Month: January 2019

Japan’s Shinzo Abe is likely to urge British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday to do everything she can to avoid a disorderly Brexit that some of Japan’s leading companies have warned could be a disaster.

Japanese firms have spent more than 46 billion pounds  ($59 billion) in Britain, encouraged by successive British governments since Margaret Thatcher promising them a business-friendly base from which to trade across Europe.

Future unsure

The future of Brexit remains deeply uncertain — with options ranging from a disorderly exit from the EU to another membership referendum — because British lawmakers are expected on Jan. 15 to vote down the deal May struck with the EU in November.

Abe welcomed the deal in November and investors fear that if it is defeated then the world’s fifth largest economy would be plunged into a chaotic no-deal Brexit that would severely disrupt supply chains.

Abe and May will discuss the economic opportunities that exist for both nations as the U.K. leaves the European Union, Downing Street said ahead of the meeting.

‘Natural partners’

“The U.K. and Japan are natural partners,” May said. “As the U.K. prepares to leave the EU, we raise our horizons towards the rest of the world. Our relationship with Japan is stronger than ever, and this visit will enhance cooperation in a wide range of areas.”

For Abe, however, Britain’s trading relationship with Europe after Brexit will be high on the agenda. He told reporters before his departure to Europe that he would convey Japan’s position on Brexit to May, reports said.

When the two met at the G20 meeting in Buenos Aires in December, Abe asked for May’s support to avoid a “no deal” and to ensure transparency, predictability and legal stability in the process.

Japanese carmakers Nissan, Toyota and Honda build roughly half of Britain’s nearly 1.7 million cars and have warned about the loss of any free and unfettered trade with the European Union after Brexit.

Blunt warning

The country’s ambassador to Britain, Koji Tsuruoka, issued a blunt warning about Brexit in February when he said Japanese companies would have to leave Britain if trade barriers made them unprofitable.

“If there is no profitability of continuing operations in the U.K. — not Japanese only — then no private company can continue operations,” he said. “So it is as simple as that.”

 
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Macedonian lawmakers are in the final stretch of renaming their country North Macedonia as part of a deal with neighboring Greece in return for membership of NATO and potentially the European Union. 

Speaking at the start of a debate on essential constitutional amendments that are part of the deal, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev told lawmakers that by signing the agreement, the country is finally ending a decades-long dispute with a deal that recognizes Macedonian national identity and language.

“This is a historic and patriotic choice. We can be the generation that has made a bold decision,” Zaev said. 

The parliamentary session was adjourned until Thursday after Zaev’s speech. The debate is expected to last until Friday. 

The deal, signed in June, aims to put an end to a dispute with neighboring Greece that has kept the former Yugoslav republic out of organizations such as NATO and the EU. Greece argues use of the term “Macedonia” implies territorial claims on its own northern province of the same name, and on its ancient Greek heritage. 

The agreement has met with opposition in both countries, with opponents arguing it makes too many concessions to the other side. 

The center-right VMRO-DPMNE opposition party boycotted Wednesday’s parliamentary session, with party leader Hristijan Mickoski and other party lawmakers joining several hundred protesters outside parliament who were calling the name change deal “national treason.”

Votes are there

Despite the objections in Macedonia, the constitutional changes are expected to pass. Aleksandar Kiracovski, secretary general of the Social Democrats who heads the governing coalition, indicated the government has secured the votes from the required two-thirds, or 80, lawmakers in the 120-seat parliament.

“I have information that over 80 lawmakers have assured that Macedonia’s future is in NATO and the European Union, and this is conditioned by the `Prespa’ agreement and the constitutional changes,” Kiracovski said, referring to Lake Prespa on the border of Greece, Macedonia and Albania where the deal was signed. 

Opposition head Mickoski accused the Social Democrats of securing the majority through blackmail, although he did not elaborate on the claim. 

“The lawmakers will vote because of blackmail, not by their free will. Are these European values?” Mickoski told reporters before the parliamentary session. “’North Macedonia’ is perhaps Zaev’s homeland, but mine is the Republic of Macedonia.” 

