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Tag: jean-claude juncker

  • Brexit: EU says no to May on renegotiating deal

    Jean-Claude Juncker with Theresa May Symbol copyright AFP

    Eu Union leaders have stated the Brexit withdrawal agreement is “no longer open for renegotiation”, in spite of appeals from Theresa May.

    She wanted prison assurances on the Irish backstop to help her deal get thru Parliament, after she delayed a Commons vote in anticipation of defeat.

    The PM said the deal was once “at risk” if MPs’ issues could not be addressed.

    Ecu Fee president Jean-Claude Juncker stated there may well be clarifications however no renegotiation.

    He advised the united kingdom to set out extra obviously what it wants, adding that the fee will put up information on 19 December on its arrangements for a no-deal Brexit.

    If this meeting in Brussels was once meant to provide Theresa Might with the beginnings of an get away direction from her Brexit conundrum, the signs are not just right.

    At certainly one of her such a lot prone political moments Number 10 was once hopeful no less than of a sign of a possible option to probably the most severe of a protracted list of Brexit issues – the debatable so-known as backstop designed to guarantee against a troublesome Irish border.

    But presently, that’s merely not on offer.

    EU leaders made undeniable – their warnings that their divorce handle Britain was once now not up for negotiation have been real.

    Requests for modification to ease the Westminster politics weren’t fulfilled, with key phrases from a extra accommodating draft passed by midnight.

    But the rejection provides succour in all probability to those in govt who want their critics to just accept that the high minister’s deal is also in reality, pretty much as good because it will get.

    In comments released by Downing Street on Thursday, Mrs May instructed ECU leaders she firmly believed the deal could get throughout the Commons and advised them: “Let’s interact intensively to get this deal over the road within the best possible pursuits of all our other folks.”

    and he or she mentioned it was in everyone’s pursuits for the deal to be “delivered in an orderly means and to get it done now” instead of “to run the chance of an unintentional ‘no deal’ with all of the disruption that will carry or to allow this to tug on any further”.

    “There May Be a majority in my Parliament who wish to leave with a deal so with the fitting assurances this deal may also be handed. Indeed it is the one deal capable of getting via my Parliament,” she mentioned.

    “Over the last years, i hope that i have proven you that you can agree with me to do what’s right, now not all the time what’s simple, on the other hand that tricky that would be for me politically.”

    Image caption Mrs May informed ECU leaders she firmly believed the deal may get throughout the Commons

    Mr Juncker urged the uk to inform the ecu what it desires in the long run courting.

    “Our UK pals wish to say what they want, instead of asking us to mention what we wish and so we’d like inside of a couple of weeks our UK pals to set out their expectancies for us, as a result of this debate is sometimes nebulous and imprecise and i would really like clarifications,” he stated.

    The Eu Council’s conclusions on Brexit – printed on Thursday evening – say the ecu could use its “best possible endeavours to negotiate and finish expeditiously a subsequent settlement that might replace the backstop, and may expect the similar of the United Kingdom, so that the backstop could handiest be in position for as lengthy as strictly necessary.”

    In different words, the ecu may continue trying to barter a trade take care of the uk even supposing the Irish backstop were prompted on the finish of the transition period.

    The Brexit withdrawal agreement handiest talks about “absolute best endeavours” being used to succeed in an agreement throughout the transition period.

    Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who holds the rotating EU presidency, prompt there might be a distinct Brexit summit in January to agree “further assurances”.

    But Irish most efficient Leo Varadkar mentioned that while EUROPEAN was once prepared to be “helpful”, a few of the suggestions she had put forward were “tough” and warned there might be no “unilateral go out clause” on the backstop.

    Downing Street has confirmed that MPs won’t now vote on Mrs Might’s deal prior to Christmas and mentioned the vote might occur “as quickly as conceivable in January”.

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  • Brexit: Arlene Foster says DUP disappointed with PM

    Arlene Foster Symbol caption Arlene Foster mentioned there was nonetheless time to negotiate a greater deal, and that the DUP will vote in opposition to it if the backstop isn’t scrapped

    The DUP is “disillusioned” with Theresa May and the federal government’s choice to press in advance with the Brexit deal, chief Arlene Foster has mentioned.

    The UK’s withdrawal agreement from the ecu Union has been licensed by way of EUROPEAN leaders.

    But Mrs Foster reiterated the DUP, which props up the federal government, might vote against it in Parliament.

    There has been political opposition to the plan on account of the backstop, which targets to avoid a hard Irish border.

    Mrs Foster mentioned the deal “goes towards the whole thing” the DUP have been promised.

    Image copyright Pacemaker Symbol caption Senior Conservative MP Boris Johnson made a keynote speech at the DUP annual convention

    Mrs Foster stated there may be still time to barter for a “better deal”.

    ‘Conversations throughout govt’

    “we should always use the time now to look for a third approach. I realize we are negotiating with a fatigue, there comes a time when everybody is drained and just wants to get on with it but we is not going to accept the result for the sake of it,” she added.

