Wanderlust

Tag: european union

  • What sanctions can the EU impose on Hungary?

    Opposition protest in Budapest Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Opposition protesters take to the streets after elections in Hungary

    The European Parliament has voted to pursue disciplinary action against Hungary under Article 7 of the European Union treaty.

    The right-wing Hungarian government has been accused of attacks on the media, minorities and the rule of law – charges denied by Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

    Article 7 is designed to protect the European Union’s fundamental values.

    It sets out ways various EU bodies can act if they believe those values are at risk, or have been seriously breached.

    These values are founded on respect for:

    It highlighted concerns about freedom of expression, academic freedom, judicial independence, the electoral system and the treatment of minorities as well as asylum seekers and refugees.

    It described the country as being “at clear risk of a serious breach of EU values” and called for a full parliamentary vote on the matter.

    The only other occasion the EU has formally resorted to Article 7 is over Poland, where there’s been an ongoing dispute with its authorities over judicial reforms – but there has been no parliamentary vote on the issue.

    EU votes for disciplinary action against Hungary In depth – Viktor Orban’s Hungary Nationalism in heart of Europe needles EU

    The EU had voiced concern about the independence of the courts following Polish government moves to change or remove judges.

    It was the executive, the EU Commission, which decided to act in that case, invoking Article 7 in December 2017 after concluding that there was “a clear risk of a serious breach of the rule of law in Poland”.

    The arguments with Poland are continuing.

    Image copyright EPA Image caption There’s been concern about changes to the judiciary in Poland

    Preventative action

    It’s important to make clear that Article 7 is a process rather than an end in itself.

    And the process is divided into separate parts, with one not necessarily dependent on the other.

    Under the preventative mechanism, the commission, the European Council or the Parliament can start the Article 7 process to determine whether there is a “clear risk of a serious breach of EU values”.

    The parliament has to agree by two-thirds of those MEPs who take part in the vote, which must also be an absolute majority of all MEPs, to start the process.

    It then goes to the EU Council – the heads of government of the member states.

    The council must agree by a four-fifths majority that there is a risk of breaching EU values (and then recommend specific actions to be taken by the country concerned).

    European Parliament sources say there is no particular timeframe for this process – and that, in theory, the council could do nothing and simply ignore the vote by the parliament.

    Sanctions

    Under the sanctions mechanism enshrined in Article 7, only the council or the commission can trigger the process.

    The council then has to decide unanimously that “a serious and persistent breach of EU values has taken place”.

    It has to also get the agreement of two-thirds of the parliament to this.

    Once that has been done, the council has the power to suspend some of the country’s membership rights – such as voting rights in the council itself.

    However, it is not clear what other rights can be suspended.

    And the council can only take this ultimate step by a qualified majority amounting to 72% of member states.

    At the moment, this is not the course of action being proposed in the case of Hungary, although in theory that route remains open to the EU at a later stage.

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  • EU votes for disciplinary action against Hungary

    Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban places his hand on his head in an emotive gesture Image copyright AFP Image caption Vicktor Orban launched an impassioned defence of his country on Tuesday – but it was not enough

    The European Parliament has voted to pursue unprecedented disciplinary action against Hungary over alleged breaches of the EU’s core values.

    Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government has been accused of attacks on the media, minorities, and the rule of law – charges which he denies.

    MEPs backed the vote by 448 to 197, giving it the two-thirds required for proceedings to go ahead.

    If also approved by national leaders, Hungary could face disciplinary action.

    Wednesday’s vote is the first time the European Parliament has voted to take such action against a member state under EU rules.

    Measures could include suspension of the country’s voting rights in Europe or other sanctions.

    Mr Orban personally spoke to the parliament on Tuesday in defence of his country, labelling the threat of censure as a form of “blackmail” and an insult to Hungary.

    He claimed a report by Dutch MEP Judith Sargentini was an “abuse of power”, and included “serious factual misrepresentations”.