Changes to preamble, articles

The amendments being debated envisage changing the preamble and four articles of the constitution to rename the country North Macedonia with guarantees it has no territorial aspirations towards its neighbors and is committed to good neighborly relations. 

Parliament is also expected to add an amendment to the law that puts the new constitution in force, stating the constitutional changes will not be valid until Greece’s parliament ratifies its side of the name deal and signs the accession protocol making the country a NATO member.

 
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Italy and Poland should join forces to reshape Europe, Italy’s far-right Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said on Wednesday during a visit to Warsaw to drum up support for a euroskeptic alliance to contest May elections to the European Parliament.

The euroskeptic governments in Rome and Warsaw are both keen to repatriate some EU powers from Brussels to national capitals and hope like-minded parties will do well in the May elections, which will follow Britain’s planned exit from the bloc in March.

“Poland and Italy will be part of the new spring of Europe, the renaissance of European values,” he told a press conference with Poland’s Interior Minister Joachim Brudzinski.

Salvini’s visit to Warsaw was initiated by Brudzinski, who said the two had discussed migration and EU border security.

Salvini has repeatedly railed against the EU and says the May elections are vital for creating a “reformist” bloc that can overhaul Brussels institutions from within.

Salvini, whose anti-immigrant League is the most popular party in Italy, said his talks on Wednesday with Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS), had gone well.

PiS has echoed the League’s calls for Brussels to interfere less in the affairs of EU member states, though the parties are not currently allied in the European Parliament.

“At a party level, we have started a journey, a sharing of ideas, visions and projects for the future of the European Parliament that will, at long last, be profoundly different to what went before,” Salvini said.

“We started a dialogue. To close a deal in half an hour seems overly optimistic,” he added.

Salvini said he wanted to put together an alliance of like-minded EU parties that would campaign on a shared, 10-point program that has yet to be fully defined.

“We proposed a common program to be offered to other parties and peoples in Europe founded on certain themes, like (economic) growth, security, the family, Europe’s Christian roots that some have denied,” Salvini said.

At present, Salvini is allied to a small group of far-right parties such as Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in France and the anti-Islam Freedom Party in the Netherlands. But he wants to extend its reach and draw in conservative groups like PiS.

Previous attempts by populist right-wing parties to form a euroskeptic alliance in the European Parliament have not been very successful as they often have different priorities or interests and show little appetite for compromise.

Despite its euroskepticism, PiS has recently been trying to mend fences with Brussels, agreeing to reverse a law criticized by the EU that had forced Polish Supreme Court judges into early retirement.

Salvini has also called for an end to EU sanctions against Russia, while Kaczynski and other Polish conservatives support them and are deeply distrustful of Moscow.

 
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The United States downgraded the diplomatic status of the European Union’s delegation in Washington last year without formally announcing the change or telling Brussels, according to EU officials.

They say it only came to light when the bloc’s envoy in the U.S. capital, Irish diplomat David O’Sullivan, discovered he wasn’t being invited to certain events and was invited to the funeral of former U.S. President Herbert Walker Bush after national ambassadors, despite his seniority.

Diplomacy is saturated with symbolism and double meanings – and the downgrade, which now has been temporarily reversed – has angered EU officials, who fear the move was meant as a snub. They’ve requested an explanation for the downgrade, according to EU spokesperson Maja Kocijancic.

Motives elusive

Politicians and analysts on both sides of the Atlantic are struggling, though, to understand the motives for the demotion, debating whether the move was meant as a rebuff by an administration that has clashed with Brussels over trade and defense issues or whether it was the result of a bureaucratic mix-up.

“The demotion of the EU representative was reversed following bilateral talks in December,” an EU official told reporters Tuesday in Brussels.

President Donald Trump has been a vocal supporter of Britain’s exit from the EU – describing himself on the campaign trail as Mr. Brexit and frequently lambasting the bloc for running trade surpluses with America.

