Britain-EU relations: Europe's trust in Britain has gone. We're now a problem, not a partner - by Raphael Behr

The pandemic is landing well-aimed punches on the already bruised relationship between Britain and the European Union. A dispute over vaccine supplies threatens to bring blunt instruments of trade war down on delicate national feelings. Not in the darkest hours of Brexit negotiations did either side imagine that supply-chain management would so quickly become a matter of life and death.

At a summit later this week, European leaders will discuss a possible ban on exports to the UK from an AstraZeneca plant in the Netherlands. There is frustration in Brussels that millions of vaccine doses have gone overseas (mostly Pfizer ones) and none have come over in return. The UK responds that it cannot be blamed for moving earlier, signing better contracts and generally getting its immunising act together faster.

Tory MPs say Brussels is lashing out in jealousy. Vaccination is something Boris Johnson’s government is doing well, and the EU is floundering. That has less to do with Brexit than is claimed by triumphant ministers, but as propaganda the point is irresistible: there is nothing else to trumpet as a benefit of detachment from the continent, and winning the vaccination race resonates with voters grateful for jabs.

Read more at: Europe's trust in Britain has gone. We're now a problem, not a partner | Brexit | The Guardian

The Netherlands: Brexit: Amsterdam surpasses London as Europe’s leading share trading hub - by Ben Chapman

Amsterdam has surpassed London as Europe’s leading share trading hub in the wake of Brexit.

An average €9.2bn shares a day were traded on Euronext Amsterdam and the Dutch arms of CBOE Europe and Turquoise in January, according to data from CBOE Europe first reported by the Financial Times.

EU-based financial firms are banned from trading in London because the EU has not recognised UK regulations on exchanges as equivalent to its own.

Read more at: Brexit: Amsterdam surpasses London as Europe’s leading share trading hub | The Independent

Britain an "Island" again: How U.K.'s Separation From EU Will Affect The Country

New Year's Eve - the ball drops, the champagne corks pop and the United Kingdom finally officially finishes its divorce from the world's largest trading bloc, the European Union. Brexit has huge consequences for business, travelers and regular people who built lives based on a Europe that spanned the English Channel. This is a big gamble for the U.K., one that started more than four years ago when one of the biggest cheerleaders for Brexit was a former London mayor named Boris Johnson.

Johnson and his fellow Brexiteers had no real plan for how to actually untangle decades of economic and legal integration with Europe. And so a country known for effective, sometimes dull governance was plunged into years of political chaos that cost two prime ministers their jobs; first, David Cameron, the man who called the referendum, even as he urged Brits to vote against it.

From the perspective of a political scientist, you could not have hoped to live through a more interesting time to study the politics of your country. The other thing for me that is fascinating, though, is that many - for many people who supported Brexit, leaving the European Union wasn't an end in itself. It was a means to an end. That is to say if we leave the European Union, then we can, dot, dot, dot. You fill in that blank as you want - become a more activist international player, deregulating the way the European Union would never let us. So actually, the real test of Brexit in many ways is yet to come, which is now you've got that freedom. What the hell are you going to do with it? And how are you going to make people's lives better because of it, despite the fact that you're in charge of an economy that is growing less fast than it would have done had we not left in the first place?

Read more at: How U.K.'s Separation From EU Will Affect The Country : NPR

EU-Britain Relations: Brexit: EU, UK finally clinch ′historic′ trade deal

The United Kingdom and the European Union have agreed to a post-Brexit free trade deal, sealing the UK's exit from the bloc, the UK government and EU announced on Thursday.

EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said at a press conference on Thursday that: "It was a long and winding road, but we have a good deal to show for it."

The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted an image of himself in front of a British flag with his thumbs up. The picture was accompanied by the text: "The deal is done."

Read more at: Brexit: EU, UK finally clinch ′historic′ trade deal | News | DW | 24.12.2020

Brexit Stalemate: Britain, EU tell each other to give way in 'difficult' trade talks

Negotiations are expected to continue on Monday, beyond a Sunday deadline set by the European Parliament, and a senior British government source described them as “difficult” because of the “significant differences” in position.

With less than two weeks before Britain leaves the EU’s orbit, both sides are calling on the other to move to secure a deal and safeguard annual trade in goods from tariffs and quotas. But so far, neither has budged far enough for a breakthrough.

