The Austrian Vice-Chancellor, Werner Kogler, insists to reject the EU-ercosur Agreement in a letter to Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa. The Austrian government calls to reject the EU Mercosur Agreement because it is in contradiction with the objectives of the Green Deal and the Paris Agreement. The Portuguese EU Presidency had announced that it would…
The EU and the U.S. have agreed to suspend all retaliatory tariffs on EU and U.S. exports imposed in the Airbus and Boeing disputes for a four-month period. The suspension allows both sides to focus on resolving this long-running dispute. It provides an important boost to EU exporters, since the U.S. had been authorised to…
A new initiative has been launched to help tackle some of the many issues raised by Brexit. The UK has now finally left the EU but problems have already emerged, just weeks after the much-vaunted trade and security agreement was thrashed out between the EU and UK on Christmas Eve. One such problem has been…
The British Meat Processors Association is receiving a growing number of calls from meat companies highlighting the plethora of problems they’ve been experiencing at the borders; problems which are now causing a serious and sustained loss of trade with our biggest export partner. Alongside seafood, fresh meat is one of the most time critical perishable products. Every…
After their Christmas recess, the International Trade Committee of the European Parliament is now due to comment on the trade agreement between the EU and the UK, in preparation for the Parliament’s vote in March on granting consent to the agreement. In the meanwhile less than two weeks into implementation of the agreement, EU-UK trade…
The UK-EU trade deal prioritises sovereignty over economics. Politicians will soon be talking about how to improve the deal. Very little about the UK’s long-term relationship with the EU has been settled, writes Charles Grant. One particular comment that I heard during the Brexit negotiations has lodged in my memory. In September 2020, a senior…
On Monday 28 December, the leaders of the political groups in the European Parliament and President David Sassoli exchanged views with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier on the deal reached on 24 December on the future relationship between the EU and the UK. The Conference of Presidents reiterated…
On 24 December 2020, the UK and EU agreed a new Trade and Cooperation Agreement to govern the future trading and security relationship now that the UK has left the EU. President Ursula von der Leyen spoke about the “long and winding road ” that led to an agreement. However, it is also clear that there is much…
The European Parliament has approved urgent contingency measures to avoid No Deal Brexit chaos on 1st January 2021. Ciarán Cuffe, Green MEP for Dublin has been working on these measures as part of his role as coordinator for the Greens in the European Parliament’s transport committee. Such contingency measures provide common rules for six months to…
European Parliament group leaders, agreed in the Conference of Presidents of the Parliament to push ahead with a vote on a potential Brexit deal before the end of the year. The Greens/EFA group express concern that expediting the consent procedure will not allow adequate time for proper democratic scrutiny of any potential deal with the…