He has embraced anti-EU figures, including Nigel Farage, a leading Brexiter and onetime leader of the UK Independence party, whom he met after his election win ahead of meeting any EU leaders or Britain’s prime minister. The president tweeted that he thought Farage should be made Britain’s ambassador to the U.S. “Many people would like to see @Nigel_Farage represent Great Britain as their Ambassador to the United States. He would do a great job!” Trump said.

Because of the partial government shutdown in Washington, the State Department is not responding to media requests about the protocol change.

‘Not notified of any change’

Previously, the U.S. treated the EU delegation and its ambassador as representatives of a country would be, say European officials. But the change, which is thought to have been made last October or November, downgraded the diplomatic status of the EU delegation to that of representing an international organization, a much lower pegging with potential impact regarding access to the administration.

“We understand that there was a recent change in the way the diplomatic precedence list is implemented by the United States’ Protocol,” said Kocijancic in a statement. “We are discussing with the relevant services in the administration possible implications for the EU delegation in Washington. We were not notified of any change. We expect the diplomatic practice established some years ago to be observed.”

The status change was first reported by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. “We don’t exactly know when they did it, because they conveniently forgot to notify us,” an EU official told the broadcaster. “This is clearly not simply a protocol issue, but this is something that has a very obvious political motive,” he said.

Other EU diplomats in the U.S. capital contacted by VOA expressed the same view. A senior European diplomat maintained the relegation also may have been motivated by a wish to reverse a decision taken by the previous Obama administration, which upgraded the status of the delegation of the 28-nation bloc in 2016.

“If this wasn’t meant as a snub then the timing is odd,” he said. “Normally protocol tweaks are made in the first few months of a new administration, not two years in,” he said. “That aside, even if they didn’t intend it as a rebuff, they must have realized that’s how it would be interpreted. It is in line with what we see as an anti-EU stance by the Trump administration, which also dislikes multilateral organizations.”

‘Petty Trump move’

In a speech in Brussels in December, as the diplomatic downgrade was being discussed between U.S. and EU officials, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Trump’s “America First” policy was reshaping the post-Second World War system by recognizing the importance of sovereign states over multilateral institutions. He criticized “bureaucrats” for believing multilateralism is “an end in itself,” and cast doubt on the EU’s commitment to its citizens. That drew a sharp rebuke from the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm.

Several high-profile European politicians reacted to the news of the downgrade Tuesday with frustration. “Soap opera politics: US downgrades EU mission in DC in a petty Trump move,” tweeted Carl Bildt of the European Council on Foreign Relations and a former Swedish prime minister.

Euro-skeptics cheered. “That should take the EU superstate down a peg or two!” tweeted the pro-Brexit Leave campaign.

EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom Tuesday heads to Washington for a round of trade talks with U.S. counterpart Robert Lighthizer. Trade tensions between Brussels and Washington have flared since Trump imposed tariffs on European aluminum and steel imports.

The U.S. president has threatened to impose tariffs on the European cars, too.
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Labor rights campaigners warned against complacency as the European Union on Tuesday withdrew its threat to ban Thai fishing imports into the bloc, saying that the country has made progress in tackling illegal and unregulated fishing.

The EU’s so-called “yellow card” on Thai fishing exports has been in place since April 2015 as a warning that the country was not sufficiently addressing the issues.

“Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing damages global fish stocks, but it also hurts the people living from the sea, especially those already vulnerable to poverty,” Karmenu Vella, European Commissioner for environment and fisheries said.

“Today’s decision reverses the first step of a process that could have led to a complete import ban of marine fisheries products into the EU,” he said in a statement.

Thailand has amended its fisheries legal framework in line with international law, and improved its monitoring and surveillance systems, including remote monitoring of fishing activities and more robust inspections at port, the EU said.

The country’s multibillion-dollar seafood industry has also come under scrutiny for slavery, trafficking and violence on fishing boats and at onshore processing facilities.

After the EU threatened to ban fish exports, and the U.S. State Department said it was failing to tackle human trafficking, the Southeast Asian country toughened up its laws and increased fines for violations.

Thailand has introduced modern technologies — from satellites to optical scanning and electronic payment services — to crack down on abuses.

