Daily Archives: February 22, 2021

By Conor Humphries and William James

The European Union on Wednesday rebuffed a British demand to extend a grace period for checks on goods going from Britain to Northern Ireland, saying the post-Brexit trade treaty gave London enough tools to solve the problems.

But it agreed to work intensively with Britain to resolve difficulties that have already impeded deliveries of goods, notably food, from other parts of the United Kingdom and caused shortages in supermarkets, even with a grace period still in force.

The dispute, which stems from Britains exit from the EUs orbit on Jan. 1, threatens to reopen a rift that bedevilled years of Brexit talks, and further strain relations between the EU and its former member.

British minister Michael Gove sent a terse letter to European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic, demanding that grace periods for the transport of food from Britain to Northern Ireland be extended from a few months to at least two years.

Then, after a video call with Gove, Sefcovic told Irish RTE television that, under the terms of the post-Brexit trade deal signed in December, it was for Britain to resolve the problems.

I really think that if all the flexibilities we put on the table and into the (Northern Ireland) Protocol would be used to the maximum, that all of the issues which we are discussing today would be really resolved, Sefcovic said.

Another politician present at the meeting, Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill, said Sefcovic had told Gove the EU expects rigorous implementation of the Protocol.

In a statement, Gove said he and Sefcovic had reiterated their full commitment to the agreement that made peace between the provinces pro-British and pro-Irish communities two decades ago, and to the proper implementation of the Protocol, and would meet in London next week.

Britain left the EUs single market a month ago with a trade deal that also created a customs border between Britain and Northern Ireland.

As part of its divorce treaty, it had agreed to ensure there were no checks on goods crossing the land border with the Irish Republic by instead introducing checks on goods reaching Northern Ireland from other parts of the UK.

This was intended to protect peace in the province while also preventing it being used as a back door into the EUs single market.

The issue was arguably the most contentious in Britains five-year Brexit negotiations, and the search for an arrangement led to the downfall of Prime Minister Boris Johnsons predecessor, Theresa May.

The rules are due to get even tighter when a three-month grace period for some goods expires.

In his letter to Sefcovic, Gove said the grace period must be extended until at least 1 January 2023.

If it is not possible to agree a way forward in the way we propose, then the UK will consider using all instruments at its disposal, he added, saying that what was needed were political, not technical, solutions.

London feels it has gained some moral authority since the European Commission briefly threatened last week to impose emergency controls on vaccines crossing the land border.

After an outcry from London, Belfast and Dublin, the commission swiftly changed course, but the blunder reinforced Britains case that the agreement needs updating.

Read more:

EU rebuffs UK demand to soften N. Ireland Brexit trade ...

A Sussex pharmaceutical company has told how it had to bundle a production line into a white van and take it to Amsterdam to beat a Brexit medicines ban.

The impromptu four-wheeled mission to the Netherlands has secured the supply of the asthma drug Ventolin for France, where the company, Mediwin, had a huge order book.

Lisa Cooke, its finance director, said the company had been preparing for Brexit since the referendum but had not counted on an overnight block on wholesale distribution from the UK into EU member states.

It was a bit of a white-knuckle ride a couple of weeks ago. We had stockpiled supplies, particularly of Ventolin because it was being sold in huge quantities in France and we were getting anxious that we would run out, she said. So our production manager hired a van and took five machines which was essentially one production line to the Netherlands. He got the line up and running. Weve rented an apartment and got six people working over there now. And so far weve hired 15 people in the Netherlands and they want another 10 or 11.

Under the EU single market freedoms known as parallel distribution, Mediwin was allowed to buy drugs for a range of conditions, including type 2 diabetes, glaucoma and atrial fibrillation, from one member state and repackage them for another member state at lower prices.

In a blow to the British company, production lines in Littlehampton are now at near standstill while assembly ramps up in the Netherlands. Further expansion will take place in Spain and other EU countries.

To put things into context we usually receive around 75 pallets of stock a week in January we have received two, Cooke said.

She said while she hoped over time to replace the EU sales with UK custom, it had been heartbreaking to have to slash production and work hours for staff in the UK. Ive got about 70 people at the moment who Ive had to ask to half their hours, she said. It has been horrible, absolutely horrible.

The drastic measures are a reflection of the lack of preparation time pharma firms were given for the new Brexit rules. Other companies have also been hit by sudden trade barriers. Two weeks ago it emerged that a Welsh pharma company producing a cancer drug with a short shelf life had moved its production to Dublin to keep supplies going for patients across the EU.

Ian Price, the director of the Confederation of British Industry in Wales, said the company, which did not want to be named, had to discard 200 to 300 consignments destined for the EU because of the new Brexit trade barriers.

