Lucknow: India is moving on a path where nobody stays behind because of his religion and the schemes made today for the poor are reaching them without any religious discrimination, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the Aligarh Muslim University, seeking to impress the government’s “anti-discriminatory” nature on the students of the university. Speaking at the centenary celebrations of the varsity on Tuesday, Modi exhorted students to rise above ideological and political differences of opinion to align their aspirations with the aspirations of the nation, and contribute towards building of a ‘New India’ and an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. He lauded the university for its contribution to the freedom struggle, towards shaping of the modern Muslim society and its diversity, calling it a “Mini-India”.
Last year, the AMU campus had seen clashes between the police and the students who had protested against a police crackdown at Jamia Millia Islamia University during the anti-CAA protests. “Today, India is moving on a path where each citizen is benefitting from its development without discrimination, no citizen has to worry about the rights given to him by the Constitution, as well as about his own future. It is moving on a path where nobody stays behind because of his religion and everybody gets equal opportunities to move ahead in life and fulfil his dreams,” the PM said, adding: “Sabka saath, sabka vikaas, and sabka vishwas – this mantra is the basis of this journey and this mantra is reflected in the country’s intent and policies.”
While toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission were constructed to benefit everyone, it especially has led to a fall in the school dropout rate of Muslim girls from more than 70% to 30%, thus overcoming a huge obstacle in the development of the Muslim world, he said, citing this as a little known aspect of the cleanliness drive.
The effort to build a modern Muslim society, which was undertaken 100 years ago when Begum Sultan had become the founding chancellor of the university, has been taken forward by the current government by ending the practice of instant triple talaq, Modi said. While he laid stress on the importance of women’s education, Modi also touched upon how the new education policy propounded the interdisciplinary approach of the university in its higher studies syllabus. “We will have to realise that politics is an important part of society, but there are more issues in society greater than politics,” he said.
You might be tempted to believe that, talking to faith leaders in 2020. From Quakers to Muslims, Unitarians to Jews, the faithful across the world have had to adapt to these challenging times, and many of them are using zoom and other technology to gather for worship and keep their faith communities strong.
“Zoom is working really well for us, better than I would have predicted,” Susan Gore, president of the board of trustees for the Clearwater Unitarian Universalists, says. “I’m not techno-savvy, but I have learned enough to host multiple meetings every week. An unexpected bonus is that our Sunday attendance has been significantly higher than usual in the summer. It’s easier simply to turn on your computer, not having to fight traffic and/or the heat. We also are providing training on how to do Zoom to committee leaders, members and anyone who wants to learn.”
Rabbi Michael Porop says that Temple Beth-el in South Pasadena has always used some technology, live streaming their regular services and high holy day events, but the virus made them “up their game.”
“We used to just have a single, fixed-angle camera streaming in a lower-res, but since the pandemic we have added cameras and gotten a much higher res,” Porop says. “We’re also doing things like pre-recording musical numbers that we can drop into a live broadcast.”
Porop said that the temple now provides a variety of options, like live streaming on their website, on Zoom or through Facebook and YouTube.
“We like to be able to give people the option of using whatever platform works best for them,” he said.
Unfortunately, these technologies do have drawbacks.
Porop says his synagogue experienced two instances of “zoom bombing,” where unwelcome guests tried to disrupt the worship experience.
“It was disturbing, yes, but it forced us to put better protections in place for our Zoom events,” he said. “Now we require passwords or ‘waiting rooms’ before people are allowed to participate. So far those precautions seem to be working.”
What’s it like to worship virtually?
Photo via Pikist.
“Meeting by Zoom was strange at first for many of us,” Linda Morganstein, clerk of the Meeting of the St. Petersburg Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), says. “We tend to be an older group of folks, some of whom are tech-challenged.But the younger among us helped a lot and got us set up and now it feels as if we are actually more respectful of each other; perhaps even kinder and more thoughtful while we navigate being together via phone and computer. I think it’s made us kinder; more compassionate.”
Imam Abdul Karim Ali is the chairman of the Tampa Bay Muslim Association.While he said a few mosques have begun meeting in person, most have elected to have traditional Friday evening prayer via Zoom. Muslims pray five times a day, so many are used to following that ritual at home with their families.
“Thank Allah that we live when we do,” Ali said. “If this pandemic had hit 1400 years ago when Islam was just beginning, we would not have had the options that today’s technology affords us.”
