The Battle of Brussels begins: David Davis kicks off Brexit negotiations

[Blackleaf]

David Davis today said there is 'more than unites us than divides us' as he arrived in Brussels for the first round of official Brexit talks.

Greeted by the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier, the Brexit Secretary passed the latest crucial milestone in delivering on the historic referendum vote.

The initial remarks of the two senior negotiators was overshadowed by the latest terror attack to hit London.

Mr Davis said Britain was determined to build a 'strong and special partnership' with the EU.

For the EU side, Mr Barnier said it was vital to tackle the 'uncertainties' of Brexit - resolving Britain's Brexit bill, the rights of citizens and the Irish border.

David Davis kicks off the Brexit talks by insisting 'there is more that unites us than divides us' as the first meeting to deliver the referendum FINALLY begins

Government ministers hit the airwaves to talk up the prospects of Brexit today
Johnson said Britain would become the 'agent and agitator' of world trade
Michael Gove claimed food would be cheaper after a good Brexit deal
David Davis today launches divorce talks with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier

By Tim Sculthorpe, Deputy Political Editor For Mailonline
19 June 2017

David Davis today said there is 'more than unites us than divides us' as he arrived in Brussels for the first round of official Brexit talks.

Greeted by the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier, the Brexit Secretary passed the latest crucial milestone in delivering on the historic referendum vote.

The initial remarks of the two senior negotiators was overshadowed by the latest terror attack to hit London.

Mr Davis said Britain was determined to build a 'strong and special partnership' with the EU.

For the EU side, Mr Barnier said it was vital to tackle the 'uncertainties' of Brexit - resolving Britain's Brexit bill, the rights of citizens and the Irish border.

The first round of talks will set the agenda for the next 18 months as Britain and Europe wrestle with the future.

The clock is ticking as the deal to unravel 45 years of British membership must be done by March 29, 2019, under EU treaty rules.

David Davis (pictured arriving in Brussels today) said there is 'more than unites us than divides us' ahead of the first round of official Brexit talks with EU negotiator Michel Barnier

Greeted by the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier, the Brexit Secretary passed the latest crucial milestone in delivering on the historic referendum vote

Mr Davis (centre) was joined by his key aides at the talks today, including Britain's EU Ambassador Sir Tim Barrow (left) and Permanent Secretary Olly Robbins (right)

The negotiating teams sat across the room from each other as the talks began at the headquarters of the European Commission today

On arrival, Mr Davis said: 'We are starting this negotiation in a positive and constructive tone, determined to build a strong and special partnership between ourselves and our European allies and friends for the future.'

Mr Barnier said that the purpose of the talks was to deliver an 'orderly withdrawal of the UK from the EU'.

'Our objective is clear,' he added. 'We must first tackle the uncertainties caused by Brexit, first for citizens but also for the beneficiaries of EU policies and for the impact on borders, in particular Ireland.'

He said he hoped that during their single day of talks, he and Mr Davis would be able to identify priorities and a timetable for the ongoing negotiations, so that he can report back to leaders of the other 27 EU states at the European Council summit in Brussels on Thursday.

Mr Davis - who earlier said that he was hoping to negotiate a 'deal like no other in history' - said that the UK was looking for 'a new, deep and special partnership with the EU'.

He added: 'It is at testing times like these that we are reminded of the values and the resolve that we share with our closest allies in Europe.

'There is more that unites us than divides us.

'While there will undoubtedly be challenging times ahead of us in the negotiations we will do all that we can to ensure that we deliver a deal that works in the best interests of all citizens.'

Earlier, Boris Johnson hailed the opportunities of Brexit. The Foreign Secretary, who was the leading light of the Brexit campaign, said there was 'goodwill' for a deal that gave 'honour and profit' to both sides.

He said Britain would become the 'agent and agitator' for world trade for the first time in decades once the deal was done.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove, another leader of the Brexit battle, also talked up the prospects of a deal today by suggesting food prices could fall.

Chancellor Philip Hammond warned yesterday the failure to strike a deal would be a 'bad outcome' for Britain - but insisted that was still better than a bad deal imposed by Brussels.

Boris Johnson (pictured in Luxembourg today) hailed the opportunities of Brexit today as the official talks finally begin in Brussels

Mr Johnson insisted Britons should be optimistic about what can be achieved.

He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: 'The important thing now is to be as positive as we can. There is much more good will among our European friends than you might pick up from the debate in the UK.

'What I might do is look to the horizon and think to a couple of years time... when we will have negotiated as the Prime Minister said not just a Brexit deal but a deep and special partnership.