Cooke said Mediwin was being forced to lay off 45 people in the UK. We were going to invest in a site in the UK a couple of years ago we we needed to expand. That 2m investment has gone to Spain. Weve got a fabulous new production facility which will come online in Barcelona, in two or three months time, she said.

Once we had the Brexit vote, we knew that we were in significant danger for a number of reasons, so our growth plans for the UK stopped almost immediately. We started investing in Barcelona. We have had to merge our main UK trading company with a Spanish group company to protect licences.

The company had built up a booming trade in wholesale medicine supply, going from 19 employees 10 years ago, to a workforce of 150 in 2020.

Continued here:

Sussex medicines firm takes production line abroad in white van to beat Brexit ban - The Guardian

The temporary documents have been designed by the government to satisfy EU requirements on meat products entering the bloc during the six-month grace period.

However from 1 July exports of sausages, mince and pate-type products are set to be banned altogether under strict laws on animal and plant health - unless the EU and UK can reach an agreement.

Bans on other GB agri-food products - including seed potatoes, certain seeds, and plants potted in soil - have already been in force since the start of the year.

Under the terms of the Northern Ireland protocol, which governs the movement of goods in and out of the region post-Brexit, all non-prohibited agri-food goods arriving from GB require an EU export health certificate (EHC) declaring that they pose no risk. There are hundreds of different types of EHCs, with different forms for different products.

As sausages and other chilled meat products are not ordinarily allowed to be imported into the EU under the bloc's tight SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) regulations, there is no EHC covering those goods.

As a result, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has developed its own temporary version, to satisfy EU requirements during the six month grace period when their import is still permitted.

There was no initial requirement for certifications on these restricted products when the protocol came into operation on 31 December after the Brexit transition period ended.

That changed on Monday 22 February, with traders now requiring Defra's version of an EHC for sausages and mince.

EHCs have been required for non-retail agri-food products entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain since 1 January.

That has included unprocessed food stuffs - such as chicken carcasses, tankers of milk and sides of beef - being imported into the region to undergo processing.

Retail products have been exempted from this requirement under a grace period that will expire on 1 April.

From that date, GB-made agri-food products that are usually found on supermarket and shop shelves in Northern Ireland will need an EHC to be shipped to the region.

This includes all food of animal origin, some foods of non-animal origin (nuts, spices etc), live plants, other plant-based products and fish. Live animals and animal based food products require a vet to sign off the EHCs.

Products going to multiple destinations will also require multiple certifications. In theory, that could see a single lorry of retail goods requiring hundreds of EHCs.

Additional reporting by Press Association

Go here to see the original:

Brexit red tape ramped up on British sausages destined for Northern Ireland - The Independent

I coined the phrase The Big Sulk to describe those who refused to accept the result of the 2016 UK Brexit referendum and who have refused to engage with its outcome in any constructive way. So much time so many sulks! might well be the mantra for this past year. We all know that the Devil makes work for idle hands and, from student mobs attacking defenceless statues to teachers refusing to teach, its been like some proletarian Beezlebub himself was on a mission to prove that especially contrasted with the cheery graft of frontline workers every year of extra non-vocational education renders one less of a useful human being. Maybe those involved in such tantrums felt the absence of panto season this year, but whatever the reason, the squeals of Brexit its behind you! are getting boring.

When are the Remoaners going to admit they were wrong all along? Look at the facts. Our vaccine triumph; I recently heard one of those state-sponsored Radio 4 news-based alleged comedy shows and the feeling of dismay when the success of the roll-out was mentioned was palpable. The fictional labour shortage; Ive always found it weird how liberals seem to believe its fine for rich countries to go around robbing doctors and nurses from poor countries; now theres less need, with applications among UK students to work in medicine rising by almost a third during the pandemic. We didnt even get the super-gonorrhoea we were promised!

I cant help thinking of Platos Myth Of The Cave; people in chains, seeing flickering shadows at the entrance which they take to be monsters, thus making them fearfully cling to their bonds. But when the boldest break free, they selflessly return to help their more cowardly comrades escape from the darkness of ignorance.

Just this week the former finance minister of Greece, Yanis Varoufakis, said that it was now a matter of time before the Eurozone bubble bursts, throwing the EU into great economic hardship. In France, the eurosceptic Marine Le Pen is neck and neck in the polls with Emmanuel Macron. In a recent column called When Will Germany Grow Up?, the German journalist Katja Hoyer mocked the idea that there is anything mature about calling ones leader Mutti while pointing out that a recent Spiegel survey showed that nearly two-thirds of Germans said that their opinion of the EU had worsened due to its botched vaccine procurement plans.

Ive often thought that if we Brits had a leader we called Mummy our liberal establishment would have a field day mocking us for being infantile nanny-obsessives. But let the Germans put their trust in an all-powerful leader and everythings fine and dandy because that always worked out fine for them, didnt it?