Ali likes to use a traditional Muslim story to illustrate how the community perceives and reacts to the pandemic. The story goes that a man entered a village on his camel and stopped at a local establishment for some refreshment. But he neglected to adequately tie up his camel and when he came out the camel was gone. The lesson is that, metaphorically,you should always keep track of your camel – and Ali compares the virus to the camel.
Photo via Queven.
“It’s important for us to know where the camel is and what he is doing so we can react accordingly,” Ali says.
Ali explains that Muslims believe in science and will be looking to the scientists, doctors and other health professionals to give them guidance on when it’s appropriate for the community to begin meeting in person. He notes there is nothing in the Muslim faith to preclude members from being vaccinated. If proven safe and effective, he says he and his family will be in line to take it.
Following the direction of science is also a top priority in Porop’s community. He notes that the temple put together a task force of people in health care, education, business and science to guide them on when it will be safe to start in-person worship again.
The Quakers are also taking a communal approach to the challenge of in-person gathering.
“There is a Quaker committee formed of people from all over the state addressing that issue,” said Morganstein. “We will have the knowledge and thought from those folks to guide us. In addition, our Meeting will talk about what may need to happen with our particular Meeting and Meetinghouse in order for us to feel OK about worshipping in person again. We want to honor the vulnerabilities of our community and not push for any particular date. God is within us and around us; so everywhere is sacred, we don’t necessarily need a building for that.”
Gore says that while UUs take all precautions when it comes to the virus, there is some impatience in the community.
“UUs tend to be very ‘heady’ people,” Gore says. “We mask up, wash our hands and stay home – mostly. Mostly, I say, because we also pride ourselves in our diversity. Some UU Clearwater members feel it is time to ‘get back together.’ As much as I would like to see my friends face to face, I believe it is way too early to predict when we will be meeting in person again. Next spring, perhaps…if there isn’t a resurgence coupled with the flu.”
Morganstein believes that the challenges of 2020 may actually serve to strengthen community bonds.
“I am hoping that other organizations are having the same type of ‘cracking-open’ experiences we’ve talked about in our Meeting – seeing each other and ourselves in new ways, and realizing how deep and alive our bonds are,” she says.“Occasionally, a catastrophe brings solace and gifts with it that we couldn’t have foreseen. I think this was one of those times.”
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The new citizenship test, which immigrants began to use this month, no longer includes a question dealing specifically with the right to religious freedom, one of the Constitution’s defining liberties.
It’s a startling move for the <a href="/topics/trump-administration/">Trump administration</a>, which has overall been a vigorous advocate of religious freedom across the government, said <a href="/topics/alfonso-aguilar/">Alfonso Aguilar</a>, who ran the Office of Citizenship in the Bush administration and oversaw the last rewrite of the test in 2008.
He made sure the religious freedom question was added to the test at that point because he thought would-be citizens should know about something so central to the American experiment.
“I’m surprised this is happening under this administration. I’m sure the president is not aware,” Mr. <a href="/topics/alfonso-aguilar/">Aguilar</a> said.
The citizenship test works under what Mr. <a href="/topics/alfonso-aguilar/">Aguilar</a> called the “catechism” approach: Those seeking citizenship are told to study a set of questions. When it’s time for the test, they are asked a small subset of those questions and must get 60% correct.
The previous version had 100 possible questions, and test-takers were asked 10. The new version has 128 questions. Test-takers are asked 20 and must get 12 correct to pass.
Even with the expanded test materials, religion has been cut. It appeared seven times in the questions and answers of the old test but just three times in the new version. Gone entirely is the stand-alone question: “What is freedom of religion?” The correct answer: “You can practice any religion, or not practice a religion.”
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Homeland Security Department agency that oversees legal immigration, said religious freedom is still “well represented” on the test and appears as an answer in three questions.
“The test continues to emphasize the fundamental concepts of U.S. government and American history that is found on the current naturalization civics test that has been administered in USCIS field offices since 2009,” said Dan Hetlage, a spokesman for the agency.
<a name="pagebreak"/>
It’s not just religion that has been axed.
A question about the First Amendment is also gone. The new test no longer makes any reference to freedom of the press, one of five fundamental liberties, along with religion, that are guaranteed by the First Amendment, said Charles Haynes, founding director of the Religious Freedom Center at the Freedom Forum.
He said it’s perhaps not a surprise that the <a href="/topics/trump-administration/">Trump administration</a> would make those changes.