'That is a resolution of a British problem that has been dithering on for decades.'

Asked if he would call it off in the face of a bad deal, Mr Johnson said: 'There is every prospect our friends and partners will want to do this deal.

'There is obviously the free trade we want to strike but then there is the deep and special partnership we want to build.'

Mr Johnson is in Luxembourg today taking part in a meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers about terrorism.

He said the battle against extremism showed why Britain could still be close to its EU allies in future.

He said: 'We have so many things in common - look at the London Bridge attack, the Westminster Bridge attack, the Manchester attack - so many EU nationals were involved in that, so many EU nationals amongst the fatalities.

'We need to work as Europeans to deal with those problems.'

Talks are expected to be held regularly during the remainder of the two year Article 50 process to strike a divorce deal

Brussels was preparing for the official start of talks this morning by hanging flags for a photocall at the EU Commission (pictured)

Asked if Prime Minister Theresa May could possibly lead the process, Mr Johnson said: 'My strong view is the last thing the electorate wants is more elections, there is a huge task to get on with on Brexit.

'We can do it well, in a positive way. We can build something absolutely brilliant out of this with our European friends.'

Ahead of his talks today, Mr Davis said the negotiations would 'shape the future' of both the EU and the UK.

He said: 'We want both sides to emerge strong and prosperous, capable of projecting our shared European values, leading in the world, and demonstrating our resolve to protect the security of our citizens.

'I want to reiterate at the outset of these talks that the UK will remain a committed partner and ally of our friends across the Continent.

'And while there is a long road ahead, our destination is clear – a deep and special partnership between the UK and the EU. A deal like no other in history. I look forward to beginning work on that new future today.'

Mr Davis will be accompanied by a nine-strong negotiating team that includes the most senior civil servants at the Department for Exiting the EU (DexEU), as well as officials from the Treasury and Home Office and Mark Sedwill, the national security adviser to the Prime Minister.

Mr Barnier yesterday tweeted that he was spending the weekend hiking in the French Alps 'to draw strength and energy' ahead of the start of the talks.

A Whitehall source said the DexEU team was ready. He added: 'This place is absolutely humming. Everyone is up for this.

'This whole department has spent months working flat out to get in the position we are now to start negotiations – and it has just gone up a gear.

Prime Minister Theresa May (pictured in Maidenhead yesterday) will have to close the deal on whatever Mr Davis negotiates with Brussels

'The atmosphere and the positivity, the whole place is upbeat. This notion that we're in disarray is just not the truth. We're looking forward very much to getting going on Monday. We have got a strong team. This idea that somehow we're a shambolic outfit couldn't be further from the truth.

'You have got David Davis at the top of the department – a massively experienced parliamentarian, former businessman, knows his way around a deal, is a strong and canny operator.

'You have got Brexit permanent secretary Olly Robbins, a phenomenally experienced civil servant. You have got Sir Tim Barrow, one of the country's foremost diplomats and negotiators.

'And that is just the top three, and beneath them you have got a tier that is the cream of Whitehall that is working on this.

'The department is up and running and is looking forward to getting going. We're ready to go and looking forward to it.'

Talks will focus on the status of expats, the UK's exit settlement and the Northern Ireland border. But officials insisted the UK would continue to push for an agreement on trade relations to be dealt with alongside a deal on the withdrawal process.

BREXIT TALKS DAY ONE: WHAT'S ON THE AGENDA?

Today's first round of Brexit talks is underway.
The goal of the first session is to set out how the rest of the talks will proceed.
First on the agenda are the key issues of the divorce - Britain's outstanding bills, reciprocal rights for citizens and the Irish border.
This is how the first day will play out:
10am: Opening session with Michel Barnier and Secretary of State David Davis, plus officials
11am: Working lunch between Barnier and Davis
1pm to 3.30pm: Working groups of officials
3.30pm: Meeting of coordinators from both sides - Sabine Weyand, European Commission's Deputy Chief Negotiator and Olly Robbins, Permanent Secretary, UK Brexit Department
4.30pm: Closing session between Barnier and Davis
5.30pm: Joint press conference by Barnier and Davis

Read more: Johnson hails the opportunities of Brexit as talks start | Daily Mail Online
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
​

 

[tay]

THE LAUGHING STOCK OF EUROPE

[Translation by [Paula Kirby ]


If it weren't so serious, the situation in Great Britain would almost be comical. The country is being governed by a talking robot, nicknamed the Maybot, that somehow managed to visit the burned-out tower block in the west of London without speaking to a single survivor or voluntary helper.