    In depth – Viktor Orban’s Hungary Nationalism in heart of Europe needles EU

    Since coming to power, Mr Orban’s government has taken a hardline stance against immigration. It introduced a law which made it a criminal offence for lawyers and activists to aid asylum seekers, under the banner of “facilitating illegal immigration”.

    Ms Sargentini’s report into Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party alleged such actions were “a clear breach of the values of our union”.

    Under an EU rule called Article 7, breaching the union’s founding principles can lead to suspending a member state’s rights as a punitive measure.

    Suspension of Hungary’s voting rights is the most serious possible consequence – but is considered unlikely, as Poland’s nationalist government may support Hungary.

    Poland is itself facing disciplinary proceedings, launched by the European Commission in December last year. The case has yet to reach the European Parliament.

    The decision on Hungary will now be referred to the the EU’s 28 member states to consider.

  • Social media faces EU fine if terror lingers for an hour

    ISIS fighter Image copyright Reuters Image caption Draft EU regulation is being planned to force social media to act more swiftly over terror content

    The European Commission is planning to order websites to delete extremist content on their sites within an hour to avoid the risk of being fined.

    The regulation would affect Twitter, Facebook and YouTube among others.

    The crackdown would lead to the EU abandoning its current approach – where the firms self-police – in favour of explicit rules.

    The shake-up comes in the wake of high-profile terror attacks across Europe over the past few years.

    Julian King, the EU’s commissioner for security, told the Financial Times that the EU would “take stronger action in order to protect our citizens”.

    The BBC has confirmed the details of the report.

    In March, the EU’s civil service published details of the current voluntary arrangement, which noted that “terrorist content is most harmful in the first hours of its appearance online”.

    At the time, it said there was “significant scope for more effective action”.

    The BBC understands the draft regulation is set to be published next month. It would need to be approved by the European Parliament and a majority of EU states before it could be put into action.

    UK unveils extremism blocking tool Tax tech giants over extremism – minister How extremists and terror groups hijacked social media – BBC Three

    Mr King told the FT that the law would apply to small social media apps as well as the bigger players.

    “Platforms have differing capabilities to act against terrorist content and their policies for doing so are not always transparent,” he added.

    A study published last month by the not-for-profit Counter Extremism Project said that between March and June, 1,348 videos related to the Islamic State group were uploaded on to YouTube, via 278 separate accounts, garnering more than 163,000 views.

    The report said that 24% of the videos had remained online for more than two hours.

    The BBC has asked Google, Twitter and Facebook to comment.

    Google has previously said that more than half of the videos YouTube removes for containing violent extremism have had fewer than 10 views.

    In its latest ‘transparency report’, Twitter says that between July and December 2017, a total of 274,460 accounts were permanently suspended for violations related to the promotion of terrorism. The company says 74% of those accounts were suspended before their first tweet.

    If the EU’s proposed regulation is approved, it will be the first time the European Commission has explicitly targeted tech firms’ handling of illegal content.

  • Juncker to unveil EU-Africa strategy in annual address

    Jean-Claude Juncker Image copyright EPA Image caption Jean-Claude Juncker is ringing time on his presidency – this is his last 12 months

    The European Commission’s president is to deliver his annual state of the union address and will propose a new Africa-Europe alliance.

    Jean-Claude Juncker will say it is time for the EU to take its place at the top table of global powers.

    He is also expected to predict the UK will have better relations with the EU than any other country after Brexit.

    This is Mr Juncker’s last 12 months in the role, with the problems of Brexit, migration and populism dominating.

    Who is Jean-Claude Juncker?Juncker’s stumbling ’caused by sciatica”I don’t own a smartphone’ – Juncker

    Mr Juncker’s speech in Strasbourg will be an attempt to turn the European Union into a serious player in global politics, the BBC’s Adam Fleming reports.

    Image copyright AFP Image caption Mr Juncker has any number of protests and crises on his agenda

    And he will urge countries to give up their national vetoes in some areas of foreign policy. One EU diplomat said this would be an attempt to prevent China – a growing force in Africa – from blocking European diplomacy with a call to just one of the member states.

    Although this is the final state of the union address before Brexit, our correspondent says Mr Juncker will not want the subject to dominate.