“The 2008 answer to ‘what is religious freedom?’ may not appeal to an administration that gives voice to those who view the U.S. as a Christian nation (see White House religious advisors),” he said in an email. “Moreover, the <a href="/topics/trump-administration/">Trump administration</a> focuses on claims by conservative Christians that their religious liberty is under assault in the U.S.”
Mr. <a href="/topics/alfonso-aguilar/">Aguilar</a>, though, said the changes were more likely made by career officials and escaped notice by political leadership.
Homeland Security began the process of updating the test in 2018.
Mr. Hetlage said the new test questions were “informed by an internal USCIS team, which included USCIS employees from a cross section of agency divisions.”
He said the point of the update was to have a test that “more accurately assesses applicants’ knowledge of U.S. history, government and values.”
“The revision has met USCIS requirements for efficiency and proper rigor, while ensuring the civics test is valid, reliable and fair, and that it complies with statutory and regulatory naturalization requirements,” he said.
USCIS is using the new test for people who applied for citizenship beginning Dec. 1. Those who applied before that are still using the old test.
Immigrant rights activists say there was no reason to change the test in the first place because there was no evidence that the old test was too easy.
They argue that 100 questions were enough to study and said asking 20 questions instead of 10 — even if it still requires getting 60% correct — is a needless barrier to earning citizenship.
“These changes are completely unnecessary, capricious and nonsensical,” said Arturo Vargas, CEO of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.
He said the <a href="/topics/trump-administration/">Trump administration</a> didn’t give community groups a chance to offer feedback on the revisions, and particularly how they would affect immigrants still struggling to learn English. He said the Dec. 1 effective date, just a couple of weeks after the test was finalized, gave groups too little time to prepare to help immigrants study.
But Mr. <a href="/topics/alfonso-aguilar/">Aguilar</a>, who designed the version that is being replaced, said with the exception of the religious freedom omission, the new test looks like a solid effort.
He said the test is a key part of the assimilation process because immigrants learn about their new home country as they study.
Indeed, a 2018 study by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation found only 36% of participants could get the 60% grade needed to pass. For immigrants, the passing rate — at least on the old test — is above 90%.
Mr. <a href="/topics/alfonso-aguilar/">Aguilar</a> said when he released the 2008 test, he faced many of the same complaints from activist groups predicting fewer people passing.
“To argue that this is some sort of obstacle is really a stretch,” he said. “What it does, it makes it more meaningful by having more questions — and not that many, it’s 28, and then asking 20. It encourages a more rigorous study, which I think it great.”
“If you can’t take this test, you can’t operate in society,” he said.
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Dec 22, 2020 (AB Digital via COMTEX) --
On December 21, 2020, a historical date, Jupiter and Saturn aligned. These planets had not met for 800 years. On this not accidental date, the book by composer Louis Siciliano entitled MUSIC MULTIVERSE EXPLORATION: A new Cosmology of Sound (Magic&Unique Books) was released in 60 countries around the world in pre-order.
The Neapolitan composer Louis Siciliano who lives between Los Angeles, New York and London took more than 20 years to develop this musical meta-language.
In the introduction of this precious book aimed at composers, instrumentalists and all music creatives who are looking for new musical territories to explore, one can read the following:
“Once, the great Wayne Shorter told me that Charlie Parkerlistened to a musician performing dodecaphonic music, took out his sax and began to play. Someone asked him: “What you’re playing?” He answered: “I’m playing lakes, rivers, trees, clouds, the sea.” Quantum physics and the latest scientific research have established that there is a sacred architecture, a harmonic law that underlies everything that happens in the Cosmos. In what we call the overtone series, there is the key to everything. Music contains the mystery of life and is connected to the sciences and the infinite dimensions in which all of us are immersed. I repeated to myself, “there must be a universal law that regulates the life of musical structures,” like the Einstein theory of relativity. “As above, so below,” the hermetics said. The law that permeates music is the same that moves and regulates the Universes. I began to deepen the immense didactic work of Slominsky, Schillinger, Hindemith and Messiaen, not to mention the works of the eternal J.S. Bach. From all these studies, I have been able to identify a fundamental concept in music: Symmetry. From the symmetry of intervalic structures, I then landed at MUSIC MULTIVERSE EXPLORATION. Through this meta-language, every architect-composer-performer will be able to freely build his own neighborhood, so to say, or an entire city, why not? Stravinsky said: “freedom for me is to be aware of the borders”. The peculiarity of MUMEx (MUSIC MULTIVERSE EXPLORATION) is that it will ensure that each neighborhood (structural element) is in harmony and in complete coherence with the other districts. MUMEx therefore, is a management model that serves to “freely organize” the melodic flow, counterpoint lines, sound agglomerates, rhythmic figures and the tonal microstructures created by the composers-performers.”
