Britain-Brexit: Boris Johnsons Brexiteers' bid to force no-deal suffers legal blow, as constitutional expert warns UK 'heading for deep trouble': by Adam Forrest, Ashley Cowburn, Zamira Rahim, Jane Dalton

A new Trans-Atlantic Axis

Britain is in “deep trouble” unless Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn can act like “good chaps” and find a way to resolve the Brexit crisis, a leading constitutional expert has warned.

In a boost for pro-EU campaigners, a Court of Session judge has ruled that a legal challenge seeking to prevent Mr Johnson from suspending parliament to force through a no-deal exit will be heard before 31 October.

It comes as No 10 is said to be ready to pull British diplomats out of Brussels. Donald Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton, meanwhile, said the UK was “first in line” for a trade deal with the US after meeting the PM.

Meanwhile John Bercow, the House of Commons speaker, has warned that he will try to stop the prime minister from suspending parliament.

Mr Bercow told an audience at the Edinburgh Fringe festival that he "strongly" believes the House of Commons "must have its way", in remarks reported by the Herald newspaper.

"And if there is an attempt to circumvent, to bypass or - God forbid - to close down Parliament, that is anathema to me," he said.

"I will fight with every breath in my body to stop that happening."

Amber Rudd also told the BBC on Tuesday that she would urge the prime minister not to suspend the Commons.

Read more at:: Boris Johnson news: Brexiteers' bid to force no-deal suffers legal blow, as constitutional expert warns UK 'heading for deep trouble' | The Independent

The Digest  Group

Almere-Digest
EU-Digest
Insure-Digest 
Turkish-Digest 

For additional information, including advertising rates - e-mail:Freeplanet@protonmail.com

EU-US Relations: EU President Donald Tusk warns EU leaders to ″prepare for the worst″ in EU-US relations

European Council President Donald Tusk warned European Union leaders that they should "prepare for the worst" in EU-US relations in a letter to EU leaders who will be gathering in Brussels for a summit on Thursday and Friday.

He laid out the agenda for discussions at the important meeting, with migration topping the list.

Transatlantic relations

Writing on the issue of transatlantic relations, Tusk said the EU must be prepared for "worst-case scenarios" as US President Donald Trump's policies have been increasingly at loggerheads with the bloc's values.

"It is my belief that, while hoping for the best, we must be ready to prepare our union for worst-case scenarios," Tusk wrote. "Despite our tireless efforts to keep the unity of the West, transatlantic relations are under immense pressure due to the policies of President Trump."

Trump has decided to withdraw his country from the Paris climate deal and the Iran nuclear deal, despite repeated pleas by the EU to stick with them.

One EU official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told DPA news agency that such "negative" decisions were starting to "look like a pattern" where the US has "no friends, no enemies" and where preserving the international rules-based structure was not a focus.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will share his views on EU-NATO cooperation at the meeting.

Read more: Donald Tusk warns EU leaders to ″prepare for the worst″ in EU-US relations | News | DW | 27.06.2018

EU - Polish relations: Polish parliament steps up showdown with EU - by Eric Maurice

The Polish parliament adopted a controversial reform of the Supreme Court on Thursday (20 July), stepping up a showdown with the EU.

The law, which puts the Supreme Court under government control, was passed with 235 votes against 192 and 23 abstentions, just a day after the European Commission had called on Polish authorities to suspend the bill or face a rule of law procedure that could lead to sanctions.

"We are coming very close to triggering Article 7," the EU executive vice president Frans Timmermans warned on Wednesday, referring to a rule of law procedure.

The vote led the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, who is a former Polish prime minister, to publish a statement calling for a solution to a "very serious situation".

Tusk said that he proposed a meeting with Polish president Andrej Duda to try to avoid "bleak outcomes which could ultimately lead to the marginalisation of Poland in Europe."
He said that the reforms carried out by the Polish government were a "dangerous tendency".

Read more: Polish parliament steps up showdown with EU

Brexit Talks Brussels: Davis and Barnier hold press conference after first day of Brexit talks - by Andrew Sparrow

Brexit Negotiations get underway

The British newspaper The Guardian reports EU negotiator Michel Barnier said it will be up to the European council, led by Donald Tusk, to decide later if sufficient progress has been made on these issues to allow talks to move on to trade.

He said, in leaving the EU, Britain will no longer have the same rights and opportunities as EU members.

But the EU can build a new partnership with the UK, and that will contribute to stability on the continent.

He says “a fair deal is possible, and far better than no deal”.

The British negotiator David Davis said the talks were “very constructive”. He says a deal is “eminently achievable”.

