Never say never when negotiating with the European Union, says UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab as London and Brussels are engaged in last-minute talks over the future of their trade relationship post-Brexit.

He noted that London would need to see “substantial movement” by Sunday – the day picked by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen as a final deadline for a Brexit deal. At the same time, the top diplomat said that real progress needs to be made for the negotiations to continue beyond the Sunday deadline.

Raab has recognised that if the two sides fail to reach an agreement, there will be “bumps along the road”, including potential changes in food prices.

According to the foreign secretary, significant differences remain, mainly around fisheries and certain regulatory requirements, but there’s clearly scope to continue the talks. He, however, emphasised that Britain was not going to “sacrifice basic points of democratic principle” in order to get a deal.

He went on to note that irrespective of the differences, “movement needs to happen” on both issues, fishing quotas and level playing field, by Sunday. Regarding the latter, he noted, the European bloc has of late hardened its position.

During a “lively” discussion on Wednesday, Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen agreed that a firm decision should be taken by Sunday concerning the future of the Brexit talks, despite “very large gaps” between the UK and the EU. Von der Leyen later took to Twitter to say that while the parties “gained a clear understanding of each others’ positions, they remain far apart”.

Earlier in the day, Johnson addressed MPs about the prospects of post-Brexit arrangements with the EU, asserting that “a good deal is still there to be done”. The prime minister thundered that no British PM would sign up to the demands the European Union is “currently insisting on”, adding that while there is a trade deal to be done, the country would equally prosper without one.

“Our friends in the EU are currently insisting that if they pass a new law in the future with which we in this country do not comply … then they want the automatic right … to punish us and to retaliate”, he said in parliament.

While the post-Brexit trading and governance arrangements remain in limbo, despite heated talks in London, last week, the British side reportedly accused Brussels of revising their conditions at the eleventh hour, which, officials said, would certainly further threaten any potential compromise.

In light of the tight time framework still allocated for a deal to arrive – before the transition period expires on 31 December – concerns have arisen that the sides might enter the new year without an agreement.

A new accord will have to be approved by the EU’s 27 member states and European parliaments, including Britain’s by 31 December. What’s hampering the negotiations, as per the EU and a number of British officials, is the Internal Market Bill, which Johnson introduced in September. It proposes rolling back some of the commitments on state aid and customs checks on goods entering Northern Ireland – something that has been deemed as violating international law.

Major Stumbling Blocks

The main sticking points yet to be resolved are fisheries – a totemic issue for the UK and France among other member states, governance, and the specifics of level-playing field conditions to guarantee fair market play.

In terms of fishing rules, the EU is striving for maximum access for its boats to continue operating in UK waters, where they currently catch about £600 million worth of fish every year. Yet, Britain insists the waters washing the country are sovereign and EU member states should negotiate fishing quotas with London annually.
The level playing field is all about rules on fair competition for billions of pounds of business, now and in the coming years. While the EU wants the UK to stick rather closely to EU rules on things like workers’ rights, the environmental regulations that companies have to follow, and state aid, Britain insists that the whole point of Brexit was to break free from European norms.

Another issue on the agenda is how the rules of the deal will be enforced in the future and what measures will be taken if one side breaks them. The EU has been rooting for powers to be granted to the bloc to retaliate against the UK violating the norms in one area, by hitting back in another – for instance, slapping tariffs or taxes where it thinks they might cripple most.

Ukraine

On December 10, 2020, the new, free from gender stereotypes online medium Fight Like a Girl was launched in Ukraine. It aims to equip young women and girls with useful tips on legal and sexual security and physical self-defense against gender-based violence amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Its launch marks the beginning of a dedicated campaign that will roll out fifteen videos in social media through December 2020 and January 2021.

“Gender-based and domestic violence are human rights violations. Gender stereotypes fuel the continuous existence of this plight. Equipping young people, notably girls and young women against violence, and giving them tools to dismantle stereotypes is key to a more democratic, safer and more prosperous future. There could not be a better name for this campaign than #fightlikeagirl and the EU is happy support UN Women, UNFPA and Gender Stream as representatives of Ukrainian civil society in its implementation”, said Martin Schroeder, Head of the Local and Human Development Section at the EU Delegation to Ukraine.

The campaign is the part of the global campaign 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, which takes place annually from 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, till 10 December, Human Rights Day.

The project Fight Like a Girl launches fifteen entertaining explanatory videos that will debunk stereotypes on women and girls and teach the audience how to identify different forms of gender-based violence and understand some forms of cybercrimes that affect women and girls. Consent to sex, sexual security during COVID-19 pandemic, understanding toxic relationships will bring up and explain essential topics for girls and young women. The series of videos on self-defense, created in partnership with the National Police of Ukraine, will teach women and girls how to respond to potential attacks of an abuser and ensure safe escape.

The campaign is produced by the NGO Gender Stream, a grassroots women’s rights initiative from Dnipro, and UN Women in Ukraine. It speaks in a friendly and fun voice of a trusted peer and friend on a Instagram account @FLG_UA, and promotes the hashtags #бийсяякдівчина #fightlikeagirl.

In a series of 15 videos, the audience will hear the voices of Ukrainian influencers:

Stanislav Korolev, musician, member of the band “Yuko”;
Oleksandra Gontar, journalist of the Toronto Television YouTube project and poet;
Volodymyr Beglov, Head of the Human Rights Education Center in Lviv;
Natalia Shevchuk, Director General of the Social Film and Advertising Festival;
Olga Zhukovtsova, actress of the Women’s Quartal;
Katro Zauber, Ukrainian DJ
Vitaliy Zhadan, tactical training instructor, National Police of Ukraine.