Negotiations for the country’s exit from the EU are due to begin on Monday, but no one has even a hint of a plan. The government is dependent on a small party that provides a cozy home for climate change deniers and creationists. Boris Johnson is Foreign Secretary. What in the world has happened to this country?

Two years ago David Cameron emerged from the parliamentary election as the shining victor. He had secured an absolute majority, and as a result it looked as if the career of this cheerful lightweight was headed for surprisingly dizzy heights. The economy was growing faster than in any other industrialised country in the world. Scottish independence and, with it, the break-up of the United Kingdom had been averted. For the first time since 1992, there was a Conservative majority in the House of Commons. Great Britain saw itself as a universally respected actor on the international stage. This was the starting point.

In order to get from this comfortable position to the chaos of the present in the shortest possible time, two things were necessary: first, the Conservative right wingers’ obsessive hatred of the EU, and second, Cameron’s irresponsibility in putting the whole future of the country on the line with his referendum, just to satisfy a few fanatics in his party. It is becoming ever clearer just how extraordinarily bad a decision that was. The fact that Great Britain has become the laughing stock of Europe is directly linked to its vote for Brexit.

The ones who will suffer most will be the British people, who were lied to by the Brexit campaign during the referendum and betrayed and treated like idiots by elements of their press. The shamelessness still knows no bounds: the Daily Express has asked in all seriousness whether the inferno in the tower block was due to the cladding having been designed to meet EU standards. It is a simple matter to discover that the answer to this question is No, but by failing to check it, the newspaper has planted the suspicion that the EU might be to blame for this too. As an aside: a country in which parts of the press are so demonstrably uninterested in truth and exploit a disaster like the fire in Grenfell Tower for their own tasteless ends has a very serious problem.

Already prices are rising in the shops, already inflation is on the up. Investors are holding back. Economic growth has slowed. And that’s before the Brexit negotiations have even begun. With her unnecessary general election, Prime Minister Theresa May has already squandered an eighth of the time available for them. How on earth an undertaking as complex as Brexit is supposed to be agreed in the time remaining is a mystery.

Great Britain will end up leaving its most important trading partner and will be left weaker in every respect. It would make economic sense to stay in the single market and the customs union, but that would mean being subject to regulations over which Britain no longer had any say. It would be better to have stayed in the EU in the first place. So the government now needs to develop a plan that is both politically acceptable and brings the fewest possible economic disadvantages. It’s a question of damage limitation, nothing more; yet even now there are still politicians strutting around Westminster smugly trumpeting that it will be the EU that comes off worst if it doesn’t toe the line.

The EU is going to be dealing with a government that has no idea what kind of Brexit it wants, led by an unrealistic politician whose days are numbered; and a party in which old trenches are being opened up again: moderate Tories are currently hoping to be able to bring about a softer exit after all, but the hardliners in the party – among them more than a few pigheadedly obstinate ideologues – are already threatening rebellion. An epic battle lies ahead, and it will paralyse the government.

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said that he now expects the Brits to finally set out their position clearly, since he cannot negotiate with himself. The irony of this statement is that it would actually be in Britain’s best interests if he did just that. At least that way they’d have one representative on their side who grasps the scale of the task and is actually capable of securing a deal that will be fair to both sides. The Brits do not have a single negotiator of this stature in their ranks. And quite apart from the Brexit terms, both the debate and the referendum have proven to be toxic in ways that are now making themselves felt.

British society is now more divided than at any time since the English civil war in the 17th century, a fact that was demonstrated anew in the general election, in which a good 80% of the votes were cast for the two largest parties. Neither of these parties was offering a centrist programme: the election was a choice between the hard right and the hard left. The political centre has been abandoned, and that is never a good sign. In a country like Great Britain, that for so long had a reputation for pragmatism and rationality, it is grounds for real concern. The situation is getting decidedly out of hand.

After the loss of its empire, the United Kingdom sought a new place in the world. It finally found it, as a strong, awkward and influential part of a larger union: the EU. Now it has given up this place quite needlessly. The consequence, as is now becoming clear, is a veritable identity crisis from which it will take the country a very long time to recover.

http://mobile2.derbund.ch/articles/59442e3cab5c3744ba000001

 

[Blackleaf]

The country is being governed by a talking robot, nicknamed the Maybot, that somehow managed to visit the burned-out tower block in the west of London without speaking to a single survivor or voluntary helper.

You mean that, unlike the more opportunistic politicians on the Left, such as Corbyn and Khan, she didn't go out and show how "caring" and "compassionate" she is in front of the public and TV crews in order to garner more potential voters and has instead just got on with, in what used to be a very British, understated way, setting up a public inquiry and a £5 million emergency relief fund?

