BRUSSELS: European Council President Donald Tusk sharply criticized what he called “emotional” and “insulting” statements about the EU by British ministers and urged London on Thursday to accept an offer of very close post-Brexit ties.
The European Union was offering Britain a “Canada plus plus plus” arrangement, Tusk told reporters after meeting the Irish prime minister, explaining Britain could have not just a free trade accord like that with Canada but also extremely close relations in security, foreign policy and other areas.
“The EU wants a relationship with the UK that is as close and special as possible,” Tusk said. “From the very beginning, the EU offer has been not just a Canada deal, but a Canada plus plus plus deal. Much further-reaching on trade, on internal security and on foreign policy cooperation.”
Standing beside Irish premier Leo Varadkar and referring to arguments from British politicians rejecting EU proposals for keeping Northern Ireland inside EU economic rules, Tusk said:
“Emotional arguments that stress the issue of dignity sound attractive but they do not facilitate agreement. Every actor in this process has their dignity and confrontation in this field will not lead to anything good.
“No one can expect that because of Brexit, the EU will give up its fundamental values and key interests.”
Referring to sharp exchanges on both sides after EU leaders met British Prime Minister Theresa May at a summit in Salzburg two weeks ago, he urged her to work to a final accord by the next summit in Brussels in two weeks.
Noting his own experience as a political party leader, the former Polish prime minister said that now May had concluded her Conservatives’ annual conference on Wednesday it was time to “get down to business.”
But as a Pole, he took time during his statement to denounce comments by Britain’s foreign minister Jeremy Hunt earlier in the week in which he likened the EU negotiating stance on Brexit to the Soviet Union’s refusal to let states secede.
“Comparing the European Union to the Soviet Union is as unwise as it is insulting,” Tusk said. “As the president of the European Council and someone who spent half of my life in the Soviet bloc, I know what I’m talking about.”
“Unacceptable remarks that raise the temperature will achieve nothing except wasting more time. What needs to be done is maximum progress by the October European Council.”
Tusk slams UK slurs on EU, urges ‘Canada plus plus plus’ Brexit deal
Tusk slams UK slurs on EU, urges ‘Canada plus plus plus’ Brexit deal
- “The EU wants a relationship with the UK that is as close and special as possible,” Tusk said
WHO appeals for $1 bn for world’s worst health crises in 2026
- The UN health agency estimated 239 million people would need urgent humanitarian assistance this year and the money would keep essential health services going
GENEVA: The World Health Organization on Tuesday appealed for $1 billion to tackle health crises this year across the world’s 36 most severe emergencies, including in Gaza, Sudan, Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The UN health agency estimated 239 million people would need urgent humanitarian assistance this year and the money would keep essential health services going.
WHO health emergencies chief Chikwe Ihekweazu told reporters in Geneva: “A quarter of a billion people are living through humanitarian crises that strip away the most basic protections: safety, shelter and access to health care.
“In these settings, health needs are surging, whether due to injuries, disease outbreaks, malnutrition or untreated chronic diseases,” he warned.
“Yet access to care is shrinking.”
The agency’s emergency request was significantly lower than in recent years, given the global funding crunch for aid operations.
Washington, traditionally the UN health agency’s biggest donor, has slashed foreign aid spending under President Donald Trump, who on his first day back in office in January 2025 handed the WHO his country’s one-year withdrawal notice.
Last year, WHO had appealed for $1.5 billion but Ihekweazu said that only $900 million was ultimately made available.
Unfortunately, he said, the agency had been “recognizing ... that the appetite for resource mobilization is much smaller than it was in previous years.”
“That’s one of the reasons that we’ve calibrated our ask a little bit more toward what is available realistically, understanding the situation around the world, the constraints that many countries have,” he said.
The WHO said in 2026 it was “hyper-prioritising the highest-impact services and scaling back lower?impact activities to maximize lives saved.”
Last year, global funding cuts forced 6,700 health facilities across 22 humanitarian settings to either close or reduce services, “cutting 53 million people off from health care.” Ihekweazu said.
“Families living on the edge face impossible decisions, such as whether to buy food or medicine,” he added, stressing that “people should never have to make these choices.”
“This is why today we are appealing to the better sense of countries, and of people, and asking them to invest in a healthier, safer world.”