    At-a-glance: The UK’s four Brexit options Brexit: All you need to know

    It is unlikely he will shift the EU’s position towards the UK’s on access to the single market – but he will nod towards a future relationship that will be unlike any the EU has with another country.

    An EU diplomat said the message is: “Let’s be friends again.”

    On migration, there will be more details on EU plans to add 10,000 guards to the Frontex border agency by 2020.

    EU migration: Crisis in seven charts

    From the start of his commission’s mandate in 2014, migration his been a major crisis.

    It has sparked a rise in populism that has seen power shifts in Italy, Austria, Hungary and Poland, with Sweden the latest country to register a rise in anti-immigration votes in an election.

    Is Europe seeing a nationalist surge?

    Right after his speech, the EU parliament will decide whether to take disciplinary procedures against Hungary for breaching core democratic values.

    The commission has already launched disciplinary proceedings against Poland over reforms it says challenge the rule of law.

    The next elections to the European parliament are expected to be held in late May next year.

  • The Brexit factions reshaping UK politics

    Parliament Image copyright Getty Images

    Westminster is buzzing with talk of splits, general elections, second referendums and even the formation of new political parties as Brexit strains traditional loyalties to breaking point.

    With votes on any deal struck by Theresa May with the EU expected to happen this autumn, here is a guide to the main factions in the Commons:

    Theresa May loyalists

    Image copyright EPA Image caption Jeremy Wright and David Lidington – cabinet ministers loyal to the PM

    Government ministers, basically – there are just over 100 them out of a total of 316 Tory MPs – and those backbenchers who support Theresa May’s Brexit policies, or at least are not willing to vote against them and threaten her leadership.

    Most Tory MPs fall into this category but it is not enough for Mrs May to be sure of winning key Commons votes, even with the support of the DUP’s 10 MPs, who unlike Mrs May backed Leave in the EU referendum.

    Ten members of Mrs May’s government have quit in recent months – most of them because they are against her Chequers plan for post-Brexit trade, although Defence Minister Guto Bebb quit because he is in favour of it. Mr Bebb thought she had caved in to the hard Brexiteers (see below) over customs legislation. He has now joined the People’s Vote campaign (see below).

    Image copyright Getty Images

    Sixty Conservative MPs, headed by Jacob Rees-Mogg (pictured above), are members of the European Research Group – a pro-Brexit lobby, who are against Theresa May’s plans for trading arrangements with the EU.

    They are well-organised and highly motivated and the PM’s continued survival in Number 10 is, largely, in their hands.

    The rebel ranks were swollen by ex-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, former Brexit Secretary David Davis and his deputy Steve Baker, who all quit in protest at her blueprint for post-Brexit trade with the EU hammered out at her country residence Chequers, in July.

    Mr Baker claims as many as 80 Conservative MPs are prepared to vote against the Chequers plan. He has warned about a “catastrophic split” in the Conservative Party if it is not able to unite around a different vision. Mr Johnson has thrown grenades – and a “suicide vest” – into the debate from the pages of national newspapers, with increasingly strident attacks on the Chequers proposal, prompting an angry backlash from Theresa May loyalists.

    May warned of Tory split over Brexit plan Johnson: PM’s Brexit plan a ‘suicide vest’ At-a-glance: The new UK Brexit plan Brexit: All you need to know

    Tory soft Brexiteers

    Image copyright Getty Images

    The Dominic Grieve gang. Like most of his cohorts, who number about a dozen and include former minister Nicky Morgan (seated behind Mr Grieve in the picture above) who led an unsuccessful rebellion in the customs vote, the former attorney general is not a natural rebel.

    Mr Grieve and his supporters inflicted the government’s first Brexit defeat, in December, securing a “meaningful vote” for MPs on the final deal with Brussels, but some wonder whether his gang have the killer instinct of their pro-Brexit rivals when that final showdown happens in the autumn. Mr Grieve has said he will quit the party if Boris Johnson becomes prime minister, in reaction to a row over the former foreign secretary’s comments about the burka.