But the International Labor Organization said in March that fishermen remained at risk of forced labor, and the wages of some continued to be withheld.

The EU on Tuesday said it recognized efforts by Thailand to tackle human trafficking and to improve labor conditions in the fishing sector.

Thailand voted in December to ratify ILO convention 188 — which sets standards of decent work in the fishing industry — becoming the first Asian country to do so.

But important gaps remain, said Steve Trent, executive director at advocacy group Environmental Justice Foundation.

“We still have concerns about the workers. We need to see that the reforms are durable,” he said.

Thailand is yet to ratify two other ILO conventions on the right to organize and the right to collective bargaining, both of which are essential to protect workers, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

This is particularly important in the fishing and seafood processing industries, as most of their estimated 600,000 workers are migrant workers.

“There is a risk that with the lifting of the yellow card, complacency will set in. We need to see a culture of compliance, and more being done to protect vulnerable workers in the industry,” Trent said.
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The European Union on Tuesday froze the assets of an Iranian intelligence unit and two of its staff, as the Netherlands accused Iran of two killings on its soil and joined France and Denmark in alleging Tehran plotted other attacks in Europe.

The move, although in part symbolic since one of the men is in prison in Belgium, marks the first time the EU has enacted sanctions on Iran since lifting a host of curbs on it three years ago following its 2015 nuclear pact with world powers.

The decision, which includes designating the unit and the two Iranians as terrorists, follows last year’s disclosure by Denmark and France that they suspected an Iranian government intelligence service of pursuing assassination plots on their soil. Copenhagen sought an EU-wide response.

“EU just agreed to enact sanctions against an Iranian Intelligence Service for its assassination plots on European soil. Strong signal from the EU that we will not accept such behavior in Europe,” Denmark’s Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said on Twitter.

France, which has already hit the two men and the ministry unit with sanctions, has said there was no doubt the Iranian intelligence ministry was behind a failed attack near Paris.

On Tuesday, the Dutch government publicly accused Iran of the plots, as well as two killings in 2015 and 2017, sending a letter to parliament to warn of further economic sanctions if Tehran did not cooperate with European investigations.

The letter signed by the Dutch foreign and interior ministers said Britain, France, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium met Iranian officials to convey “their serious concerns regarding Iran’s probable involvement in these hostile acts on EU territory.”

“Iran was informed that involvement in such matters is entirely unacceptable and must be stopped immediately … further sanctions cannot be ruled out,” the letter said.

Iran has denied any involvement in the alleged plots, saying the accusations were intended to damage EU-Iran relations.

“Accusing Iran won’t absolve Europe of responsibility for harboring terrorists,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tuesday in a tweet.

“Europeans, incl(uding) Denmark, Holland and France, harbor MEK,” he added, referring to an exiled Iranian opposition group Mujaheedin-e Khalq.

Paris accused Iran of a plot to carry out a bomb attack at a rally near Paris organized by the MEK. Denmark says it foiled an Iranian intelligence plan to assassinate an Iranian Arab opposition figure on its soil.

On Tuesday, the Netherlands said it had “strong indications” that Iran was behind the assassinations of two Dutch nationals of Iranian origin, in 2015 and in 2017. The latter was dissident Iranian Arab activist Ahmad Mola Nissi who was gunned down by an unidentified assailant in front of his home in The Hague.

Iran denies any involvement in the killings.

Sanctions sensitive

The decision to impose the curbs was taken without debate at an unrelated meeting of Europe ministers in Brussels and the asset freeze comes into effect Wednesday, EU officials said.

The Danish Foreign Ministry named the two employees as the deputy minister and director general of intelligence, Saeid Hashemi Moghadam, and a Vienna-based diplomat, Assadollah Asadi.

Their names are to appear in the EU’s Official Journal on Wednesday.

Sanctions on the intelligence ministry, which is under the control of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, are unlikely to change what the European Union says are Iran’s destabilizing activities in Europe and the Middle East.

The deputy minister and director general of intelligence is in Iran, while the Iranian diplomat was charged and is being held by Belgian authorities. Neither appear to have assets in France, which first imposed the asset freeze late last year.

