LONDON: The European Union on Sunday rejected an incendiary claim by Prime Minister Boris Johnson that the bloc is plotting to destabilise the UK as another week of Brexit high drama beckoned, headlined by a stormy parliamentary debate in London.

The war of words escalated over a new British government bill that London admits is in violation of its EU divorce treaty — legislation that has sparked a furious response from former prime ministers Tony Blair and John Major, as well as sitting MPs.

Johnson’s claim that the 27-nation EU is plotting to choke off food supplies via crippling new trade barriers between Britain and Northern Ireland is “spin and not the truth”, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told BBC television.

“There is no blockade proposed,” he added, calling it “inflammatory language coming from Number 10 (Downing Street)”.

Former British PMs say government’s actions are ‘embarrassing our nation’

Charles Michel, who heads the EU Council of government chiefs, said Britain’s “international credibility” is at stake as both sides battle to unwind nearly 50 years of economic integration, following a deeply divisive referendum in the UK.

EU trade negotiator Michel Barnier insisted that a Northern Irish protocol in the EU treaty “is not a threat to the integrity of the UK”, as claimed by Johnson in Saturday’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Major and Blair, who led Britain through Northern Ireland’s historic peace talks in the 1990s, wrote in the Sunday Times that the government’s actions were “shaming itself and embarrassing our nation”.

Backed by the EU, Ireland stresses the provisions for Northern Ireland were agreed by both sides to ensure fair competition after Brexit, and to comply with a 1998 peace pact that ended three decades of unrest in the province. Johnson had accused the EU of threatening to tear the UK apart by imposing a food “blockade” between Britain and Northern Ireland, which is meant to enjoy a special status with the EU after Brexit.

Johnson said the EU’s stance justified his government’s introduction of the new legislation to regulate the UK’s internal market and maintain access to Northern Ireland, after a post-Brexit transition period expires at the end of this year.

The food dispute centres on the EU’s reluctance to grant Britain “third country” status, which acknowledges that nations meet basic requirements to export their foodstuffs to Europe. The EU is worried that post-Brexit Britain could undercut its own food standards, as well as rules on state aid for companies, and infiltrate its single market via Northern Ireland.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2020

by Xinhua writer Wang Lei

Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold a virtual meeting with German and European Union (EU) leaders on Monday, a timely and critical gathering to steer the China-EU partnership toward a more stable and mature future in a world where uncertainties abound.

It is the second China-EU leaders’ meeting in three months, and the latest episode of frequent high-level exchanges between the two sides, demonstrating an earnest hope from Beijing and Brussels to boost all-round cooperation, and build a more open and prosperous world.

Cooperation between China and the EU, following the establishment of their diplomatic ties 45 years ago, continues to gain momentum with bilateral trade and mutual investment thriving and people-to-people exchanges flourishing. The two sides have also been working closely on global matters.

Humanity is struggling to cope with an unprecedented public health crisis rarely seen in a century, while the global economy is absorbing the impact of perhaps the worst economic recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Unfortunately, in an age where cooperation and solidarity are much-needed, the specter of isolationism and protectionism is rearing its ugly head.

At this drastic moment, China and the EU, which account for about a quarter of the world’s population and one third of gross global product, need to step up efforts to advance cooperation and strengthen coordination to better handle challenges in a post-pandemic era.

The most urgent task for China and the EU is to build an anti-pandemic partnership to beat the deadly virus and to steer the world economy toward recovery as soon as possible.

As governments around the world are seeking to reopen their countries, the two sides need to focus on how to step up their collective and coordinated response to facilitate cross-border movements of people and goods while doing their best to reduce the risk of new trans-border cases to a minimum. A multinational information-sharing network for both people and commercial goods is among the must-dos.

China and the EU should also give full play to their respective advantages and work even closer to fast-track the development, production and distribution of effective treatments and vaccines, and make sure those live-saving tools are accessible and affordable.

In the field of the economy and trade, the cornerstone of China-EU relations, Beijing and Brussels share a promising future. In 2019, the two-way trade reached roughly 710 billion U.S. dollars, growing at 8 percent year on year. Germany, the EU’s rotating presidency in the second half of 2020, has long been China’s largest trading partner in Europe.

Despite the pandemic, economic and trade cooperation between the two sides remain robust in 2020. In the first eight months, a total of 7,601 China-Europe freight train trips were made, up by 44 percent over the same period in 2019.

Looking into the future, it is also important for the two sides to make the pie of their shared interests bigger. Thus China and the EU must join their efforts in the investment treaty negotiations and search for solutions to remaining issues so as to ensure a timely conclusion of a comprehensive deal. On this basis, a joint feasibility study for a China-EU free trade agreement could be put on the table.

