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by Hui Min Neo Agence France Presse BERLIN, Germany — (AFP) Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday vowed to work with the Social Democrats for the “good of Germany”, after the centre-left party agreed to join her new coalition, but the veteran leader will go into her fourth term with weaker cards than before. Two in three of the SPD’s rank and file voting in a make or break referendum backed a new partnership with […]
BRUXELLES, Belgium (AFP) — The European Union will be able to punish Britain for breaking the rules of its post-Brexit transition period under plans agreed by Brussels on Tuesday, EU sources said. Under plans for the 21-month transition after Britain leaves the bloc on March 29, 2019, London must abide by all EU laws without having any decision-making power — turning the country into what critics call a “vassal state”. The latest EU draft of the transition […]
by Alice RITCHIE Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom – EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier warned Monday that Britain faced “unavoidable” trade barriers after Brexit if it also quit the bloc’s single market and customs union, urging Prime Minister Theresa May to make her choice. After talks with May and Brexit minister David Davis in London, Barnier repeated that the EU needed “clarity” on what they wanted from the future relationship. “Without customs union and outside the single market, […]
by Marie DHUMIERES / Joseph Schmid Agence France-Presse PARIS, France – French police fired tear gas to break up a picket line of striking prison guards at Europe’s biggest prison on Friday, as a fresh assault by inmates on staff at a facility in Corsica fuelled demands for better security. The scuffles at the huge Fleury-Merogis prison just south of Paris came as unions were pressing a fourth day of strikes across France sparked by a string of […]
by Clare Byrne with Katy Lee in Paris Agence France-Presse CALAIS, France –President Emmanuel Macron vowed Tuesday that France would no longer allow migrant camps like the notorious “Jungle” as he defended a tougher line on immigration that has attracted sharp criticism from some of his allies. In a closely watched speech in Calais, Macron promised a more orderly immigration policy with zero tolerance for camps like the Jungle, the squalid shantytown near the northern city’s port […]
MADRID, Spain (AFP) –Spain warned Monday that Madrid would maintain its unpopular direct control over Catalonia if ousted regional leader Carles Puigdemont tries to govern again from exile in Belgium. Speaking to party members in Madrid, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Puigdemont had “to be physically present” in Catalonia to take office. And if that did not happen, he warned, the central government would maintain the direct rule imposed after Catalan leaders declared independence in October. Puigdemont is […]
HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) — Blockading Cuba is not the solution, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said Wednesday on a trip aimed at strengthening ties with Havana, after Washington tightened restrictions on the island. Much of the half-century-old US economic embargo against Cuba remains entrenched in law, but under former president Barack Obama federal authorities began to loosen some rules — something his successor Donald Trump vowed to reverse. “The blockade (of Cuba) is not the solution. […]
by Danny Kemp with James Pheby in London Agence France-Presse BRUSSELS, Belgium – The European Commission said Wednesday that it wants a post-Brexit transition period, during which Britain must continue to obey EU rules, to finish at the end of 2020. Chief EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said that “all EU policies will still apply” during the transition to a new relationship between London and Brussels after Britain leaves the bloc in March 2019. British Prime Minister Theresa […]
by Alice Ritchie Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday suffered a damaging parliamentary defeat on the eve of a crucial EU summit, after her own MPs rebelled to demand parliament have the final say on a Brexit divorce deal. Eleven members of May’s Conservative party joined with opposition lawmakers to inflict the government’s first defeat over the flagship EU (Withdrawal) Bill, sparking huge cheers in the House of Commons. […]
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AFP) – Iceland’s president launched talks Monday to determine who could form the next government after an inconclusive general election in which a record eight political parties won seats. Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson called the snap election a month ago after a junior member of his center-right coalition quit over a legal scandal involving Benediktsson’s father. Growing public distrust of the elite in recent years has spawned several anti-establishment parties, splintering the political landscape and […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) – The European Union on Thursday announced a major probe into a British scheme protecting multinationals from tax avoidance rules, in the latest move in the bloc’s campaign to get international companies to pay their share. Europe’s competition chief Margrethe Vestager will investigate whether certain exemptions allowed under British rules amount to a breach of European Union regulations against state aid. The EU has waged a major crackdown on member states bending […]
by Ella Ide Agence France-Presse ISCHIA, Italy – The threat of fresh attacks on the West by foreign fighters fleeing the fallen Islamic State stronghold of Raqa is set to dominate a G7 meeting of interior ministers in Italy. The two-day gathering, which kicked off Thursday on the Italian island of Ischia, comes just days after US-backed forces took full control of the jihadists’ de facto Syrian capital. Most foreign fighters are believed to have fled over the […]