But imposing economic sanctions on Iran, once the EU’s top oil supplier, remains highly sensitive for the bloc.

The EU has been straining to uphold the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and world powers that U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of in May. It has been less willing to consider sanctions, instead seeking talks with Tehran.

Iran has warned it could ditch the nuclear deal if EU powers do not protect its trade and financial benefits.
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As politicians argue over how or even if Britain should leave the European Union, the chances of the country crashing out by default with no deal in place are rising fast. As the exit day of March 29 approaches, governments and businesses in Europe are trying to prepare for the chaos that would follow – with supply chains, energy networks and basic cross-border services like banking facing prolonged uncertainty. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
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France plans to crack down heavily on unauthorized protesters, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced Monday, after an anti-government march over the weekend turned violent.

“We need to preserve the right to demonstrate in France, and we must sanction those who break the law,” Philippe told French television, saying they include “those who take part in undeclared protests, those who arrive at protests with balaclavas (face masks).”

Philippe said proposed laws would ban troublemakers from marches the same way hooligans and thugs are stopped from entering football stadiums.

He also said marchers would be forced to pay for damages to vandalized buildings and wrecked property.

An anti-government protest Saturday began peacefully but soon turned violent when some marchers set motorcycles and a restaurant on fire and threw debris at police.

One officer was hurt when a protester dropped a bicycle on him from a bridge.

The so-called yellow vest marches erupted across France in November to protest a new gasoline tax, but soon turned into a general anti-government protest.
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The ranks of prominent citizens opposed to a new Italian law cracking down on asylum-seekers swelled on Monday, with more governors announcing court challenges to the populist government’s measure.

The law, approved first in the form of a government decree and later by Parliament late last year, tightens criteria for migrants receiving humanitarian protection, granting that status only to victims of labor exploitation, human trafficking, domestic violence, natural calamities and a few other limited situations.

Previously, many asylum-seekers who failed to qualify for full asylum were accorded humanitarian protection, with Italy allowing them to stay for a fixed term and receive social benefits. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who leads the anti-migrant League party, contends Italian authorities had been too elastic in the past in granting such protection.

The new law bans asylum-seekers from gaining residency, which is needed to apply for public housing or a place for their children in public nursery schools, as well as complete access to Italy’s national health care system. And those accorded humanitarian protection won’t be eligible for shelter in government-run facilities for asylum-seekers, sparking concern they’ll end up living on the street.

Piedmont Gov. Sergio Chiamparino told Sky TG24 TV Monday that he’ll ask Italy’s constitutional court to decide whether the law violates the Constitution. He said he’d join forces with Tuscany’s governor in the court challenge.

“A really wide movement is being created” to challenge the residency measure, Tuscany Gov. Enrico Rossi said in Florence. He explained that Tuscany’s challenge would take aim on the tightened criteria for humanitarian protection as well as the ban on achieving residency.

Umbria, another central region, also decided on a court challenge of the law.

Chiamparino said in the meanwhile his region would continue to provide full health care for asylum-seekers and insisted by doing so, he wasn’t disobeying the law.

“We are simply obeying a fundamental principle that someone with a health problem gets treatment,” Chiamparino said.

Last week, the mayors of Palermo, Naples and some smaller cities vowed not to implement the law. Others, like Milan’s mayor, sharply criticized the law, but said they would implement it unless courts ruled otherwise.

In Milan, on Monday evening, about 50 critics of the crackdown protested outside city hall. Some banged wooden spoons on pot lids to draw attention to their cause.

Among mayors criticizing the law are some from the 5-Star Movement, a government coalition partner. Livorno’s 5-Star Mayor Filippo Nogarin, while saying that laws must be respected, has slammed the measure as “anything but a good law, ethically and politically.”

Cracks have formed lately in the government coalition over migrant policy, with a prominent faction of the 5-Stars pushing for Italy to allow migrants rescued at sea from human traffickers’ unseaworthy boats to reach Italy.

