TheNewsGuru

Tag: EU

  • Brexit: Britain’s departure will diminish Europe’s weight – Tony Blair

    Former Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Tony Blair has said the departure of Britain will diminish the weight of Europe.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports the former Prime Minister, who is also the Executive Chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, stated this in an article to EU leaders on Sunday.

    The full article read: “I know politics too well, particularly European politics, not to know that you will come to an agreement on Brexit. But you should do so understanding the risk you are running and the danger you are courting for the whole European project.

    “If you think it is a bad deal but better than the alternative of no deal, realise at the same time: the British PM does not have the agreement of the British people, the British parliament or even significant parts of her cabinet for it. And those who most ardently advocated “leave” even say they would prefer staying in the EU to leaving on these terms. If you think it settles the issue; it doesn’t.

    “I ask you: be prepared to offer a way out if we are prepared to reconsider.

    “The magnitude of the decision I know you accept. At a time when the politics of America are uncertain and the rise of China no longer a prediction but a fact, Britain’s departure will diminish the weight of Europe, upset its political balance, damage its single market and deprive both of us of the maximum influence over world affairs when we have never needed that influence more.

    “You will agree but say: what choice do we have? It is Britain that has decided to leave. I understand that. I have watched you watch us these past 30 months. Whereas Brexit has occupied every waking moment of British politics, it has often barely featured in yours. It has been met with bewilderment at the way a country renowned for its common sense, decisiveness and savvy has become defined by indecision and flights of fancy.

    “The magnitude of the decision I know you accept. At a time when the politics of America are uncertain and the rise of China no longer a prediction but a fact, Britain’s departure will diminish the weight of Europe, upset its political balance, damage its single market and deprive both of us of the maximum influence over world affairs when we have never needed that influence more.

    “You will agree but say: what choice do we have? It is Britain that has decided to leave. I understand that. I have watched you watch us these past 30 months. Whereas Brexit has occupied every waking moment of British politics, it has often barely featured in yours. It has been met with bewilderment at the way a country renowned for its common sense, decisiveness and savvy has become defined by indecision and flights of fancy.

    “What can be negotiated and what can’t is and always has been clear except to the British leadership. It has been often said in Britain that Europe has failed to respond reasonably to British proposals. You know the reality, which is that you have offered Britain a variety of different options. We can stay in the single market like Norway. Leave it and have a free trade agreement like Canada. Be in the customs union like Turkey. Be partially in the single market with a zero tariff customs arrangement like Switzerland. And of course, our deal would be a bespoke British deal which might combine aspects of the others.

    “But all these models share one thing. To the extent that you are part of the economic structures of Europe, you abide by Europe’s rules. You are a rule-taker not a rule-maker. And if you’re not part of them, as with Canada, then your access to the market is not the same as those who are part of it. This is why the British position throughout the negotiation has been flawed. The government famously used to claim we would leave the single market but still retain the same benefits as those in it. This always was impossible.

    “So finally, with the Chequers proposal, the PM chose an option of staying in the single market, but just for goods. And she accepted that this would mean agreeing to have in British law all existing European regulation and abiding by future regulation unless and until we decided to depart from it and therefore left the market. But to appease the Brexiteers, the option was heavily camouflaged by language which suggested we would retain independence from European regulation when obviously we wouldn’t.

    “You didn’t agree to that proposal because you weren’t sure what it meant. Meantime, the PM’s internal political problems got worse. In any event your immediate concern is the withdrawal agreement and the Irish question.

    “The PM agreed to a backstop that means the whole UK remains in the customs union until a technological solution is found. But such a solution must be to the satisfaction of both sides, and this gives Europe a veto. This caused outrage amongst both the Conservative Brexiteers and the DUP.

    “So effectively you decided that you would permit more camouflage around the Irish border question but keep intact your veto. Then to ease the PM’s path to a deal, you agreed to a political declaration whose language is now so vague that it could mean any one of those options above. This is an artifice based on a misguided political fix I promise you we will all regret.

    “The Brexit people think it’s a betrayal. The remainers like me think it is completely pointless. The British people are naturally confused by it all. But once they know it is keeping us tied to Europe but losing our say, it will be deeply unpopular.

