party when he has urged Labour to bring in tougher laws on immigration.

The Mail reported in 2014 that Austin said “the Labour leadership should embrace tough policies including a ban on benefit payments to new migrants who have paid nothing into the system, fingerprinting at the Calais border, and up-front payments by foreigners for NHS care”.

One of the main reasons Ian Austin opposed Jeremy Corbyn so passionately from the start is because he thought Corbyn's pro-migrant, pro-welfare state politics was out of sync with electoral reality. How do I know this? Because he said so publicly over and over and over again.

Ian Austin MP tells Ed Miliband to get tough on immigration  https://t.co/1bAfzxEyOt One from the archives. This obvious anti-racism champion will be a loss.

Continue reading...

Greece races to move refugees from island likened to a ‘new Lesbos’

Posted on by

Migration minister warns camp on Samos where hundreds of children live in squalor is six times over capacity

Greek authorities are scrambling to house almost 4,000 people crammed into an overflowing migrant camp in Samos, as aid groups warn of a “humanitarian disaster” on one of Europe’s forgotten frontlines.

Likening Samos to a “new Lesbos,” the country’s migration minister warned of a race against the clock to find suitable accommodation for the ever growing number of people trapped in a reception centre now six times over capacity.

Continue reading...

Ireland steps up effort to shelter economy from no-deal Brexit

Posted on by

Bill readied amid concerns over impact on agriculture, food processing and transport

Ireland is accelerating preparations for a no-deal Brexit amid growing alarm that parts of the Irish economy could face severe disruption and even collapse – and that the UK hopes to leverage that prospect to wring concessions from the European Union.

Leo Varadkar’s government is due on Friday to publish a mammoth omnibus bill incorporating 16 pieces of legislation to try to shelter Ireland from the doomsday scenario of the UK crashing out of the EU.

Continue reading...

Theresa May faces ministerial revolt over no-deal Brexit

Posted on by

Up to 25 government members could vote for delay rather than allow UK to crash out

Theresa May is facing the most serious cabinet revolt of her premiership next week, with as many as 25 members of the government ready to vote for a Brexit delay unless she rules out “no deal” – in a move that will challenge her to sack them.

Rebel Conservatives believe there are now enough MPs across the House of Commons to pass an amendment that would require May to extend article 50 rather than allow the UK to leave without a deal.

Continue reading...

The Guardian view on Britain and China: it’s complicated | Editorial

Posted on by
Beijing’s might and ambitions, and the approach of Brexit, make the path ahead more difficult. It’s time for careful thought

A few years ago, George Osborne announced that Britain’s relations with China were entering a “golden era”. On Thursday, his successor as chancellor gave a more measured assessment: they are “complex”, Philip Hammond said, noting that they “had not been made simpler” by the defence secretary Gavin Williamson’s threat to deploy an aircraft carrier in the South China Sea.

Britain, blanching as Brexit approaches, is more anxious than ever to keep Chinese cash flowing. Diplomats from other nations say London is already less willing to criticise Beijing because it knows how much it will need it. Yet some of the lustre is coming off bilateral dealings, as it is from China’s relationships elsewhere. The Trump administration is viscerally hostile, but Beijing’s increasingly repressive turn at home and forcefulness abroad has alarmed many who were more sympathetic to it.

Continue reading...

Woman dies after eating at Michelin-starred restaurant

Posted on by

Spanish authorities say 28 others suffered food poisoning after dining at Riff in Valencia

One woman has died and 28 people have suffered food poisoning after eating at a Michelin-starred restaurant in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia.

The 46-year-old woman, who has not been named, became ill after having a meal at the Riff restaurant with her husband and son. She died in the early hours of Sunday. Her husband and son are recovering.

Continue reading...

Germany paying pensions to Nazi collaborators in UK and Belgium

Posted on by

Belgian parliament asks Berlin to stop payments to non-Germans who pledged allegiance to Hitler

Nearly 75 years after the second world war, Germany is still paying monthly pensions to collaborators of the wartime Nazi regime in several European countries including Belgium and Britain, according to Belgian MPs and media reports.

The foreign affairs committee of the Belgian parliament this week voted in favour of a resolution urging the German federal government to put an immediate stop to the payments and publish a full list of those receiving them.

Continue reading...