In sadness, EU leaders approve Brexit deal

Yahoo – AFP, Alice Ritchie and Dave Clark, November 25, 2018

Theresa May met European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on the
eve of a summit to approve a historic Brexit deal (AFP Photo/Philippe LOPEZ)

Brussels (AFP) - European Union leaders on Sunday approved a historic Brexit deal with British Prime Minister Theresa May, and together warned rebellious MPs in London this was the best and only option available.

Leaders meeting at a special Brussels summit expressed sadness at the "tragic" end of four decades of British EU membership, but said the terms of the withdrawal were now set.

"This is the best deal possible for Britain, this is the best deal possible for Europe," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said after the agreement was approved.

Juncker emphasised that, after 17 months of gruelling negotiations, "this is the only deal possible", warning: "Those who think by rejecting the deal, they will have a better deal, will be disappointed."

The agreement prepares for Britain's smooth exit on March 29, 2019, and sets out a vision for "as close as possible a partnership " afterwards.

But May faces a major battle to get the agreement through the House of Commons, with a vote planned for next month.

MPs of all parties -- including her own Conservatives -- say they will oppose it, with many holding out hope of a better alternative.

"It will certainly not be renegotiated and there will be no further room for manoeuvre," said Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.

May herself repeated this, telling reporters in Brussels: "This is the best possible deal, it's the only possible deal."

The divorce deal took 17 months to negotiate (AFP Photo/Emmanuel DUNAND)

'Sad day'

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said the 27 leaders had made a "conscious decision" not to discuss what might happen if MPs reject the deal.

"There is no plan B," said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, adding: "This is the max that we can all do."

He was among several EU leaders to express their sadness that Britain was now a step closer to leaving the bloc.

"This is a historic summit and also historic day that evokes ambivalent feelings," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"It is tragic that Great Britain is leaving the EU after 45 years."

Asked if she was also sad, May -- who joined the other 27 for closed-door talks after they approved the deal -- replied: "No, but I recognise that others do."

She added: "I am full of optimism about the future."

'Time to move on'

The withdrawal agreement covers financial matters, citizens' rights, provisions to keep open Britain's border with Ireland and arrangements for a 21-month post-Brexit transition phase.

It is accompanied by a short political declaration setting out hopes for future ties, including security, trade and migration.

But, until it passes the British and the European parliaments, all sides are still planning for the potentially disastrous possibility that Britain leaves the EU with no new arrangements in place.

European Parliament president Antonio Tajani said a "large majority" of MEPs were in favour of the deal.

The special summit was almost derailed by a row over Gibraltar (AFP Photo/

JORGE GUERRERO)

But in London, eurosceptic Conservatives and their Northern Irish allies have vowed to reject a deal they says keeps Britain too close to the EU.

DUP leader Arlene Foster said Sunday that if it passed, her party would "review" its support May's government, instead calling for "a third way, a different way, a better way".

But May repeated that it her deal delivered on the 2016 referendum vote to leave the EU and said it was "in the national interest for everyone to get behind it".

"The British people don't want to spend any more time arguing about Brexit," she told reporters, adding: "It's time for our country to move on."

Tensions on fishing

The summit risked being derailed by a late objection to the deal by Spain over the British territory of Gibraltar.

The impasse was resolved when Britain promised to continue bilateral talks with Madrid after Brexit.

There are also concerns in EU states such as France, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands over fishing rights once Britain leaves the bloc's Common Fisheries Policy after the transition, which ends in December 2020.

In an annex to the summit conclusions, the 27 EU leaders says a fishing deal based on "reciprocal access and existing quotas" should be agreed as a priority after Brexit.

The divorce deal approved by Britain and the EU sets the stage for the end of a nearly 46-year marriage of convenience, built on prudence rather than shared dreams https://t.co/9zTpZJk0kS pic.twitter.com/GWIaiaTIaM

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 25, 2018

The Brexit deal marks a clear victory for Ireland -- one no-one in Britain saw coming and one which has raised the Irish government's standing at home and abroad https://t.co/iW15r9k9en

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 25, 2018

Spain insists on Gibraltar veto in Brexit deal

Yahoo – AFP, November 19, 2018

Spain has a long-standing claim on Gibraltar, which was ceded to the British
crown in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht (AFP Photo/JORGE GUERRERO)

Brussels (AFP) - Spain warned Monday it could yet derail the Brexit deal agreed between London and Brussels if it does not guarantee Madrid's veto over Gibraltar's future status.

Madrid has a long-standing claim on Gibraltar, which was ceded to the British crown in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May is due to sign a treaty with European Union leaders to leave the bloc on Sunday, if Spain does not stand in the way.

But Spain's Foreign Minister Josep Borrell warned on Monday after a meeting of EU ministers that the draft deal does not spell out how Gibraltar should be handled.