This book will be available on Amazon and in all specialized bookstores around the world starting January 2, 2021.
Media Contact Company Name: MAGIC&UNIQUE GROUP Contact Person: JP Devera Email: Send Email Phone: +1 424 777 2283 City: LOS ANGELES Country: United States Website: https://www.magicandunique.com/
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Resident Coordinator in the country, Niky Fabiancic, is leading these efforts, said UN Spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, speaking in New York.
More than 7.2 million cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in Brazil, according to latest data from the World Health Organization (WHO). As of Tuesday, there were more than 76 million cases globally, with 1.7 million deaths.
WHO and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are working with the Brazilian authorities on a campaign to highlight the importance of general immunization for young people, Mr. Dujarric told journalists.
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has provided more than 100,000 items of protective equipment, “to boost the safety of frontline workers supporting vulnerable communities in rural areas and the Amazon, while the International Organization for Migration (IOM) continued providing cleaning supplies, COVID-19 testing support and free general consultation for migrants and refugees from Venezuela”, he said.
Protection for women
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA), together with the embassies of the Netherlands and Canada, are also facilitating protection services for women and victims of violence, especially during the crisis.
“At the same time, UNICEF is providing mental health counselling and support to young people in Brazil, as well as human rights training for indigenous community leaders to combat sexual violence, alcoholism and child labour”, Mr. Dujarric added.
Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and partners are providing vocational training on starting a business in Brazil, for refugees and migrant entrepreneurs. They are also supporting Venezuelan refugees with cash-based assistance.
New release invites listeners to “read” the entire Catholic Bible in a year, podcast-style
“The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)” has become the #1 podcast on Apple’s chart for “Religion and Spirituality” this week, and is ranked #13 for overall “Trending” shows as it builds momentum towards a January 1st launch.
The new podcast, a passion project from the heart of YouTube’s favorite priest, invites listeners to journey through the full text of the Catholic Bible in a daily podcast format. Fr. Mike Schmitz will be using Ascension’s acclaimed Bible Timeline® Learning System to structure each episode, and welcoming the Bible Timeline creator Jeff Cavins onto the podcast for special guest appearances.
Fr. Mike is well-known for his YouTube videos on “Ascension Presents,” the second-largest Catholic YouTube platform in English. He is also a nationally recognized author and speaker who has given keynote addresses at many top Catholic events.
Fr. Mike explains the vision for the new podcast: “A while back, I had this longing placed on my heart to help Catholics encounter God’s Word in a deeper and more consistent way. I thought, ‘what if someone could just click “play” and allow the Word of God to wash over them—allow the Word of God to shape their lens, the lens through which they look at their entire world?’”
The show is being produced by Ascension, the leader in Catholic faith formation, and the publisher of many books, Bible studies, and other products which use the Bible Timeline Learning System to help believers approach the Scriptures from a Catholic perspective.
“We have this phenomenal resource in Jeff Cavins’ Bible Timeline,” comments Fr. Mike. “Jeff Cavins unpacks the story of salvation—the story of God’s love for his people. We’re basing our reading plan for the podcast on this program because in my life, The Bible Timeline is probably the most significant Bible study that I’ve ever been a part of.”
To “get ready” for the show, listeners should visit Ascension’s website and sign up for the free reading plan to be sent to their email.
The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) podcast is available for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Hallow, the Catholic Prayer and Meditation App. Pre-launch bonus episodes are already posted in those locations, and daily episodes will begin to drop on January 1, 2021.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Religion News Service or Religion News Foundation.
Talks on a trade agreement between Britain and the European Union could continue in the New Year if no agreement is reached, EU sources have cited Michel Barnier as saying.
A European source confirmed to Euronews reports from the AFP that the EU’s chief negotiator said he would not close the door on the United Kingdom and that he remains ready to negotiate even beyond January 1.
Earlier Barnier told reporters in Brussels that European and British teams were giving it a “final push” in their talks for a post-Brexit trade agreement.
The UK leaves the European single market on 31 December, after its European Union membership ended earlier this year.
