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LONDON (Reuters) - Britain on Wednesday said it had sent dozens of letters telling European Union nationals to leave the country in error, an embarrassing mistake as the issue of the rights of such citizens in the UK is being negotiated.

Britain's interior ministry said it was investigating after around 100 of the letters were sent to citizens from other European Union countries, saying they would be removed under immigration law.

"A limited number of letters were issued in error and we have been urgently looking into why this happened. We are contacting everyone who received this letter to clarify that they can disregard it," a spokeswoman for the Britain's Home Office said in a statement.

"We are absolutely clear that the rights of EU nationals living in the UK remain unchanged."

Eva Johanna Holmberg, a Finnish academic who is married to a Briton, told The Independent newspaper that she "couldn't believe what she was seeing" when she received the letter.

While Britain has promised a generous deal for EU citizens following Brexit, there is not yet agreement over how rights will be protected.

The rights of EU citizens in Britain is one of three issues the bloc wants to settle before it begins discussing the future relationship between Britain and the EU. The EU says more progress on those core issues needs to be made before talks move on.

Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg

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In error, Britain tells dozens of EU citizens to leave - Reuters

Using a hypothetical Finnish exit of the eurozone, the report detailed the surprisingly low cost of quitting the euro and highlighted the benefits of having a domestic currency.

And economists suggested the best way to leave the euro would be if a members joined together in secret to ambush the European Union and quit en masse, which would prevent spiteful punishment.

Although the reports authors stressed it was politically neutral - adding it was neither advocating or discouraging an exit but merely highlighting the need to investigate the issue - it nonetheless threw light on the positives of leaving the eurozone.

The report, entitled How to leave the eurozone: The Case for Finland, said an exit could lead to noticeable benefits for the country.

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They began by stating the cost of quitting the Eurozone need not be very large, perhaps just 9.1billion (10bn), and urged EU members to weigh the short-term costs of an exit again the possible long-term benefits of having a domestic currency.

And they said having their own currency would improve the democratic control of the country.

The report, put together by seven Finnish economists, said: After the Greek crisis in the Summer of 2015, it has been silently acknowledged that a country can abandon the euro.

[In some areas] countries have had persistent problems with the implementation of structural measures, e.g., improving economic structures, and fiscal and other economic policies.

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A stock market crash is a sudden dramatic decline of stock prices

In the long run, Finlands exit from the euro could lead to noticeable benefits

Report

Previous studies into countries quitting currency unions, they said, found exits have not produced any noticeable short-term fluctuations in key economic variables including GDP, investments and government budgets.

The report continued: In the long run, Finlands exit from the euro could lead to noticeable benefits. If redenomination was successful, her foreign net position could, over time, improve considerably.

Finlands euro membership has provided Finnish small and medium sized businesses access to European goods and financial markets without exchange rate risk. Still, there is no point in denying the benefits Finland and her companies would gain from a rapid adjustment to relative cost shocks through its own floating currency.

The benefits of not being a part of the euro area also include stepping out from the tendency toward increasing political federalism and reclaiming democratic control over domestic affairs."

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If multiple countries quit the currency together, this would reduce the shared impact and also diminish the extent to which the EU could punish countries who dared to cut ties, the authors said.

The report said: Countries and country groups sufficiently large to destabilise the EU are likely to be provided with the option of continued access to joint systems.

Small countries may not be offered such terms, particularly if lessons need to be taught to dissuade followers.

[But] legally, there is no clause in European treaties allowing the expulsion of a country from the EU or the EMU.

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The report concluded by urging the Finnish government, along with other EU governments, to seriously look into quitting the eurozone - if only to be suitably prepared in the case of an inevitable collapse.

It said: The intention of this report is not to argue whether Finland should continue her membership in the euro. We have envisaged one possible path out of the euro, which may be considered an alternative to the ever louder calls for further integration. It is also a sign of great ignorance to say that political constructions like the euro cannot fail. At some point, they always will, and political moods dictating their fate can change surprisingly quickly, as we have seen recently.

Benjamin Franklin was quoted as saying: By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. After the near miss exit of Greece, this should be the guiding principle of every member of the European common currency. If (when) the breakup or exit of a country or countries from the euro occurs, those not prepared will be the hardest hit. The authors of this report hope that Finland will not be among them.

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Eurozone EXODUS - Economists reveal THIS is how easy it is to quit EU's failing currency - Express.co.uk

The European Union (EU) is confused and puzzled about Britains post-Brexit trade plans, Irelands Taoiseachorprime ministersaid, as he accused the UK Government of having unrealistic demands.

