Thursday, 28 November 2019

Donald Tusk: ‘Good riddance’ outgoing EU Council President unveils bizarre video

DONALD TUSK has unveiled a bizarre video of him running in Brussels as he departs from his role has as the President of the European Council and hands over to Charles Michel.
By CLAIRE ANDERSON
Donald Tusk
Donald Tusk has been President of the EU Council since 2014 (Image: Twitter Donald Tusk)

Donald Tusk has been President of the EU Council since 2014. He played an important part in the Brexit negotiations with Prime Ministers Theresa May and Boris Johnson. Twitter users gave mixed responses to his video as one said: “What on Earth did I just watch?" Another wrote "good riddance" while others wished luck for the future.
In the video, it said: “These five years have passed so fast.
“Running 48 EU leaders’ meetings.
“Taking the pulse of Europe.
“Racing for Europe’s place in the world
“A sprint to save the planet, time to say goodbye.
“It was quite a run!”
The video comes just weeks after Mr Tusk was accused of meddling in British politics after urging Remainers to continue fighting to reverse Brexit.
He had previously told those hoping to reverse the 2016 referendum not to give up their fight during the general election campaign.
He praised them for taking Brexit into “extra time” and suggested “penalties” could soon follow to finally deliver a killer blow to Britain’s EU departure.
Speaking at the College of Europe in Brugge, Mr Tusk said: “The UK election takes place in one month. Can things still be turned around?
Referencing a German philosopher, he added: “Hannah Arendt taught that things become irreversible only when people start to think so.
“So the only words that come to my mind today are simply: Don’t give up. In this match, we are already in extra time, perhaps it will even go to penalties?”
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Donald Tusk
Former Brexit secretary David Davis warned the eurocrat to keep his nose out of domestic politics, urging him to learn lessons from the past.
Writing on Twitter, Mr Davis said: "Donald Tusk is unwise to ignore the convention of staying out of internal politics of member states.
"Foreign leaders should stay out of our democratic decisions, whether they are Obama, Trump or Tusk."
Former President Barack Obama sparked fury during the 2016 referendum campaign for claiming Britain would be at the "back of the queue" for a trade deal with US if voters backed Brexit.


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https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1210635/brexit-news-donald-tusk-eu-council-charles-michel-brexit-latest-update
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Boris Johnson says David Cameron government's austerity was a mistake

Boris Johnson has lashed the Cameron government for six years of austerity, saying the policy direction was a mistake.

 Thursday 28 November 2019 1:26 pm


https://www.cityam.com/boris-johnson-says-david-cameron-governments-austerity-was-a-mistake/

BRITAIN-POLITICS-EU-BREXIT-VOTE-CONSERVATIVE
Britain's Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader, Boris Johnson visits Chulmleigh College while campaigning for the general election in Chulmleigh, Devon, southwest England, on November 28, 2019. - Britain will go to the polls on December 12, 2019 to vote in a pre-Christmas general election. (Photo by Dan Kitwood / POOL / AFP) (Photo by DAN KITWOOD/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

The Prime Minister hit out at the keystone economic policy of the Cameron years, comparing it to post-war food-rationing by then-Labour chancellor Stafford Cripps.

Read more: Boris Johnson apologises to Muslim community

He told The Spectator: “I remember having conversations with colleagues in the government that came in in 2010 saying I thought austerity was just not the right way forward for the UK.

“I’ve always thought, ‘why use the language of Stafford Cripps?’”

The Prime Minister’s rebuke of austerity appears to be an attempt to distance himself from the legacy of the Cameron government.

The controversial policy – enacted through public spending cuts – has been blamed by some for increasing inner-city violence and homelessness, while also being blamed for worsening NHS outcomes.

Johnson, meanwhile, is campaigning on a less conservative fiscal policy platform and has touted his commitment to public services by promising to hire 20,000 new police officers and spend £34bn on the NHS.

Labour’s employment rights spokesperson, and Jeremy Corbyn ally, Laura Pidcock said the Prime Minister’s denunciation of austerity was “an outright lie”.

“We know that Boris Johnson thinks that single mothers should be subjected to ‘destitution on a Victorian scale’,” she said.

“The idea he was against vicious cuts that he previously demanded is an insult to people’s intelligence.”

Johnson, when he was mayor of London, had a public row with Cameron over cuts to police spending.

He criticised Cameron’s government for cutting spending in the wake of the 2011 London riots.

Read more: Boris Johnson promises ‘sensible’ spending increases at manifesto launch

“If you ask me whether I think there is a case for cutting police budgets in the light of these events, then my answer to that would be ‘no’,” he said.

“I think that case was always pretty frail, and it has been substantially weakened.”
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Wednesday, 27 November 2019

Boris Johnson apologises to Muslim community

Boris Johnson has apologised to the Muslim community for instances of Islamophobia within the Tory party.

Wednesday 27 November 2019 5:12 pm
https://www.cityam.com/boris-johnson-apologises-to-muslim-community/

Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson has apologised for instances of Islamophobia in his party (via Getty Images)

Johnson has previously been criticised for comparing women wearing niqabs as looking like letter boxes and bank robbers, and the party has said it would soon launch an inquiry into discrimination of all kinds within the party.

Read more: Jeremy Corbyn refuses to apologise to chief rabbi

The Prime Minister was asked in Cornwall this morning if he would apologise for examples of anti-Muslim sentiment in his party.

“Of course, and for all the hurt and offence that has been caused – of course we do,” he said.

“And all that is intolerable and it’s so important as a country that we don’t allow that kind of thing and that’s why we’re going to have the independent inquiry.”