The two sides continue to disagree on three significant policy areas: European fishing rights in British waters, EU demands for fair competition rules and the question of how trade disputes will be resolved.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday ahead of a meeting in Brussels with EU ambassadors, Barnier said: “We are really in a crucial moment and we are giving it a final push,” Barnier told journalists on Tuesday.
“In 10 days, the UK will leave the single market and I will continue to work in total transparency with the member states right now and with the [European] Parliament.”
Talks between the two teams were set to continue on Wednesday.
In light of the difficult political context Europe is facing, with COVID-19, Brexit, US tariffs, and trade tensions, more thought should be put into different models of agriculture to address future challenges, the right-wing MEP Mazaly Aguilar (ECR) told EURACTIV in an interview.
“The pandemic has confirmed that agriculture is a strategic sector for European citizens,” Aguilar said, adding that it was not possible to anticipate what would happen in the coming weeks or months.
Given the problems with the pandemic, Brexit, US tariffs, and the Mercosur agreement, there would be many issues touching farmers across the bloc and, according to the Spanish lawmaker, the solution to limit the damages cannot only come from EU’s main farming programme, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
“In a post-pandemic world, we should understand that new green obligations to protect the environment cannot undermine our capacity to produce healthy and safe food at an affordable price for EU citizens,” she said, referring to the strong push on sustainability embedded in European Commission’s flagship food policy, the Farm to Fork strategy (F2F).
For here, the keyword for the future is coexistence. “Different models of agriculture must coexist to meet the challenges ahead. Focusing on organic production and local markets is a very partial response to our needs.”
To this end, Aguilar stressed that “precision farming and new plant breeding techniques should be further developed in a post-pandemic scenario to help organic production achieve sustainability.”
At the same time, she pointed towards the need for a plan to support farmers to overcome the effects of the pandemic.
“We need a plan with additional funding from the EU budget and in coordination with other EU policies, CAP cannot do it alone,” she said.
As the exceptional measures taken by the European Commission have not been deemed adequate to relieve distressed agri-food markets, the idea of deploying the so far unused crisis fund, set up in the 2013 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform, is coming to the fore.
Scrap the CAP?
The possible option of scrapping the proposed CAP reform if it is not in line with the EU’s flagship environmental policy, the European Green Deal, has struck a sour note in the first weeks of negotiations between the European Parliament and the outgoing German EU presidency chairing the EU27 farming ministers.
The European Commission’s threat to withdraw its legislative proposal for the post-2020 EU’s farming subsidies programme has irritated EU lawmakers. EURACTIV.com asked some legal experts to clear the air about the controversy.
Withdrawing the proposal would halt the talks and force the EU executive to re-start the legislative process by tabling a new document.
After Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans hinted at this possibility, the Commission has tried to tone down the dispute and defuse a potential institutional crisis.
Asked what she thought of this threat, Aguilar said it would not be the first time that the EU executive proposes to revoke its own proposal during negotiations between the Parliament, Commission, and Council representing EU countries, as it is often used as a negotiating strategy.
“I do not take seriously the threats from Timmermans, but I must admit I am very concerned about the prominent role he is taking in the negotiations over a file for which his knowledge and responsibility is very limited,” the MEP added.
For Aguilar, Timmermans is overreacting since, apart from a few issues in the green architecture, she does not see big differences between the positions of the Parliament and the Council.
Asked if she had expected such strong reactions from environmental organisations on the current negotiations, Aguilar said it seems to be “never enough to meet the green expectations”.
“I have experienced myself in some internal negotiations that if green and far-left groups do not get 100% of what they want, the final outcome will be useless despite the integration of many of their concerns and expectations,” she said.
Nutritional labelling
Earlier in December, EU agricultural ministers shelved plans for food labelling in terms of nutrition and origin, a thorny issue which has long been a bone of contention among governments.
One of the major obstacles is the trade-off between nutritional labelling and protection of regional products.
Commenting on member states being stuck on nutritional labelling, Aguilar said consumers simply need the best available information on the nutritional value of the products they buy.
“Unfortunately, the Nutriscore has shown that is not the best tool to help consumers to make the right choice as these sort of labelling schemes can be very harmful in the medium run as they will create the wrong perceptions in consumers about the food they eat,” the MEP said.
Nutriscore is a food-labelling system developed in France, and also used in Spain and Belgium. It is, however, opposed by Italy, which is trying to promote its own scheme called NutrInform.