Leo Varadkar, who took office in June, was speaking during a trip to Canada where he met with the country's prime minister,Justin Trudeau,andvisited the countrys border with the US as part of a fact-finding mission to look at options for the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland after Brexit.

I think Id be right to say on behalf of the European governments that were not satisfied with the progress that has been made so far, hetoldBloomberg. However, well continue with the talks.

We hope that more progress can be made and that that progress will be sufficient when we meet in October to allow the talks to continue to the next phase, but to date the progress has not been sufficient.

The Irish leader also called on the UK Government to clarify what kind of trade deal it hopes to reach with the EU and said the lack of clarity was delaying talks.

Where were confused and puzzled is...on what trade agreement the United Kingdom wants with the European Union, he said.

At the moment they have the best trade deal possible the best one imaginable which is a customs union and access to the European Single Market and the European Economic Area.

What they seem to have been suggesting for the last 14 months is that they want to have all the advantages of being in the EU but none of the responsibilities and costs. Thats not a realistic position, so were waiting to see what they would like to see.

He added: Its not clear to us what the deals are that the British Government really wants from Europe and from other countries, and I think some more clarity in that area would be very helpful.

Mr Varadkhar said EU states were also keen to know what will happen to EU citizens who want to move to live with relatives in the UK. The British Government has refused to give concrete guarantees about the rights of EU citizens.

Another sticking point during talks has been the size of the Brexit bill that Britain will pay when it leaves the EU.

Theres no agreement yet on the amount of money that Britain will be paying, Mr Varadkar said. It does have outstanding legal obligations, for example pensions paid to European civil servants, many of whom are British.

Despite the delays, he said he was satisfied with proposals to allow British and Irish citizens to move freely between the two countries after Brexit and reassured by the UKs commitment to the peace process in Northern Ireland.

There must not be a trade border introduced on the island, he added.

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EU is 'confused and puzzled' about UK's post-Brexit trade plans, says Irish PM - The Independent

Photo Credit: Andrew McIntire / TPS

The European Union has warned Israel that some agricultural exports to Europe will be cut at the beginning of 2018 if Jerusalem does not take measures to stop the spread of the false codling moth, an agricultural pest that is known to attack more than 70 fruit and vegetable species, including citrus fruit, pomegranate, avocado, mango, guava, corn, cotton and more.

Historically, the moth has been found mainly in Africa, but in recent years has caused increasing damage in Israel as well.

The Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement that several climate variants in Israel makes the pest difficult to kill, including the fact that the moth is active year-round, that it lives and breeds quickly on several different species, and that it is difficult to identify eggs or to know when the bugs have gotten into the fruit.

Further complicating matters for Israeli exporters, European Union regulations require the use of environmentally-friendly pesticides that are not very effective.

Agricultural authorities in Europe, North America and Asia have blocked entry to a large number of shipments from Israel over the past year due to concerns over the false codling moth, leading to the EU demand to ramp up measures to fight the pest.

According to the European demand, Israel will have to show a new protocol for fighting the pest and exporters who fail to comply with the new regulation will not be allowed to export their products to Europe.

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Agricultural Pest Threatens Israeli Exports to European Union - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

The shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, said European judges would have to be involved in a system to address Brexit issues. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Theresa May was accused of a climbdown over the future sovereignty of British courts after a newly published government paper appeared to leave open the possibility that the European court of justice would influence UK law after Brexit.

The latest of a flurry of Brexit policy papers, due to be published on Wednesday, will repeat the governments insistence that the direct jurisdiction of the Luxembourg-based ECJ must end when Britain leaves the EU in March 2019.

But it will set out a range of options for resolving future disputes between Britain and the EU over the rules of any new trade deal, for example some of which are likely to involve European judges, or the application of ECJ case law.

A UK government spokesperson said: We have long been clear that, in leaving the EU, we will bring an end to the direct jurisdiction of the court of justice of the European Union in the UK.

The spokesperson added: It is also in everyones interest that, where disputes arise between the UK and the EU on the application or interpretation of these obligations, those disputes can be resolved efficiently and effectively.

Judicial independence is a totemic issue for Brexiters, and May sought to reassure them in her Lancaster House speech in January that she would take back control of our laws and bring an end to the jurisdiction of the European court of justice in Britain.

She added: Leaving the European Union will mean that our laws will be made in Westminster, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. And those laws will be interpreted by judges not in Luxembourg but in courts across this country.

