British Prime Minister Theresa May will trigger EU withdrawal talks under Article 50 on March 29, Downing Street has announced. The Prime Minister’s letter officially notifying the European Council of the UK’s intention to quit will set in train a two-year negotiation process expected to lead to Britain leaving the EU on 29 March 2019.
The EU’s negotiators will work to keep the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland “as open as possible” after Brexit, the President of the bloc, Jean-Claude Juncker, said after meeting Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny.
A future relationship between Britain and the European Union will take years to negotiate and the UK can expect a hefty bill as the price of exit, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has warned. Mr. Juncker said Britain must understand that it will not be able to negotiate a “cut-price or zero-cost” exit from the EU, but will have to settle the bill for commitments which it entered into as a member.
Spain's Secretary General of Fisheries from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment Alberto Lopez Asenjo has met with representatives of the European Commission (EC) to address the consequences of Brexit for the Spanish fishing fleet and its markets.
The European Commission has refused to discuss the size of the “exit bill” to be handed to the UK when it withdraws from the EU, amid reports the demand has been fixed at around £48 billion.
Cuba and the Eurpean Union Monday signed in Brussels their first cooperation agreement, which will be from now on the legal basis of the link between the island and the 28 EU countries.
European farmers took to the streets of Dublin outside the EU Commission offices to highlight the potential “sellout” of the multi-billion-euro beef industry in trade talks with Mercosur. Concerns have been rising over discussions at EU level over the impact a deal with Mercosur would have on Ireland's €2.5bn beef industry, which depends on EU markets for over 90% of its exports.
Gibraltar Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Joseph Garcia, has written to the European Commission in order to set the record straight following ‘misinformation’ about Gibraltar propagated by a Spanish MEP. This comes after the Spanish MEP, Ramon Jauregui Atondo, tabled a question before the European Parliament in which he said that Gibraltar ‘facilitates tax evasion and financial crime’.
France called on the European Commission to do more to help its struggling livestock industry, seeking to defuse protests that have seen farmers block highways and supermarkets.
European Union agriculture ministers have announced a €500m aid package after thousands of farmers protested on the streets of Brussels. The mainly Belgian, French and German farmers were protesting against plummeting prices for their produce.