It’s a frenzied clash between moderates and no-deal Brexiteers

Despite a series of defeats in Parliament, British Premier Boris Johnson is still stuck on his line, aiming at a no-deal Brexit. Last week he lost all the parliamentary votes and then single handedly expelled 21 MPs from the Conservative Party, including two former chancellors of the Exchequer and the grandson of Winston Churchill, Sir […]

The scheming of Boris: win an election after a no-deal Brexit

Quite blatantly Boris Johnson, the unrepentant Brexiteer Prime Minister of Britain suspended the function of the UK Parliament, openly lying about the reasons for doing so. He really wants to silence the voice of the majority of MPs and therefore of the British people who oppose a no-deal Brexit. Instead, Boris slyly offered a number […]

Boris as UK Premier to be cornered if attempting a no-deal Brexit

One month ago this newspaper predicted that the British Conservative Party is bound to elect Boris Johnson, an ex Foreign Secretary and former Mayor of London, as its new leader and UK Prime Minister. The election process is at the final stage, with the 160.000 party members having to choose between Johnson and the actual […]

Boris Johnson’s no-deal Brexit to differ when issued from 10 Downing St.

The British Conservative Party is now busy electing a new President and by the same token the new Prime Minister of UK. This is an exemplary democratic exercise but under the current conditions it also turns to be a tricky procedure. For one thing, the outcome of the long selection process becomes every day more […]

UK voters sent strong message to May and Corbyn for soft Brexit

Most political analysts agree that the results of last Thursday’s local elections in Britain were a strong slap by voters primarily to the governing Tory PM Theresa May and, secondly, to the major opposition Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. There is also widespread acceptance that the impressive electoral gains of the Liberal Democrats come mainly […]

Brexit: Six more months of political paralysis or a May-Corbyn compromise?

      Last Thursday in Brussels the UK Prime Minister, Theresa May felt it was necessary to tell the 27 EU leaders, who had gathered there to meet her, that “Britain is a serious country”. Until some months ago such an observation from a British PM would have been unimaginable. Until very recently nobody […]

Brexit: visa-free access to the EU for UK nationals and to the UK for Europeans

This article is brought to you in association with the European Parliament. UK nationals would be able to enter the EU visa-free for short periods after the country’s exit, provided EU nationals enjoy the same conditions when travelling to the UK. With 38 votes to 8 and 3 abstentions, Civil Liberties Committee MEPs backed on Wednesday […]

UK: Customs Union with EU or a longer delay of Brexit

Last week, the UK Parliament, the Commons, before rejecting PM Theresa May’s deal with large majority for a third time, had also voted down all eight alternative  exit options, ranging from a wild divorce to no exit at all. So far, the legislative has agreed only on delaying the exit. Now, the Prime Minister says […]

Brexit: No deal without marginalizing the hard Tory Eurosceptic MPs

More than once during the difficult past Brexit months the British Premier Theresa May has said that a deferment of the divorce day beyond the 29 March limit, will serve nothing. Actually, this is her only accurate assessment of the Brexit conundrum. Very simply because this crucial question has remained unresolved for 32 months after […]

Brexit: Only Corbyn and May in concert can make the needed compromises

A small group of British Tory MPs numbering around 120 representatives are decisively planning to send Britain to the cliff in a no-deal Brexit. Before last Xmas, they triggered an intraparty procedure to oust Prime Minister Theresa May from the party Presidency and consequently drive her out from 10 Downing Street. They were in minority […]

UK Labour Party leader Corbyn readies to change Brexit political backdrop

Tomorrow, Tuesday, the British Parliament, the Commons, is to vote on Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposal, for a kind of soft Brexit withdrawal agreement. As everybody agrees, it’s most likely this PM’s plan will be rejected by the majority of the parliamentarians, as they have also voted down her other proposals during the past critical […]

Britain in chaos: May stays as Tory leader and PM but none can defuse the Brexit time bomb

Yesterday night the embattled British Prime Minister and President of the Conservative Party, Theresa May, won an intraparty no confidence vote. This was a Tory party internal procedure, triggered by members of her own parliamentary group. In the final result 200 Conservative MPs voted for May and 117 against her. In this way, she secures […]

Britain’s May won the first round on the Brexit agreement with the EU

Last Tuesday, the British Prime Minister Theresa May, said she has struck a Brexit agreement on the future relationship with the European Union. In reality though this is a withdrawal agreement, not a full trade or otherwise deal for the future relations between the two sides. Yesterday she won the backing of her deeply divided […]

British PM May’s Brexit proposal remains obscure while her government unravels

Only days before, Theresa May, the British Prime Minister is expected to table her proposal for a Brexit deal in the Commons, the British Parliament, and her government appears unraveling. Her transport Minister Joe Johnson resigned last week, having revived the discussion about a second referendum. He was strongly pro-remain in the June 2016 Brexit […]

EU tells Britain stay in as long as you wish

This newspaper has repeatedly asserted there will be no real Brexit, at least in the foreseeable future. Last week, the European Council in Brussels confirmed this. The President of the Council, Donald Tusk, made it clear. He plainly said Britain can remain as a full EU member after the Brexit day of 29 March 2019, […]

Window for a Brexit deal: Brussels to think again May’s proposal

This is the first time the British Prime Minister Theresa May can tell mainland Europeans, she can guarantee her Tory conservative Party won’t topple her over her Brexit proposal. The reason is that, last week, she marked a triumph at the annual conference of the governing Party at Birmingham. Obviously, the burning subject of the […]

Impossible Brexit options: WTO or new referendum?

