Daily Archives: February 22, 2021

Dutch socialist Kati Piri told an online event that the European Parliament has everything in place to ratify the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement this week. The process is currently held up because the European Council and Commission are still translating the 1,246-page treaty into the blocs more than 20 official languages. Eurocrats were meant to have completed this task before February 28, a deadline agreed with the UK, so MEPs could cast the deciding vote to greenlight the future relationship pact.

But they have applied to Britain for an extension amid fears that the legal document wont be ready in all of the EUs languages before April 30.

Ms Piri told reporters that she would be less diplomatic in reviewing the current hold-up.

She added: We are ready to vote.

The European Parliament has finalised the scrutiny process with 16 opinion-giving committeesin the lead with the international trade and foreign affairs committees, we have everything prepared to go to a vote.

If we need to, we could still do it this week but we are waiting for the official referral from the Council.

Despite playing a leading role in the EU Parliaments scrutiny of the Brexit trade treaty, Ms Piri may miss the vote as she is contesting the Dutch national elections on March 17.

I am not even sure I can vote on the report on which we have been working on for almost a year, she said.

German MEP David McAllister, the EU Parliaments Brexit co-ordinator, said the Commission had put in a request to extend provisional application of the treaty until April 30.

This means both sides would still benefit from zero-tariff, zero-quota trade despite the pact not being fully legally ratified.

Mr McAllister added: This is a legal requirement that would ensure that all authentic linguistic versions are available before the agreement is formally concluded.

The decision on whether to allow the EUs extension request will be taken by Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove, who remains in interim charge of the Partnership Council until Lord Frost, the Prime Ministers chief negotiator, takes over on March 1.

The Peer has previously questioned why Brussels should be given extra time to complete the process.

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The DUP and other unionist politicians issued the action in response to trade disruptions between the region and mainland Britain.

In response, a Commission spokesman said: We are fully committed to the Good Friday Belfast Agreement and to the proper implementation of the protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland protecting the gains of the peace process, protecting and maintaining stability and avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland.

EU and UK officials are due to meet this week to discuss potential solutions for ending the tensions in the region.

Originally posted here:

MEP breaks ranks and hits out at dithering eurocrats over delay to crunch Brexit vote - Daily Express

It has emerged the Crown Dependency, which is not part of the UK but often aligns policies and agreements, have had individual discussions with Brussels counterparts regarding fishing.The move has been branded petty and "indefensible" by Environment Secretary George Eustice.

Chief Minister Howard Quayle said any EU vessel that wishes to fish in UK waters in the future will have to prove a track record of fishing in Manx Waters in order to get a licence.

Under the new rules, EU vessels would have to prove a track record of 10 days fishing in any of the three 12-month periods prior to January 2020.

The British Crown Dependency also maintains the right to set its own catch limits and conservation measures for certain fisheries including scallops.

Island fish producers will also be able to import their products to the EU without facing tariffs, which is worth around 20million a year.

UK-registered vessels are already licensed and regulated by the Isle of Man government.

Mr Quayle said the subject of fishing had caused much debate and emotion on the Island.

Speaking in the Tynwald, the Chief Minister said the EU had demanded access to Manx waters stressing without access for bloc vessels, there would be difficulty exporting island goods.

He added: I know that some people would have wanted a future where no foreign vessels were able to fish in our waters.

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But Dr David Beard, chief executive of the Manx Fish Producers Organisation, expressed concerns at the huge amounts of paperwork required to export to the EU.

He said: We are having to spend far more money on paperwork than we did before.

The key is that there is still no hospitality market for our products so it is still going through supermarkets or through other retail and obviously the volume of sales has dropped off mainly because of Covid.

Read the rest here:

Brexit rebellion: Isle of Man goes rogue on fishing EU ships welcomed in 'petty' move - Daily Express

Ministers have announced a Memorandum of Understanding agreement which will boost bilateral trade and economic relations with Brazil. The deal will help to open up the country to the UK with trade officials hailing it as an Amazonian Brexit boost.

Initially, under the agreement, a forum for debates related to the interests of both countries will be established which includes "developing trade agreements for the future", Whitehall officials toldExpress.co.uk.

Bilateral consultations on issues related to trade in agricultural goods will also take place through a Joint Agriculture Committee (CCA) to cut red tape on exports such as Beef.

Trade between both countries is worth 6billion a year whilst Brazilian agribusiness exports to the United Kingdom are worth 710million a year.

