European union

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said Tuesday night that his country will no longer "protect" neighboring countries from allowing undocumented immigrants to freely pass through their borders due to what he called a "hybrid war" waged by the West against Belarus. Speaking at the city of Brest on the border with Poland, Lukashenko warned the European Union that in retaliation for that "war," Belarusian authorities will cease stopping immigrants from illegally passing into Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. The three countries are all members of the EU . "They are wailing: Ah, Belarusians are not protecting them—thousands of illegal immigrants are rushing into Lithuania, Latvia and Poland," Lukashenko said. "They demand that we protect them from smuggling and drugs. I just want to ask, are you mad? You have unleashed a hybrid war against us and now you demand that we protect you as we did before." For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below. The EU and the … [Read more...] about Lukashenko Says Belarus Will No Longer ‘Protect’ Neighboring Countries

BERLIN — Germany ’s largest political party will choose a new leader on Saturday, with the winner well positioned to succeed Angela Merkel as the next chancellor of Europe’s leading economy. Regardless of the result, it will signal a new chapter for Germany and Europe, where the staid but steady leadership of Ms. Merkel has been a constant for the past 15 years. She earned respect for holding Europe together through repeated crises and, most recently, her deft handling of the coronavirus pandemic over the past year. “In a sense, an era is ending,” said Herfried Münkler, a political scientist at Humboldt University in Berlin. “But in certain basic positions, such as the geopolitical situation and the economic conditions within the E.U., that all remains unchanged, regardless of who’s the chancellor.” German voters will elect a new government on Sept. 26, and Ms. Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union remains the country’s most popular party, according to a survey by … [Read more...] about Merkel’s Party to Choose New Leader, and Possible Successor as Chancellor

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email It’s been three years since we left the European Union – and three years since barriers to commerce with our largest trading partner were put in place. With Brexit, Britain entered into the first trade deal in history that increased friction, rather than reduced it. Small businesses are now entangled in red tape , making it harder for the NHS and care homes to get the staff they need, and preventing UK scientists from accessing vital funding for their research. Threats to break international law over the Northern Ireland Protocol have not been withdrawn – a remarkable decision given the need to work closely with our allies and partners in response to the invasion of Ukraine. The Retained EU Law Bill is being brought forward, which – despite its rather dry title – threatens to rip up many of the high-quality standards and … [Read more...] about How to rebuild our relationship with Europe after Brexit

No evidence that Moscow was involved in the suspected sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea has been found so far, a German investigator has admitted. An investigation being conducted by Germany’s Public Prosecutor General, Peter Frank, has come up with zero evidence that Russia was involved in the explosions that rendered both Nord Stream pipelines inactive. While noting that the investigation is continuing, Frank said in comments reported by the Süddeutsche Zeitung : “What I can say is that the suspicion that this was a foreign act of sabotage has not yet been substantiated.” When pressed specifically on Russian involvement, the prosecutor general said: “This cannot be proven at the moment.” The German investigation, which is being conducted in parallel to separate inquiries being carried out in Sweden and Denmark, has examined both water and soil samples as well as pieces of the section of the pipeline that exploded. “We are currently … [Read more...] about No Evidence Russian Involved in Nord Stream Blasts So Far: Germany

Oil has been priced in dollars and sold on a global market for decades. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the United States effectively stopped the use of the dollar in Russian oil sales and partitioned the oil market. Two of the world's largest oil importers, China and India, have begun using other currencies to buy Russian oil. The world's largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, has expressed a willingness to trade oil in currencies other than the dollar. The Saudi statement set off a round of speculation that using the dollar as a foreign policy tool could weaken its role as a global reserve currency. We disagree. The war in Ukraine is creating many risks for the United States, but a loss of the dollar's reserve currency status is not one of them. Reserve currencies are held by central banks to settle international financial transactions without having to involve a variety of different currencies. The banks simply settle their accounts using the common reserve currency. … [Read more...] about The U.S. Dollar’s Supremacy Won’t End Anytime Soon

When Microsoft announced its $70 billion acquisition of the video game maker Activision Blizzard last year, almost everyone involved expected antitrust inquiries from officials in the European Union and Britain, and many thought regulators there would try to block the deal. What U.S. enforcers would do, however, was less clear. By December, it had become apparent that all three regulators would scrutinize the deal — and that they were playing off one another’s plans. The tell? The Federal Trade Commission chose to sue Microsoft in its own administrative court rather than first moving to block the deal in a federal court. Typically, the agency would seek a temporary injunction from a federal judge to stop a transaction from going through before trial; in this case, the European Union’s antitrust authority had already announced it was reviewing the deal. And the F.T.C. knew Europe’s inquiry meant the deal was at least many months away from closing, so it went straight to its own, … [Read more...] about Microsoft’s Activision Deal Tests a New Global Alignment on Antitrust

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email The resignation of Sir Kim Darroch proves a few things about the state of the United Kingdom as it edges towards Brexit . Only one is encouraging. First, Sir Kim’s decision to put country before career shows that there is, in some parts of British life, still such a thing as a sense of honour. After Boris Johnson ’s failed to back him in the latest ITV debate he must have realised his position was hopeless; Jeremy Hunt ’s robust defence of him is of little use if Hunt doesn’t become PM, as he almost certainly will not. What, by the way, if it was Johnson who leaked the emails? Although the PM-in-waiting has distanced himself from it. Or leaked them to someone who then leaked them to Isabel Oakeshott, the journalist? The Leave/Brexit Party nexus, pulling in the likes of Nigel Farage and Arron Banks, may be tighter … [Read more...] about Kim Darroch’s forced resignation as US ambassador is a disgrace – and it proves just how weak Britain is now

Coming from anybody else, the comments might have been alarming, the kind of stuff guaranteed to paralyse Britain's politicians like so many proverbial rabbits in the headlights. 'Too many immigrants,' bawled the headline in the Mirror. 'We're failing to deal with immigration,' said the London Evening Standard. But these were not reports of the latest intervention by the BNP or even the words of some untamable, knuckle-dragging throwback on the right wing of the Conservative party. The speaker was veteran Labour MP Frank Field , the man once charged by Tony Blair to plan reform of the welfare state by 'thinking the unthinkable' - and it looked like he was thinking the unthinkable all over again. On Friday, he accepted a full page in the Daily Mail to expand on his views. Britain, he said, was experiencing an influx of immigrants which was 'simply not sustainable'. Government estimates of how many people would want to come to Britain, when the countries of the former Eastern Bloc … [Read more...] about Frank Field: Still thinking the unthinkable