European Union

Boris Johnson claims the UK is a world leader in combatting climate change, so why did this move take so long?

Turkey’s president Erdoğan has criticised a European court’s ruling that has allowed employers to ban workers from wearing religious veils in the workplace.  The EU’s highest court, the European Court of Justice (ECJ), made the ruling on Thursday. Employers will need to justify that the veil does not “project an image of neutrality to customers […]

A deal has been reached to avoid a “sausage war” with the European Union over the shipment of chilled meats from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. A grace period allowing the continued supply of chilled meats across the Irish Sea has been extended until September 30. Brexit minister Lord Frost said: “We are pleased we […]

Searches from EU workers for jobs in the UK are down by almost half since the Brexit referendum five years ago, new research suggests. Interest has fallen most in lower-paid jobs in hospitality and retail, according to a study by jobs site Indeed. There has also been a decline in Europeans’ interest in higher-paid jobs, […]

Talks between Britain and the EU on the implementation of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement in Northern Ireland have broken up without agreement. Brexit minister Lord Frost and European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic ended their discussions in London with no sign of a breakthrough. Ahead of the talks Lord Frost warned that time was running out […]

Tariffs of up to 277% on cheese exported from the UK are set to be cut after a new trade deal was signed with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. International trade secretary Liz Truss announced the deal was agreed in principle on Friday and said it was the first to include dedicated chapters on digital trade […]

As it faces its latest crisis, triggered by Belarus, a looming leadership vacuum threatens to condemn the EU to years of stagnation behind other global powers

Why sanctions have become the go-to response when an international crisis hits

Recent tensions felt in Northern Ireland are not a result of the protocol introduced after the UK left the EU but rather Brexit itself, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said. She was speaking following the first day of the EU Council – the first such meeting since the introduction of the EU-UK trade […]

European Council president Charles Michel said Minsk was playing “Russian roulette” after a Ryanair flight was diverted and a prominent critic arrested in Belarus. Journalist Roman Protasevich was on board a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius on Sunday when it was forced to change course to head for the Belarussian capital after a reported […]

The challenge of funding and providing social care is not unique to the UK. So what can we learn from other countries?

Two in five firms that trade with the EU expect to see a fall in business compared to before the coronavirus crisis, a new study suggests. A survey of more than 700 company directors also found that almost two-thirds were still finding it challenging to adjust to new post-Brexit trading arrangements. Customs changes and non-tariff […]

Fully vaccinated UK holidaymakers could be given the green light by EU ambassadors to visit the bloc this summer, but there is confusion over the government’s policy on international travel. The ambassadors are meeting on Wednesday to discuss easing restrictions on non-essential trips into the EU. Portugal and Greece are among the countries that have […]

JOHN KAMPFNER on Charles Michel, a man whose recent travails reveal much about the shortcomings of the EU’s institutions How many presidents does it take to run a union? The answer, when it comes to Europe, is three. Plus, a high representative. The problem of duplication is compounded by the fact that each of them […]

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has given an emotional speech to mark Europe Day at an event in Strasbourg. During the Conference on the Future of Europe, the heads of the European parliament and the European Commission delivered speeches on their vision for the continent. Von der Leyen said the conference was a […]

It has not even been five months since the end of the Brexit transition period and there have been armed patrol vessels in the Channel. The sad thing is: this is only the latest stage in a development that began with the Brexit referendum and saw a significant decline in Britain’s role on the diplomatic […]

Dominic Raab “chickened out” of no-deal Brexit after his threats to pull out of talks were met with support from the EU, Michel Barnier states in his new book. The Grand Illusion: A Secret Diary of Brexit – out this autumn in English – delivers a detailed insight into Brexit negotiations from the EU’s chief […]

Britain’s Brexit trade deal with the EU was determined by “quarrels, low blows, [and] multiple betrayals” by self-aggrandizing Tory MPs, Michel Barnier has written in his long-awaited memoirs. The UK’s problem, writes Barnier in The Great Illusion, was that it began negotiations by “talking to themselves,” leading its negotiating team to “underestimate the legal complexity of this divorce, […]

Lawyers are challenging the European parliament’s decision to remove immunity from prosecution for an MEP who could face extradition to Spain. Clara Ponsati faces a charge of sedition over her role in Catalonia’s unsanctioned independence referendum in 2017. Ponsati, a University of St Andrews academic, became an MEP after five seats in the European parliament […]

The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly to approve the UK and European Union’s post-Brexit trade deal. Before voting on the Trade and Co-operation Agreement reached with the prime minister on Christmas Eve, Brussels politicians were told by the European Commission president that the deal has “real teeth”. Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc would […]

European Commission female president Ursula von der Leyen has blamed sexism for the “sofagate” debacle in Turkey earlier this month. Von der Leyen was left without a chair during a meeting in Ankara with Turkey’s president Tayyip Erdogan on April 6. She said that the incident only happened because she is a woman. “I cannot find […]

The European Union has said it “will not hesitate” to use dispute resolution mechanisms in the Brexit deal if the UK breaches the agreement. Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, was speaking as MEPs prepared to ratify the deal thrashed out between the EU and UK. Von der Leyen told the European Parliament […]

Michel Barnier, the man who led the European Union’s negotiations with the UK, claimed that Brexit is a “mark of failure”. Speaking in front of MEPs as they prepared to vote on the trade agreement with the UK, he attributed the Brexit vote to “social anger and tensions” in the UK. He said: “This is a divorce. […]

Brussels is on the verge of suspending Turkey’s membership negotiations to join the EU over human rights violations. MEPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee voted overwhelmingly in favour of allowing the European parliament to vote on a formal suspension next month. If passed, this would be the first major shift in EU-Turkish relations since negotiations […]

There are few greater symbols of Britain’s standing in the world than Gibraltar. But, as MARK MARDELL explains, as the UK moves away from the EU the Rock is gravitating dramatically into its sphere. A British warship, the HMS Trent, has arrived at her new permanent base, Gibraltar, Britain’s last remaining European overseas territory. According to her captain, […]

MEPs are set to finally approve the Brexit trade agreement between the UK and EU next week – whilst also warning that it could be cancelled if Number 10 continues to ignore its terms. German socialist MEP Bernd Lange said negotiations over Northern Ireland are “on track” and a solution is “in sight”.  “Ratification makes […]

The European Commission is planning to take vaccine producer AstraZeneca to court over its failure to fulfil its contract with the EU, five EU diplomats have confirmed. The news, first reported by Politico, follows a meeting of ambassadors on Wednesday in which a majority of EU countries said they would support the legal action against the […]

Making the battle against Covid tribal will have tragic consequences. If relations between Britain and the EU before Brexit was finalised were frosty and since then have been distant, then in recent weeks they have become downright ugly. The cause, of course, has been the ongoing row over the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed and deployed here – and derided and […]