When I think of what the EU will look like in 10 years time, I cant help but think of those old soul acts who gradually become shadows of their original selves, members dropping out until theres just one of the real line-up left. The new recruits do their best, but it isnt convincing; Germany upfront still singing lead, but in a voice broken and croaky, while Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia bumble about in the background bumping into the scenery.

What we were told was maturity was only ever fear; always keep a-hold of nurse (or Mutti) for fear of finding something worse is no way to run a country. We alleged Little Englanders dont think its a big cruel world out there they do, which makes Remainers, not we Brexiteers, the swivel-eyed misanthropes.

But carry on like this, thumbing your nose at your own government no matter how it succeeds while sucking up to foreign ones no matter how badly they do, and everyones going to think youre a little odd psychologically Stockholm Syndrome is never a good look.

Like a prisoner cringing in a cave and calling it home, theyve forgotten the centuries when we were Europe, not the EU, where human rights were gained and masterpieces were written without the aid of a gravy train going nowhere. The EU was just a tiny blip in history its over, let it go. Sulking isnt going to turn back time but it may well make you irrelevant in the future.

See the article here:

When will Remainers admit they were wrong about Brexit? - Telegraph.co.uk

Business News Labels & Publishers Live Business Top Stories By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 22 February 2021

UK ministers are considering setting up a government-funded creative export office that would help performers navigate and tackle all the new visa and permit issues that have been caused by Brexit. Such an office might then also run other projects and initiatives to support British creators and creative businesses looking to pursue export opportunities into new markets.

The UK government has come under significant criticism from the music and other creative industries ever since it became clear that visa-free touring had not been included in the post-Brexit UK/EU trade deal. That means that British performers touring Europe will now need to fulfil the different entry requirements of each individual EU member state, some of which will require artists and their crews to secure travel permits and/or equipment carnets.

The extra administration and costs that will create will make some tours completely unviable, or will result in British artists hiring crew based in EU countries, to reduce the amount of extra admin and expenditure. All of which will put further pressure on performers, crew members and live entertainment business that are already on the brink because of COVID-19.

The UK blames the EU for the trade deal not including provisions for visa-free touring, while EU officials have blamed their British counterparts. UK ministers insist that the door remains open for new talks with the EU on this matter, although culture minister Caroline Dinenage recently admitted that its likely to be easier to agree bilateral deals with individual EU countries to remove the need for permits and carnets than a new EU-wide arrangement.

She expressed that opinion during the latest Parliamentary session on the post-Brexit touring shambles which took place last week at the instigation of the culture select committee. During that hearing she and Alastair Jones from the Department For Digital, Culture, Media And Sport were asked if the government would provide financial assistance for performers facing these new bureaucratic challenges when touring Europe.

Dinenage initially pointed to existing government-funded export initiatives for the creative industries, like the Music Export Growth Scheme, though when pushed Jones said we are absolutely looking at our options. And although that was pretty non-committal, this weekend the Telegraph reported that a new government agency was now being considered by Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden to facilitate tours and assist artists with international gigs, including with things like visas and permits.

Quite what role such an agency would play in that domain remains unclear. Would it mainly provide information or advice possibly via a website like the one Dowden previously discussed with Elton John or would it actually help artists secure and pay for travel permits?

Given that Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his cronies have been so keen to stress all the glorious good times, positive benefits and financial savings Brexit would deliver for Britain, youd think some of that supposed Brexit windfall could be used to subsidise the cash-strapped artists and crew members whose livelihoods have been jeopardised by the PMs big fuck-the-foreigners experiment.

Who knows? Probably not. Not least because the windfall is fictional. Though, optimists might see the launch of a creative export agency alongside urgent bilateral talks with those countries that are both key touring markets for British performers and currently problematic in travel permit terms as at least a way to mitigate the worst of the damage Brexit is set to cause the UKs creative communities.

Any new export office could ultimately offer much more than just visa support too. A number of other countries have formal export offices that successfully support their music and/or creative industries in an assortment of ways when seeking opportunities abroad.

While the UKs Department For International Trade does already fund various initiatives in partnership with music business trade groups, including the aforementioned Music Growth Export Scheme, some in the industry have long called for more extensive government support to help the British music community fully achieve its global potential.

UK Music CEO Jamie Njoku-Goodwin welcomed the reports that an export office is being considered this weekend. He told the Telegraph: We should be doing everything we can to support and strengthen the British music industry as a key global exporter and spread British success internationally. The British music industry can help fly the flag for Britain globally and is a great example of the UKs soft power due to the huge influence of British music across the world.

However, he added, new Brexit rules have put barriers up and made it harder for British musicians to work and perform abroad. A new UK-wide export office for the music industry or the wider creative sector could play a crucial role in helping drive our post-pandemic recovery.

Follow this link:

Culture Secretary considering new export office to mitigate Brexit damage to creative industries - Complete Music Update