
Brexit realities dawn in UK
Just over a year after a small majority voted for Britain to leave the EU, new realities are dawning on both the in and the out camps.
Friday
25th Aug 2017

Just over a year after a small majority voted for Britain to leave the EU, new realities are dawning on both the in and the out camps.

Leo Varadkar is meeting Northern Ireland's main political leaders to talk Brexit, as the border issue between Northern Ireland and the Republic might become hostage to wider political struggles.

From strengthening the internal market to completing the energy union, the prime ministers of Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland set out their vision for the EU.
If we continue with the failed approach of the last two years then this could become a systemic crisis that threatens the EU itself, writes Gianni Pittella.
While her finance minister is pushing for a soft Brexit with a simple transitional deal in place, the British PM insists on hard Brexit with free movement of people ending in March 2019.
Mariano Rajoy takes on a reform of the Catalan parliament that would facilitate a vote to declare the region's independence.

Opening the German election campaign, Merkel has refused to link distribution of refugees in Europe with the EU budget.

Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy has said he is ready call an extraordinary cabinet meeting if Catalonia's authorities table a bill to organise the vote on 1 October.

European Council head and former Polish leader Donald Tusk has said the Polish government is preparing to put his native country’s EU membership into question.

The Polish government is preparing to claim World War II reparations from Germany, opening a new front in its clash with the EU establishment.
France nationalised a shipbuilding company to prevent an Italian takeover, just days after Rome had criticised a meeting between French and Libyan leaders in Paris.
The Labour leader has put his Brexit cards on the table again but it stands to divide the party, which still has a strong pro-EU following.
Fico convinced the EU commission chief to take action in the perceived problem of discriminatory food practices, even though the evidence for the phenomenon is anecdotal.
"Arrogance … blackmail … Brezhnevism ... playing God" - Polish government hits back at EU ultimatum on judicial reform.
If you were to judge events purely on the US media's headlines, you would be forgiven for wondering if the Polish government had anything to do with its recent controversial judicial reforms.
The EU executive expects Warsaw to halt the judiciary reform and address concerns over the rule of law, and not to force out supreme court judges, or else the sanctions procedure will start.
Top EU jurist says he disagrees with Hungary and Slovakia's view that the decision was against the law.
The EU executive is likely to issue a new set of rule of law recommendations to Poland and start legal probes once the controversial pieces of legislation have been published.
Some eastern EU member states worry they are being sold inferior food. The Slovak prime minister will speak to commission chief Juncker about it.

Andrzej Duda's veto on two controversial justice reforms reveals cracks in the ruling PiS party, but it could still be bypassed.

Andrzej Duda decided to veto two of the controversial draft laws, which would put the judiciary under political control, but the EU executive is awaiting details before deciding on whether to launch legal probes on Wednesday.
Originally, a transitional deal to soften the UK's exit from the EU was seen as a no-go on the British side, but now it is seeming more and more likely.
The Hungarian leader called EU Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans an "inquisitor", allied with George Soros and the Brussels elite, and argued for the EU executive to stop being a political body.

Friday will mark 128 days since elections in the Netherlands. Four parties are negotiating to form a government coalition.

Lawmakers in Poland adopted a controversial reform of the Supreme Court, despite warnings from the EU that the move could trigger a sanction procedure over the rule of law.
Poland's judicial system is on the ropes, in what could be another sign of the country backsliding further on democratic values.
The EU executive will launch infringement procedures next week on Polish judicial reforms that break EU rules, and start discussing the possibility of triggering a sanctions procedure.

The Israeli prime minister, on a visit to Hungary, expressed support for Orban's government despite a recent campaign against billionaire and Holocaust survivor George Soros.

Leaders of the main political groups in the European Parliament have called on EU institutions to "speak out and act" against the latest reform of the judiciary system in Poland.
Pro-democracy demonstrators in Polish cities have raised an outcry over judicial reforms amid a toxic media campaign.
A week after the failure of negotiations to reunite the islands, Greek Cypriots are calling on Turkish Cypriots to reaffirm their commitment to the process.