MEPs urge UK to break current deadlock

January 31, 2019 by European Union Leave a Comment

(Unsplash, 2019)

This article is brought to you in association with the European Parliament.

Members reaffirmed the EU’s commitment to protect peace, stability and the integrity of the internal market in Wednesday’s debate on Brexit.

During the debate, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker reaffirmed that “the withdrawal agreement, approved by both parties, is the best and only possible deal”. The majority of MEPs who took the floor underlined the EU’s need to continue preparing for a no-deal scenario and made clear that the backstop was needed to ensure that there is no return to a hard border in Ireland, to secure peace and stability and to preserve the integrity of the single market. They were supported by Michel Barnier, the EU’s Brexit chief negotiator, who stated: “It is not a dogmatic position, it is a realistic solution to a problem caused by the decision of the UK to leave the EU”. MEPs also underlined that a broad, positive majority was needed to break the current deadlock and they reaffirmed that, were the UK to suggest it, the EU is open to considering a closer, deeper future relationship.

Discover more from The European Sting - Critical News & Insights on European Politics, Economy, Foreign Affairs, Business & Technology - europeansting.com

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

© ADB/Ariel Javellana Women farmers in India sell wheat grain and buy fertilizer with the proceeds.

Middle East crisis puts aid, food, fuel further out of reach for millions already struggling – UN agencies

May 4, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. As the Middle East crisis continues the humanitarian fallout is worsening, with aid route disruptions and food and fuel price hikes wrecking the lives and the rights of the most vulnerable people worldwide, UN agencies warned on Friday. Heightened insecurity and instability around key Gulf routes, including […]

© Unsplash/Angus Gray Ship transits through the Strait of Hormuz have dropped by over 90 per cent since the crisis escalated in late February 2026.

Hormuz crisis strangling global economy, Guterres warns, demanding solutions to end stalemate

May 1, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. The escalating crisis in the Strait of Hormuz could push tens of millions into poverty, trigger a surge in global hunger and even tip the world towards recession, the UN Secretary-General warned on Thursday. António Guterres decried the restrictions on free passage through the crucial chokepoint which […]

AI in advertising risks fuelling information crisis, UN warns

April 30, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. With spending on advertising topping $1 trillion a year worldwide, the United Nations on Wednesday highlighted the untapped power of major brands to shape the future of Artificial Intelligence, warning that a failure to act could deepen a global information integrity crisis. In a new brief titled […]

2015 nuclear deal ‘no basis’ for any new agreement with Iran

April 30, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. The 2015 nuclear accord with Iran cannot be the starting point for a new agreement with the country, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Wednesday in New York. Rafael Mariano Grossi was speaking during a press conference at UN Headquarters held on […]

From Hormuz to Lebanon, crisis reverberates through trade routes, upending humanitarian networks

April 29, 2026

© WHO/Hanan Balkhy In Gaza displaced families are living in overcrowded tents and makeshift shelters, surrounded by waste and debris, with limited access to safe water and sanitation services. This article is published in association with United Nations. Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz continue to send shockwaves through global food systems, the UN Food and Agriculture […]

© UNICEF/Mohamed Zakaria A displacement centre in El Fasher, North Darfur (file).

World News in Brief: Sudan drone attacks condemned, South Sudan violence, airstrikes in Ukraine, South Africa Freedom Day

April 28, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. The United Nations has condemned two recent drone attacks in Sudan, one of which left seven dead, Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Monday during his regular media briefing in New York. An aid truck from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) that was carrying emergency shelter kits came under attack by […]

© IMO/Cihancan Tunay A ship makes its way across an ocean.

Chokepoints and conflict: How the Hormuz crisis is exposing global shipping vulnerabilities

April 27, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. The blockading of ships in the Strait of Hormuz as a result of the conflict between the United States and Iran has demonstrated how ships and seafarers have become “leverage in geopolitical disputes,” according to the head of the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO). Since conflict began […]

Middle East war: After oil and gas, concerns grow over minerals crunch

April 24, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. The shipping crisis in the Strait of Hormuz caused by war in the Middle East has exposed a new threat: a looming shortage of strategic minerals that drive economies all over the world – and a race by countries to obtain them. Until war erupted on 28 […]

Ceasefire extension offers diplomatic opening, but tensions persist in Strait of Hormuz

April 23, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. The United States’ decision to extend a fragile ceasefire with Iran has kept a narrow window open for diplomacy, but fresh security incidents in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday underscore the volatility of the situation and the risks to global shipping and regional stability. The UN […]

UN News Moreira da Silva (right), Executive Director of UNOPS on a visit to the Gaza Strip.

