Latest news with #Eurocrats
Euronews
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
How connected is the EU to its capital, Brussels?
Commissioner for Brussels Alain Hutchinson, credited for building bridges between the EU and its capital, tells Radio Schuman how the once weak ties blossomed into a strong synergy that benefits both. He argued that Brussels, including its public administrations, is more open to accommodating expats, while Eurocrats have started to break out of their bubble. In this episode, we also look at a NATO Parliamentary Assembly in the US state of Ohio as the Trump administration casts doubt over US' defence of NATO allies in Europe. And finally, which countries in Europe get harmed most by the import of fake goods? Radio Schuman is hosted and produced by Lauren Walker. Audio editing by David Brodheim. Music by Alexandre Jas. The show is taking a break to brainstorm over bringing you even better content. Thank you for your continued support, and stay tuned!
Daily Mail
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Ursula found it hard to disguise her disbelief and glee at Deer Keer's cave-in: QUENTIN LETTS watches the Brussels big-shots swaggering around London
Standing between two Brussels grand-fromages, Sir Keir Starmer could have been an escapee returned to the gaolers. To make it even more galling, the scene was on supposedly sovereign soil. The Brussels big shots had swaggered into London and nabbed their man. Ursula von der Leyen, twinkly in her triumph, kept calling him 'deer Keer' and widened her taut little jaw. It is the jaw of a cat. Good for killing unsuspecting warblers. On Sir Keir's other side was a burly Portuguese socialist, Antonio Costa, apparently president of the European Council. One of the blessed things about Brexit was that we no longer needed to care who such Eurocrats were. Now Labour has thrown us back into the political food-mixer from Hell. They arrived by Audi, to be met at the doors of Lancaster House by Sir Keir who waited alone on a yard of red carpet. The building's honey-stoned facade had been covered in funereal hoardings that said 'UK-EU Summit 2025'. There is to be one of these every year from now on. More money spent on politicians' vanity. More foot-steps in the glue. 'Summit' was a glorified noun for an hour's meeting followed by a press conference, then lunch aboard the frigate Sutherland, moored in the Pool of London. The Royal Navy once fired broadsides when foreign marauders invaded our waters. Now ward-room matelots were waiting on them, silver-service. 'Who's having the fish?' The Brussels duo: 'We are.' Press photographers were allowed to snap the main players at the start of their meeting. David Lammy rubbed his thumbs together, looking ecstatic. Nick Thomas-Symonds, minister i/c surrender agreements, was given a rare invitation to sit at the top table. He spent the time nodding. Mr Lammy, on arrival outside, had been accompanied by his food-taster (and ministerial colleague) Stephen Doughty. You can imagine a tuba's parp with each stride Brother Doughty takes. At the start of the press conference Sir Keir invited Senhor Costa to speak. This was a decision – one of many, perhaps – that he would come to rue. 'For us ees great pleasure to be ear,' began o presidente. 'We are ear not to talk about our shelled values.' And to talk about them at length. Minutes passed. The room stilled, as if for a siesta. But Sir Keir was loving it. As old Costa Living droned on about having felt 'a new positive energy' from Sir Keir at some meeting in February, our PM licked his lips and blinked with pride. He did that Bill Nighy thing of pursing his mouth. What a dork he looked. He even tilted a few degrees towards the Portuguese Man O'Bore, but maybe he was just finding it hard to stay awake as were the rest of the room. 'We both believe in free trade,' continued Costa Lot. This was debatable, for it was gratuitous EU bureaucratic tangles on free trade that blackmailed Sir Keir into his capitulation. 'Your leadership has been instrumental,' added Portugal's finest. This, at least, was true. No one else but the nasal knight would have swallowed such a bad prawn as this deal. Frau von der Leyen, palpably relieved when Costa finally shut up, began by saying 'my deer Keer, it is a success – the excellent result we have!' She was finding it hard to disguise her glee and disbelief at London's cave-in. Sir Keir bit on the inside of his right cheek and hopped from one sole to the other. Jittery in front of his new boss? When he reached inside his jacket to retrieve a slip of paper he made his microphone crunch. When it was his turn to speak he claimed 'Britain is back on the world stage'. Britain has been stuffed back behind bars, more like, here in the person of its air pocket of a premier. Not that Sir Keir himself ever escaped. He was arguably on the EU's side all along. The returned captive in his country. Freedom's frolic is done. Lock the doors. Clank.