He said the text does not make it clear that future negotiations on ties between Brussels and post-Brexit Britain are separate from the Gibraltar issue.

"Future negotiations on Gibraltar are separate negotiations. And that is what needs to be made clear," Borrell said.

"Until it is clear ... we will not be able to give our agreement", he warned.

According to Article 184 of the draft divorce deal, "the EU and the United Kingdom shall make every effort, in good faith and with full respect for their respective legal systems, to adopt the measures necessary to negotiate rapidly the agreements governing their future relationship."

These agreements will be negotiated between Brexit day on March 29 and December 2020 -- extendable once -- and will enter into force at the end of the period.

But Spain wants to retain what it sees as its right to negotiate the future on Gibraltar with Britain on a bilateral basis, giving it an effective veto.

Although the legal service of the EU Council has tried to reassure Spain that the text does not preclude this, Madrid is seeking further clarification.

"Until we have the future declaration and we know what it says, whether we agree or not, we are not going to approve the withdrawal agreement either," Borrell said.

In London, May's spokesman said: "The draft withdrawal agreement agreed last week covers Gibraltar.

"The PM has been clear that we will not exclude Gibraltar, and the other overseas territories and the crown dependences from our negotiations on the future relationship. We will get a deal that works for the whole UK family."

Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said the position adopted by Madrid "does little to build mutual confidence and trust going forward."

Over the weekend, European diplomats said they did not expect Spain's concerns to derail the agreement.

#UPDATE "I have just announced to the King of Spain that we have an agreement on Gibraltar," Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez says in a televised address. "Spain... will vote in favour of Brexit." pic.twitter.com/hJ64BhsdiZ

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 24, 2018

UK's May wins cabinet backing for Brexit deal

Yahoo – AFP, Dmitry ZAKS and Alice RITCHIE, November 14, 2018

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May said cabinet approval of a draft Brexit
agreement was a 'collective decision' (AFP Photo/Ben STANSALL)

May emerged from a five-hour meeting with ministers that had sent the value of the pound gyrating to announce she had full backing to move ahead with her Brexit plan.

"The collective decision of cabinet was that the government should agree the draft withdrawal agreement and the outline political declaration," May said outside her Downing Street office.

But the embattled leader conceded that she could face even stronger resistance when she takes the text to parliament for approval next month.

Rumours of cabinet resignations and a plot by eurosceptic MPs in May's own party to unseat her saw the pound plunge one percent in a wild hour of swings.

May said she engaged in an "impassioned debate" with her ministers -- and that there "will be difficult days ahead".

"This is a decision that will come under intense scrutiny and that is entirely as it should be and entirely understandable," she said in reference to the impending parliament vote.

The European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier is to give a statement at 2000 GMT following May's announcement.

Anti-Brexit demonstrators protest outside parliament as the cabinet meets to 

decide on a draft deal on Britain's divorce from the European Union (AFP Photo/

Ben STANSALL)

The framework agreement announced on Tuesday capped a year-and-a-half of negotiations aimed at unwinding nearly 46 years of British EU membership.

Suffering economic uncertainty in the wake of the global financial crisis and fearing an influx of migrants, Britons voted by a 52-48 margin in June 2016 to break from Brussels.

Britain and the EU are now set to hold a Brexit summit on November 25.

Appearing before the House of Commons earlier Wednesday, May confronted the anger of both those who want a cleaner break with Brussels and those who think Brexit is a disaster.

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour Party who is seeking early elections, called the entire negotiations process "shambolic".

"This government spent two years negotiating a bad deal that will leave the country in an indefinite half-way house," he said.

And Conservative Party MP Peter Bone, a leading eurosceptic, accused May of "not delivering the Brexit people voted for".

"Today you will lose the support of many Conservative MPs and millions of voters," he warned the British leader.

Ttimeline of the Brexit talks (AFP Photo/Gillian HANDYSIDE)

'Sells out the country'

Angry Brexit supporters and critics rallied outside May's office in Downing Street as she tried to get her disgruntled ministers to line up behind the deal.

"It sells out the country completely. We will be a vassal state of the EU," said Lucy Harris, who founded the Leavers of London group.

In Boston, the town in England with the highest Brexit vote in Britain, residents agreed.

"It's crap," retiree Kathrine Denham, 74. "She's reneging on everything we voted for."

More ominously, the Northern Irish party propping up May's government threatened to break their alliance over leaks about a special arrangement for the British province.

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Arlene Foster said she expected to be briefed about the deal by May late Wednesday, warning that "there will be consequences" if the leaks were true.