    Government survives key Brexit trade vote

    Cross-party crusaders

    Image copyright EPA

    Conservative MP Anna Soubry, a close ally of Labour’s Chuka Umunna in the People’s Vote campaign for another EU referendum (see below), has called in the past for the creation of a new centre-ground party.

    She also backed a call by fellow Conservative Sir Nicholas Soames – a longstanding pro-European and the grandson of Sir Winston Churchill – for a “government of national unity”, made up of senior figures from different parties to sort out Brexit, although that idea seems to have disappeared from the radar.

    But it is the leader of the Liberal Democrats, the UK’s traditional centre party, who has emerged as the biggest cheerleader for a new centre party.

    Sir Vince Cable is openly encouraging disaffected anti-Brexit Labour and Tory MPs to form new groups and work with the Lib Dems to colonise what he believes is the vast territory that has opened up in British politics as Labour moves to the left under Jeremy Corbyn and Tory Brexiteers push their party to the right.

    Sir Vince, who has said he will stand down as Lib Dem leader once Brexit has been “resolved or stopped”, admits his party, with just 12 MPs, has struggled to achieve the rapid growth in support it wanted despite being the only national party campaigning for a second referendum and has set out plans to transform into a “movement for moderates”.

    Cable to quit ‘once Brexit resolved’

    Tory second referendum group

    Image copyright PA

    Former Education Secretary Justine Greening is the most senior Conservative to have called for a referendum on the final Brexit deal. She was backed by Heidi Allen and Anna Soubry, and another prominent backbencher, Sarah Wollaston, has also joined the People’s Vote campaign. along with Phillip Lee and Guto Bebb.

    No 10 rejects Greening’s referendum call

    The Corbynites

    Image copyright PA

    Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters insist the party has never been more united behind its leader – despite a bitter and divisive row about anti-Semitism that dragged on for months over the summer.

    The vast majority of the shadow cabinet – about 30 MPs – and most of the 47 new Labour MPs elected last year, in addition to a handful of long-serving left wing backbenchers, are fiercely loyal to the leader and back his Brexit stance.

    But many, maybe even the majority, of the 257 Labour MPs, including the self-styled “moderates” who served in government during the Blair/Brown era, remain unhappy with the direction the party is going in.

    Some Corbyn critics have faced no confidence votes from their local parties, a sign they could face de-selection before the next general election.

    Corbyn critics lose no-confidence votes Blair doubts Labour can be ‘taken back’ Why Corbyn allies want MP selection change

    Labour People’s Vote supporters

    Image copyright HOC

    Jeremy Corbyn’s backing for Brexit and refusal to throw his weight behind calls for a second referendum, after campaigning for Remain in the referendum, are a major sore point among “moderate” Labour MPs, who suspect he remains a Eurosceptic at heart.

    The cross-party People’s Vote campaign for a second referendum is backed by about 30 Labour MPs, including prominent figures such as Chuka Umunna (pictured above), Chris Leslie and Stephen Doughty.

    They outnumber members of other parties in the group, which also includes Lib Dems, Green MP Caroline Lucas, five Conservative MPs and Plaid Cymru’s four MPs.

    These MPs tend to eschew party labels when commenting on Brexit. The Labour members are in open revolt against their party leadership’s opposition to a second referendum – but they insist they are not operating as a party within a party.

    Chuka Umunna has written to members of his local party in Streatham, South London, to deny speculation he is involved in talks about the formation of a new party. The idea that the People’s Vote is the forerunner of a such a party is “patently absurd”, he writes.

    But he has also claimed Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters are trying to force “moderate” MPs like himself out of Labour, something the party leadership says is simply not the case.

    Call off the dogs, Umunna tells Corbyn Turn fire outwards, Corbyn urges MPs

    The SNP

    Image copyright PA

    Like the members of the People’s Vote campaign, the SNP’s 35 MPs, led by Ian Blackford (pictured) are against Brexit and want the UK to stay in the EU single market and customs union.

    They have said they won’t stand in the way of a second referendum but have not committed to voting for one. One reason for this is that Scotland voted for Remain in 2016 and it did not make any difference to the result.