Negotiations for the country’s exit from the EU are due to begin on Monday, but no one has even a hint of a plan.

So the Brexit Secretary David Davis, who has spent weeks appearing on TV telling us what his aims will be during the Brexit negotiations, has no plan?

My reckoning is that, in the next few days, we'll see that the British have put together a far more talented negotiating team that the EU has.

The government is dependent on a small party that provides a cozy home for climate change deniers and creationists. Boris Johnson is Foreign Secretary. What in the world has happened to this country?

Considering that 52% of Britons do not believe in man-made climate change, it seems that the DUP are more in-touch with the British people and the real world than the author of this article is.

The fact that Great Britain has become the laughing stock of Europe is directly linked to its vote for Brexit.

Laughing stock of Europe because of Brexit? Maybe the author needs to read this:

Another interesting statistic: Great Britain placed higher than the European Union, in the wake of last year’s Brexit vote.

Global view of United States plummets in wake of Trump presidency: Ipsos poll - National | Globalnews.ca

The ones who will suffer most will be the British people, who were lied to by the Brexit campaign

What about the lies told by the Remain campaign, who told us that a vote for Brexit would lead to an emergency Budget, Scottish independence and World War III?

The shamelessness still knows no bounds: the Daily Express has asked in all seriousness whether the inferno in the tower block was due to the cladding having been designed to meet EU standards. It is a simple matter to discover that the answer to this question is No, but by failing to check it, the newspaper has planted the suspicion that the EU might be to blame for this too. As an aside: a country in which parts of the press are so demonstrably uninterested in truth and exploit a disaster like the fire in Grenfell Tower for their own tasteless ends has a very serious problem.

EU regulations set out rules for buildings’ energy consumption with Britain signed up to the 2010 Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. Under the directive, the UK is required to report to the European Commission on progress towards national energy efficiency targets each year.

Article 24 of the directive was cemented into UK law in April 2014 and a Government report says ‘bringing as many residential and commercial buildings as possible up to a high level of energy performance is a priority for the UK Government’.

Cladding is often used to improve energy efficiency and it is thought there could be up to 30,000 buildings in the UK fitted with similar cladding to that used on Grenfell Tower.

Already prices are rising in the shops, already inflation is on the up. Investors are holding back. Economic growth has slowed.​

These are nothing to do with Brexit. Brexit, as the Remoaners keep reminding us whenever they hear of good economic news, hasn't happened yet.

​

Great Britain will end up leaving its most important trading partner and will be left weaker in every respect.

That reminds me of all the silly, nonsense, scare stories perpetrated by the Remoaners during the referendum campaign, all of which were proven to be wrong.

It would be better to have stayed in the EU in the first place.

Most Britons and a great swathe of other Europeans evidently disagree.

 

[taxslave]

THE LAUGHING STOCK OF EUROPE

[Translation by [Paula Kirby ]


If it weren't so serious, the situation in Great Britain would almost be comical. The country is being governed by a talking robot, nicknamed the Maybot, that somehow managed to visit the burned-out tower block in the west of London without speaking to a single survivor or voluntary helper.


Negotiations for the country’s exit from the EU are due to begin on Monday, but no one has even a hint of a plan. The government is dependent on a small party that provides a cozy home for climate change deniers and creationists. Boris Johnson is Foreign Secretary. What in the world has happened to this country?

Two years ago David Cameron emerged from the parliamentary election as the shining victor. He had secured an absolute majority, and as a result it looked as if the career of this cheerful lightweight was headed for surprisingly dizzy heights. The economy was growing faster than in any other industrialised country in the world. Scottish independence and, with it, the break-up of the United Kingdom had been averted. For the first time since 1992, there was a Conservative majority in the House of Commons. Great Britain saw itself as a universally respected actor on the international stage. This was the starting point.

In order to get from this comfortable position to the chaos of the present in the shortest possible time, two things were necessary: first, the Conservative right wingers’ obsessive hatred of the EU, and second, Cameron’s irresponsibility in putting the whole future of the country on the line with his referendum, just to satisfy a few fanatics in his party. It is becoming ever clearer just how extraordinarily bad a decision that was. The fact that Great Britain has become the laughing stock of Europe is directly linked to its vote for Brexit.

