The Economist (November 27)
The EU is currently “recording nearly a quarter of a million cases a day,” its highest levels ever, and the WHO has warned “that 700,000 more Europeans could die by March.” Eventually, “covid-19 will probably settle down as a seasonal disease, a lethal threat to the elderly and the poor in health, but to everyone else mostly a nuisance. However, as Europe is discovering, getting there will be perilous.”
Tags: Cases, COVID-19, Die, Elderly, EU, Europe, Health, Highest, Lethal threat, March, Nuisance, Poor, Seasonal disease, WHO
BBC (October 27)
“The impact of Brexit on the UK economy will be worse in the long run compared to the coronavirus pandemic.” According to Richard Hughes, the chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility, “leaving the EU will reduce the UK’s potential GDP by about 4% in the long term” while the impact of the pandemic is forecast as a 2% contraction of GDP.
New York Times (September 21)
“The halt to the 18-month ban on travel from 33 countries, including members of the European Union, China, Iran, South Africa, Brazil and India, could help rejuvenate a U.S. tourism industry that has been crippled by the pandemic,” which caused travel spending to fall by approximately $500 billion in 2020.
US News and World Report (July 17)
“Just as the European Union was announcing plans to spend billions of euros to contain climate change, massive clouds gathered over Germany and nearby nations to unleash an unprecedented storm that left death and destruction in its wake.” Both politicians and weather forecasters were left “shocked at the ferocity of the precipitation that caused flash flooding that claimed more than 150 lives.”
Tags: Climate change, Death, Destruction, EU, Euros, Ferocity, Forecasters, Germany, Politicians, Precipitation, Shocked, Storm, Unprecedented, Weather
Guardian (February 10)
“Across the UK, firms and consumers are discovering costs of Brexit that Mr Johnson denied. That denial was born of a failure to understand the trade-off between regulatory autonomy and market access. The prime minister swapped seamless trade for notional sovereignty and passed the cost on to unsuspecting businesses. Naturally, he wants to blame the EU for any pain. These are not teething troubles in implementation of the deal. They are the deal.”
Tags: Blame, Brexit, Consumers, Costs, Denial, EU, Failure, Firms, Johnson, Market access, Regulatory autonomy, Seamless trade, Sovereignty, Trade-off, UK
New York Times (January 27)
“For months now, wealthy countries have been clearing the world’s shelves of coronavirus vaccines, leaving poorer nations with little hope of exiting the pandemic in 2021. But a fresh skirmish this week has pitted the rich against the rich — Britain versus the European Union — in the scramble for vials, opening a new and unabashedly nationalist competition that could poison relations and set back collective efforts to end the pandemic.”
Tags: Collective efforts, Competition, Coronavirus, EU, Nationalist, Nations, Pandemic, Poison, Poor, Relations, Rich, Skirmish, UK, Vaccines, Wealthy
Bloomberg (January 24)
“The world economy is facing a tougher start to 2021 than expected as coronavirus infections surge and it takes time to roll out vaccinations…. Double-dip recessions are now expected in Japan, the euro area and U.K. as restrictions to curb the virus’s spread are enforced.” Advanced economies are “beginning on a weak note and emerging economies diverging.”
Tags: 2021, Coronavirus, Double-dip recessions, Economy, Emerging, EU, Infections, Japan, Surge, U.K., Vaccinations
NBC News (January 1)
“Millions of us feel a great sense of loss. Our divorce from the European Union will hinder the freedom of movement of people — and ideas.” While it is “a relief that a deal to govern U.K.-E.U. relations post-divorce was done at all,” the deal did not deliver new freedoms. Essentially it achieved “a loss of freedoms, quite the opposite of what we were promised.”
The Guardian (December 24)
“The Brexit deal itself is nothing but thin gruel. It will make it much harder for Britain to sell services to EU countries, where we were once advantaged. Britons will lose their right to freely travel, work and settle in other European countries. While there will be no tariffs or restrictions on the quantity of goods that can be sold, British exports will for the first time in decades face checks on their origins and compliance with EU regulations.”
Tags: Advantaged, Brexit deal, Compliance, EU, EU regulations, Exports, Restrictions. Goods, Services, Tariffs, Travel, Work
Wall Street Journal (December 17)
“Who wins from Brexit? New York.” No matter how “current negotiations between the U.K. and EU end, U.S. swap exchanges stand to gain European business.”
Tags: Brexit, Business, EU, Gain, Negotiations, New York, Swap exchanges, U.K., U.S., Wins