    They are likely to vote against anything resembling a “hard Brexit”.

    Labour Brexiteers

    Image copyright Labour Party

    Kate Hoey (pictured), John Mann, Frank Field and Graham Stringer – along with the currently independent Kelvin Hopkins – voted with the government in key Brexit votes, helping to ensure Theresa May’s survival.

    This is the core of a group who say they are standing up for the millions of Labour supporters who voted to Leave the EU.

    Mr Field has resigned the Labour whip in Parliament – and is fighting to remain a member of the party – after claiming it has become a “force for anti-Semitism in British politics”.

    The MP’s opponents say he jumped before he was pushed after losing a confidence vote organised by local activists in Birkenhead angry at his support for the government in Brexit votes, which they believe robbed Labour of the chance to force a general election it could have won.

    Ms Hoey is also facing calls to be expelled from Labour and has lost a confidence vote in her local Vauxhall Labour Party. Graham Stringer won a confidence vote in his Blackley and Broughton Labour branch.

    Field is not leading a Labour breakaway Field decides against calling by-election Labour needs seismic change – Blunkett

  • Brexiteers discuss leadership challenge

    theresa May Image copyright EPA

    Conservative MPs opposed to Theresa May’s Brexit plan have met to discuss how and when they could force her to stand down as prime minister.

    Around 50 members of the European Research Group (ERG) openly discussed “how best you game the leadership election rules,” a source said.

    Later, the Eurosceptic MPs are to unveil what they say is a solution to the Northern Ireland border issue.

    They have been under pressure to come up with alternative Brexit plans.

    ‘She has to go’

    One MP present at the meeting on Tuesday evening said the group considered “possible scenarios over the Autumn” depending on the deal the prime minister did or didn’t get with the EU, BBC political correspondent Jonathan Blake said.

    Image copyright PA

    The government says its plan for “harmonisation” with EU trade rules and a “combined customs territory” with the EU will avoid friction at the border.

    It says Parliament will be able to choose to diverge from the EU rules, “recognising that this would have consequences”.

    But critics say this would deny the UK the trade freedom it needs.

    The government’s Chequers plan has not yet been accepted by the EU. Both sides have also agreed on the need for a “backstop” to avoid new physical infrastructure on the border, irrespective of the final deal that is negotiated.

    Some Brexiteers have claimed the border issue is being “exploited” by the EU and Remain supporters to keep the UK closely tied to Brussels.

    Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Boris Johnson was among leading Tory MPs at an event discussing a “clean break”

    Speaking at an event on Tuesday, Mr Rees-Mogg said the border was the only thing standing in the way of the UK negotiating a free trade deal like the EU has with Canada.

    He added: “It is possible to move very swiftly to a Canada-plus style deal as long as we can come up with a scheme, which I think we have got for tomorrow, on how do you ensure a solution to the Northern Ireland problem that any reasonable person would accept?”

    Prime Minister Theresa May has said a free trade deal would not avoid a hard border and that this can only be achieved with “friction-free movement of goods” with no customs or regulatory checks.

  • Brexit: Do claims for a ‘clean break’ add up?

    Jacob Rees-Mogg holding the report Image copyright Getty Photographs Image caption Jacob Rees-Mogg launching the report produced by means of Economists without spending a dime Trade

    A Group of Tory MPs have endorsed a plan for a “clean holiday” from the ecu Union (ECU), with the uk defaulting to International Trade Group (WTO) laws whilst it leaves the european. The proposals are contained in a report by the power staff Economists free of charge Industry (EFT).

    Here’s an initial look at a couple of of the claims they have got made.

    The document indicates the Treasury might obtain approximately £80bn in additional income over the next 15 years, with an general lengthy-time period gain for GDP of approximately 7%.

    These figures are in line with a bunch of calculations and assumptions, no longer all of which stand up to scrutiny.

    people who have modelled a blank Brexit correctly, the EFT asserts, file lengthy-term profits from loose business of 2%-4% of GDP. The report dismisses selection modelling – done by way of the Treasury and via Whitehall’s Cross Departmental Brexit Analysis – which arrived at very other conclusions.