Opposition politicians said that the paper represented a U-turn by ministers. The shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, said: The repeated reference to ending the direct jurisdiction of the ECJ is potentially significant. This appears to contradict the red line laid out in the prime ministers Lancaster House speech and the governments white paper, which stated there could be no future role of the ECJ and that all laws will be interpreted by judges in this country.

He added: Nothing the government says it wants to deliver from Brexit be it on trade, citizens rights or judicial cooperation can be achieved without a dispute resolution system involving some role for European judges.

The Liberal Democrat leader, Vince Cable, said: We welcome this sensible and long overdue climbdown by the prime minister. It shows Theresa Mays red lines are becoming more blurred by the day.

The government seems to have belatedly accepted it wont be possible to end the EU courts influence in the UK without damaging our free trade and security cooperation with Europe.

Senior sources at DExEU denied that they were planning a retreat on the principle of judicial sovereignty but as the government has laid out more details of the deep and special partnership it hopes to negotiate after Brexit, it has become clear that the UK and the EU will not diverge significantly.

That is likely to mean shadowing EU law in some significant areas and legal experts have warned that will make it difficult to avoid a key role for the ECJ.

Sir Paul Jenkins, who was the governments most senior legal official for eight years until 2014, said at the weekend that the prime ministers policy of seeking to avoid ECJ involvement was foolish. He insisted that if the UK wanted to retain close links with the single market and customs union it would have no option but to observe EU law in all but name.

Wednesdays paper is likely to point to precedents for international dispute resolution that do not involve a direct role for the Luxembourg court, including disputes between Switzerland and the EU, which are settled through a series of joint committees though the EU is unhappy with that arrangement, and would like a more judicial approach.

It will also use the example of the Canadian free trade deal, Ceta, which includes an investor-dispute mechanism involving expert arbitrators, rather than judges. That would be controversial with campaigners concerned that such a body may be more opaque and less consistent than a court.

The paper will not identify a preferred model, but will stress that the government is willing to be flexible, and could consider the creation of new arbitration bodies for different types of dispute.

Britains objection to ECJ oversight has already become a sticking point in talks with Brussels, with the EU insisting that it sees the Luxembourg-based court as the best arbiter of future disputes over the rights of the EU citizens who currently live in Britain. The government will underline on Wednesday that it still believes UK courts should be the guarantors of these rights and EU courts for British citizens living abroad.

Tory MP and leading Leave campaigner Bernard Jenkin said: The ECJ should not have any role in interpreting any agreement between the EU and the UK.

He told the Daily Telegraph: No non-EU country will be much interested in talking to us about a free trade agreement if we still look hobbled by our relationship to the EU.

Another political hurdle to a successful Brexit deal was made clearer on Tuesday when the Welsh first minister, Carwyn Jones, and his Scottish counterpart, Nicola Sturgeon, announced they would be jointly drawing up amendments to the governments EU (withdrawal) bill, in a bid to ensure that powers returned from Brussels flow to Edinburgh and Cardiff, not Westminster.

The pair had already pledged to withhold consent from the legislation, triggering a constitutional crisis, unless it is amended. After meeting Sturgeon in Edinburgh, Jones said: The Welsh parliament is never going to support something that deprives the people of powers that would otherwise come to them. He added: The UK government has not done enough to build trust.

May has not been fronting the publications of the Brexit position papers, after a low-key summer in which she spent almost four weeks on holiday. She returned last week but only made one public appearance, in Portsmouth, where she welcomed the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth to its home port for the first time.

After spending time working from her constituency earlier in the week, May will reappear in the public eye on Wednesday at a factory that makes red double-decker buses in Guildford, Surrey. She is visiting the Alexander Dennis site to announce 44m of government financial guarantees to enable the sale of 90 low-emission vehicles to Mexico City.

However, the prime minister will not address staff at the factory for a speech or question and answer session, and journalists will not be allowed to attend apart from a shared broadcast camera.

Before the visit, she said the guarantee was a sign the UK was building a truly global Britain by helping UK companies win multimillion-pound contracts to export their products across the globe, and supporting high-value jobs here in this country.

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, will spend the day campaigning in the Western Isles as part of his tour of Scotland this week. He will be visiting a Harris tweed mill, an education organisation which helps with broadband connections, meeting business and community leaders, and visiting an art exhibition, followed by a rally at a sports centre where about 1,000 people are expected.

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Theresa May accused of U-turn over EU court's role after Brexit - The Guardian