LONDON: Giving an upbeat verdict on an inconclusive European Union summit, British Prime Minister Theresa May said Monday she has “a degree of confidence” that Brexit talks will be able to move to their decisive second phase by December.
She told lawmakers that the talks on Britain’s divorce from the EU had made “important progress,” despite a judgment by the 27 other EU leaders that more needs to be done before the two sides can discuss trade and their future relations.
May said she had “a degree of confidence we are going to get to a point of sufficient progress by December,” allowing talks to move on.
With Britain’s March 2019 departure from the EU moving closer, Britain is eager to start discussing trade and future relations with the bloc. But EU leaders say there has not yet been “sufficient progress” on divorce terms, including the size of the bill Britain must pay to settle its commitments to the bloc.
Britain’s initial offer to cover its previous EU commitments of around 20 billion euros ($24 billion) falls far short of the EU estimate of 60 billion euros ($70 billion) or more.
May refused to commit to a figure, saying “we are going through our potential commitments line by line.”
May has been in need of a boost from the 27 other EU leaders as she tries to hold together a government, a Conservative Party and a country deeply divided over Brexit. At the EU meeting in Brussels last week, she told fellow leaders that both sides needed “an outcome we can stand behind and defend to our people.”
An EU official said, after last week’s dinner, all the leaders were aware of the difficulties May is facing at home. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were confidential, said there was a sense among EU leaders that they didn’t want to make life more difficult for May.
But May’s life was not made any easier by a German newspaper report claiming that EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who dined with May last week, saw her as “despondent” and “begging” the EU to help her make progress.
Juncker denied saying any such thing, insisting that his dinner with May in Brussels had not gone nearly as badly as the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung suggested.
“She was neither tired nor beaten. She did her thing, and I did mine too,” Juncker said, speaking at the Institute of Political Studies in Strasbourg, France.
Juncker and his chief aide denied leaking the account of the meeting to the newspaper, and May’s spokesman declined to comment on it.
Meanwhile, Britain’s biggest business groups urged May’s Conservative government to quickly agree to a transition period of at least two years after Brexit to provide certainty about trade as companies make critical decisions about jobs and investment.
The letter sent to UK Brexit Secretary David Davis said an “agreement (on a transition) is needed as soon as possible, as companies are preparing to make serious decisions at the start of 2018, which will have consequences for jobs and investment in the UK“
May has requested a two-year transition period in which the two sides would trade on terms largely similar to current arrangements. But Britain and the EU have yet to discuss details of any such transition.
UK’s May says Brexit talks making progress; EU denies leak
UK’s May says Brexit talks making progress; EU denies leak
Protests across globe mark one week of Iran war
- In Washington DC, demonstrators gathered at the National Mall carrying US, Israeli and Iranian flags, with some protesters painting the colors of the Iranian flags on their cheeks
- Several counter-protesters carried signs denouncing Israel and in support of the Palestinians
PARIS, France: Lion-emblazoned flags of pre-revolution Iran fluttered in cities across the world on Saturday as demonstrators took to the streets a week after the start of the war in the Middle East.
Europe, Africa and the Americas saw demonstrations, with some protesting against Iran’s Islamic regime, others railing against the war, and some in support of Iran’s late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the first US-Israeli strikes of the conflict.
Paris saw two demonstrations: one supporting the US-based Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late shah, to head up a transition, and another denouncing that scenario.
“I support Pahlavi who is calling for a revolution,” Masoud Ghanaatian, 35, a student, told AFP at a protest in southern Paris, where participants carried photos of the late shah’s son and waved US, Israeli and pre-revolution Iran flags.
“He’s a democrat. He can oversee a transition and promises to organize elections.”
Hundreds of pro-Pahlavi demonstrations also gathered in Stockholm, holding up pictures of him and his late father.
But farther north, protesters wearing yellow vests reading “Free Iran” showed off stickers on their hands that read “No Shah, no Mullah.”
In Amsterdam protesters snaked along one of the city’s canals, holding up Israeli, American and pre-revolution Iran flags, as they called on the government to invite Pahlavi to the country and to close the Iranian embassy.
In Israel, anti-war activists and police scuffled during a protest against eh war in HaBima Square in Tel Aviv.
Shortly after dawn in Britain, anti-war protesters gathered at the entrance of an air force base in Fairford, southwest of England, holding signs reading “Hands off Iran,” “Peace” and “Yanks go home.”
- ‘Assassins’ -
A demonstrations against the war also took place in Cyprus.
Outside the US consulate in Mexico City, protesters carried a placard with pictures of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with blood-soaked palms over the word “Assassins” and kicked pinatas with images of the two leaders.
In the United States, protesters carried Iranian, Lebanese and Palestinian flags and signs “Iran is not our enemy” and “No war on Iran” in downtown Detroit, Michigan.
In Washington DC, demonstrators gathered at the National Mall carrying US, Israeli and Iranian flags, with some protesters painting the colors of the Iranian flags on their cheeks.
In Boston, Iranian Americans gathered at Copley Square to call for the fall of the Islamic republic.
In South Africa — which has dragged Israel to International Court of Justice, accusing it of genocide during the Gaza war, a charge Israel denies — dozens gathered in front of the US consulate in Johannesburg, holding up photos of Khamenei, the Islamic republic’s flag and signs bashing Israel.
Protesters carried pictures of Khamenei and denounced the war in central Tunis in Tunisia.
In Cape Town, Iranian pro-democracy activists and supporters of Israel waved Israeli flags and chanted slogans in the Albert Waterfront shopping mall.
Several counter-protesters carried signs denouncing Israel and in support of the Palestinians.