“I hope that the project Fight like a girl will reach many women and girls, and it will empower them to change their lives. In a society where you do not feel protected, it is vital to finally try to create security for yourself (as much as possible)”, – said Oleksandra Gontar, TV host and participant of the project.

Background information:

In Ukraine and worldwide, gender-based violence is widespread and systematic, gaining even more momentum during the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost half (49%) of women in Ukraine say they have experienced sexual harassment. Under quarantine, the number of registered domestic violence cases rose to over 54%[1], and the number of calls to the National Hotline for the Prevention of Domestic Violence doubled[2].

The campaign was produced in the framework of the “EU 4 Gender Equality: Together against gender stereotypes and gender-based violence” programme, funded by the European Union, implemented jointly by UN Women and UNFPA. The videos were produced with the financial support of the European Union. Their contents are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

For further information, please contact Narmina Strishenets, Communication and Advocacy Analyst, UN Women Ukraine: [email protected] or +38(050) 425-79-30.

[1] National Police Statistics as of 9 months, 2020 vs 2019

[2] UNFPA, 2020

Simmering institutional tensions between the EU and the African Union resulted in the last-minute cancellation of a ‘mini-summit’ between European Union and African leaders planned for Wednesday (9 December).

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the current chair of the AU, called off the summit on Tuesday, and insiders to the talks say that the cancellation of the videoconference was the result of disagreements over the agenda and the format of the meeting.

No African heads of state aside from Ramaphosa were able to attend the summit. Neither was, from the EU side, German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

An EU official blamed “agenda issues” for the cancellation.

The meeting had been billed by the EU as “an opportunity to build further momentum towards the upcoming summit and discuss the partnership between Europe and Africa.”

However, there is frustration among African officials that the EU seems intent on driving the agenda with little consultation.

The mini-summit had been announced in October by EU Council President Charles Michel, with minimum consultation with African leaders, shortly after plans for an EU-AU summit scheduled for October were abandoned because of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and disagreements over the agenda.

The European Commission’s strategy paper published in March promised to “build a more prosperous, more peaceful and more sustainable future for all”, around five proposed partnerships on energy, digitalisation, inward investment, peace and migration. The African Union is yet to publish its own position paper on its hopes from the partnership agenda.

“The EU needs to rethink its approach to the consultation process. The cancellation reflects the need to take the African side seriously,” a senior official involved in the talks told EURACTIV.

Having started this year with hopes of agreeing a ‘strategic partnership’ between the EU and Africa by the end 2020, little progress has been made, in part because the priorities of both continents have been focused on combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

The cancellation was greeted with dismay by development NGOs.

“The AU’s last-minute cancellation of today’s EU-AU leaders meeting sends a worrying signal of their lack of confidence in the EU’s commitment to a stronger partnership,” said Brandon Locke, policy and advocacy manager at The ONE Campaign.

“The EU’s partnership with Africa needs to move past a “donor-recipient” relationship to an alliance on equal footing, where Europe recognizes Africa’s interests and vision for its own future,” added Locke, who said the EU “needs to deliver with concrete commitments to rebalance the economic partnership between the two continents”.

Negotiators from the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific community signed off on a 20-year partnership deal to succeed the Cotonou Agreement last Thursday night (3 December) after nearly three years of difficult talks.

Although the new pact includes a new regional protocol between the EU and sub-Saharan Africa, and a new tougher text on migrant re-admission and return, it left trade relations unchanged and based on the controversial economic partnership agreements, widely criticised for perpetuating unbalanced trade relations between the EU and African countries.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

Asia-Pacific markets reacted negatively to the unpromising Brexit trade deal perspective as well as to the indeterminate second US coronavirus relief bill in Thursday morning trade, according to CNBC News.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Topix were lower 0.39 percent and 0.17 percent respectively after the market opened. South Korea’s Kospi index fell 1.11 percent. Australian benchmark ASX 200 dropped 0.56 percent while its sections all finished in the red. The energy subindex was down 1.05 percent, as oil prices have declined.

Meanwhile, on Wall Street, stocks closed negatively on Wednesday evening, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading losses with a nearly 2 percent drop. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, Wall Street’s broadest stocks gauge, finished down 0.4 percent to close at 30,069, after a record high at 30,320. The S&P 500, a barometer for the top 500 US stocks on the New York Stock Exchange, slid 0.8 percent to finish at 3,673, after setting an all-time high of 3,712 earlier.

On Wednesday, British PM Boris Johnson held a further round of negotiations with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels, where both of them agreed that a firm decision should be made by Sunday about the future of the talks. At the moment, trade with Northern Ireland and the level of access to British fishing grounds given to EU vessels are the most crucial issues in talks. The UK and the European Union are supposed to come to an agreement before the Brexit transition period expires on 31 December, as Boris Johnson refused to prolong it last year.

On Capitol Hill, debates over the second financial aid continue as the coronavirus-related crisis is striking the country. Republicans and Democrats remain deadlocked over key provisions of the recently introduced $908 billion relief bill. The package has to be approved by 11 December, but Congress has requested another week to negotiate the bill, with a new deadline set for 18 December.