British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has encouraged businesses hit by post-Brexit red tape to take an optimistic “10-year view” of Brexit.

Interviewed by the BBC’s Andrew Marr, Raab insisted the government was “doing a huge amount” to support businesses hampered by European Union (EU) customs bureaucracy, including “advice and guidance, particularly intermediaries dealing with things like custom declarations”.

Some small British firms have already announced that they will have to close due to duties and reams of export paperwork — which Prime Minister Boris Johnson assured would not be imposed under the post-Brexit trade deal he agreed with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the last minute between Christmas and the New Year.

“We have always been clear that there are changes that come with exiting the transition period, and what we’re trying to do is support businesses as best we can to manage those,” Raab said.

“You can always take individual cases, and I know they matter, but overall we’re in an excellent position to grasp the opportunities of a global Britain,” stressed Raab, who also serves as Johnson’s deputy PM.

“I think if you take a 10-year view, as well as looking at the short-term risk, which is right to do, actually the growth opportunities in the future are going to come from emerging and developing economies around the world.”

The UK’s trade with non-EU countries has been growing ten times faster than commerce with the bloc for more than a decade, and already accounts for more than half of exports.
Earlier this month the EU banned imports of unprocessed British shellfish, in apparent breach of the free trade agreement with the UK. That prompted one un-named government minister to accuse Brussels of “trying to punish us for daring to become a nation state” and vaccinating the UK population seven times faster than the EU can manage.

This weekend, Al-Emadi told a Qatari news outlet there will be two contracts for a new gas pipeline project to supply natural gas to Gaza from Israel. One contract – between the Palestinian Authority and Delek — will cover the purchase of the gas. The second contract will cover the cost of extending the gas pipeline between Israel and Gaza.

The European Union is believed to have pledged some $5 million for the installation of the gas pipeline on the Gaza side of the border, leading to the power plant. Qatar is believed to be handling the installation of the gas pipeline on the Israeli side of the border.

Once the pipeline is installed on both sides of the border, it is expected the project will result in a greatly expanded supply of electricity – about double the current output, in fact – estimated to reach about 400 megawatts, while reducing the cost of the electricity as well.

The flow of energy to the enclave’s sole power plant in the enclave, and the enclave’s access to electricity, has been iffy at best up to this point due to power struggles between Hamas and Fatah. The two factions have in the past tended to use the Gaza population and their payments of electricity bills as a political football, rather than simply transfer the payments directly to the Israel Electric Company to cover the cost of the electricity they received.

Spotty payments together with rocket attacks aimed at Israeli civilians that occasionally took out important wires and electrical installations have made delivery of the needed energy supplies difficult to maintain.

It is hoped the new multinational project will finally bring an end to the suffering of the people of Gaza, once control over energy in the enclave is addressed by people than the local terrorist leadership.

Brussels — Aspen Pharmacare warded off a possible hefty EU antitrust fine after regulators accepted the pharmaceutical company’s offer to cut cancer drug prices in Europe by about two-thirds, in a landmark case aimed at deterring excessive prices.

In the past decade, the European Commission has cracked down on the pharmaceutical industry for pay-for-delay deals between brand name companies and their generic rivals, while shying away from excessive pricing cases.

The Commission decision confirmed a Reuters report on February 3.

In 2020, Aspen offered to cut prices by an average of 73% for six off-patent cancer drugs after the EU executive voiced concerns it may have charged excessive prices for drugs mainly used in the treatment of leukaemia and other haematological cancers.

The competition enforcer said there were no legitimate reasons for Aspen’s very high profit levels especially when the drugs used to treat certain serious forms of blood cancer, including myeloma and leukaemia, had been off-patent for 50 years.

“Today’s decision gives a strong signal to other dominant pharmaceutical companies not to engage in abusive pricing practices to exploit our health systems,” European Competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

The reduced prices will also act as a cap for 10 years, retroactive to October 2019. Aspen will guarantee supplies for five years and will also continue to supply or make its marketing authorisation to other suppliers for an additional five years.

The pledge is valid for 10 years. Aspen could have faced a fine of up to 10% of its global turnover on top of a finding of wrongdoing if found guilty of breaching EU rules.

Aspen’s offer does not apply to Italy, which earlier had its own case against the company.

Reuters

Louis Michel, the former Belgium’s Foreign Minister and Jacques Brotchi, the  Honorary president of the Belgian Senate, released a joint statement on Saturday to support Morocco’s autonomy proposal as a viable way to end the conflict over Western Sahara.

In their joint statement, published by the EU Today, the two politicians   extolled the decision of the US and other countries to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara

Michel, who also served as former European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, and Brotchi said the international community’s increasing support for Morocco’s stance is a positive move for “geographic, political and geo-strategic reasons.”

“Now we can see that the world is moving slowly but surely towards the recognition of the sovereignty of Morocco over Western Sahara, a positive move for geographic, political and geo-strategic reasons,” the joint statement reads.

The two politicians expressed hope to see support extended across the world, calling on the European Union to join the pro-Morocco trend to ensure stability in the region.

“It is high time for the European Union, as a global actor, to position itself on the world stage by promoting the resolution of the conflict because if Africa is unstable, Europe and the Middle East can follow suit,” they said.

Read Also: Ex-French Government Spokesman Calls for EU Dialogue on Western Sahara

The two Belgian politicians warned that stability in Europe depends on Africa’s security.

“The Sahel and the Maghreb are vital regions for the sustainability and security of our continent,” the statement added.

Morocco has long expressed concerns regarding security in Sahel, calling for a “shared responsibility”-based international cooperation to address terror challenges in the region.

Moroccan officials see the Sahel as a breeding ground for terrorism, denouncing the lack of joint cooperation between neighbouring countries to respond to the crisis.

Morocco, reliable partner for EU

Morocco and the EU share a decades-long  partnership in different fields.

The partnership touches on different common challenges, including economic development, innovation, climate change, security, and migration.

Michel and  Brotchi called on the EU to preserve cooperation with Morocco.

Both officials described the North African country as a “privileged and reliable partner of the EU.”

Brotchi and Michek said that Morocco became a key regional actor in creating the conditions for a realistic and effective political solution for Western Sahara.

Morocco submitted the Autonomy Plan initiative to the UN Security Council in 2007.

The Moroccan plan suggests making Western Sahara a semi-autonomous region that would remain under Morocco’s sovereignty.

Dozens of newspapers, TV stations and websites blank or black: This was what the national strike of private media in Poland protesting a sudden and crippling government tax on advertising looked like on Feb. 10.

In Hungary the same week, an opposition radio station was ordered by a court to turn off its microphones this coming Monday.

This is the politics of the slow squeeze in Central Europe. It’s a strategy designed by two men, the prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, and the vice-premier and de facto leader of Poland, Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

Their countries, both former members of the Soviet bloc, belong to the European Union, and profit from it, but their ideas on democracy and the rule of law — principles their countries agreed to uphold when joining in 2004 — are far from those endorsed by EU leaders in Brussels.