Furthermore, the two sides should work together to crack open new areas for cooperation, as Xi proposed at the 22nd China-EU leaders’ meeting in June, to forge a green and digital partnership between China and the EU by fostering cooperation in clean energy, sustainable finance, e-commerce and cloud computing.

The latest bit of good news for EU investors came at the China International Fair for Trade in Services earlier this month, when Beijing announced more practical steps to further open its market, including developing a negative-list system to better manage cross-border services trade, further easing market access for the services sector, and expanding imports of quality services.

In the international arena, China and the EU are playing a major role in maintaining world peace and stability, and improving global governance, including jointly fending off unilateralism and protectionism, supporting the guiding roles of the United Nations and the World Health Organization, and tackling the world’s most pressing issues such as the raging pandemic, terrorism and climate change.

To do that, communication and coordination is indispensable. China and the EU need to build a bridge of mutual understanding to overcome their social and political differences and reject xenophobia.

The 45-year-old China-EU relationship shows that the two sides share far more in common than their differences would suggest. It is believed that China and the EU can further their own interests by respecting one another’s legitimate and core concerns.

As the pandemic continues to rage and the global economic crisis remains far from over, the world is crying for more contributions by China and the EU. Together, they should fight tooth and nail for the common future of all. Enditem

Former UK Parliamentary speaker John Bercow has made more than £500,000 in fees for public speeches and pundit appearances.

Bercow’s company Fedhead Ltd made £547,664 in its first year, although it owes £157,647 in tax and social security payments, the Daily Mail reported

The controversial former speaker, known for his booming voice and allegations of bullying his staff – which he denies – owns 76 per cent of the firm with the rest in the hands of his wife Sally. 

Bercow reportedly earned over £60,000 for his one-night-stand as an election pundit for Sky News in December 2019.

He has also joined elite agency JLA Speaker Bureau, whose clients including former Labour Party spokesman Alastair Campbell and ex-government minister Ed Balls earn up to £25,000 per speech.

“After stepping down from Westminster John shares his insights on the future of our politics and the lessons learned about driving change,” reads Bercow’s blurb on the Fedhead website. “He is also a seasoned raconteur with countless stories from the corridors of power and an eye out for anyone ‘chuntering from a sedentary position’.”

In 2019 Bercow disregarded the century-old Erskine May rules of Parliamentary procedure to allow a series of indicative votes with multiple options. They were part of unsuccessful moves by opposition parties and Tory rebels to prevent Britain leaving the European Union (EU) in line with the 2016 referendum vote.

He stepped down as speaker in October 2019 as the Westminster wrangling to break the deadlock reached its endgame, with Tory Brexiteers openly accusing him of undermining the impartiality of the ‘Woolsack’ or speaker’s chair.

The following month he told a Foreign Press Association event in London: “I think that Brexit is the biggest foreign policy mistake in the post-war period,” after declaring “I don’t have to remain impartial now.”

Bercow was notably denied the seat in the House of Lords normally awarded to retired speakers by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, despite Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn nominating the former Conservative MP.

EU leaders will talk to Chinese President Xi Jinping seeking trade and investment Monday, despite tensions over Hong Kong’s freedoms and Beijing’s treatment of its Uighur minority.

Chinese officials, EU chiefs Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will hold a video-conference to replace a full summit with all 27 EU leaders cancelled because of coronavirus.

China says an investment deal — already seven years in the making — can be agreed this year, but EU officials warn obstacles remain and insist they will not swallow unfavourable terms simply to cut a deal.

“Even if there is a political objective to accelerate negotiations and conclude them by the end of the year, we will have this only if it is something worth having,” an EU official said.

Brussels says “significant progress” has been made in talks since a similar video summit in June, and officials hope to agree a roadmap to a deal by the end of the year — they also want Beijing to improve market access for European companies.

“The EU must define its own interests, and must be strong and independent of both China and the United States,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told the German weekly Welt am Sonntag.

Brussels wants to reinforce respect for intellectual property, to end obligations to transfer technology and to reduce subsidies for Chinese public enterprises.

• China-US tensions –

No major breakthrough is expected on Monday but the EU side hopes to persuade Xi to give fresh political impetus to the talks — and to allow his negotiators more room to compromise.

The meeting comes as ties between China and the US deteriorate, with both sides locked in fierce recriminations over trade disputes, human rights and the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

Washington and Beijing have imposed curbs on each other’s diplomats, after another tit-for-tat move in July when the two governments ordered the closure of consulates in Houston and Chengdu.

Both sides have sought to enlist the EU in their spat and, during a visit to Brussels by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in June, EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell mooted talks to forge a common transatlantic front against China.

But little progress has been made on this initiative and broadly Brussels has preferred a middle path, treating Beijing as both a potential partner and a “systemic rival”.

“The EU stands firm on its interests and values but also wants to cooperate with China,” a senior EU official said.