    However that may be a part of the issue. The EFT are convinced that they’re the only folks who’ve modelled the data as it should be – even if theirs is a minority view.

    Image copyright Getty Photographs Symbol caption Lorries from out of doors the ecu have to wait up to NINETY mins although no assessments are made

    There would also be further headaches for UNITED KINGDOM exports. As Soon As the uk is designated as a 3rd usa by means of the ecu, all UK exports of animal beginning might only have the ability to enter EU territory via a veterinary border inspection publish, where there are sometimes time-eating physical inspections in addition as documentary tests.

    Neither the Eurotunnel nor the Calais port is these days certain as a veterinary border inspection post.

    The EFT document says that under WTO laws sanitary and phytosanitary measures (ie protection assessments on food) can’t be used as a “surreptitious means of inhibiting cross-border industry”. That Is real, but that does not erase what are referred to as non-tariff-boundaries totally, it simply reduces inspections the place conceivable.

    “the only countries that have controlled to take away the will for health checks on food being exported to the ecu,” says Sam Lowe of the Centre for European Reform, “are the ecu Financial Area individuals and Switzerland. they’ve not just implemented EUROPEAN rules in this space domestically, in addition they follow ECU checks on all imports of animal beginning getting into from the remaining of the sector.”

    Meals costs

    The EFT report also suggests lifting tariffs (or import charges) on imported goods to make costs inexpensive. It recognises that in the event you do that for one united states of america, you must do it for each united states of america, below WTO laws.

    If price lists had been removed for all agricultural produce, reasonable imports may flood in and meals costs could fall – however the uk farming trade may well be decimated.

    Symbol copyright Getty Images Symbol caption The file claims lifting some price lists could reduce food prices

    So, the report says, that “most likely essentially the most sexy items to target” could be ones that we don’t produce in the united kingdom at all. It mentions oranges as one instance, nevertheless it could be a lovely restricted number of goods.

    Again, others are extremely sceptical in regards to the EFT’s coverage proposals.

    in keeping with a document printed earlier this year by means of the house of Lords European Union Committee, “EUROPEAN meals imports can not simply get replaced by both producing more in the uk or importing extra from non-EUROPEAN nations”.

    The Lords report forecast that food costs have been more likely to rise with out a Brexit deal.

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  • May’s £106m power to push green cars

    Nissan Leaf Symbol copyright Getty Images Symbol caption A Nissan Leaf uses a charging element in Stockport

    New investment of greater than £100m to boost low and nil-emission vehicles in the UNITED KINGDOM can be introduced by Theresa Would Possibly on Tuesday.

    The top minister will tell the 0 Emission Vehicle Summit in Birmingham she needs Britain to be a leader in green technology.

    The £106m funding boost can even duvet analysis and building for new battery and hydrogen technology.

    Mrs May is expected to say the government has an “ambitious venture”.

    “Our Highway to Zero Technique is essentially the most complete plan globally – mapping out intimately how we can achieve our objective for all new automobiles and vans to be effectively 0-emission by means of 2040,” she is going to say.

    “Those measures will drive the layout, use, uptake and infrastructure important for purifier, greener vehicles – and in doing so, it is going to help us appreciably scale back a major contributor to our international warming emissions.”

    Electrical automobiles transfer into rapid lane Sales of electric cars surge Dyson gears up for electric car checking out

    Mrs Might can even dangle spherical-table talks on creating the zero-emissions market and attracting extra foreign investment to the united kingdom at the summit.

    The talks will contain supply-chain companies from Germany, the united states, Japan, China, Spain and India.

    The govt will also screen a world initiative aimed toward dashing up the deployment of green vehicles and introduction of zero-emission infrastructure.

    The first signatories to the so-called “Birmingham deceleration” include Italy, France, Denmark, the UAE, Portugal, Belarus and Indonesia.

    The summit will even be attended via World Business Secretary Liam Fox, Delivery Secretary Chris Grayling and Business Secretary Greg Clark.