The Sun
19-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Starmer has made Britain the EU's gimp – Brussels get EVERYTHING they wanted while all we get is using passport gates
WHAT a humiliation. We have given Brussels everything it wanted and ended up paying for the privilege. Sir Keir Starmer always hated Brexit. For three years, he campaigned to overturn the referendum. 6 6 6 Now, unable to go back in, has agreed that Brussels should set our laws from the outside. We will be a non-voting member, a captive market for EU exports, a supplier of fish for French and Spanish skippers, of soldiers for EU deployments, of subsidised university places for Eurocrats' children. Britain will become the EU's gimp, trussed up in black leather and zips, with a ball-gag in its mouth. And all because, since 2016, Starmer has felt a deep emotional need to apologise on behalf of the British electorate. To see how one-sided the agreement is, let's think of what the two sides' objectives were before. The EU had a long list. Since Donald Trump effectively withdrew the US security guarantee from Europe, Eurocrats have wanted Britain, a nuclear state with the most powerful Armed Forces in the region, to take up some of the slack. They wanted continued access to the richest fishing grounds in Europe, something that was supposed to be phased out gradually after Brexit. They wanted to send their unemployed youngsters here and to continue to educate their children at UK universities without paying overseas fees. Above all, they wanted to control our trade policy. The UK is by far their biggest export market for foodstuffs. Their fear throughout was that Britain might lift the barriers Brussels that had put in the way of non-EU imports, usually dressed up as consumer protection measures, though in reality they are about keeping out competition. If Britain were to follow the science and remove these barriers, it would cease to be a captive market. Beef from Australia, Uruguay, the US and Canada would replace imports from France and Ireland. To prevent that outcome, it was not enough for Britain to adopt the same food standards as the EU. No, we had to cede control. We had to let the EU set our food standards in perpetuity. The agreement just signed makes it impossible for British farmers to get a competitive edge in areas like gene editing. It could force us to undo the reforms we have made over the past four years and might threaten our existing trade deals. THE SUN SAYS Will today go down in history as the day Sir Keir Starmer betrayed Brexit and the British people? WILL today go down in history as the day Sir Keir Starmer betrayed Brexit and the British people? From the moment he entered No10, or Remainiac Prime Minister — who spent years in Opposition trying to reverse the historic 2016 vote — has been hellbent on securing a so-called 'reset' with the EU. His approach to the negotiations with Brussels has been naive at best, and craven at worst. Indeed, the message his public desperation sent to the hard-nosed Eurocrats was 'I want a deal at any price, so shaft me'. The vengeful EU — which will never get over Brexit, and cannot stand the idea of us being a sovereign nation again — duly obliged. Its list of demands, in return for a defence partnership, a sop on passport queues and the simple lifting of some spiteful checks on British food exports, would put a mafia extortionist to shame. So much for what the EU wanted. What of Britain? Actually, our position was pretty comfortable. We already hadthe most comprehensive deal that the EU has with any state not in the process of joining it, with no tariffs or quotas. We had finally started to use our Brexit freedoms to be more competitive in fields like AI. We had struck trade deals with the Pacific bloc, India and (much to Eurocrats' annoyance) the US. No, the only real irritation we had, a legacy of the Benn Surrender Act, when Europhile MPs prevented us from leaving the EU other than on terms that Brussels approved, was checks at the Irish border. The only fair way to dismantle those checks was to agree a mutual recognition deal on food. We would accept stuff that the EU passed as fit, and they would do the same. Brussels has long had such a deal with New Zealand, and our standards are closer to its own than those of Kiwi exporters. But mutual recognition would not keep the UK as a captive export market. So the EU held out for total control, what it called 'dynamic alignment' (though few things are less dynamic than the EU). Naturally, it has got its way. On this, as on every other issue, Labour has been reduced to pretending that, in giving in to the EU, it is somehow getting what it wanted all along. Thus handing Brussels control of our regulations becomes 'easier exports'. Caving into EU demands on free movement becomes 'a balanced youth experience scheme'. Though how anyone can justify giving EU students a better deal than Commonwealth students is utterly beyond me. To see how totally we have caved in, consider what ministers are trumpeting as their big victory, namely the ability to use EU passport e-gates. It is extraordinary that this right was ever withdrawn. We have always allowed EU nationals to use our gates, and quite right, too: we want our airports to be efficient. If the EU wants to treat e-gates as a bargaining chip, the bargain should be simple reciprocity: you use ours, we use yours. But, no, to get even something so basic, we make a bunch of unrelated concessions. And to cap it all, we are paying the EU unspecified sums for accepting all these concessions. That is what happens when our leaders can't forgive us for Brexit. Labour negotiates, Britain loses. 6 6 6
The Sun
18-05-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
Will today go down in history as the day Sir Keir Starmer betrayed Brexit and the British people?
