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OpinionLeo Varadkar's gripes about the size of Ireland's payments are a sign of trouble to come

Monday, 24th February 2020, 6:14 pm

The UK has left, but the EU remains. The psychodrama in this country about leaving has been so intense that few people on either side of the domestic debate have been able to give much thought as to what this means for the EU and its continuing members.

The EU itself has inevitably had a lot of its own bandwidth tied up by the question of Brexit both in terms of how the negotiations define its relationship with one of its largest external markets, and in terms of what the departure of a member state says about the nature and direction of the Euro-federalist project.

The untangling of almost 50 years of integration is not yet over. There is a future relationship with the UK to negotiate before the year is out. But our formal departure from the organisation nonetheless allows people and politicians on both sides of the Channel to take stock of what the future might hold for the EU.

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You might expect integrationists to be optimistic. Fine, they never wanted to lose a member state and a major one, at that along the way, and Brexit marks the first time the EU has contracted rather than expanded, but it also signifies the removal of a roadblock to further integration.

The UK was always a reluctant member, requiring carve-outs, exemptions and rebates, and muttering about awkward things like the democratic deficit and the need for referendums.Many times over the years, politicians and officials in Brussels have understandably griped about the way we have acted as a drag on their dreams of a unified EU superstate. Now that were gone, isnt that a problem solved?

Not exactly. For a start, other countries which also had their doubts about various aspects of the EUs operations have long been able to rely on the UK to rock the boat in ways that they like. No longer without difficult Britons to rely on, they now face the uncomfortable choice of fighting those battles harder for themselves or answering to their voters for unpopular measures that may now be passed. Pro-market countries such as the Netherlands, for example, or states such as Denmark which value their opt-out from the euro must now take a firmer stance to champion their positions.

And our departure as a political member also means our departure as a net contributor to the EUs budget. The Commission still wants to spend big, as a sign that there are no doubts and no back-pedalling on the project, but they must take 70bn (59bn) more from the remaining members.

This is a challenge for the remaining EU states. The former Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar, of all people, finds himself complaining that the Commissions proposed budget means Ireland will contribute much more to the EU budget but will actually receive less back.

Legislative and budgetary issues are not the only problems the EU faces, either. I wrote a year ago in this column that the UK was a beacon of comparative political stability in an increasingly unstable Europe with Emmanuel Macrons government in crisis and Italys Five Star movement on the rise.

That has become more true over the past 12 months: we have gained a solid majority government, while Varadkars domestic failures have visited a Sinn Fin surge on Ireland, and the Greens are now menacing the established parties in Germany.

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Less stability at home makes for more fractious member states at EU summits. Leaders without good majorities find it hard to agree things, and are more prone to being brought down suddenly (just ask Theresa May).

Meanwhile, the Commission both wants and needs agreement on increasingly ambitious and contentious questions.

The EUs biggest difficulty is that despite the huge alarm which Brexit ought to have sounded, Brussels still refuses to consider whether the project needs democratic reform or strategic redirection. More integration appears to be their only answer, regardless of the question.

Mark Wallace is executive editor of ConservativeHome.com, a politics blog

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Forget Brexit - the European Union's problems are only just beginning - inews

Stephen Stewart

Northern Irish producer Green Inc has launched a new office in the Republic of Ireland.

Based in Dublin, Green Inc Republic of Ireland will allow Green Inc to continue to operate in the European Union (EU) and have access to the single market following Britains split from the EU on 31 January, 2020.

Green Inc Republic of Ireland will act as a subsidiary business to the main Belfast operation, serving as an operational base for domestic Republic of Ireland commissions from broadcasters including RT, Virgin Television Ireland and TG4.

Green Inc is behind shows including Irelands Got Talent, which is coproduced with Kite Entertainment for Virgin Television Ireland, and BBC2 series The Many Faces of. The company also produces live RT series Crimecall, coproduced with Rare TV.

Stephen Stewart, MD of Green Inc, said: Brexit is still a work in progress and no-one knows how it will end. The launch of Green Inc. Republic of Ireland future-proofs us to continue what weve been successfully doing for over 20 years with our friends in the south, and beyond.

Green Incs recent commissions include High Road Low Road (working title) for RT One and Tricked Out Tractors, which will air on BBC Northern Ireland.

Originally posted here:
Northern Ireland's Green Inc opens Dublin office ahead of UK's European Union exit - TBI Vision

Michael Cavanagh stands on the quayside in Killybegs, Irelands largest fishing harbour. He points at a docked trawler in Co Donegal port to give a sense of how large his own fishing boat is.