The statement is just one day after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn refused to apologise for instances of antisemitism within his party.

On Monday, the UK’s chief rabbi said Corbyn was “complicit in prejudice” against Jews and unfit to be prime minister.

Corbyn once again refused to apologise to the Jewish community or the chief rabbi at a press conference this morning.

After being asked if he would like to apologise to the Jewish community, Corbyn said: “I’ve made clear antisemitism is a complete poison in our society.

“I acknowledge what the chief rabbi said yesterday, but I’ll also point out there’s very large amount of other people in the Jewish community who have made it very clear they do support Labour.

“That they do recognise my absolute commitment that every community in our country will be safe in a Labour government.”

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is currently investigating whether Labour is institutionally antisemitic.

A group of 11 Labour MPs also left the party earlier this year partly due to the party’s handling of antisemitism allegations.

UK chief rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said claims by the Labour leadership that they would “tackle the scourge of anti-Jewish racism” were a “mendacious fiction”.

Writing in the Times, he said: “How complicit in prejudice would a leader of Her Majesty’s opposition have to be in order to be considered unfit for high office?

Read more: Tom Watson and Sadiq Khan decry Labour ‘antisemitism’ after Panorama probe

“Would associations with those who have openly incited hatred against Jews be enough?

“Would support for a racist mural, depicting powerful hook-nosed Jews supposedly getting rich at the expense of the weak and downtrodden be enough?”

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Brexit to SHATTER Franco-German alliance as sparks fly between Merkel and Macron

27 Nov 2019

BREXIT will cause a break in relations between France and Germany due to the buffer role the UK played between the two "remaining heavyweights" of the European Union, Brexit Party MEP Robert Howland claimed.

By AURORA BOSOTTI
Germany and France are considered to be the two most influential members of the European Union and are the top two economies of the Eurozone. is expected to cause a shift in relations within the bloc due to the end of economic contributions to the common budget, a change  MEP Robert Rowland claims will cause sparks to fly between Paris and Berlin. Addressing colleagues in the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday, Mr Howland said: "Now that the UK is definitely leaving you on January 31 and ending our €17billion contribution to the EU budget, I suppose it was entirely predictable that sparks would fly and acrimony begin between the two remaining heavyweights of the EU.

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"It appears that Franco-German relations have hit a new low point – we’ve recently witnessed the unedifying display of little Napoleon himself, , as he parades his global ambitions by humiliating Nato and now it seems Angela Merkel.
"Ironically the Germans are really going to miss us – Great Britain has historically acted as a buffer between those two old adversaries and a deterrent to France’s imperial tendencies."
French President Emmanuel Macron last month launched an unprecedented attack on Nato, claiming the defence organisation was "brain dead" and causing an exchange with Chancellor  over their "different policy approaches" on Nato.
Mr Rowland continued: "When the German Chancellor uses an English metaphor of ‘gluing the teacups back together again’ after Macron has broken them, you know it has gotten bad.
Brexit news - Brexit Party Robert Rowland
Brexit news: Brexit Party's Robert Rowland claimed Franco-German relations have hit a "new low" (Image: EPTV)
"The EU budget is essentially an exercise in Franco-German game theory. Even though contributions are small, the aggregate of €170billion is big enough to achieve overtly political goals.
"That is why we never see any reform to the , which absorbs one-third of the EU budget and acts as the world's biggest subsidy scheme to French farmers. But Macron wants more, he’s an avaricious little chappy.
"German will now see its contributions double one the next MFF whereas France barely pays a euro more net. Watching this dispute this conflict resolved will be a welcome respite from this Brexit fatigue."
Mr Macron and Chancellor Merkel themselves signalled the EU will be going through a period of change following Brexit as they presented a blueprint for much-needed democratic overhaul.
Brexit news - Germany
Brexit news: Germany is expected to increase its budget contributions once the UK quits (Image: GETTY)
The pair have proposed a “Conference on the Future of Europe” to “address all issues at stake” once the UK has left the bloc.
Initial talks among member states are expected to focus on “EU democratic functioning” and the process of selection for future leaders after an institutional row over the selection of ’s appointment as the next President of the European Commission.
The plan promises a “bottom-up process” allowing EU taxpayers to finally vent their frustrations and help shape the Brussels project’s future.
The Franco-German non-paper says: “As proposed by the new European Commission, the process should follow two phases, on the basis of on inter-institutional mandate to be agreed in January 2020.
Brexit news - Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel
Brexit news: Macron and Merkel proposed to hold a conference of the future of the EU (Image: GETTY)

 “The mandate / institutional setting could be simplified for phase 1, to ensure an early start.
“Phase one would start as early as February 2020, until the summer of 2020, and focus on issues related to EU democratic functioning.”
Germany would become the conference’s first arbiter in the second phase when the country takes over the bloc’s rotating presidency in July next year.
And France would be its final overseer just two years later when Paris holds the same role.
The paper added: “Phase 2 focusing on policy priorities should be launched in mid-2020 and be closed in early 2022.
“The involvement of all EU Member states and midterm reviews would ensure ownership and structure the process. The end goal for Paris and Berlin is to make the EU “more united and sovereign”.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1209811/Brexit-news-UK-common-EU-budget-Germany-France-Angela-Merkel-Emmanuel-Macron-latest

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Brexit to SHATTER Franco-German alliance as sparks fly between Merkel and Macron

Nov 27, 2019  BREXIT will cause a break in relations between France and Germany due to the buffer role the UK played between the two "remaining heavyweights" of the European Union, Brexit Party MEP Robert Howland claimed.

By AURORA BOSOTTI
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