Salvini insists Italy’s ports are closed to private group’s migrant rescue vessels.
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Britain’s embattled Theresa May will make a push this week to persuade rebel lawmakers in her ruling Conservative party to back her contentious Brexit withdrawal agreement.

But little has changed since she delayed before Christmas a House of Commons vote on the proposed deal and few observers believe she’ll be successful as many rebel lawmakers are locked into their opposition because of public promises they’ve made to their constituency parties.

Meanwhile, political pressure is mounting on the prime minister, who insists she can win the vote, to delay Britain’s scheduled March 29 exit from the European Union.  Two former ministers from the Cabinets of Margaret Thatcher, Ken Clarke and Chris Patten, have urged her to rethink and put Britain’s exit from the bloc on hold in order for a political consensus to be hammered out on Britain’s future relationship with the EU.

Patten added his voice Monday to calls for a re-run Brexit referendum, “It may be that we can only end this divisive and impoverishing argument by holding another referendum,” he said.

May has adamantly ruled out holding another plebiscite to break the parliamentary deadlock.  More than 200 MPs from various parties have signed a letter urging her to take the prospect of a no-deal Brexit off the table, if she fails to garner the parliamentary support she needs for her Brexit withdrawal agreement to be approved.

The politicians from the Conservative, Labor, Liberal Democrat and the nationalist parties of Scotland and Wales are concerned about the impact on British manufacturing crashing out of the bloc in March without any kind of arrangement with the European Union, the only legal current option.

In their collective letter, the lawmakers wrote, “Leaving the EU without a deal would cause unnecessary economic damage.  Trading on World Trade Organization terms would instantly make our manufacturers less competitive and make it very difficult for the industry to justify producing goods in the UK for export. Leaving without a deal would make continued investment in UK manufacturing a real challenge for global firms, when they have plants in other European locations.”

May has little more than a week to rescue her Brexit plan.  The House of Commons will restart debate on the Brexit withdrawal agreement Wednesday.

The House of Commons is likely to vote on the proposed deal next week unless the government again postpones it, something May on Sunday pledged not to do.

May’s deal, which was negotiated after almost two years of ill-tempered haggling between British and EU negotiators, tries to square the circle between Britons who want to remain in the EU, or closely tied to it, and Brexiters.

The proposed deal would see Britain locked in a customs union with the European Union for several years while it negotiates a more permanent, but vaguely defined, free-trade settlement with its largest trading partner.  In the temporary customs union, Britain would be unable to influence EU laws, regulations and product standards it would have to observe.  It would not be able to implement free trade deals with non-EU countries.

The transition was agreed to avoid customs checks on the border separating Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, but British lawmakers fear Britain could be shackled indefinitely to the bloc even if a final free-trade deal isn’t negotiated.  Brexiters claim the Brexit agreement May negotiated turns Britain into a “vassal state,” a rule-taker and not a rule-maker.

May’s aides appear convinced the European Union will offer some concessions in the next few days to help the British leader get the votes she needs, but critics say they’re reaching for straws, and EU leaders frustrated with the time and energy they have spent on Brexit appear in no mood to offer her assistance.

Britain’s divorce deal with Brussels is the only deal on the table and cannot be renegotiated, an EU Commission spokesperson said Monday.  EU officials say the bloc will continue to advance its “no deal” planning and no more Brexit negotiation meetings are scheduled.  The language used by the EU Commission Monday is no different from what EU leaders have used since the deal was signed in November.

May promised before Christmas to get legal reassurances from Brussels over the so-called Irish backstop – the insurance policy to ensure a hard border with customs checks is not reimposed on the island of Ireland.

With May unable apparently to squeeze anything out of the bloc’s negotiators in the final hour that would substantially alter the political dynamic in London, her aides are also considering a parliamentary trick — to change the wording of the legislation presenting the Brexit withdrawal agreement next week by making any approval of the deal contingent on the European Union offering more concessions.

The move would be intended to limit the scale of the parliamentary rebellion against May. But EU officials say that would infuriate Brussels, which would unlikely accept the blackmail.

 
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