Washington Post (April 7)
The United States, France, the EU, China, India and 136 other parties have ratified the Paris agreement, which went into force in November. “Now is the time to implement it—to actually reduce our greenhouse-gas emissions, to ensure that policies match national commitments. It is time to develop and market clean technologies, and to seize new national and international economic opportunities.” But the “global fight cannot succeed if all parties are not fully on board and if they don’t assume their share of the burden or seek to capitalize on the opportunities.”
Tags: China, Clean technologies, EU, France, GHG, India, Opportunities, Paris Agreement, U.S.
The Guardian (March 29)
“There’s no going back–May has burned the boats of a divided nation.” But the move is backward looking, despite the Prime Minister’s protestations that the move will enable “a stronger, fairer, better Britain–a Britain our children and grandchildren are proud to call home.” In fact, only 12% of young people aged 18-24 support Brexit while 65% think leaving the EU is wrong. “At the other end of the age spectrum, the over-65s say the opposite, with 62% saying it was right to leave and 31% saying it was wrong.”
The Economist (March 18)
“Westminster is unlikely to refuse the request” for another Scottish referendum. Refusal “would add to the already-damaging perception of an English-dominated government that ignores Scotland. Once again a Conservative prime minister faces the prospect of presiding over the break-up of the union. And this time it is against the backdrop of perhaps the most complex international negotiations Britain has ever undertaken, as it leaves the European Union.”
Tags: Break-up, Conservative, EU, Government, Perception, Referendum, Scotland, Westminster
Financial Times (February 24)
Germany and Italy now appear to be backing Brussels hardliners on fixing the bill for Brexit. They are supporting Michel Barnier, the chief EU negotiator, “in seeking progress on divorce terms as an opening step.” The move to focus “on Britain’s €60bn exit bill” will come as a major “blow to Downing Street.”
Tags: Barnier, Brexit, Brussels, Divorce terms, Downing Street, EU, Germany, Hardliners, Italy, Negotiator
The Economist (February 11)
“Leave campaigners promised voters that Brexit would save the taxpayer £350m ($440m) a week. That pledge was always tendentious. But officials in Brussels are drawing up a bill for departure that could mean Britain’s contributions remain close to its membership dues for several years after it leaves.” The final tab is estimated to be “anything between €24.5bn ($26.1bn) and €72.8bn.”
Newsweek (February 8)
“A hard “Brexit could threaten 30,000 jobs in London’s world-class finance sector,” according to a recent report, if the firms “lose their ‘passport’ to operate across the EU.” Of course, nobody will really know until Brexit transpires, but the same study suggests “17 percent of all U.K. banking assets might be on the move as a result of Brexit” and the U.K.’s share of the European financial services market could contract from the current 90% to around 60%.
The Economist (January 21)
“Negotiating free-trade agreements will be harder and more time-consuming than Mrs May suggests.” Reaching a comprehensive deal in two years is unrealistic. “Canada’s free-trade deal with the EU has taken seven years and is not yet in force. For Britain to replicate the EU’s trade deals with 53 third countries will be more testing” and ratification remains “tricky,” requiring approval by every parliament in the EU.”
Tags: Approval, Canada, EU, Free-trade agreements, May, Negotiations, Ratification, UK, Unrealistic
Financial Times (December 31)
“After December’s No vote in the Italian referendum, the rise of Donald Trump and the British vote to leave the EU, it appears that the political landscape of the developed world is being redesigned by the victims of globalisation and technological change. Anger towards political elites is pervasive. Yet a few rage-free zones remain, of which Japan is the most conspicuous.” Japan’s “immunity from the populist political tide remains remarkable.”
Tags: Anger, Elites, EU, Globalisation, Italy, Japan, Political landscape, Populist, Referendum, Technological change, Trump, UK, Victims
Financial Times (November 24)
“A careful, calibrated fiscal adjustment to return a government to sustainability is one thing. A brutish insistence on running surpluses well into the future is quite another.” The EU should avoid “choking off a nascent recovery in the Greek economy and setting back the cause of reducing its debt burden.”
Tags: Calibrated, Careful, Debt burden, EU, Fiscal, Government, Greek economy, Recovery, Surpluses
The Economist (November 5)
“It is rare for a court judgment to cause turmoil in the foreign-currency markets. Yet the pound soared on the morning of November 3rd after the High Court in London ruled that only Parliament has the authority to trigger Article 50 of the European Union treaty, the legal route for Britain to leave the EU.” The decision ignited market hopes “that Parliament might choose to block Brexit altogether or, perhaps more plausibly, that it will attach conditions,” increasing the likelihood of a “soft” Brexit.
Tags: Article 50, Brexit, Court, EU, Foreign currency, Judgment, Markets, Parliament, Pound