The ones who will suffer most will be the British people, who were lied to by the Brexit campaign during the referendum and betrayed and treated like idiots by elements of their press. The shamelessness still knows no bounds: the Daily Express has asked in all seriousness whether the inferno in the tower block was due to the cladding having been designed to meet EU standards. It is a simple matter to discover that the answer to this question is No, but by failing to check it, the newspaper has planted the suspicion that the EU might be to blame for this too. As an aside: a country in which parts of the press are so demonstrably uninterested in truth and exploit a disaster like the fire in Grenfell Tower for their own tasteless ends has a very serious problem.

Already prices are rising in the shops, already inflation is on the up. Investors are holding back. Economic growth has slowed. And that’s before the Brexit negotiations have even begun. With her unnecessary general election, Prime Minister Theresa May has already squandered an eighth of the time available for them. How on earth an undertaking as complex as Brexit is supposed to be agreed in the time remaining is a mystery.

Great Britain will end up leaving its most important trading partner and will be left weaker in every respect. It would make economic sense to stay in the single market and the customs union, but that would mean being subject to regulations over which Britain no longer had any say. It would be better to have stayed in the EU in the first place. So the government now needs to develop a plan that is both politically acceptable and brings the fewest possible economic disadvantages. It’s a question of damage limitation, nothing more; yet even now there are still politicians strutting around Westminster smugly trumpeting that it will be the EU that comes off worst if it doesn’t toe the line.

The EU is going to be dealing with a government that has no idea what kind of Brexit it wants, led by an unrealistic politician whose days are numbered; and a party in which old trenches are being opened up again: moderate Tories are currently hoping to be able to bring about a softer exit after all, but the hardliners in the party – among them more than a few pigheadedly obstinate ideologues – are already threatening rebellion. An epic battle lies ahead, and it will paralyse the government.

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said that he now expects the Brits to finally set out their position clearly, since he cannot negotiate with himself. The irony of this statement is that it would actually be in Britain’s best interests if he did just that. At least that way they’d have one representative on their side who grasps the scale of the task and is actually capable of securing a deal that will be fair to both sides. The Brits do not have a single negotiator of this stature in their ranks. And quite apart from the Brexit terms, both the debate and the referendum have proven to be toxic in ways that are now making themselves felt.

British society is now more divided than at any time since the English civil war in the 17th century, a fact that was demonstrated anew in the general election, in which a good 80% of the votes were cast for the two largest parties. Neither of these parties was offering a centrist programme: the election was a choice between the hard right and the hard left. The political centre has been abandoned, and that is never a good sign. In a country like Great Britain, that for so long had a reputation for pragmatism and rationality, it is grounds for real concern. The situation is getting decidedly out of hand.

After the loss of its empire, the United Kingdom sought a new place in the world. It finally found it, as a strong, awkward and influential part of a larger union: the EU. Now it has given up this place quite needlessly. The consequence, as is now becoming clear, is a veritable identity crisis from which it will take the country a very long time to recover.

http://mobile2.derbund.ch/articles/59442e3cab5c3744ba000001

London leftard dogma, short on facts.
Over the years the EU has mor fed from an economic union to promote free trade to a dysfunctional unelected bureaucratic monolith that somehow thinks it has the authority to override the wishes of the people in the member countries.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

You mean that, unlike the more opportunistic politicians on the Left, such as Corbyn and Khan, she didn't go out and show how "caring" and "compassionate" she is in front of the public

I actually agree. Her cold indifference to the suffering of the people she governs was refreshingly honest in a politician.

 

[Blackleaf]

I actually agree. Her cold indifference to the suffering of the people she governs was refreshingly honest in a politician.

She was actually being very British in the face of a crisis, unlike the touchy-feely, opportunistic Corbyn.

 

[Curious Cdn]

She was actually being very British in the face of a crisis, unlike the touchy-feely, opportunistic Corbyn.

... a Maybot ... how British ...

 

[Danbones]

London fire: Corbyn calls for empty flats to be requisitioned
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-40285994

yes, as opposed to the nazicommunists you like

"PM Theresa May said the residents were "in our thoughts and prayers" and has ordered a public inquiry into the fire."
(from the link)
I suppose though you also don't want her to do her job

"Mr Corbyn, who earlier released a statement saying he was "very angry that it was possible for the fire to spread in the way it did," said people living in high-rise flats would be frightened following the Grenfell Tower disaster and needed answers to give them "peace of mind"."
(from the link)
Be afraid! Be very afraid! Only governments that hold the records for DEMOCIDE can save you!

wow, what a political oportunist this doood is

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

She was actually being very British in the face of a crisis

That's what I said. Coldly indifferent to the suffering of the people she governs. That's as British as passing out in a puddle of puke on Saturday night.