    Several newspapers have stated that the DUP is interested by discussions with a couple of cabinet ministers a couple of secret “Brexit plan B”, if Mrs May’s deal doesn’t get handed within the Commons.

    Mrs Foster didn’t explicitly deny the record, but stated her party was once having “conversations right throughout govt” concerning the deal.

    She additionally said she didn’t see any cases at the moment the place Mrs Would Possibly’s deal may have sufficient enhance to get thru parliament.

    The DUP holds the balance of power at Westminster, as the federal government will depend on the votes of its 10 MPs to have a operating majority in parliament.

    It signed a confidence and provide pact with the Conservatives in June 2017 and negotiated an extra £1bn in spending for Northern Ireland – but the rift among the parties over the Brexit plan has positioned the association below vital pressure.

    Mrs Foster has already said if the federal government’s deal gets handed in the Commons, the DUP could have to study the arrogance and supply pact.

    “We Will evaluate it at that time in time: issues are fluid, things modification – we’ll must see where we’re,” she added.

    The executive has insisted that it will no longer renegotiate the current plan, and has recommended MPs to again it or chance a no deal situation.

  • Profile: EU’s Jean-Claude Juncker

    Image copyright AP Image caption Mr Juncker has been a close ally of Germany’s Angela Merkel during the eurozone crisis

    He has not explained how an EU-US free trade deal might impact on EU social protection policies, which currently cost the EU many billions through support for farmers and projects to help poor communities.

    He claimed that such a deal would give each European an extra 545 euros (£443; $742) – an exaggeration, according to a fact check by Eurovision, which hosted the debate.

    He has also defended the Common Agricultural Policy, saying agriculture employs about 30 million Europeans. But the UK government is among the many critics who say the CAP is wasteful and want more of the EU budget spent on digital technologies, research and investment in small businesses.

    Mats Persson, director of the Open Europe think-tank, says Mr Juncker is associated with the EU of the 1980s and 1990s, echoing a criticism attributed to Prime Minister Cameron.

    After an election that saw a surge in support for Eurosceptic parties, that connection with past EU policies may be a disadvantage, Mr Persson told the BBC.

    However, Mr Juncker is not vague about the political risks of taking tough economic decisions. He once said, “We all know what to do, we just don’t know how to get re-elected after we’ve done it.”

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  • Juncker makes keynote EU speech

    Live Juncker makes keynote EU speech

  • 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.

  • Selmayr report: EU advertising of Juncker aide ‘damaged trust’

    Jean-Claude Juncker (L) is talking with his cabinet chief Martin Selmayr (R) in December 2017 Symbol copyright Getty Images Symbol caption Martin Selmayr (R) was Mr Juncker’s leader of team of workers in 2014

    The Eu ombudsman has given a damning verdict at the method Jean-Claude Juncker’s leader of team of workers was once given the top submit within the bloc’s civil service.

    The promotion of Martin Selmayr, nicknamed “the monster” by his boss, was once rapid-tracked in February, in a move condemned by one Euro MP as a “coup”.

    Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly identified 4 counts of maladministration via the ecu Fee.

    She said the affair had damaged public agree with in EUROPEAN institutions.

    Ms O’Reilly agreed with the ecu Parliament’s review that the advertising had “stretched and possibly even overstretched the boundaries of the legislation”.

    Symbol copyright Getty Images Symbol caption Mr Selmayr was once accused of leaking main points of a personal dinner meeting related to Mr Juncker and the uk prime minister

    The Eu Parliament condemned the handling of the advertising, and there have been reports that Mr Juncker had threatened to give up if the newly appointed secretary-general was once forced out.

    What does the ombudsman say?

    In her scathing file, Emily O’Reilly pointed to a number of “problems with fear”:

    Mr Selmayr had now not “recused himself” from resolution-making that led to the deputy emptiness that he in the end filled The appointment procedure for the deputy role used to be performed “to make Mr Selmayr eligible for his instant reassignment because the new secretary-normal” The Fee reacted to valid concerns in an “evasive, protecting and legalistic method”.

    She stated four cases of maladministration, together with failing to avoid risking a warfare of interests, and warned that the sequence of events had positioned the “wider legitimacy of the european… at unnecessary possibility”.

    The Ecu Commission stated it didn’t percentage all aspects of the record, however welcomed her resolution to not contest the legality of the appointment.

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  • Clock adjustments: ECU backs finishing sunlight saving

    Angelo Ciocca Symbol copyright Eu Parliament Image caption The Ecu Parliament urged the Commission to review the time gadget

    the eu Commission is offering to end the follow of fixing clocks by means of an hour in spring and autumn after a survey found so much Europeans hostile it.

    Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker mentioned thousands and thousands “consider that during long term, summer time have to be 12 months-round, and that’s the reason what is going to occur”.

    The Commission’s thought requires fortify from the 28 nationwide governments and MEPs to change into law.

    In the european clocks transfer among wintry weather and summer under daylight saving time.

    A Eu Parliament resolution says it is “an important to keep up a unified EUROPEAN time regime”.

  • Donald Trump and Jean-Claude Juncker had ‘a good meeting’

    Video Juncker hails ‘a excellent meeting’

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