An EU official told AFP that the final deal includes a so-called "backstop" in which the whole United Kingdom will remain in a customs arrangement with the EU.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May says a draft Brexit deal delivers on the 

result of the 2016 referendum (AFP Photo/HO)

Northern Ireland would have special status under the proposals, meaning that some checks may be required between Northern Ireland and the rest of the country.

The reported arrangement did not go down well in Scotland, where the pro-independence and europhile government also questioned the deal.

Its nationalist leader Nicola Sturgeon asked why Northern Ireland should have a special status that would effectively keep it in the European single market while Scotland should not.

'Short notice'

The talks were stuck for months on how to avoid border checks between British Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland, if and until London strikes a new trade deal with Brussels.

The deal reportedly allows for a review mechanism that Britain could use to try to leave the backstop arrangement -- a key demand of Conservative eurosceptics.

Former Tory party leader William Hague warned Brexiteers that they could sabotage the whole process if they failed to back May's plan.

"If they vote down a deal because they are not happy with the details, the consequences may be that Brexit never happens," he said on the radio.

The Evening Standard countered with a front page that mocked May's oft-repeated phrase about Britain taking back control of its destiny, declaring: "EU takes back control."

Pope promotes Maltese archbishop known for fighting paedophilia

Yahoo – AFP, November 13, 2018

Archbishop of Malta Charles Scicluna has been appointed adjunct secretary
of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (AFP Photo/CLAUDIO REYES)

Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis on Tuesday promoted the Archbishop of Malta, one of the church's most trusted investigators in paedophile priest cases, as the Vatican seeks to quell a damaging global sex abuse scandal.

Mgr Charles Scicluna, 59, has been appointed adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog that receives reports of sex abuse in the church, the Holy See said in a statement.

Scicluna is already the head of the congregation's special council examining appeals by priests suspected of serious crimes such as child sex abuse.

He was the Vatican Court's chief prosecutor investigating cases of paedophilia among priests for a decade until 2012, making a name for himself with his determination.

Scicluna allowed an investigation into Father Marcial Maciel, Mexican founder of the congregation of the Legionaries of Christ and the perpetrator of numerous cases of paedophilia.

Earlier this year, the pope dispatched Scicluna to Chile for an investigation into an alleged cover-up by Bishop Juan Barros of abuse by a paedophile priest during the 1980s and 1990s. Barros has since resigned, along with several other Chilean bishops.

Francis has called for a meeting of all the heads of Catholic bishops' conferences worldwide at the Vatican in late February to discuss the issue of the "protection of minors".

Hard cheese: the taste of food cannot be copyrighted, EU court says

DutchNews, November 13, 2018

The taste of food cannot be copyrighted, the European Court of Justice has ruled
in a dispute which centres on a Dutch processed cheese.

The dispute is between the makers of Heks’nkaas (witches’ cheese) and Witte Wievenkaas (white or wise women’s cheese), both of which are a spreadable cream cheese with herbs. 

Heks’nkaas first came on the market in 2007 and was then owned by food group Levola. In 2014, Frisian company Smilde began producing Witte Wievenkaas and Levola went to court, arguing that the new product was too similar to Heks’nkaas. 

The Dutch court then referred the case to the European court in Luxembourg for its opinion. 

In that ruling published on Tuesday, judges say that, in order to be protected by copyright under EU directives, the taste of a food product must be capable of being classified as a ‘work’. 

To be classed as a ‘work’ the subject matter is an original intellectual creation, the court said. 

In the case of food, however, the taste ‘cannot be identified with precision and objectivity’, the court said. ‘The taste of a food product will be identified essentially on the basis of taste sensations and experiences, which are subjective and variable.’ 

A spokesman for Smilde welcomed the ruling, saying it had helped to further define the boundaries of intellectual property.

New border crossings open in divided Cyprus, first in 8 years

Yahoo – AFP, 12 November 2018

United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) officers patrol inside the
buffer zone that slices between the internationally recognised Republic of Cyprus
and the Turkish-occupied north, in Nicosia on June 14, 2018

Cypriot officials opened two new border crossings Monday for the first time in eight years, the latest push for peace by the two sides after UN-backed talks collapsed last year.

Dozens of people from the island's Greek Cypriot south streamed across the eastern Dherynia border post, walking past United Nations peacekeepers into the breakaway Turkish-backed north.

At the same time, the Lefka or Aplici crossing opened in the northwest of the eastern Mediterranean island.

Ahead of the Dherynia crossing reopening, soldiers removed barriers wrapped in rusty barbed wire and a small group of riot police stood by.

But despite arguments breaking out among onlookers in the run-up to the midday (1000 GMT) opening, the crowd passed peacefully through the border.

The latest move was welcomed by Elizabeth Spehar, UN special representative and head of the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus.

"Today is good day for Cyprus," she said in a statement.

Map of Cyprus

"These crossing points will play an important role in helping to increase people to people contacts, contributing to build much needed trust and confidence between the communities on the island."