  • EUROPEAN banks on final minute Brexit deal q4

    European Union flag next to UK flag Image copyright AFP Symbol caption Whether Or Not The European can expect a take care of the united kingdom prior to its withdrawal shall be made up our minds within the following few months

    Brussels is in full bustle again after the summer season lull and Brexit is back – if no longer rather at the best – then without a doubt top up on diplomats’ agendas.

    This autumn is dubbed “The Overall Push”.

    By Way Of mid-November “at the up to date”, in line with the ecu Commission, a legally-binding withdrawal settlement – during which the uk leaves The Ecu – and an accompanying, despite the fact that now not legally binding, political statement outlining how The Eu and UNITED KINGDOM envisage their submit-Brexit dating, need to be signed off by means of each sides.

    Considering the painful procedure Brexit negotiations have been to date, how likely is that to happen?

    Permit me first let you know that that there’s a gradual however spreading experience of panic EUROPEAN-huge across trade and trade. A no-deal scenario could be pricey for Europe besides as for the united kingdom

    Image copyright AFP Image caption Some ECU member states are stated to be anxious over Michel Barnier’s “inflexibility”

    None of my historical past chats with Ecu diplomats, politicians and civil servants recommend that this will be the case.

    Sure, a host of European countries incessantly grumble about the ecu Fee’s Michel Barnier, the person tasked with negotiating Brexit on behalf of The Eu.

    I’ve heard him described as bossy, controlling and arrogant.

    Some member states are aggravated together with his apparently inflexible stance in Brexit negotiations over specific issues. Luxembourg felt that about financial services, for example.

    But it might most definitely take a coup by 10 or extra EU countries to overthrow Mr Barnier and most tellingly of all, there are not any court cases from the big Two: Germany and France.

    Mr Barnier is way from on my own in Europe in rejecting huge chunks of the Chequers Plan as unworkable.

    Symbol copyright Reuters Symbol caption Theresa May is juggling dissent each at house and in another country for her Brexit plans

    With UK politics so volatile, no-one in Brussels is ONE HUNDRED% sure what these autumn months hang however the bet of the city is that Brexit negotiations will visit the wire.

    Many here believe that might swimsuit Theresa Might.

    The primary sticking element to completing the withdrawal agreement remains the so-known as backstop at the Irish border – ensuring that, no matter what happens in The Ecu and UNITED KINGDOM’s future relationship, no new hard border would be constructed among Northern Eire and the Republic of eire.

    The Irish border: The Hardest border Brexit and the border – the experts’ view

    it is a burning sizzling political potato for the top minister, as is finalising a declaration on The European-UNITED KINGDOM future dating – will it bring in a Uk that has taken again regulate or usher in a Brexit in Identify Simplest?

    With so many political warring parties circling back in the uk, Brussels thinks Mrs Would Possibly would possibly choose to provide parliament with a last hour, take-it-or-go away-it-and-face-no-deal-chaos settlement, produced after an all-nighter at a distinct Brexit summit in November.

    “We’ll then be happy to mention anything else in an effort to help her at house,” one political source here told me. “We Will say she’s the toughest negotiator we have ever encounter, if that is helping.”

    PM’s Brexit plan ‘respects UK sovereignty’ Raab says Chequers EU comments positive

    in the intervening time, as stress and uncertainty mount, the fee issues approximately protecting jumpier ECU governments and companies from agreeing bilateral so-called no-deal offers with the uk in explicit sectors.

    These are plans to interact bilaterally within the case of a no-deal state of affairs between the uk and The Eu as a whole.

    This summer time might had been a scorcher but the autumn months promise to be way more blistering – in Brexit terms no less than.

    (more…)

  • Israeli risk to Bedouin villages

    Bedouin children are taught at Khan al-Ahmar school Symbol caption Khan al-Ahmar’s college used to be built by volunteers with international assistance

    Ten-year-antique Manar is a good pupil. Like many women of her age she loves going to college, the boys in all probability much less so.