Read more at Britain, EU tell each other to give way in 'difficult' trade talks | Reuters

Brexit negotiations: EU leaders close ranks as no-deal talk mounts - by Katya Adler

Normally after big summits like the one we've just had in Brussels, leaders make media statements about their most pressing discussions.

Europe's leaders are keen to clarify they won't personally intervene in the current impasse in trade talks. There'll be no last-minute handshake or "a-ha" moment in Paris, Warsaw or Berlin.

Read more at: Brexit: EU leaders close ranks as no-deal talk mounts - BBC News

BREXIT: Talk of a 'no deal' Brexit grows as deadline looms - by: Elizabeth Piper, Padraic Halpin

Talk of a chaotic British split from the European Union grew on Tuesday with just three weeks left to break a deadlock in trade deal negotiations, with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson warning that the two sides may have to accept “no deal”.

Read more at: Talk of a 'no deal' Brexit grows as deadline looms | Reuters

USA: Joe Biden warning dashes UK hopes of early US trade deal

Britain’s hopes of securing an early trade deal with the US have been dashed by a warning from Joe Biden, the president-elect, that America will not sign a trade deal with anyone until the US has sorted out its competitiveness.

Read more at:Joe Biden warning dashes UK hopes of early US trade deal | Trade policy | The Guardian

Germany: Angela Merkel: No-deal Brexit would send a bad signal to the world

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that it would send a bad signal to the world if a Brexit trade deal could not be reached, as an EU negotiating team stayed in London for additional talks.

With just one month remaining for the European Union and the UK to come to an agreement, Merkel told a virtual gathering of parliamentarians from across the continent: "Britain and the EU share common values. If we failed to reach a deal, it would not send a good signal."

Read more at: Angela Merkel: No-deal Brexit would send a bad signal to the world | News | DW | 30.11.2020

UK economy to suffer 'largest fall in output for 300 years' as GDP down 11.3% in 2020, says Sunak

Debt would be 91.9% of GDP this year, rising to 97.5% in 2025-26, he said. In comparison, government debt in the eurozone stood at 95.1% of GDP in the second quarter of 2020, according to Eurostat, the EU statistics agency.

The OBR said that if the UK trades with the EU under World Trade Organization (WTO) terms, as would happen should no trade deal be reached by the end of the transition period on December 31, the effect would "reduce real GDP by a further 2% in 2021". Bottom line, the economic picture for Britain looks quite bleak.

UK economy to suffer 'largest fall in output for 300 years' as GDP down 11.3% in 2020, says Sunak | Euronews

Brexit negotiations: Britain snubs EU deadline over bill breaking Brexit deal

To date, the EU has received no reply from the UK,” spokesman Daniel Ferrie told journalists, three days after a deadline for London to reply to Brussels had passed.

“We are therefore considering the next steps, including issuing a reasoned opinion,” the next stage in the EU’s legal action launched against Britain a month ago, Ferrie said.

Read more at: Britain snubs EU deadline over bill breaking Brexit deal

EU-Britain Relations: How a ‘Global Britain’ Could Cope With the Brexit Consequences - by Ben Judah, Georgina Wright

Over the past four years, as the United Kingdom has wrestled with the consequences of its narrow vote to leave the European Union, there has been little to no broader foreign policy debate in the country. Instead, Britons seem to have become caught between three temperaments. There are the catastrophists, who argue the U.K. has become completely irrelevant on the international stage as a result of Brexit; the nostalgics, who see a powerful Britain through the lens of a great colonial power; and the denialists, who refuse to accept that Britain must adapt to a changing global context. All are characterized by a surfeit of emotion and deficit of strategy⎯and none have answers to the key questions their government must now answer.

Read more at: How a ‘Global Britain’ Could Cope With the Brexit Consequences

EU-Britain Negotiations-Stalemate: No more trade talks unless EU changes position, Johnson says

There will be no more trade talks with the European Union unless the bloc fundamentally changes its stance on the discussions, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told his Greek counterpart in a call on Tuesday.