Strait of Hormuz: With hunger looming, life-saving fertiliser shipments cannot wait, head of UN task force says

April 22, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. As the Persian Gulf crisis continues, time is ticking for farmers who rely on fertilizer shipped via the Strait of Hormuz – and millions worldwide who depend on their crops, particularly in vulnerable countries such as war-torn Sudan. In normal times, one third of global fertiliser trade […]

UN News A popular market in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip.

Economic collapse pushes highly educated Gazans into the ‘survival economy’

April 22, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. Young Palestinians in Gaza with university-level educations are setting aside dreams of putting their hard-won skills into practice and doing whatever they can to survive. Abdullah al-Khawaja, an electrical engineering graduate displaced from Rafah to Khan Younis, now stands behind a small spice stall, having lost the […]

MONUSCO/Didier Vignon Dossou-Gbakon MONUSCO peacekeepers protect civilians in Ituri, eastern DRC.

World News in Brief: AI diagnostics, humanitarian deal for DR Congo, rights abuse allegations in Belarus, Ukraine children bear heaviest burden

April 21, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. New data shows that nearly three in four countries in Europe now use Artificial Intelligence in their health services to make a diagnosis. According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO) joint report with the European Union, 74% of countries in the bloc use AI tools in medical […]

© WFP The conflict in the Middle East is impacting the cost of food in many parts of the world.

Time running out on development goals as finance dries up, UN warns

April 21, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. Rising conflicts, the climate crisis and shrinking development finance are putting growing pressure on the poorest and most vulnerable countries – pushing development goals further off track. The warning comes in the Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2026 (FSDR), a new UN report launched on Monday, which finds […]

Ukraine’s women at breaking point after four years of war as attacks on energy, healthcare continue – UN humanitarians

World News in Brief: Myanmar amnesty, rising needs in Afghanistan, another power loss at Ukraine nuclear plant

April 20, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. Authorities in Myanmar released the country’s ousted president from prison on Friday, along with some 4,000 other people, as part of an amnesty to mark the traditional New Year festival. President Win Myint had been in jail since February 2021 when the military overthrew Myanmar’s democratically elected […]

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe Siobhán Mullally, Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children, one of the UN independent human rights experts calling for more accountability for the alleged trafficking victims in the Epstein files.

The Epstein files: Rights experts demand accountability, call for probe into trafficking allegations

April 17, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. UN independent human rights experts called on Thursday for justice and accountability for young women and girls who were trafficked systematically as part of allegations contained in the so-called Epstein files. The Human Rights Council-appointed experts also issued a general warning over the “continuing violence of patriarchal power systems” revealed […]

© World Bank A ship offloads its cargo at the port in Nuku'alofa, Tonga.

Middle East conflict chokes end of supply chain as lights go out in the Pacific

April 16, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. For Pacific Island countries, the Middle East crisis is not a distant geopolitical event. It is already showing up in higher fuel prices, electricity uncertainty and fears that communities sitting at the far end of global supply chains could be pushed into deeper economic insecurity. “We are […]

© UNICEF/Fouad Choufany The Basta neighbourhood in Beirut, Lebanon, lies in ruins.

‘Time for diplomacy over escalation’ in Middle East war: Guterres

April 15, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. As the war in the Middle East continues, the United Nations Secretary-General issued a passionate call for “serious negotiations” between the US and Iran to resume, warning that respect for international law “is being trampled” underfoot. Addressing journalists at UN Headquarters in New York outside the Security […]

© IFAD/GMB Akash Prolonged disruptions to fuel and natural gas supplies could affect the global availability of fertilizers and impact crop yields. (file photo)

‘Clock is ticking’: Hormuz disruption raises fears of global food crisis

April 14, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. The clock is ticking for global food systems as disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz threaten to choke off the flow of fuel and crucial fertilizers needed for the next planting season – also raising the risk of higher food prices and a new wave of inflation. […]

Lebanon airstrike casualties ‘still under the rubble’ as ambulances, hospitals face new threats

April 13, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. With Lebanon still reeling from Israel’s devastating airstrikes on 8 April, UN humanitarians reported new fears of attacks on ambulances and looming food shortages in the south of the country on Friday. Speaking from Beirut, where he witnessed Wednesday’s attacks first-hand, the World Health Organization (WHO)’s representative […]