Entradas

Not today

Imagen
Once flagged as the moment when a Brexit deal could start coming together, a lunch between Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels on Monday won’t be the breakthrough some hoped as recently as a week ago. U.K. officials are managing down expectations. It’s not just that a deal on the Irish border remains elusive. The issue of what role the European Court of Justice can have post-Brexit has re-emerged as a major stumbling block after a weekend of intense back-and-forth, according to people on both sides. The ECJ has totemic importance for the Brexit backers in May’s Conservative Party, who see it as a symbol of lost sovereignty. On the EU side, it’s a possible deal-breaker as the veto-wielding European Parliament has made clear the court must have a role in protecting the rights of EU citizens living in the U.K. after Brexit. May is ready to compromise, enraging some party members, but her offer may not go far enough for the
Publicar un comentario
Leer más

La emigración a Reino Unido registra una caída anual récord tras el Brexit

La primera ministra británica, Theresa May, a su llegada ayer al palacio real de Ammán para entrevistarse con Abdalá de Jordania.  La emigración a Reino Unido registra una caída anual récord tras el Brexit PABLO GUIMÓN, Londres. El Bréxodo ha comenzado. La inmigración neta en Reino Unido ha sufrido la mayor caída anual, desde que existen registros, en los 12 meses después de que los británicos decidieran en referéndum abandonar la Unión Europea. La bajada, según estadísticas oficiales publicadas ayer, obedece al descenso en las llegadas y el aumento en las partidas de ciudadanos europeos. Desde el pico histórico de 336.000 personas del final de junio de 2016, la inmigración neta ¿personas que llegan menos las que se van cayó a las 230.000 en junio pasado. Tres cuartas partes de esa caída de 106.000, la mayor desde 1964, corresponde a ciudadanos de la UE. El número de europeos que ha abandonado Reino Unido en el año posterior al referéndum del 23 de junio de 2016 ha creci
Publicar un comentario
Leer más

Stepping forward

Imagen
Theresa May won backing from key ministers to improve her offer on the Brexit divorce bill to about £40 billion ($53 billion), ITV News reported. Now the prime minister wants to make sure she’ll get something in return before putting the offer on the negotiating table. May – who hasn’t said anything publicly about the size of a new offer – keeps saying the “U.K. and the EU should step forward together.” That means she doesn’t want to make an offer on the money unless she’s sure she’ll get the green light for trade talks to start in return. It could cost her her job otherwise, as plenty of lawmakers – and voters – don’t think Britain should be paying anything like the sums Brussels is demanding. ITV’s Robert Peston also reported that a key group of ministers agreed that the European Court of Justice will have a role after Brexit for EU citizens. If confirmed, that would be a major breakthrough on citizens’ rights, one of three sticking points blocking the move from divorc
Publicar un comentario
Leer más

Can she do it?

Imagen
Theresa May is surrounded . Even on her own side she has Brexit hardliners pushing her to be bolder, Europhiles wanting her to go softer, and a growing list of lawmakers who want her gone. All this as her key Brexit legislation goes to Parliament, where the fragility of her minority government will be plain to see. That weakness is underlined today as the opposition Labour Party offers her a deal, Bloomberg’s Rob Hutton reports. Telling her she doesn’t “have the authority” to deliver an exit deal that protects jobs and the economy, Labour’s Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said May should work with the “sensible majority” in Parliament pushing for a two-year transition. There are plenty of her own Tories in that group. A looming deadline to make a deal with Europe looks increasingly out of reach, and EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier is talking openly of planning for talks to break down without a deal. That raises the prospect of Brexit being off the agenda at December’s cruci
Publicar un comentario
Leer más

Staying united.

Imagen
European diplomats will start hashing out today what they want from the next stage of talks, seeking a united stance they can present to the U.K. Bloomberg’s Ian Wishart reports from Brussels that envoys from the EU27 will discuss the transition deal that the U.K. so badly wants and the outline of the future trade relationship. They will look for a common position on how long the transition should last, and what they want in return, according to a document prepared for the meeting. The EU has adopted this strategy before: Set out a fixed position and expect the U.K. to agree to it. While the 27 have maintained a united stance in the first phase of talks, divisions are more likely once negotiations move on to the future relationship as each country will have different trade priorities. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the second phase will “undeniably be more complicated than the first.” On Wednesday, the envoys will start to discuss the ideal length of the trans
Publicar un comentario
Leer más

Diplomat Davis

Imagen
Desperate for a deal in December, David Davis is turning to diplomacy. The Brexit secretary plans a series of meetings with senior officials from Germany and elsewhere in a new diplomatic push to win over European leaders and unblock exit talks, Bloomberg’s Tim Ross reports. There’s concern on the U.K. side that some member states don’t fully appreciate the scale of Prime Minister Theresa May’s efforts so far, according to a person familiar with the matter. Talks are stuck on the issue of the divorce bill. The EU wants about 60 billion euros (£53 billion; $70 billion); May has made clear so far that she’s prepared to pay about a third of that and is going through other claims “line by line.”  The EU wants more movement from the U.K. before it will agree to start talking about the crucial trade and transition arrangements that will be needed in just 17 months. May has already taken a politically risky leap – plenty of voters oppose paying a big bill – and the U.K. side thin
Publicar un comentario
Leer más

Deadly serious

Imagen
What kind of say should British lawmakers have on the final Brexit deal? That question has dominated Westminster this week as the unpredictability of the next 17 months continues to shape British politics. Meanwhile, the lack of progress in even fixing dates for further negotiation rounds is raising eyebrows on both sides of the English Channel.  Members of Theresa May’s Conservative Party said on Thursday that they would consider rebelling against the government if it’s necessary to ensure Parliament gets a binding vote on the final deal. “We are deadly serious,” Nicky Morgan, who leads the influential Treasury Select Committee, said in the House of Commons. Ministers have promised verbally that members of Parliament will get a vote on the outcome of talks, but are resisting calls to codify this commitment in law. An additional complication comes with the prospect that anti-Brexit campaigners are considering a legal challenge against the government over the lack of a
Publicar un comentario
Leer más