In western Austria’s ‘saltcastle’ – Saltzburg – the baroque native city of Mozart, the last EU Summit which took place there left a very bitter Brexit taste. The city’s confectioners’ efforts of supplying an unlimited variety of chocolates, baring the face of the celebrated composer, were to no avail. The British Prime Minister, Theresa May, […]

Who can unlock the stalled Brexit negotiations? UK Premier sticks to her proposal

The Brexit cataclysm comes to its apex. On the one side is Prime Minister Theresa May, and on the other around 50 unrepentant Brexiteer Tory MPs. The sides are about to cross swords within and without Parliament. Reportedly, May could pass her own – not so mild but negotiable in Brussels – version of Brexit […]

To Brexit, or not to Brexit…rather not: 10 Downing Street, London

Almost exactly two years have elapsed after the Brits voted to leave the European Union. Tomorrow, Tuesday 12 June, the elected lower House of the Parliament, the Commons, is expected to open the way for Britain to remain in EU’s customs union and the single market for an extended period of time. Most probably, Prime […]

Britain aligns with EU rivaling US on trade and Iran, abandons bilateral ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’

Last Sunday 29 April, Britain determinedly joined the other two major European Union powers, Germany and France in cautioning the US not to activate its super levies of 25% and 10% on imports of steel and aluminum respectively. Donald Trump, the president of ‘America first’, on 23 March had announced the imposition of the above […]

Trump’s trade war splits the EU; Germany upset with Juncker’s “we can be stupid too”

The US-EU trade war starts on 23 March, with the first shot fired by Washington at 12:01 a.m. (04.01 GMT). From what we know so far, from that minute onward the American customs authorities will impose extra tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, set by President Trump at 25% and 10% respectively. However, it seems […]

Is Britain to sail alone in the high seas of trade wars?

If Britain is counting on the US for a favorable bilateral trade agreement after Brexit, Donald Trump the President of ‘America first,’ rushed last Thursday to destroy that Brit dream; he announced 25% extra tariffs on steel and 10% on aluminum imports, prompting anger and retaliatory measures from America’s closest political allies, Canada and the […]

Brexit negotiations: back to square one, tougher words, no good faith

This past week, the EU and UK  Brexit negotiators’ solemn exchanges became for the first time, really aggressive and plain. Since the beginning of September 2017, during the Michel Barnier – David Davis meetings there had being difficult moments. Nevertheless, the two chief negotiators never questioned the good faith of the other side; not any […]

Disintegrating Tories will void May’s pledge for Brexit deal in seven weeks

Last Friday, Theresa May, the British Prime Minister, said from China, where she was on official visit, that in seven weeks she will have a Brexit transition deal with the EU. Surely, nobody believes her. The reason is that her Tory governing party is so deeply split over the Brexit terms, up to the point […]

EU’s unsparing question to UK: now what kind of future relations do you want?

This week, the countdown starts for Britain to offer final answers, about the three Brexit prerequisites: the divorce alimony, the future of the 4.5 million European citizens who work on the wrong side of the English Channel and the Irish border. Only then will Brussels pass to the second phase of the talks, to discuss […]

Britain offers more money for an orderly Brexit but the Irish question resurges

If last Friday’s Reuters report from Brussels is correct and Theresa May and Donald Tusk agreed to solve the Brexit dead-end in ten days, then the wild Brexiteers must have retreated  and the orderly exit side has won the first round. Tusk, the President of the European Council said in a tweet that he told […]

Do the giant banks ‘tell’ Britain to choose a good soft Brexit and ‘remain’ or else…?

It may be true that the world is tired watching Britain being completely confused about choosing the way to exit from the European Union. Yet, the almost schizo division plaguing the Brits and their political elites alike still paralyzes to this date the divorce negotiations. Countries to be most affected by Brexit like Holland are […]

Fed, ECB take positions to face the next global financial crisis; the Brits uncovered

The appointment of Jerome Powell as the next head of the US central bank, the famous Fed, is a reassurance to the financial world that the giant lenders will continue being favored by ample and very cheap money. Last Thursday, Donald Trump, the American President didn’t dare to change the cautious approach to monetary policy. […]

Czech Babis, Austrian Kurz and others threaten Europe with nationalist populism

Andrej Babis, a media magnate and second wealthier Czech leading his anti-immigration, nationalist and populist ANO party, won last Sunday’s election, with around 30% of the vote. He is to become the next Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. Babis did that on an anti-systemic Trump-like ticket. He was recently implicated in a tax fraud […]

The 27 EU leaders did nothing to help May unlock the Brexit talks

President Abraham Lincoln has said “when someone says it’s a matter of principles not money, then it’s a matter of money”. This famous saying was flagrantly confirmed last week in Brussels, when the 27 EU leaders – with Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron prominent amongst them – made it clear to Theresa May she has […]

Chauvinism and xenophobia will lead to global assertiveness and more wars

The immigration crisis of 2015 in Europe exposed the hollowness of the political system of the new millennium in the Old Continent, anguishing to cover the huge social cavities the economic neo-liberalism has created. Unfortunately, economic neo-liberalism didn’t lead to political liberalism, but instead to chauvinism, xenophobia and the insurgence of the extreme right wing […]

Britain, EU take edgy steps to unlock Brexit talks as the war of words rages

Last Monday the British Prime Minister Theresa May told the lower house of the Parliament, The Commons a no-deal Brexit is not ruled out. She clarified also that the government ‘is planning for all eventualities”, including the possibility the UK sails after Brexit as an “independent trading nation”. Then she concluded “The ball is in […]

Brexit: The Conservative Party drives the UK and Europe to a perilous road

The Tories, the governing party of Britain is falling apart, being deeply divided about the kind of Brexit their country should pursue. It’s not the disastrous political circumstances of Prime Minister Theresa May that blocks the negotiations with the European Union, but the chaos dividing the hard Brexiteers from their colleagues preferring a smooth partition […]