The development is also seen as a vital step to reviving peace negotiations, which collapsed in acrimony in July last year.

"It's another asset to the peace talks," said Chris Charalambous, who was just 18 when war broke out in 1974.

Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded and occupied its northern third in response to a coup sponsored by the military junta then in power in Athens seeking to unite the island with Greece.

For the first time since fleeing the conflict Charalambous was looking forward to seeing his house, which he said lies in a Turkish Cypriot military zone.

"I'm just going to walk down and then I walk back, I don't know if I can stand spending time in the north," he told AFP.

Cyprus has been divided for more than four decades and the two communities lived isolated from one another until Turkish Cypriot authorities cleared the way for the free movement of people in 2003.

French bishops to 'shed light' on decades of child sex abuse

Yahoo – AFP, November 7, 2018

The Bishops' Conference of France will create an independent panel to investigate
 the sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic church and "the way these affairs were
handled" (AFP Photo/GREG BAKER)

Paris (AFP) - French bishops announced Wednesday they were setting up an "independent" commission to "shed light on the sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic church since 1950".

The Bishops' Conference of France (CEF) said in a statement the panel would seek "to understand the reasons which led to the way these affairs were handled" and make recommendations.

The CEF, meeting in the pilgrim city of Lourdes in southwestern France, said a senior figure would soon be appointed head of the commission and other members named.

The commission would draw up a report within two years, the statement added.

The Vatican has been shaken by a string of paedophile scandals committed by clergy in Australia, Europe, North and South America.

In a devastating US report last August, more than 300 "predator" priests were accused of abusing over 1,000 minors over seven decades in the state of Pennsylvania.

The most senior French Catholic cleric to be caught up in the abuse scandal is Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, who is to go on trial in January for allegedly covering up for a priest accused of abusing boy scouts in the Lyon area in the 1980s.

The scandals have put pressure on the bishops who indicated financial compensation could be offered to victims.

The statement said the commission's work would include "collecting the stories of victims in order to better understand the reasons that led to these acts" and help prevention efforts.

Poroshenko, Orthodox patriarch sign accord on independent Ukraine church

Yahoo – AFP, November 3, 2018

Ukraine's president Petro Poroshenko (L) leaves the Fener Greek Patriarchate
after meet Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew (R) (AFP Photo/
Yasin AKGUL)

Istanbul (AFP) - Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko and the Istanbul-based Orthodox patriarch on Saturday signed an accord that paves the way for the recognition of an independent Ukrainian church, provoking new fury in Moscow.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I had on October 11 agreed to recognise the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the Moscow Patriarchate, a move that was welcomed with jubilation by Kiev but condemned as "catastrophic" in Moscow.

On a visit to Istanbul that will see him hold talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Poroshenko signed an agreement setting out the steps needed to formalise the recognition of the independence of the Ukrainian Church, known as Tomos.

"On behalf of the Ukrainian people, I am very grateful to His Holiness and to all the bishops of the Ecumenical Patriarchy for the extremely important and wise decision to open the road to God for the Ukrainian nation and its church," Poroshenko said.

"The agreement that we signed today sets the conditions so that the preparation to grant the Tomos will be done in absolute correspondence with the canonical rules of the Orthodox Church."

Poroshenko also tweeted: "Today is a historic day. We have reached an agreement on the cooperation between Ukraine and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which we just signed with His Holiness."

The issue is set to play a key role in Ukraine's March 2019 presidential elections with Poroshenko making Tomos a key issue as he plans a re-election bid.

The Patriarchate is based in its historic home of Istanbul, the former Constantinople and once the capital of the Byzantine Empire before the Ottoman Muslim conquest of 1453.

Batholomew is considered the "first among equals" of Orthodox patriarchs.

The Patriarchate of Moscow, which is strongly backed by the Kremlin, argues it technically oversees most of Ukraine's Orthodox parishes and has warned that independence would provoke a rift in global Orthodoxy.

Metropolitan Hilarion, who oversees the external relations of the Russian church, said the new accord was one of several recent decisions by Bartholomew "which lie outside the canonical domain and are exclusively political."

According to Russia's TASS news agency, he accused Bartholomew of "carrying out an order from overseas aiming to weaken and divide the unified Russian church".

The Ukrainian Church is split into three bodies -- one technically overseen by the Patriarch of Moscow, a fact the Kiev government considers unacceptable given its ongoing war with Russia-backed rebels in the east.

Ukraine and Russia have been at loggerheads since 2014 when Kiev street protests urging Ukrainian integration with Europe prompted the ousting of pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovych.

Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea later that year and backed rebels who carved out two unrecognised breakaway regions in Ukraine's mineral-rich east in a conflict that continues to this day.