    “The cabinet Brexiteers disagree only on tactics with their colleagues who resigned. It is the opposite of what the people who voted Brexit were promised. It renders meaningless the meaningful vote commitment of the government. And it will plunge us all into years of uncertainty as post-March 2019 the fight about future arrangements continues.

    “Know all this as you make this “deal”.

    “There is a way out. Parliament votes down this mess. You step forward with an offer which deals with the principal British anxieties about Europe which, other than those of the Brexit fanatics, are also European ones, especially around immigration, and we go back to the British people.

    “Too much is at stake. Our destiny and yours. It is not too late”.

    The article is titled: “Tony Blair to EU leaders: Giving Us a Way Out Will Save Both Britain and Europe”.

     

  • Bayelsa obtains $1mn World Bank/EU loan

    The Bayelsa State Government on Wednesday commenced the deployment of one million dollars bilateral loan it obtained from the World Bank and European Union (EU).

    Projects selected for implementation from the loan are scheduled to be completed in two years.

    Figures from Debt Management Office put Bayelsa’s external debt as at June 20018 at 47.756 million dollars, while the domestic debt stood at N123 billion.

    The World Bank and EU facility would be administered under the State Employment and Expenditure for Results (SEEFOR) Project to provide 6,000 jobs for youth empowerment.

    Mr Parminder Brar, the World Bank Task Team Leader (TTL) for the SEEFOR in Nigeria, disclosed this in his remarks at the opening ceremony of the SEEFOR Project Implementation Support Mission (ISM) in Yenagoa.

    He said that during the first 12 months of the two years, 40 new projects would be started and crafts, technical and vocational training centres in the state would receive support under the SEEFOR project.

    Brar also said the overall allocation for the SEEFOR project was 480 million dollars of which 65 per cent was from the World Bank and 35 per cent from the EU, adding that the allocation for Bayelsa was 55 million dollars.

    Delivering a keynote speech at the event, Retired Rear Adm. Gboribiogha Jonah, the Bayelsa Deputy Governor, decried Nigeria’s slow approach to tackling its development challenges.

    Gboribiogha said that the approach was especially slow in terms of improving life expectancy, literacy rate, access to water and roads, among others, when compared to its neighbours.

    He said that some state governments focused on developing the urban areas while the rural areas received little or no attention, noting Bayelsa had keyed into the SEEFOR project to change the narrative in the rural areas.

    Jonah commended the SEEFOR project for not only providing more than 10,000 jobs for the teeming youths in the state in the previous phases, but also for constructing roads for farmers to evacuate their farm produce.

    He emphasised that the successful execution of SEEFOR projects would attract more projects to the state.

    Jonah also said that the greatest challenge facing Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in the country was lack of access to funds that would attract minimal interest, enough time to execute projects as well as pay back loans.

    The deputy governor, who called on the participating states of Edo, Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa to have equal SEEFOR assessment, participation and benefit, enjoined them to take the peer-review sessions seriously, especially in the area of public financial management.

    Joshua Ongore, the state Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, said that the objectives of the SEEFOR project were in line with the development agenda of Gov. Seriake Dickson-led administration.

    He said that the Bayelsa Government prioritised youth empowerment through training, entrepreneurship and employment.

    He described the scheme as an innovation that would open opportunity for peer-learning across the states, stressing that the SEEFOR project was active and responding to the challenges of innovative and better ways of doing things.

     

  • Good Brexit is possible – Theresa May

    British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday said a good Brexit that would be of national interests is possible.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports May stated this while addressing the House of Commons following the publication of a draft agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.

    “A good Brexit, in the national interests, is possible. We have persevered and made a major breakthrough. Voting against a deal would take us back to square one. If we get behind a deal we can bring our country back together. We can choose to leave with no deal, and there is no Brexit at all. We can choose to unite and support the best deal we can negotiate,” the Prime Minister said.

    May’s cabinet had on Wednesday met to discuss the terms of the withdrawal agreement, and since then a number of senior members of the government, including Brexit’s secretary, Dominic Raab, have resigned over the Prime Ministers proposals.

    The draft withdrawal agreement sets out the terms of the UK’s smooth and orderly exit from the European Union, including a protocol on Northern Ireland. It reflects agreement in principle between the UK and EU negotiating teams on the full legal text.