Tereza Cristina, Brazils Minister of Agriculture, who struck the agreement with Environment Secretary George Eustice said: We have a lot of things to change.

We are very interested in this partnership, but we have to have the balance so that we can walk more and more together."

Ms Cristina stressed the joint committee's objective was to reduce bureaucracy and speed up trade interactions between the two countries.

She continued We expect that, over time, without abandoning its high standards, the UK, in its technical standards, will become more aligned with international rules, closer to science-based approaches.

A Defra spokesperson, said: Creating the Joint Agriculture Committee reinforces our commitment to support and develop agribusiness - and will facilitate discussion and collaboration between the two countries on sustainable agricultural and food trade issues.

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Financial sector development, higher education provision, taxation issues and intellectual property protection were also talked about.

Robert Dickson, British High Commissioner to Bangladesh, said: The UK is committed to working with Bangladesh to create a trade and investment relationship that helps both of our economies grow. Foreign Investment can provide jobs, transfer skills and generate revenue.

A conducive business environment and removal of market access barriers can benefit both countries.

Dr Jafar Uddin, Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce for Bangladesh, said: This dialogue will pave the way for our products, services and professionals to penetrate the UK market and contribute to increased investment in Bangladesh and expand our exports.

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Here we go! UK hails 'Amazonian Brexit boost' from bumper 6billion Brazilian trade deal - Daily Express

Liz Truss was in India earlier this month, preparing the ground for a visit by Boris Johnson. The unstoppable Yorkshirewoman has concluded trade agreements with 64 states over the past two years not counting the deal with the EU itself and is currently negotiating with Australia andNew Zealand, exploring talks with the Gulf states and Mercosur, and applying to join the Pacific trade nexus, the CPTPP. But India is in a special category economically, geopolitically and, yes, sentimentally.

Lets start with the economics. For the first half century after independence, India was a largely closed economy. That stylised blue wheel in the middle of its flag, the chakra? It evolved from the spinning wheel in the Congress Party banner. For Gandhi, independence was bound up with the idea of making cloth from traditional handlooms rather than importing textiles from Lancashire. For decades afterwards, partly because of Gandhis status, self-rule and self-sufficiency were treated as inextricable.

Only at the end of the twentieth century did India begin to open up starting with countries in its immediate vicinity. It has since signed trade deals with Japan and ASEAN, but not with any Western state. Britain, consequently, was barely affected by the growth that followed from Indias liberalisation. Since the year 2000, our share of Indias imported goods has fallen from 6 to 1.3 per cent, and of services from 11 to 2.1 per cent.

Yet if any Western country is positioned to have a mutually beneficial trade deal with India, it is surely the UK, home to 1.5 million people of Indian descent. Many of our most successful entrepreneurs are of Indian background, and British brands from Jaguar cars to Tetley tea have attracted Indian buyers. We might think of JCB as the quintessential British firm dependable, patriotic, the first company that many little boys put a name to. But many Indians think of it rather in the way that they think of cricket as an Indian institution that happens, almost accidentally, to have originated in Britain.

Removing tariffs will bring benefits both ways. Gandhi would be astonished to learn that it is now Indian textiles that are hit by tariffs as they enter the UK 9.6 per cent on mens shirts, for example. Whisky, meanwhile, attracts an almost unbelievable 150 per cent tariff when sold to India. But, though tariff reduction is always and everywhere desirable, the bigger gains will be in the liberalisation of legal and financial services, facilitated investment and the mutual recognition of qualifications. Tech, coding and engineering are among the many instances of where our economies are naturally complementary.

That complementarity derives, ultimately, from the fact that India, like Britain, is an Anglophone, common law, parliamentary nation which might just prove the single most important geopolitical fact of the twenty-first century.

The pandemic has accelerated the shift in power from the West to China the only major economy that is significantly larger than it was a year ago. Whether that shift also means a more authoritarian world depends largely on whether India self-defines primarily as an English-speaking democracy or as an Asian superpower.

Boris Johnson, whose children are partly of Indian descent, understands the subtleties better than any other leader, and wisely wants to turn the G7 bloc into a D10 (D for democracies) by adding India, Australia and South Korea.

It is true that Britains relationship with India was not always easy, and the intellectual currents that have led to statue-smashing here are felt, too, on the subcontinent. Yet there is also an unmistakeable affinity and affection between the two countries an affection that the free world may yet have cause to appreciate.

Read more:

A trade deal with India is the great Brexit prize that could determine the Wests fate - Telegraph.co.uk