Note EU-Digest: Britain is about to go down on its knees before Trump to beg for post Brexit trade access to the USA,  and is in no position to stand up to him and all his nonsensical "make America great again" ideology, as France, Germany and Italy have done, when they issued a powerful joint public statement against Trump policies. Bottom line, the best thing for Britain is to get back into the EU fold and face the global storm winds as a member of the EU. After all  - United we stand -Divided we fall.     

Read more: Davis and Barnier hold press conference after first day of Brexit talks - Politics live | Politics | The Guardian

EU-Belgium-NATO: Trump meets with EU officials and scolds world leaders at NATO ceremony in Brussels

"Manneken Pis," Bruxelles most famous fountain

President Trump criticized leaders at a dedication ceremony at the new NATO headquarters in Brussels, May 25, saying they need to increase financial contributions to combat "the threat of terrorism."

"America instead of haggling over money", say most European politicians," must not forget that Europe is on the front-line of the American defense in case of an attack from the Russians. That should be worth every cent the US invests into Europe's defense."

In his speech to NATO leaders, President Trump also said  NATO must focus on terrorism and that “nations owe massive amounts of money” on defense.

Thursday’s NATO meeting was scheduled to allow Trump and leaders of NATO states to take the measure of each other. The 27 other members had hoped to relieve anxiety that arose during Trump’s campaign, when he questioned why the United States was spending its own money to defend Europe, called NATO “obsolete” and ill-equipped to deal with terrorism, and threatened to withdraw if other members failed to pay their “fair share.”

Moreover, though the White House had sent recent signals that the United States would stay in NATO’s mutual defense pact, known as Article 5, Trump made no mention of it as he stood next a monument dedicated to the only time the article had been previously invoked: during the terror attacks on September 11, 2001.

Donald Trump did vow, however, to crack down on leaks that prompted Manchester police to withhold information from the United States about the investigation into this week’s bombing.

Earlier during the day Mr. Trump met with EU President Tusk and other EU officials. 

After the meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels ended, Tusk, who presides over the European Council said:  "I am not 100% sure that we can say today ... that we have a common position, common opinion, about Russia," but Tusk added that both parties remain critical of Russia's military incursions into neighboring Ukraine.

Tusk also said "some issues remain open" with Trump, including climate change and trade policy.

EU members have long questioned Trump's warm comments toward Putin, who has backed many anti-EU candidates in elections throughout the continent. And countries such as France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have expressed concerns about similar Russian hacking and disinformation campaigns to undermine elections in their countries.

Trump's meeting with Tusk, who presides over the European Council, and Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, preceded talks with leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The Trump Brussels stop came in the middle of Trump's first foreign trip as president, one that began with visits to Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Rome. Trump is spending nine days away from Washington, which is still reeling from a spate of recent revelations related to Trump's links to Russia.

Trump's first foreign trip as president came a week after the Justice Department appointed a special counsel to look into possible ties between Trump campaign associates and Russians who sought to influence the 2016 presidential campaign.

The U.S. intelligence community has accused Moscow of orchestrating a high-level campaign of cyberattacks, propaganda and fake news to try and influence the 2016 election, though the president and his aides have denied any collusion.


EU-Digest

EU-US Relations: EU political party leaders team up to reject Trump ambassador to EU – by Georgi Gotev

The three major “pro-European” groups in the European Parliament, the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D), and the ALDE liberals, have taken the position that the EU should reject Ted R. Malloch as US ambassador to the EU.

Manfred Weber, the leader of the EPP group in the European Parliament, and Guy Verhofstadt, his colleague from ALDE, co-signed a letter to Council President Donald Tusk yesterday (2 February), proposing that the EU rejects Malloch as US ambassador to the EU.

Note EU-Digest: Hopefully EU President Donald Tusk will take positive action on this letter, which is supported by the majority in the EU parliament.

EU-Digest

Unity and Integration: Let's hear it for the US - the EU still has a long way to go on this - by RM

UNITY IS WHAT COUNTS

Yes indeed -This time let's hear it for the US. 

To those of you who are sometimes critical of the US (including myself) it must also be noted there are still quite a few positive things happening there

This in spite of the steady progress made by Corporate America to get an ever stronger grip on the US political system and economic environment.

 Here is one of the developments that I believe is quite positive.

Even though not everyone might be impressed by the Presidential candidates running for office to replace President Obama, what is impressive, on the other hand, is that among the candidates running for the Presidency are, a woman, two Cuban Americans, a Socialist and a Fascist.

All hoping to replace a black President, with a Muslim father from Nigeria and a Christian mother from Kansas, USA

In a way, as Europeans, we can certainly learn from that, if we ever want to overcome our rampant religious, racial and cultural phobias, and achieve real unity.


EU-Digest