• Hong Kong –

The EU will press Xi on Hong Kong, where Beijing has imposed a controversial new security law — a move denounced by the West as an assault on the city’s freedoms.

After the June summit, von der Leyen warned China would face “very negative consequences” if it pressed ahead with the law and the EU would limit exports to Hong Kong of equipment that could be used for surveillance and repression.

European concerns about Beijing’s rights record are growing. During a visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Berlin earlier this month, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called China out over Hong Kong and its treatment of minority Uighurs.

But the European Union is far from united on how to deal with China, with some member states urging a tougher stance on rights and the environment, and others wanting to boost trade.

But China as its own concerns.

China announced Saturday it was banning imports of pork products from Germany after the European country confirmed its first case of African swine fever.

Germany is Europe‘s biggest pork producer and recently saw a surge in demand from China after it suffered an outbreak of the same disease.

Meanwhile, Beijing has used its mammoth “Belt and Road” infrastructure scheme to effectively pick off investment-hungry EU member states such as Greece, Portugal and Italy.

LONDON. — Former prime ministers Tony Blair and John Major said yesterday Britain must drop a “shocking” plan to pass legislation that breaks its divorce treaty with the European Union, in a breach of international law.

The British government said explicitly last week that it plans to break international law by breaching parts of the Withdrawal Agreement treaty that it signed in January, when it formally left the EU.

“What is being proposed now is shocking,” Major and Blair, who were adversaries in the 1990s as Conservative and Labour leaders, wrote in a joint letter published by The Sunday Times.

“How can it be compatible with the codes of conduct that bind ministers, law officers and civil servants deliberately to break treaty obligations?”

Theresa May, the predecessor of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has also questioned whether international partners would be able to trust Britain in future.

Johnson’s Internal Market Bill is aimed at ensuring Britain’s four constituent nations can trade freely with one another after leaving the EU, but the government says that requires overriding part of the withdrawal treaty it signed with Brussels.

British ministers say the bill is a “safety net” in the event there is no trade deal reached with the bloc, but top EU officials say it undermines both the withdrawal treaty and trust in future talks.

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said yesterday that the Withdrawal Agreement on Northern Ireland “is not a threat to the integrity of the UK”, and had been agreed by the two sides to protect peace on the island of Ireland.

“We could not have been clearer about the consequences of Brexit,” Barnier said on Twitter.

His British counterpart David Frost responded by saying London had to reserve powers in the new bill in order to keep the peace in Ireland.

Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour Party, described the legislation as wrong yesterday.

“We have broken the trust of our international partners,” Starmer wrote in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper, adding that his party would oppose the bill in parliament unless changes were made.

European lawmakers have warned they would not approve any new trade deal unless the withdrawal agreement was fully implemented, while there is also talk of possible legal action.

“The reputation of the UK . . . as a trusted negotiating partner on important issues like this is being damaged in a very serious way,” Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney told the BBC yesterday.

Greece’s Prime Minister is demanding the European Union take greater responsibility for managing migration, as authorities scramble to find new accommodation for 12,000 people left homeless after fire gutted an overcrowded camp.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis blamed some residents at the Moria camp on the island of Lesbos for trying to blackmail his Government by deliberately setting the fires that destroyed the camp last week.

But he said this could be an opportunity to improve how the EU handles a key challenge.

“It [the burning of Moria] was a tragedy. These images were bad,” Mr Mitsotakis said.

“It was a warning bell to all to become sensitised. Europe cannot afford a second failure on the migration issue.”

Human rights activists have criticised the squalor at the Moria refugee camp, which was built to house 2,750 but became overcrowded with around 12,500 refugees and asylum-seekers who fled across the sea from Turkey.

Since the fires, which came after the camp faced a coronavirus lockdown, thousands of people have camped outside and on highways near Moria, under police guard.

Voluntary relocation to new camp in coming days

Many have protested the Greek Government for refusing to allow the homeless migrants to leave Lesbos for the mainland.

Residents are also unhappy their island is being used as a dumping ground for migrants.

Mr Mitsotakis said he has spoken to French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel over the reallocation of at least some migrants from Moria, but he said there will be a new, permanent refugee camp on Lesbos.

The Greek army has been setting up tents at a former artillery range, about four kilometres from the old camp.

Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis said an estimated 1,000 Moria residents would be relocated to the new tent city.

“At the moment, it’s happening on a voluntary basis,” Mr Mitarakis said.

Mr Mitarakis said those entering the new camp would undergo rapid testing for coronavirus, and that five new cases have been found so far.

At the Vatican, Pope Francis expressed solidarity with the migrants on Lesbos and called for a dignified welcome for them.

The Pope visited the Moria camp in 2016, and took 12 Syrian refugees with him when he returned to Rome.

ABC/AP