Month: June 2018

'Livid' Michael Gove rips up EU customs partnership report Environment Secretary Michael Gove physically ripped up a report on Theresa May’s preferred option for a new customs partnership with the EU. He was said to have been “livid” as he felt the government document wrongly suggested his Brexit working group had agreed the plan was viable. According to Mr Gove’s spokesman, he felt it downplayed his objections to the proposed customs relationship. It comes amid cabinet splits over the future shape of Brexit. The government has talked publicly about two…

After months of preparation, a damp squib on euro-zone reform YOU would hunt hard for a better illustration of the maxim that the European Union is capable of reforming itself only in times of crisis. The euro summit on June 29th was supposed to be the first proper chance in years for leaders to take tough decisions on boosting the resilience of their common currency. Instead, it turned out to be a stale dessert after the meaty migration debate that had occupied the previous night. The statement issued by the…

Britain’s future king faces up to Jerusalem’s religious politics THE tortured relationships between two royal families, Jerusalem, Israel and the Jews came to a head this week as Britain’s future king (and unless something changes, the future head of the Church of England) toured the city, which is held dear by three monotheistic religions. His itinerary included the Western Wall, where he stood in prayerful silence, wearing a Jewish head-covering, and the peak known as both the Temple Mount and Haram al-Sharif, which is revered by Jews and Muslims. He…

Angela Merkel’s European negotiations put her on the front foot in Berlin ANGELA MERKEL returns from last night’s European Council summit with a European agreement on new immigration controls and a trilateral arrangement between Germany, Greece and Spain to help curb secondary immigration to her country (see here for a full overview by my colleague in Brussels). In Berlin one question now dominates: is the package “wirkungsgleich”?  The term translates roughly as “equivalent in effect”. Horst Seehofer, Germany’s interior minister, used it in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper…