MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
EU tells UK it must take withdrawal talks “seriously” and end “ambiguity”
The UK has been told by the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator that it needs to take withdrawal talks “seriously”. Michel Barnier used the opening of a third round of talks in Brussels on Monday to insist that London must end “ambiguity” regarding key positions like the Brexit divorce bill. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesAs to defence, I thought that this is covered by NATO. If we are removed from collaboration councils with Europe outside NATO, I would suggest that they have more to lose than us.
Aug 29th, 2017 - 08:39 am - Link - Report abuse +1The UK being outside any European “force” would mean the other large members such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain would have to up their game to cover the shortfall in resources and expertise. This would cause them to increase expenditure.....not a popular move for their electorate.
Theres no ambiguity, we are leaving... All that money of our ours paid to French farmers, on Spanish roads, Club Med vanity projects, dual parliament buildings, fat Euro cat salarys and pensions. We should pay nothing at all, they owe us. Walk away....
Aug 29th, 2017 - 01:06 pm - Link - Report abuse +1The question is why is this piece appearing in Mercopenguin, a British government propaganda organ supposedly devoted to America, South America and the “South Atlantic”?
Aug 29th, 2017 - 01:32 pm - Link - Report abuse -3The EU defense forces operate in ways NATO, which includes the US and Canada, does not and could not. As for the money the UK pays out to 27 other EU nations, coming from one nation that loss will barely be felt by them and will likely be made up for by funding from the EU. It is the concentration of funds for projects at home for which the UK government has not been picking up the tab, the 27 providing funding for massive subsidies into the Brexiting UK, which will be felt by the remains of the UK and already is, without any guarantee that funding will be replaced by payments from the government in preference to tax breaks and subsidies given to povide jobs from global business to remain in situ and not flee to the more-profitable EU. It is the UK, not the EU, which is economically suffering for Brexit, so the latest statistics show. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-economy-services-idUSKCN1B82F5?il=0
Aug 29th, 2017 - 06:14 pm - Link - Report abuse -3The big net loser for its exit is the single nation of the UK, not the 27 of the EU.
NA
Aug 29th, 2017 - 07:37 pm - Link - Report abuse +2You are telling us that the EU gives us massive subsidies when we are one of the largest net payers into the EU budget, so much so that the Germans are worried that THEY will have to make up the difference when we say bye-bye.
There will be cut-backs in the EU budget with less money to go around, so the recipients of budget hand-outs (paid for in part by the UK) will be disgruntled and maybe cause trouble as each vies for a larger share of a diminished pot.
Seven countries are waiting in the wings to join the EU. Each one would be a net claimant on the budget. Either more contributions to the black hole budget or no money available.
Are you saying that the UK gets more funding from the EU than our contributions ?
You say:-
As for the money the UK pays out to 27 other EU nations, coming from one nation that loss will barely be felt by them and will likely be made up for by funding from the EU.
That does not make sense.
The loss of UK contributions will not be felt by the EU. The loss will be made up by the EU.
Explain that. Do they have a magic money tree OR will they have to up the contributions from the richer members...mainly Germany and France.
You seem to be angry and hostile to Brexit. Why? If you are American which you appear to be then it doesn't concern you or even affect you in any great way.
If you live in the EU, then I would think that you would be glad to get rid of us.
The other possibility is that you are just a Troll coming into the discussion under a new name.
Which is it ?
Don't you just hate it when someone else covers all the points that you were going to make in response to the NativeAngeleno post...?
Aug 29th, 2017 - 10:39 pm - Link - Report abuse +1Well done Clyde...you robbed me...
If the EU is such a wonderful organisation, why don't the Commission organise a referendum on the future proposals for a United States of Europe, an EU government with supreme powers to cover foreign relations, taxation and eventually military action.
Aug 30th, 2017 - 12:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0See if the populations of the 27 members want this. Remember in Eire when the referendum did not please the Commission by delivering “the wrong result” and another was required to get it right...their way.
Europe is an ancient group of countries, in many cases with little in common...including language. To try and weld them together in a tight self-inclusive union is folly.
Clyde's point is very well made. A disparate collection of countries with all sorts of history, rivalries and agendas cannot be 'welded' together in a half century. Better to start gently and more gradually. Its the paranoid Germans pushing things in the most uncompromising fashion. Had they recognised the huge problems occurring in the UK caused by unsustainable immigration and allowed us to regulate work permits we wouldnt be leaving. But no, its rigid Germany, no compromise, and its the same thing with the leaving negotiations, bruised Franco/German egos are clearly on display taking their revenge on us, the boat rockers.
Aug 30th, 2017 - 05:00 pm - Link - Report abuse +1Its very clear we will be on our own out of the EU, they fear what we may become and how it will show up their tutonic inflexible mess.
I agree about the disparate countries, but they probably thought they were moving gradually. Most other countries in Europe are either more philosophically inclined to support the EU, or more dependent on it. I don't think they ever understood the reluctance people feel here.
Aug 30th, 2017 - 08:51 pm - Link - Report abuse -1Also, I think they were just tired of the UK complaining all the time and being awkward. Our government pushed for EU enlargement and letting the Eastern European countries join, and France and Germany eventually agreed. Then we complained about the problems it caused, even though other countries have 'enjoyed' much higher levels of immigration.
People in Europe see Britain as the country that refuses to compromise but always demands special deals that other countries don't get, and then complains anyway. And France especially is glad to be getting rid of us since we often sided with Germany on economic matters.
Clyde: You are a pretty careless reader, which explains your devotion to non-fact-based prejudices. You read snippets of sentences and reduce them to gibberish in your monkey mind you then regurgitate online to prove you see only that which you think you read to fit your prejudices.
Aug 30th, 2017 - 10:02 pm - Link - Report abuse -1One more time: The EU is funding projects in the UK WHICH THE UK GOVT IS NOT FUNDING, AND SHOWS NO INTEREST IN FUNDING WHEN THE EU FUNDS STOP COMING. It is almost the same stuation you'd think you would intuit in reverse, i.e, that the funding the UK gives to projects outside the UK, within the EU, MUST be picked up by the EU, as they will---and i gave you corroborating statistics from good ol' British Reuters to reveal EVEN TO YOU said UK-funded projects In the EU WILL BE PICKED UP BY THE EU BECAUSE THEY, UNLIKE THE UK, WILL HAVE THE MONEY TO DO SO, or those projects the EU wants to see continued will suddenly go unfunded! It is much easier for 27 to fund what the 1 used to than it will be for the 1 to fund what the 27 used to in concert. Bulletin, the UK is NOT equal to the 27's funding abilities. The EU will barely miss the UK's money. The UK, however, will dearly miss the EU's, which runs annually into the tens of billions of pounds the UK govt has shown no interest, let alone the planning, to continue on their, your, own.
Capice? I wonder. As i mentioned earlier, you seem to lack the ken.
@NativeAngeleno
Aug 30th, 2017 - 11:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Clyde's not the one who's wrong here.
The UK pays more into the EU than it gets back in EU funding. That means the UK government could theoretically use the money they will no longer be sending to the EU to fund all the current projects. If they do not, it will be because of their different spending priorities and not because it's harder for one country to fund them than 27.
Conversely, the EU is getting more money from the UK than they are spending here. If they wish to continue funding all their current projects, they WILL have to charge the other members more.
DemonTree
Remain voter
PS. 'Lack the ken'? Seriously?
N.A.
Aug 30th, 2017 - 11:30 pm - Link - Report abuse +1I read carefully. It's a pity that you cannot express yourself clearly or even understand what you write..
Of course I have prejudices, and you don't ? Your posts are a diatribe against the UK from the point of view of an anti-British Troll. As I said it doesn't affect you in any way so why are you so angry and upset. You should be delighted if it goes tits - up for us....but it won't.
You say you gave me proof in the reuters reference you quote.
Where does it mention and give figures for EU funded projects in the UK ? I read and re-read the article and nowhere can I see a mention of these EU funded projects
So, the EU has a pot of money that it benevolently passes to the UK for various projects.
Where does it obtain this money ? It could not be part of the UK's NET contribution to the EU's budget that is diverted to this. Could it ? No,of course not. The EU has this magic money tree of it's own !
If we want to fund these projects, then we can divert the money from the savings by not paying any contributions to the EU coffers. Simple arithmetic.
Is the proper spelling of this word capiche, capisce, capishe, or capise ..I could not find any word spelled capice. So you can't even get that right.
As for “lack of ken” you can't even get a Scotticism correct....pathetic !
Your claim you read carefully is belied by your ability to comprehend, O Great Ape. The article obviously had nought to do with a list of projects paid by either UK or EU in each other's territories. i never so inferred. If you did read it as many times as you claim, yo would have easily discerned its subject, the ability of the EU to pick up the slack soon to be left by its ingrate member UK and the lack of either desire or ability on the part of the UK to pick up the tab left by the EU for continuing the EU's funding of beneficial projects on the UK's own soil. But you, O Great Knuckledragger, lack that ken. Which btw is OE, which means Old English, not of Scottish origin. Or did you think capisce was?? Wrong on both counts, no surprise.
Aug 31st, 2017 - 02:11 am - Link - Report abuse -1Yes, mea culpa, i misspelled “capisce” (Italian). But you, Banana Breath, misused a Britishism, the apostrophe [“...The EU has this magic money tree of it's own.”] First off, the EU has approximately a 150 billion euro budget to pick up the tab left by the UK's welching on its debts to the club, which is what that Reuters article spelled out that you had such difficulty grasping: The Brexiting UK economy disallows the same ease of payment to continue funding the EU's contributions to the greater good on British soil.
But, you see, monkey mind, you do not misuse the apostrophe to signify possession. The correct spelling should have been “of its own”. You see, Old Ape, if you try to remember this simple rule, your English may some day improve: When you cannot spell out the words around which you misuse the apostrophe, in your febrile attempt to assign possession, as in “on it is own”, DON'T USE IT, DUMKOPF (Gmn).
@NativeAngeleno
Aug 31st, 2017 - 09:21 am - Link - Report abuse +1Ignoring all your quibbling over minor spelling mistakes and what the article said (you were the one who brought up the projects funded by the EU), you seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of how the EU works.
“First off, the EU has approximately a 150 billion euro budget to pick up the tab left by the UK's welching on its debts to the club.”
This is not just wrong, but also incoherent. It makes no sense at all to say the EU can use its budget to cover a shortfall in that same budget.
Also, the budget is comprised of contributions from the members. Currently approximately €14.2bn of it comes from the UK, so after Brexit the EU budget will be reduced to €135.8bn. Subtracting the money the EU currently spends in the UK, the EU is left with a pretty significant €9.3bn shortfall. (In fact it's even worse than that; the fall in the pound already left the EU with a €1.7bn shortfall in 2016, and Britain's contributions will be higher this year to make up for it).
And it's irrelevant whether 'ken' originated from Old English or modern Igbo, it's mostly used in Scotland today. My advice to you is to avoid using words you don't understand, and avoid picking on minor spelling errors when your own post contains 'i' for 'I', 'yo' for 'you', 'nought' for 'naught', and also 'inferred' for 'implied' in just the first paragraph.
Are you upset about something ? Oh dear. Lie down and keep taking the tablets.
Aug 31st, 2017 - 09:58 am - Link - Report abuse +1I note arithmetic is not your strong point. However, you are quite perceptive as I do like bananas and I admire gorillas for being powerful but peaceable. Not so keen on chimpanzees...whose attributes of excitability and anger you exhibit to some extent.
The use of ken has all but disappeared in English except in N.England and is regarded as a Scotticism by linguists.
What debt to the EU has the UK “welched on” ? We have not stopped paying our contributions to the EU budget so where do you arrive at this piece of information.
Your whole post is based on conjecture and what YOU wish to see on the UK's break with the EU.
“ in your febrile attempt to assign possession, as in “on it is own”,”
You are perfectly correct in that I used it's in error when it should have been its. If I had re-read what I had written, I would have corrected it but, it was after midnight when I wrote it and wanted to go to bed..
However, I don't understand your reference to “ in your febrile attempt to assign possession, as in “on it is own”, Did you mean” of it is own”
Isn't it strange that two other posters agree with my understanding of your posts and in my several replies.
As I have asked twice already, why is this an obsession with you as it should not affect you in any obvious way. You should be cheering if we fall on hard times through our own decisions.
I believe you are making the mistake of believing that the future has already been decided before discussions have ended and any agreement made. Sorry if this upsets you.
Anyway, if you are a member of the human race, you should be in your bed by now as you are about 8 hours behind the UK.
I am off to swing through the trees and look for bananas, mangoes and papayas in my local Lidl supermarket.
Why do you think the EU are saying that they want the financial part settled before any trade talks. The EU, in my opinion will fall apart as most countries in the EU are receiving money from the EU rather than contributing to it. You only have to look at Greece for example, who has received 80 billion Euros to keep afloat.The unemployment rate in the EU is 9%
Sep 02nd, 2017 - 07:52 am - Link - Report abuse 0Actually the unemployment rate in the EU as a whole is 7.7%, compared to 9.1% in the Eurozone. Not a great advert for the single currency, is it?
Sep 02nd, 2017 - 11:04 am - Link - Report abuse 0And yes, some of the money the EU want us to pay is to cover already-agreed projects so they don't end up with a black hole in their budget. With our current team of crack negotiators I fully expect us to end up paying whatever they ask for (either that or they'll refuse to pay anything, there will be no deal and everyone will suffer for it). Once that money is used up, the remaining countries will have to pay somewhat more and/or receive somewhat less than they do now. We will probably see a few countries like Ireland switch from being net recipients to net contributors, but there's no reason it would make the EU fall apart.
The question is why is this piece appearing in Mercopenguin, a British government propaganda organ supposedly devoted to America, South America and the “South Atlantic”?
Sep 02nd, 2017 - 05:35 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Sassy you have spelt your name wrong, it should be Clown, not Cloon
Sep 02nd, 2017 - 08:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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