    “We were told we had a binary choice between Norway or Canada that we could not have a bespoke deal. But the outline is better than both of these. We were told we would be treated as a third country on security but this is beyond anything the EU has agreed with any other country,” May said, defending the draft agreement.

    She said in her statement to the Commons that the draft agreement by Cabinet on Wednesday was not a final agreement, but that it brings the UK “close to a Brexit deal”.

    Outlining the deal, May said: “It takes back control of our borders, laws and money. It protects jobs, security and the integrity of the United Kingdom, and it delivers in ways that many said could simply not be done.

    “We were told we had a binary choice between the model of Norway and the model of Canada, that we could not have a bespoke deal.

    “But the outline political declaration sets out an arrangement that is better for our country than both of these – a more ambitious free trade agreement than the EU has with any other country.

    “We were told we would be treated like any other third country on security co-operation. But the outline political declaration sets out a breadth and depth of co-operation beyond anything the EU has agreed with any other country”.

     

  • Dominic Raab resignation: Brexit Secretary’s letter to Theresa May

    Britain’s Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab has resigned in protest at Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal for leaving the European Union.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Dominic Raab wrote May on Thursday saying he “cannot in good conscience support the terms proposed for our deal with the EU”.

    The letter reads: “It has been an honour to serve in your government as Justice Minister, Housing Minister and Brexit Secretary.

    “I regret to say that, following the Cabinet meeting yesterday on the Brexit deal, I must resign.

    “I understand why you have chosen to pursue the deal with the EU on the terms proposed, and I respect the different views held in good faith by all of our colleagues. For my part, I cannot support the proposed deal for two reasons.

    “First. I believe that the regulatory regime proposed for Northern Ireland presents a very real threat to the integrity of the United Kingdom. Second, I cannot support an indefinite backstop arrangement, where the EU holds a veto over our ability to exit. The terms of the backstop amount to a hybrid of the EU Customs Union and Single Market obligations.

    “No democratic nation has ever signed up to be bound by such an extensive regime, imposed externally without any democratic control over the laws to be applied, nor the ability to decide to exit the arrangement.

    “That arrangement is now also taken as the starting point for negotiating the Future Economic Partnership. If we accept that, it will severely prejudice the second phase of negotiations against the UK.

    “Above all, I cannot reconcile the terms of the proposed deal with the promises we made to the country in our manifesto at the last election. This is, at its heart, a matter of public trust.

    “I appreciate that you disagree with my judgment on these issues. I have weighed very carefully the alternative courses of action which the government could take, on which I have previously advised.

    “Ultimately, you deserve a Brexit Secretary who can make the case for the deal you are pursuing with conviction. I am only sorry, in good conscience, that I cannot.

    “My respect for you, and the fortitude you have shown in difficult times, remains undimmed”.

     

  • Breaking: Britain’s Brexit Secretary, Dominic Raab resigns

    Britain’s Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab has resigned in protest at Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal for leaving the European Union.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Dominic Raab wrote May on Thursday saying he “cannot in good conscience support the terms proposed for our deal with the EU”.

     

     

    Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) lawmaker, Jeffrey Donaldson, had on Wednesday said Theresa May’s proposed Brexit deal has the potential to break up the UK because it will treat Northern Ireland differently.

    One of 10 lawmakers who props up May’s government, Donaldson, added that he would not fear a new national election if a vote against May’s Brexit deal in parliament forced the country into another general vote.

    “From what we have seen and heard we do not believe this deal is the best deal. This deal has the potential to lead to the break-up of the United Kingdom and that is not something we can support,” Donaldson said.

    In his resignation letter, Raab said: “he cannot support May’s proposed deal for two reasons”.

     

  • Peter Obi meets with EU, WEF delegations on 2019 election, economic cooperation

    Peter Obi meets with EU, WEF delegations on 2019 election, economic cooperation

    Vice Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Peter Obi on Wednesday in Abuja met with delegations from European Union (EU) and World Economic Forum (WEF) to discuss the need to conduct free and fair elections in 2019 and how to grow the nation’s economy through collaboration.
     
    Obi who represented the Presidential candidate of the party and former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar at the two separate meetings told the EU delegation that efforts should be made to stop the ruling party, APC, from intimidating candidates of opposition political parties who, he said, now live in fear.
     
    He said that the EU should insist on a level playing field for all candidates and parties during elections in Nigeria because “there is a need to get the country back to its feet and make it better for our children’’.
     
    He said that campaigns should be based on issues so that the electorate and the international community can come to grasp with the problems of the country as well as the solutions being proffered by each of the political parties and their candidates.
     
    Obi also said that there was need for agencies like the EU to strengthen and support the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
     
    The former Anambra Governor said that judging from what happened during gubernatorial elections in Ekiti and Osun states, INEC needs to show that it remains an unbiased umpire in future elections in the country.
     
    On the issue of vote buying, Obi described the incidence as a new phenomenon and which must be stopped.
     
    “I contested and won elections when I was in a smaller party. Where would I have gotten the money to buy votes if it was the case then and how would I have gotten back the money especially when I am going to serve the people,’’ he said.
     
    On the unity of PDP, he said there was no doubt about that and the evidence could be seen from the outcome of the free and fair presidential primary election conducted in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State on October 13, 2018 where all the presidential candidates agreed that it was the best so far.
     
    On whether there was need for a fresh EU election observer group following the impending expiration of the tenure of the present group, Obi said that Nigeria deserved a replacement based on the role EU would play in ensuring free and fair elections in Nigeria in 2019
     
    In his comments, the head of the EU delegation, Ketil Karlsen said that the election observer group has been consulting stakeholders in Nigeria to ascertain whether or not it would be necessary for the union to send a new EU election observer mission.
     
    He said that the EU mission had been operating in Nigeria since 1999 and that the union had invested over 100 million Euros in Nigeria’s election process since then.
     
    Speaking at the meeting with officials of WEF, Obi emphasized the need for closer working relationship with African countries especially Nigeria because most governments in the continent do not want to work with the forum for fear of being criticized.
     
    He said that many governments in Africa implement activities that are“ transactional instead of transformational’’ and therefore needed help to shape their policies.
     
    “A lot of work needs to be done in Africa because things are tough, he said, adding that Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates of the PDP “have a clear picture of what the economic priorities are and what the international community feels about the country’’.
     
    “Nigeria needs to do something immediately for its economy to be put back on track and something has to done immediately’’, he said.
     
    Leader of the WEF delegation, Nontle Kabanyane said that the forum was ready to strengthen relationships and to implement more activities in Nigeria through a collaboration that would lead to national transformation.

  • 2019: We still don’t have confidence in INEC – PDP tells EU

    The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Prince Uche Secondus, says the party does not have confidence in the activities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) especially as the 2019 election year approaches.
    Rather than reducing, he said that the lack of confidence in the commission was getting deeper.
    Speaking when he received a delegation of the European Union Election Exploration Mission to Nigeria led by Niclay Paus, who visited him in Abuja on Wednesday, Secondus said that intelligence available to the party allegedly showed that the ruling All Progressives Congress had concluded arrangements with INEC to manipulate the electoral process.
    Secondus said that what happened during the governorship election in Osun State in September merely underscored the party’s fears that INEC was not ready to be neutral in 2019.
    He said that the party was happy that the alleged main agent of the APC in the commission, who he also said was a relation of the President, Amina Zakari, was redeployed from the Operations Department.
    However, he said the PDP would want her to resign, adding that her continued stay in office would be detrimental to the peaceful conduct of the elections.
    He said, “When we eschewed violence after the electoral theft in Osun State and decided to exercise our right to peaceful protest, the Inspector General of Police directed his personnel to tear-gas us notwithstanding the personalities involved in the protest.
     
    “Such personalities included the President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives, five state governors, myself, members of the National Working Committee and other critical leaders of the party.
     
    “Our fear is strong that the APC and the administration are not favourably disposed to a peaceful 2019 general elections and we based our position on the multiplicity of induced crises across the country.
     
    “With all the unprecedented bloodletting in the country, the President is not engaging the people and a select group operating as a cabal has hijacked the system.”
     
    Secondus urged international partners of Nigeria, especially the European Union and the United States of America to bring their influence to bear on the INEC to conduct free, fair and credible elections.
     
    He also asked them to show more than passing interests in the activities of security agencies particularly the Police.