    But Manar’s college, built from vintage tyres held along side dust and serving the barren region neighborhood of Khan al-Ahmar a few 10km (6 miles) east of Jerusalem, is precarious in additional tactics than one.

    All of the scholars here are Bedouin – Arab nomads who fled from their conventional homelands in the Negev wasteland to this dusty valley within the West Bank after Israel’s struggle of independence in 1948.

    Now Israel, which has occupied the world on account that 1967, desires them to transport once more – and to demolish their school.

    Eid Abu Hamis is the nominal head of the community.

    Symbol caption Eid Abu Hamis says land confiscations through the Israeli government have affected people’s livelihoods

    However, says the certified accountant, it’s increasingly more tough for Bedouin to achieve Israeli society as a result of ever-tighter regulations on their movements.

    Like the remainder of his community, Mr Abu Hamis lives in what can best be defined as sparse, basic conditions.

    Traditional tents will have given strategy to systems made from wooden and plastic, however with out operating water, mains electricity or sewage the Bedouin approach of life isn’t to everyone’s style or convenience.

    There are, in fact, a variety of grazing animals in pens and wandering the dusty slopes around the encampment.

    But Mr Abu Hamis says they just now rear about one tenth of the goats and camels they used to as a result of they now not have unrestricted access to their traditional grazing lands.

    They are also now not in a position to promote their produce within the primary markets – Jerusalem’s Vintage Town in particular.

    ‘Political ploy’

    With his fair share of worries, something preoccupies the village headman more than anything else – the demolition order hanging over the school.

    Image caption Umm al-Hiran is one in all a few Bedouin villages which could be destroyed and its group relocated

    “the school is there for purely political reasons so they the Bedouin may have a presence here. we know this is real as a result of we settlers used to make use of the same tactics.”

    A spokesman for the Co-ordinator of presidency Actions in the Territories Unit (Cogat), an arm of the Israeli army answerable for imposing government coverage in the West Financial Institution, instructed the BBC: “the college was constructed illegally and they had no lets in for construction. So we issued forestall orders and then demolition orders.

    “The state remains to be ready to search out the precise place for relocation, nevertheless it will probably be demolished ultimately.”

    ‘Breach of law’

    With movement and get admission to to land increasingly limited, the Bedouin say their approach of life is underneath danger. In what has change into a battle for basic civil rights, Israel plans to relocate as many as 30,000 Bedouin from a number of different communities.

    Supporters of the Bedouin campaign to avoid relocation say that an even clearer example of what they call discrimination can be discovered throughout the limitations of Israel “right kind”.

    The state would not dare to say to any person in Tel Aviv: ‘We want to dispose of you and positioned another person for your position’Suhad Bishara, Human rights legal professional

    Umm al-Hiran lies in a wadi, or small valley, not removed from the huge the town of Beersheba at the top finish of the Negev desolate tract. Some 100 Bedouin households reside right here.

    they are full Israeli voters and were moved right here within the nineteen fifties by means of the Israeli govt from their ancestral lands.

    Now the authorities wish to evict them, ruin their houses and build a new community here, however one for non secular Jews.

    Using a criminal argument that has been upheld within the courts, Israel says this village, and plenty of others, are unrecognised and due to this fact unlawful, but campaigners argue the compelled relocation of these groups might contravene global regulation.

    “you’ll name it apartheid, you can call it racism,” says Suhad Bishara, a human rights attorney who is fighting the plan to evict the residents of Uma al Hiran within the courts.

    “The state wouldn’t dare to mention to anyone in Tel Aviv that we need to put off you set someone else to your position. It Is like the Wild West, human rights are suspended and the rule of law is suspended.”

    Again within the dusty backyard of her house slightly below the college constructed from tyres and mud in Khan al Amar, Manar is concentrating hard on her homework. She tells me she has a dream, to 1 day turn into a teacher.

    Even If the Israeli Prime Courtroom has rejected a demand from the Jewish settlers that the Bedouin village and the varsity be destroyed in an instant, a military demolition order still hangs over the school.

    Manar’s father admits, if the village college is demolished, his daughter’s dream would possibly by no means be realised.