No forgiving a Brexit betrayal WILL today go down in history as the day Sir Keir Starmer betrayed Brexit and the British people? From the moment he entered No10, or Remainiac Prime Minister — who spent years in Opposition trying to reverse the historic 2016 vote — has been hellbent on securing a so-called 'reset' with the EU. 1 His approach to the negotiations with Brussels has been naive at best, and craven at worst. Indeed, the message his public desperation sent to the hard-nosed Eurocrats was 'I want a deal at any price, so shaft me'. The vengeful EU — which will never get over Brexit, and cannot stand the idea of us being a sovereign nation again — duly obliged. Its list of demands, in return for a defence partnership, a sop on passport queues and the simple lifting of some spiteful checks on British food exports, would put a mafia extortionist to shame. Through a series of snide anonymous briefings (the EU's tactic of choice for decades), we know it expects to agree the following at today's Lancaster House talks: Britain to slavishly adhere to every pettifogging Brussels edict on standards, a straitjacket known as 'dynamic alignment' which would make trade deals with the rest of world far harder. Subservience to the over-mighty, expansionist European Court of Justice. Generous access to our fishing waters for mostly French vessels for ever more, undermining a core reason why millions voted Leave. Bundles of cash to once again be paid into the EU's coffers for participation in its various programmes and schemes. Most unbelievably, a 'youth mobility scheme' for anyone under 35 - yes, 35! - which would restore free movement by the back door, and give 80 MILLION EU citizens the chance to live and work here. So much for getting a grip on runaway immigration. And what has Sir Keir's response been to all of this? He and his Chancellor have effectively said bring it on, and that this is just the start of a much deeper future partnership with the EU. We remind them both of two things, before they sit down to formally ink this seemingly wretched surrender deal. First, the best economic days of the EU are long behind it — look at the state of the German and French economies. Britain should be looking to do ambitious trade deals beyond Europe — indeed the new partnership with India, and the recent easing of US tariffs were only possible because of Brexit. Not tying our hands and alienating allies like Donald Trump. And, second, the British people voted nine years ago to take back control of our money, borders and laws.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Premier League's bully boys kill the romance in Europe's hip competitions
Manchester United, Spurs and Chelsea have not messed around in Europe. Composite: Getty Images FRIDAY FEELGOOD STORY Those of a Liverpool persuasion, do look away now. That's if you've sobered up from last Sunday, but even if you've had your fun this may annoy: there's a thought this has been an unsatisfying Premier League season. Brentford's beating of Nottingham Forest on Thursday night further dulled the romance. It looks as if the Tricky Trees will not now be in Bigger Cup, much to the chagrin of edit producers who had already started working on that Cloughie montage. With zero relegation battle there's only Manchester City's fall from grace to, er, fourth to gawp at. Thank goodness for the continent, then, where the Premier League's brave boys can remind those Eurocrats that ours is the best bloody league in the world. It's going well, actually, though there is something of a bullies turning up at junior school vibe to such success. That's to set aside Arsenal, hanging on in Bigger Cup's semis, a goal down despite the fear North London Forever must have put into PSG at the Emirates. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement The real quiz comes in those tournaments where appeal is more selective. Bigger Vase, a repechage of those not good enough for the top tier, offered double helpings of patriotic pride. In north London, in the first leg, billionaire-owned Tottenham faced hipster's favourites Bodø/Glimt, the Arctic Circle community club who sound like a post-rock outfit on the Thrill Jockey label or a piece of Scandi self-assembly furniture, and won 3-1. Such is the pessimism that surrounds Spurs that much of the focus went on Ulrik Saltnes's late goal, and the plastic pitch greeting them next week in far-northern Norway. 'Look, it is on artificial grass but it's still a game of football,' roared Ange Postecoglou. Hurrah also then for Manchester United, football's grandest crisis club, owned by two separate billionaire factions, for crushing Basque Country jewel Athletic Club, a team collated by cantera – homespun talent – rather than hoofing cash on windy flops, 3-0 in their own stadium. Beaten-down Reds were wiping their eyes in disbelief that Ruben Amorim's team played so well. Where did that come from? Big Red seem to have developed a welcome habit of getting an opponent sent off. This time, it was Athletic's Dani Vivian, dismissed for hauling back Rasmus Højlund in the style of a slapstick early-1980s yoof comedy. To complete the matchbox of England's glory, Chelsea, also owned by billionaires – of the venture capitalist variety – beat Djurgården 4-1 in Stockholm. A plastic pitch proved no issue for Enzo Maresca's entertainers as they walloped a team where the fans come first, just the type of minnows that Tin Pot is supposed to bring the best from, like a Scania artic rolling over roadkill. Well done, he's 13. LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE Join Taha Hashim at 8pm (BST) for Manchester City 0-0 Wolves in the Premier League. QUOTE OF THE DAY We've had some difficult results, we are bottom of the league and we were never going to become solid and be dominant in the game. If we did that when I came in with seven games to go, I'd probably be able to bring world peace as well' – interim manager Simon Rusk on how he would have been worthy of a Nobel prize if he'd managed to coach a bit of backbone into his rock-bottom Southampton side. FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS The potential Tottenham Hotspur or Spurs v Manchester United Bigger Vase final is going to be that paradox of a clash between one that can't win and one that doesn't want to win' – Krishna Moorthy. As noticed by me and 1,056 others, your Memory Lane (yesterday's Football Daily, full email edition) photo of Tony Hateley and Emlyn Hughes reminds me of the great Ted Lowe commentary: 'For those of you watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green'' – Louis Beasley-Suffolk. Sorry, I disagree with with you, Tom Dowler (yesterday's Football Daily letters). Riqui Puig was unfortunately injured, and seems to spend most of his time being largely nice, if a bit puppyish and over enthusiastic. John Terry got himself banned from the final by being a divot in the semi. Can we please keep Terry as the epitome of the full-kit celebration? It is the very least he deserves. Plus, I don't care who wins Bigger Cup now, but I do want someone to slip on their ar$e, c0ck up a penalty and start crying so we can bring that up again too' – Jon Millard. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement Send letters to Today's prizeless letter o' the day winner is … Louis Beasley-Suffolk. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, can be viewed here.