  • Former British PM advises party to vote down May’s possible Brexit deal

    Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday said he would advise Labour Party lawmakers to vote down a Brexit divorce deal that Theresa May is trying to clinch with the EU.
    Nearly six months before the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU, there is little clarity about how the world’s fifth largest economy and its preeminent international financial centre will trade with the EU after Brexit.
    Blair, Labour prime minister from 1997 to 2007, said voters should be given another referendum on whether to stay in the EU as he saw deadlock in British politics.
    If May gets can strike a deal with the EU, she has to get it approved by the British parliament which is divided on Brexit.
    Labour has indicated it is likely to vote down any deal May brings back.
    When asked if he would advise Labour lawmakers to vote down a possible deal, Blair said: “It really is difficult.
    “The alternatives are all worse because if you do get to a blockage in parliament that is what opens up the possibility of going back to the people.
    “My view is this only happens if there is blockage in parliament.
    “However, if there is blockage in parliament it is a very simple argument. You say look we have been two and a bit years trying to reach an agreement that works, parliament is blocked.”
    Both opponents and supporters of Brexit agree that the divorce is Britain’s most significant geopolitical move since World War Two.
    However, they cast vastly different futures for the 2.9 trillion dollars UK economy and the world’s biggest trading bloc.
    Blair has repeatedly called for reversing Brexit, echoing other critics such as French President Emmanuel Macron and billionaire investor George Soros, who have suggested that Britain could still change its mind.
    Blair said that if Brexit did happen, the economic dislocation would be such that the United Kingdom would have to pitch to investors that it would be the best place in the world to do business.
     

  • Merkel welcomes Brexit progress, says devil is in detail

    Merkel welcomes Brexit progress, says devil is in detail

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on Wednesday welcomed progress in negotiations on a Brexit deal and said she wanted a close relationship with Britain after it leaves the European Union, especially on security matters.
    “I hope there is progress, apparently there is progress, but sometimes the devil is in the detail so everything is only worked out when it is all worked out,’’ she told a news conference after meeting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
    Earlier, EU negotiator Michel Barnier said a Brexit deal was “within reach’’ soon, even as he rammed home his insistence that Britain must accept possible checks on trade between its mainland and Northern Ireland.
    Merkel said the negotiations were in a decisive phase and the sooner they were concluded the better.
    “We agree that we want friendly relations with Britain, above all very, very close cooperation in the security policy area,” she said.
    Rutte told the joint news conference: “It is important that Brexit happens as orderly as possible’’.
     

  • 40 UK lawmakers willing to vote down Brexit deal

    At least 40 lawmakers in Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party are willing to vote down her possible Brexit deal if it leaves European Union (EU), a senior lawmaker said on Tuesday.
    A lawmaker, Steve Baker told BBC radio that there are possibilities for the 40 lawmakers to vote down the Brexit if it leaves the United Kingdom ‘half in and half out’ of the EU.
    “My estimate is that there are at least 40 colleagues who are not going to accept a ‘half in, half out’ Chequers deal or indeed a backstop that leaves us in the internal market and the customs union.
    “Colleagues will not tolerate a half in, half out Brexit,” Baker, who served as a junior Brexit minister in May’s government until he resigned in protest at her Brexit proposals said.
    If May secures a deal with the EU, she has to get the British parliament to approve it and would need the backing of about 320 lawmakers to get approval.
    If 40 of her lawmakers voted against a possible deal, the fate of the government and exit process would depend on the opposition Labour Party, which has indicated it will vote against almost any deal May might secure.
    Under May’s proposals, Britain will seek a free trade area for goods with the EU, largely by accepting a “common rule book” for goods and British participation in EU agencies that provide authorisations for goods.
    Some Brexiteers say those proposals would ensure the EU kept control over swathes of the British economy and thus run counter to the spirit of her manifesto pledge to leave the EU Customs Union and the Single Market.
    “We are awaiting the detail of exactly what we are going to be asked for vote for.
    ”I don’t doubt that every possible technique is going to be used to sow doubt in colleagues’ minds and to encourage them to vote with the government.
    “In the end the EU is not entitled to split the UK and it’s not entitled to constrain how we regulate our economy and govern ourselves after we leave,” Baker said.
    Without an approved deal, the UK would move from seamless trade with the rest of the European Union to customs arrangements set by the World Trade Organisation for external states with no preferential deals.
    “If the UK faces either possibility then we must in the end be willing to say it’s a bad deal, and no deal is better than a bad deal.
    “We would need to be unafraid to go forward without an agreement,” Baker said.