The Father McKee is the Greencastle mans 65m trawler and is out with his sons in the north Bay of Biscay off France fishing for boarfish, a small fish used to make meal for feeding salmon. Cavanagh does not fish anymore too many birthdays, says the 70-year-old.

The UKs decision to exit the European Union and the potential closing of soon-to-be British waters, on top of existing restrictions, has made life stormier onshore for Irish fishermen like Cavanagh.

We have more challenges ashore than when we are at sea, says Cavanagh, buffeted by blustery Donegal weather on the quayside.

Even before negotiations on a trade deal between the EU and UK start on Monday, the two sides have already clashed over fishing rights. Fishing, it is feared, could be the biggest obstacle to a deal.

Brussels has tied any post-Brexit free trade agreement to a reciprocal deal on fisheries that will allow EU boats to fish in British waters and British-caught fish to be sold in EU markets.

In stark contrast, Britains negotiating position, set out last week, does not include fisheries as part of any future trade deal. Instead, the UK wants to stop European fishing vessels from accessing British waters and to negotiate any access and permitted catches on an annual basis.

Even though fishing accounts for just 0.1 per cent of the UK economy, the sector has become totemic of Boris Johnsons dogged take back control political agenda heading into the trade negotiations. Protecting British waters have become a visceral symbol of Johnsons post-Brexit vision. It is not surprising; Brexit and his trade plans enjoy strong support in the UKs depleted coastal fishing communities. However, there are practical problems to his negotiating position.

The UK wants to take back control of their fishing. On the other hand, they will have to recognise that most fish caught in British waters is exported to the EU, so there is not a lot of point in taking control of your waters if you dont have an export market, said David OSullivan, the Irish former EU director general for trade.

Fishing will be the first flashpoint issue as both sides have set July 1st as the target date for a deal on fisheries to give time for negotiations with third countries such as Norway and Iceland in October and November to finalise quota agreements on widely distributed fishing stocks.

That is a tall order and extremely difficult but not impossible, says Sean ODonoghue, chief executive of the Killybegs Fishermens Organisation.

The fact that migratory fish like mackerel caught by Donegal trawlers do not stop at man-made borders makes the range of potential solutions large and the negotiations highly complex.

It is very difficult to explain to a fish that there is a border whereas you can do that to a human and a lorry driver, Pascal Lamy, the former director general of the World Trade Organisation and a one-time EU trade commissioner, told The Irish Times.

In Donegal, Cavanagh sees the political posturing ahead of talks starting as sabre-rattling. However, the concern that fisheries would be cast adrift in favour of the more pressing post-Brexit arrangements facing other more lucrative and powerful industries is palpable in Killybegs. Cavanagh believes that the industry has become the sacrificial lamb of the negotiations.

Irelands fishing fleets rely heavily on fishing in UK waters to make a living and nowhere is the concern about the collapse of trade talks more keenly felt than in Killybegs.

No trade deal is a disaster, a total disaster, because its vitally important for us that the link between the wider trade negotiations and the fisheries is maintained, says Cavanagh.

It is never going to be as good as it was, no matter what deal we get.

Donegal fishing trawlers traditionally catch mackerel north and northeast of the Irish coast and as far east as the Shetlands, north of Scotland. When the Brexit standstill period expires at the end of the year and if there is no deal these waters will be out of bounds to Irish boats.

Mackerel, part of the valuable pelagic stocks landed by the large trawlers that sustains Killybegs and the Donegal fishing industry, are at their most valuable before they start migrating south and southwest towards the Irish coast where they are slimmer and their fat content declines.

This year, the fish only started reaching Irish and EU waters in the second week in February, by which time Japanese buyers have stopped purchasing stocks as the quality of the fish has declined.

Long term, being out of British waters could cripple the industry, says Cavanagh.

Our income will fall, our overheads will rise because when the mackerel are north they are in large shoals. You shoot and tow on a spot of mackerel for maybe 10 minutes. Down here, they are scattered out and you spend longer towing for them, he says.

If you get a mixed fishery, the horse mackerel damage them, the quality is less and nobody wants to be picking through them in the factories. It is not a good product.

It is vitally important that we get access to the UK waters.

On average, mackerel caught in British waters makes up 60 per cent of the Irish fleets catch, though it can be as high as 75 per cent. The fleet is 40 per cent dependent on access to the UK waters, mostly in fishing areas west of Cornwall, for nephrops, or prawns. For these species, the economic value of UK waters to the Irish fleet is 60 per cent. For all species, it is 29 per cent.