“What we urgently need is more education and communication campaigns about what a healthy diet means, mandatory origin labelling and a better monitoring on labelling of imported products,” Aguilar added.
“In less than two years, children and families in Cabo Delgado have faced a devastating cyclone, flooding, drought, socioeconomic hardship linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and conflict”, said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore, on Monday.
Weather-related disasters and conflict over the past two years have contributed to food insecurity and hunger across Cabo Delgado, where two out of every five children are chronically malnourished and severe acute malnutrition are being detected amongst the displaced population.
In less than two years, children and families in Cabo Delgado have faced a devastating cyclone, flooding, drought, socioeconomic hardship linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, and conflict.https://t.co/z4oBwHBRKe
As the rainy season sets in, services must be strengthened for overcrowded temporary accommodation centres and host communities to prevent the outbreak of water-borne diseases, like cholera and the further spread of COVID-19, according to UNICEF.
Health conditions like diarrhoea, which are easily prevented and treated, can be deadly for displaced children without access to safe water and adequate sanitation. This is especially true for children suffering from malnutrition.
“As conditions in the province deteriorate further – especially with the start of rainy season – water, sanitation and health care systems are under increasing strain”, explained the UNICEF chief.
UNICEF’s expanded assistance
In response, UNICEF is expanding its water and sanitation support as well as visiting communities and centers to screen children’s nutritional status and provide lifesaving treatment, including therapeutic food for severe cases.
Mobile teams are also providing regular healthcare to women, mothers and children, ensuring that key services, such as antenatal care and standard vaccination cycles, are observed.
“Humanitarian partners on the ground must shore up these services to protect the lives and wellbeing of the region’s children”, said Ms. Fore.
Traumatized children
UNICEF explained that displaced children who have lost contact with their families or been exposed to physical and psychological violence are especially vulnerable.
Many who have witnessed or experienced extreme brutality – or even lost close family members to vicious killings and abductions – need comprehensive protections, including psychosocial support after suffering such trauma.
UNICEF and its partners are running child-friendly spaces where displaced children can play in a safe environment while trained facilitators can identify those who need more specialized care.
More help needed
There is, however, an urgent need to expand the network of trained case workers to visit surviving children and their families at home to provide psychosocial support and protection and social service referrals.
For 2021, UNICEF is appealing for $52.8 million to respond to the most urgent humanitarian needs across Mozambique, including $30 million as part of the Humanitarian Response Plan for Cabo Delgado.
BRUSSELS: European Union (EU) negotiator Michel Barnier (pix) vowed on Tuesday to continue to push for a post-Brexit trade deal in the last 10 days before Britain leaves the single market.
“We are really in the crucial moment, and we are giving it the final push,” Barnier told reporters as he headed into a meeting with EU ambassadors in Brussels
“In 10 days the UK will leave the single market and I will continue to work, in total transparency with the European Parliament and the member states,” he said.
If the talks between Barnier and his UK counterpart David Frost fail to reach a breakthrough in the coming days, the UK will leave without a follow-on trade deal.
Tariffs would be reimposed on cross-Channel trade in food and goods, exacerbating the economic shock of a return to a border after 47 years of integration.
But the talks are deadlocked over how to ensure fair trade rules are respected in the future and, especially, over how to assign fishing rights in UK waters.
On Monday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen held a crisis call to discuss Brexit and the coronavirus crisis.
The call, revealed Tuesday by an EU source, came amid reports that Britain had improved its offer on fish, moving closer to Brussels’ demand for long-term access. But French officials told AFP that the British position had not yet moved far enough.
The two sides are haggling over the cut EU fishermen will take to their catch in British waters and the length of a transition period to phase in the changes.
The eleventh-hour talks have also been overshadowed by the fast-moving crisis over the new coronavirus strain found by London.
Amid reports the new mutation of Covid-19 might spread more quickly than previous ones, 40 countries in Europe and around the world cut travel links to Britain.
The EU is scrambling to come up with a coordinated response after cross-channel traffic was left snarled as France shut down entry for passengers and goods.
Ambassadors from the bloc’s 27 members are to meet later Tuesday to try to hammer out a joint plan to allow cargo to start moving again and EU nationals to return home.
Von der Leyen’s Commission has recommended that blanket bans be discontinued in order to allow essential passenger travel and freight shipments to resume.
But Germany and Ireland have already renewed their precautionary bans and France is in talks with London over instituting virus tests for truck drivers. – AFP