Read more at: No more trade talks unless EU changes position, Johnson says | Reuters

Britain: Brexit poll: Brits say leaving EU without a trade deal would be bad - by Adam Payne

• Nearly two-thirds of Brits believe leaving the Brexit transition period without a trade deal with the EU would be a "bad" outcome for the UK, a new poll has found.
• The survey shared exclusively with Business Insider, found strong opposition to a no-deal outcome in every part of the UK.
• The highest level of opposition was in Scotland, where polls suggest growing support for independence.
• Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently described no deal as a "good outcome" and last weekend said the UK would "prosper mightily" in the event of widespread disruption.

 Read more at: 
Brexit poll: Brits say leaving EU without a trade deal would be bad - Business Insider

EU-Britain-Brexit: Trade negotiators meet, as deadline looms

Downing Street said the meeting with Lord Frost - held with less than a week to go until the UK's deadline for agreeing a deal - had been "useful".
But differences remained on important issues, a spokesperson added.

A No 10 spokesman confirmed that informal discussions would resume in Brussels next week.

"We have had useful discussions this week," the spokesman said.

"Progress has been made in some areas, however there still remains differences on some important issues but we remain committed to trying to agree a FTA (free trade agreement).

"We continue to want an agreement, we continue to want an FTA but it is important that we can agree on some issues."

The talks came after European Council President Charles Michel said the sides were approaching "the moment of truth".

The UK's post-Brexit transition period, during which its trading relationship with the EU has remained the same, is due to end in December.

Read mor at: 
Brexit: Trade negotiators meet, as deadline looms - BBC News

Brexit negotiations between EU and Britain: EU′s Charles Michel lashes out at UK over withdrawal treaty

European Council President Charles Michel took a thinly veiled swipe at
the United Kingdom on Friday over its threats to renege on parts of the
EU withdrawal treaty it signed in January.


Read more: 
Brexit: EU′s Charles Michel lashes out at UK over withdrawal treaty | News | DW | 25.09.2020

European Stock Markets: European stocks rise after Wall Street sell-off

European share markets moved firmly higher on Monday, shrugging off the heavy falls in the US at the end of last week as investors turned to defensive stocks like healthcare, utility and energy companies.

Sterling fell sharply against the euro, shedding 0.8 per cent to €1.1137, as fears mounted that a trade agreement between the UK and the EU will be scuppered if Boris Johnson’s government goes through with plans to override elements of the withdrawal agreement. The pound fell by a similar degree against the dollar to $1.3157.

Read more at: 
European stocks rise after Wall Street sell-off | Financial Times

EU - BREXIT: Does the coronavirus crisis make a no-deal Brexit more likely?

On June 23, four years will have passed since the momentous Brexit vote. For more than three of those years, a "no-deal Brexit" perpetually loomed as a distinct and disastrous possibility.

The sting was seemingly taken out of that doomsday scenario last October when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar struck a deal of sorts on arrangements regarding the British border on the island of Ireland.

That paved the way to the Withdrawal Agreement and on January 31, the UK finally left the European Union.

A one-year transition period up until December 31 meant that 2020 was to be the year in which the truly hard yards were finally walked. The EU and the UK would thrash out the bones of their future relationship and edge towards some kind of normality.

Read more at:
Does the coronavirus crisis make a no-deal Brexit more likely? | Business| Economy and finance news from a German perspective | DW | 04.06.2020

Brexit: EU-UK talks: 'disappointing' progress, says Barnier

COVID-19, with both chief negotiator Michel Barnier and the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson being personally affected.

In the meantime, a June deadline for significant progress is looming, and key arguments remain unresolved. Questions remain over fishing rights, how closely the UK will stick to EU regulations and allowing a role for the EU's top court, the European Court of Justice.

More bumps in the road came this week, as the EU Commission opened infringement proceedings against the UK for failing to comply with free movement rules. While the UK said the EU was at risk of breaching the terms of the Brexit agreement over British expats registering to stay in the EU.

Read more at:
EU-UK talks: 'disappointing' progress, says Barnier | Euronews

EU or non-EU? Which passport queue should Brits use after Brexit?

Brexit might have become reality, but Brits shouldn't experience any changes to travel within the EU until the end of the year. Although don't be surprised if officials, perhaps unwittingly try to usher you into the wrong passport queue.

At midnight on January 31st, the UK entered the so-called "transition period", during which negotiations on post-Brexit deals are set to take place.

Read more at;
https://feeds.thelocal.com/app/android/article.php?e=which-passport-queues-should-brits-use-now-that-brexit-has-happened