ODonoghue of the Killybegs Fishermens Organisation said that loss of access to British waters would be unmitigated disaster for the Irish industry. The value of the industry would be halved to 600 million, he estimates, and between 30 and 40 per cent of the 14,500 people employed in coastal communities around the country would lose their jobs.

The fallout would not stop there as Irish, British, Dutch and French naval vessels could be forced to manage fishermen unwilling to recognise an artificial line at sea if there is no deal. He expects clashes at sea not unlike the scallop war between French and British boats in 2018.

There will be chaos on the high seas between the different countries. People are not going to accept that they are out of waters that they have fished in for generations. There will be flashpoints and port blockades it is inevitable, he said.

A short walk from the quay, Sean g Wards fish processing factory is quiet for now. He is expecting another catch of fish in two days. At peak, he employs 105 people from August to April processing mackerel, horse mackerel, herring, sprat and blue whiting. He has 30 employees for the rest of the year. Last season, up to 90 per cent of his mackerel came from British waters, he says.

He fears that in the event of no trade deal boats will not be able to catch mackerel until February when it could run into the start of the blue whiting season, reducing the size and value of both catches to the Donegal fishing industry.

If we dont get the fish out of UK waters, we are in trouble. The whole industry is in trouble. We need stability. We cant invest in the company. We dont know what will happen, says the Donegal man whose business turned over 60 million last year.

The fishing industry in Donegal is also concerned about what will happen to the waters off the Irish west coast if EU fishing fleets, displaced from British waters, arrive in these fishing grounds.

It is already a crowded area without putting everybody into it. It would have a crazy effect on stocks and stability and supplies and business models. It just wouldnt work and it would be disaster for the Irish, a complete disaster, says Ward.

Standing in a passing rain shower on Killybegs pier, Cavanagh hopes following the age-old negotiating principle that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed that fisheries can be kept on the negotiating table for the duration of the talks to extract the most leverage for the industry.

It is like the little boy on a toilet: nothings finished until the paperwork is done, he says.

The rest is here:
Fishing: Why it is the first flashpoint issue in EU-UK trade talks - The Irish Times

AS January 31, 2020 brought one of the Britains biggest constitutional changes for generations, the implementation period that follows will determine the impact of the withdrawal on family law matters.

Ahead of the changes, we review what is currently known.

Q: What was the involvement of the EU in UK family law?

Family Law matters include proceedings under the Children Act, divorce and dissolution of civil partnerships, and the ancillary finances including child maintenance. The UK is signatories to several conventions and agreements that provide for cross jurisdiction implementation of decisions made by the UK courts. This provides protection in matters such as child abduction and when financial assets are abroad.

Q: How did this change on January 31?

In the short term, it didnt. The transitional period until December 31, 2020 will see the UK remaining signatories to the cross border conventions that assist with family law matters across European jurisdictions.

Q: How will this change on January 1, 2021?

It is unclear as to exactly what will become of the conventions and agreements that currently assist families in cross border disputes. Legislation is being presented before government over the course of the next few months and in the event the UK leaves the EU with a no-deal following the transitional period, it is hoped domestic legislation will enable the UK to continue to be able to have reciprocal agreements with the EU.

Q: Why do we need these agreements if we leave the EU?

At this time and during the transitional periods, there are agreements in place with the EU which make sure that when the UK courts make an order, it can be implemented abroad. If a child is removed from the UK without the permission of a parent or the Court, it can be considered abduction even if the person removing the child is also a parent. In those circumstances, the Court has the power to take steps to see a child returned. In some circumstances, an absent parent may live in Europe and fail to meet their child maintenance obligation. Reciprocal enforcement makes these processes much easier.

Q: My family law matter is already of an international nature, what will happen?

The changes to the law following the UKs departure from the EU should not be retrospective. It is anticipated that matters already proceeding under the terms of the European conventions and agreements, whether in the UK or another member state, will continue to be governed by them until they are concluded.

If you have any concerns about how the UKs withdrawal from the EU will impact upon a family law matter, please contact Sally Stanway on sally.stanway@allingtonhughes.co.uk or 01244 312166.

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How departing the European Union is impacting family law - Denbighshire Free Press

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(United States European Union and China) Plastic Pallets Expansion Projected to Gain an Uptick During 2019-2025 - News Times