Tag Archives: Brexit

Yanis Varoufakis negotiated with the EU elite over the Greek bailout, witnessed firsthand the callous mathematics used to keep the union together. Today — after OXI, after Brexit, and after Trump — he and his comrades in DiEM25 are calling for a New Deal for Europe: a plan that can stabilize the European Union and return democracy to the people. He sat down with Doug Henwood on Behind the News to discuss this...

The HOUSE Magazine is the inhouse publication of the UK’s Houses of Parliament. This piece was commissioned to discuss what the British government should do in relation to EU residents post-Brexit. For the sake of Britain’s economy, and soul, Theresa May must immediately and unilaterally guarantee the rights of EU citizens currently residing in the UK, says Yanis Varoufakis Campaigners calling for EU...

It had to happen. Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, has refused to commit to a net migration target. Facing a barrage of complaints from the hospitality industry about potential staff shortages post-Brexit, Rudd appears to be softening the government's line. She told BBC Radio 5Live's Pienaar's Politics: "My personal view is we need to continue to bring immigration down. I want to make sure that we do it in a way that supports businesses.” So what way might that be, then? After all, her boss...

"Why have you changed your avatar?" asked a friend of mine.Why indeed. Ever since I joined Twitter in 2010, my avatar has always been a picture of me, and my Twitter name has always been my own name. I've never wanted - or needed - to be anonymous.So why now?The image on my avatar is the Anarchist Cat. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about it: The black cat, also called the "wild cat" or "sabot-cat", usually with an arched back and with claws and teeth bared, is closely associated with...

Theresa May has miscalculated her Brexit strategy, says the ­former Greek finance minister who handled his country’s EU negotiations. Yanis Varoufakis, writing exclusively for the Mirror, says the PM’s threat of a “ hard Brexit ” will not make Britain’s departure any easier. Mr Varoufakis said: “By making a hard Brexit the default of the ­negotiating process, Mrs May has secured its credibility. “However, a...

How do I feel now that article 50 has been triggered? I feel sad that so many good people in Britain will feel so disappointed when they realise that Brexit has not helped them “take back their country”. I feel alarmed that, driven by Brexit, EU leaders chose its 60th anniversary, last Saturday, to embrace a “multispeed” Europe amounting to nothing more than a formalisation of the EU’s disintegration – which, in...

March for a Different Europe in Rome, March 25, 2017. From DiEm25 facebook page. Allowing EU member states to move in different directions and at different speeds is precisely the wrong way to address the differing concerns of Europeans living in different countries – and it seems an odd way to unite them behind a single way forward for the continent.  As British Prime Minister Theresa May triggers Article 50,...

The EU has laid out its negotiating strategy for Brexit. Well, not officially yet, of course - the letter triggering Article 50 won't be delivered until tomorrow, 29th March. But as is its wont, it has made its intentions clear in the press.In an op-ed in the FT, Michel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator, has stated in no uncertain terms how he expects the negotiations to proceed. He identifies three crucial issues that must be resolved before there can be any discussion of future trading...

"The Germans won't want tariffs on their car exports to the UK", said my father the other day.I have to agree. No-one likes tariffs, especially when they are used to having none. But it was his next comment that made me pause. My father's idea is that the EU will allow the UK to have tariff-free access to the EU's markets after Brexit in order to placate the powerful German car manufacturing lobby. He's not alone in this view: it has been repeatedly stated by Brexit promoters, both during...

"No deal for Britain is better than a bad deal", says Theresa May. Her Brexit sidekick David Davis appeals to MPs not to "tie her hands". And that master of flannel, trade secretary Liam Fox, says that leaving without a deal would be "not just bad for the UK, it's bad for Europe as a whole".These three statements sum up the hopes of the Brexiteers. The idea seems to be that if the UK adopts a really strong stance in its forthcoming negotiations with the EU, the Europeans will be so...