by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Rome : Italy is appealing a decision that awarded the European Medicines Agency to Amsterdam after it was forced to leave London ahead of the UK’s planned withdrawal from the European Union on March 29, Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi said in a statement on Wednesday.
Italy’s northern city of Milan lost its bid for the EMA in November, when a tied vote among 27 EU ministers forced the winner to be chosen by drawing lots – a decision which the Italian government wants the European Court of Justice to revoke.
The appeal lodged with the ECJ “confirms Italy’s resolve to submit to a dutiful jurisdictional scrutiny the legitimacy of the procedures followed in deciding the new EMA headquarters, in light of the fact that the candidacy of the city of Milan offered all the immediate guarantees necessary to assure the operating continuity of an EU Agency like EMA, which is key to safeguarding the health of the citizens of the EU,” the foreign ministry statement said.
EMA, which employs around 900 people, is a key element in the continent’s healthcare industry.
—IANS/AKI
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Nigel Farage
London : Nigel Farage, former leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and the most prominent campaigner for Britain to leave the European Union (EU), has announced that if the country’s exit from the EU was delayed, he would stand as candidate for a new pro-Brexit party.
Farage made the announcement in an op-ed for The Telegraph daily on Friday, reports CNN.
“I have made it clear many times that I will not stand by and do nothing, so should this (European Parliament) election need to be contested, I will stand as a candidate for the Brexit Party and I will give it my all,” he said.
“In defence of democracy, we stand ready for battle.”
The party’s current leader, Catherine Blaiklock, a former UKIP member, had registered the group on Tuesday.
Farage saw the EU referendum result as a personal victory when the public voted in June 2016 to leave the bloc by a margin of 52 per cent to 48 per cent.
A high-profile Eurosceptic, Farage has been accused of peddling racist and xenophobic views — especially when it comes to immigration in the UK, CNN said.
He argued in 2016 that the open immigration policy Britain agreed to with the EU led to an influx of people that created divisions within society.
Before the Brexit vote, UKIP unveiled a campaign poster with the slogan: “Breaking Point. The EU has failed us all”, showing an image of migrants entering Europe in 2015.
Opposition leaders called it “divisive” and “hate-filled”.
The UK is due to leave the EU on March 29.
However, British Prime Minister Theresa May still needs to secure a deal that has approval from both the EU and UK and unless she seeks an extension on Article 50, the country will crash out of the bloc.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Large Enterprise, World
London : Japanese carmaker Nissan confirmed it had abandoned plans to build the new model X-Trail in Sunderland, UK, Sky News reported on Sunday.
According to a letter written by Nissan Europe chairman Gianluca de Ficchy to workers, the X-Trail will continue to be made in Japan.
Ficchy said Brexit uncertainty had played a part in the decision, added that “We have taken this decision for the business reasons I’ve explained, but clearly the uncertainty around the UK’s future relationship with the EU is not helping companies like ours to plan for the future.”
“With the UK’s departure from the EU on March 29th getting closer every week, we have a taskforce in place, reporting to me, that it is considering all of the possible scenarios and the potential impact on business,” he said, reports Xinhua.
He said the workforce in Sunderland will continue to benefit from the investment planned for Juke and Qashqai.
Nissan employs around 7,000 people in Sunderland. The X-Trail production plans had been announced in the autumn of 2016.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Theresa May
London : UK ministers were set to battle on Wednesday in an attempt to win over rebel MPs on Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal, a day after the government suffered three parliamentary defeats on key votes.
The start of a five-day debate on May’s deal was delayed by several hours on Tuesday as MPs, in a first defeat for the Prime Minister, passed a historic motion finding the government in contempt of Parliament for failing to publish in full the legal advice on Brexit, the BBC reported.
A crunch vote on May’s Brexit deal is scheduled to take place next week while her ministers will plough on with attempts to win over MPs on Wednesday, with eight hours of debate on the security and immigration aspects of the withdrawal agreement.
The shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, called the defeats a “badge of shame” for the government.
“By treating Parliament with contempt, the government has proved it has lost its majority and the respect of the house. The Prime Minister can’t keep pushing Parliament away or avoiding responsible scrutiny,” he said.
In a second defeat, the government lost a bid to have the legal advice issue dealt with separately by the Privileges Committee of MPs.
With May still waiting to open the formal debate, MPs then inflicted a third defeat, passing a cross-party amendment tabled by MPs including Dominic Grieve aimed at strengthening the hand of Parliament if the deal gets voted down.
Supporters of a second referendum on May’s deal cheered the move, which they said would allow them to demonstrate Parliament’s support for alternatives to the Prime Minister’s approach.
Former Tory chief whip Mark Harper told the BBC he expected May to lose the crunch vote on her Brexit deal scheduled to take place on December 11 where MPs will decide whether to reject or accept the agreement.
Harper, who backed Remain in the referendum told the Daily Telegraph he would vote against the withdrawal agreement and predicted the deal would be rejected by 80 of his party colleagues.
The deal has been endorsed by EU leaders but must also be backed by the UK Parliament if it is to come into force.
The UK is due to leave the EU on March 29, 2019. Ministers say that if MPs reject their deal they increase the chances of Britain leaving without a deal, or not leaving the EU at all.
Harper urged May to renegotiate the deal, insisting the current plan would leave the UK worse off.
Meanwhile, May was expected to continue trying to convince small groups of her MPs to back the plan in private meetings.
“I promise you today that this is the very best deal for the British people and I ask you to back it in the best interest of our constituents and our country,” she told the Commons on Tuesday.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
London : China’s bike-sharing firm Mobike has said it is pulling out of Manchester this week after losing 10 per cent of its bicycles each month due to theft and vandalism.
It has already started removing the bicycles and will transfer them to London, Oxford, Cambridge and Newcastle, where it will continue to operate.
According to a statement by Mobike on Wednesday, the company suffered “unsustainable” losses as too many of its bikes have been stolen, dumped in canals and bins, had locks hacked off, or been set on fire, Xinhua news agency reported.
Customers in Manchester should have their deposits and credit refunded in the next few days, the company added.
Two weeks ago Mobike warned that if the users in Manchester kept destroying the bikes the service would be withdrawn.
In June 2017, Manchester became Mobike’s first launch outside Asia. It is also the first city to lose its Mobike privileges due to antisocial behavior, according to Steve Milton, Mobike’s UK spokesman.
—IANS
