Brexit, the economy and house prices (Part 3)

setmefree2

Hopefully we can expect more of this in the future

Chinese markets help boost UK meat exports

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2017-09/01/content_31387192.htm

ukcarper

always_sunny wrote: »

Has it? You may realise that in the UK there's the perception of being better than Spain, Italy or Portugal or the likes, but reality is folks in those countries are actually better off financially.

What's the unemployment again? Yes yes everybody is working here...

4.5% compared to 17.7% in Spain 11.3% in Italy and 9.4% in Portugal.

Also have you any proof of that as from what I can tell we have higher disposable income than all those countries.

setmefree2

Sapphire wrote: »

The sight of the unelected Drunkard bureaucrat and the treacherous (also unelected) Bliar together makes me feel physically nauseous. (There, managed it without swearing!) :T

I was reminded of this.

The six Brexit traps that will defeat Theresa May

Yanis Varoufakis

Picking opponents

From my first Eurogroup, its president, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister, began an intensive campaign to bypass me altogether. He would phone Alexis Tsipras, my prime minister, directly – even visiting him in his hotel room in Brussels. By hinting at a softer stance if Tsipras agreed to spare him from having to deal with me, Dijsselbloem succeeded in weakening my position in the Eurogroup – to the detriment, primarily, of Tsipras.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/may/03/the-six-brexit-traps-that-will-defeat-theresa-may

cogito

Thrugelmir wrote: »

The UK can afford to be open and transparent. In time we'll determine who the real puppet masters are behind EU policy.

Clue - there are two of them and their surnames both begin with M.

I'm very encouraged by the news coming out of Brussels today that the UK is not giving in to Barmier and co. From the bluster we're hearing from them, they are seriously rattled.

Barmier is still saying that he will not move one iota from his position papers. In other words, they are not negotiating. They are still demanding. Why are we wasting time talking to these idiots?

setmefree2

The EU is treating the UK like Greece – 5 worrying similarities

1. Priorities: Brexit talks currently focus on the “divorce settlement”: the UK’s exit bill, the border in Ireland and the rights of citizens. Future trade relations will wait. In short, negotiations prioritize what is important for the EU, not for the UK. With Greece, negotiations focused on austerity measures that Greeks hate, not on much-needed debt relief.
2. EU decides on sufficient progress: The EU summit in October will decide if sufficient progress has been made in the divorce settlement. If so, trade negotiations can commence. So far, European leaders are stating that not enough progress was made. Basically, Britain has to pay whatever the EU tells it to pay, and only then, talks can continue. This is similar to the situation with Greece: the troika decided if Greece fulfilled its obligations before releasing the next tranche of the bailout.
3. UK/Greek proposals are “not serious”: The image of EU negotiator Michel Barnier and his team sitting with papers while David Davis and his colleagues sitting without them is somewhat misleading. The UK did produce quite a few proposals, some of them including climbdowns from red lines that were stated publicly. However, the response from the EU was that “talks need to move to the actual negotiations”. When Yanis Varoufakis, then finance minister of Greece, came out with detailed proposals, he was blamed for “lecturing” and for not coming prepared to the negotiations.
4. The clock is ticking but time is wasted: Barnier says that “the clock is ticking” regarding the 2-year deadline in Article 50. With Greece, it was always the next debt repayment and a potential default. However, they are taking their time.
5. And finally, a horrible “take it or leave it” proposal: This hasn’t happened yet in Brexit negotiations as we haven’t reached the deadline, but here is a reminder of what happened with Greece. When the money was about to run out and the repayment to the IMF carried a risk of an imminent default, the Eurogroup made a proposal to Greece. This was a “take it or leave it” offer, made under duress. Greece decided to put the offer to a referendum and had its banks shut down. Shutting down UK banks is not something the EU can do, but a “take it or leave it” ultimatum for the UK is not beyond the EU.

https://www.forexcrunch.com/eu-treating-uk-like-greece-5-worrying-similarities/

However, we are not Greece - whatever the EU think.

setmefree2

Says it all

One insider said EU negotiators had kept adding extra costs to the divorce bill as if they were decorating a “Christmas tree”.

A_Medium_Size_Jock

cogito wrote: »

I'm very encouraged by the news coming out of Brussels today that the UK is not giving in to Barmier and co. From the bluster we're hearing from them, they are seriously rattled.

Barmier is still saying that he will not move one iota from his position papers. In other words, they are not negotiating. They are still demanding. Why are we wasting time talking to these idiots?

Absolutely spot-on.

The UK have kept the EU on the back foot since the referendum in a variety of ways - roundly ignored of course by pro-EU protagonists.
575 days and counting & as you say, it really is very obvious who is "rattled". As time progresses I expect further outbursts from senior eurocrats. The clock is indeed ticking Monsieur Barmier; now for how long will you hold your nerve?
:T

Thrugelmir

cogito wrote: »

I'm very encouraged by the news coming out of Brussels today that the UK is not giving in to Barmier and co. From the bluster we're hearing from them, they are seriously rattled.

Their hands are tied. Even if Merkel wins another term. Then she still needs to form a colition Government. As will have no overall majority. Allied to this there's other EU matters on the go.

Berlin and Paris struggle to bridge euro zone reform gap

French President Emmanuel Macron’s push for an ambitious overhaul of Europe’s single currency bloc is running up against robust resistance in Berlin despite conciliatory public signals from German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Nearly four months into Macron’s presidency, senior German officials say they are still waiting for ideas from Paris that might bridge the gap between France’s push for more euro zone burden-sharing and Germany’s insistence that member states take primary responsibility for their own economic problems.

Although the true test for a Franco-German “grand bargain” on deeper euro zone integration will come after the German election on Sept. 24, early exchanges between technocrats in the two capitals have yielded little to no progress, according to people involved.

“There is a new elan with Macron. But so far the ideas are the same ones that we’ve been hearing from Paris for years,” said one senior German official.

“We have not advanced at all,” said another top official. “It is hard to see where the middle ground lies.”

Europe’s common currency area is emerging from the economic and financial crisis that began nearly a decade ago and almost tore it apart.

But the turmoil of past years exposed deep flaws in Europe’s architecture, and with an array of new challenges emerging - from Brexit to U.S. President Donald Trump - people are watching closely to see if France and Germany, the historic drivers of European integration, can revive their troubled partnership and restore confidence in the bloc.

During his campaign for the Elysee, Macron called for a big leap forward in European cooperation towards a so-called fiscal union. He is pushing for the creation of a euro zone finance minister and parliament, as well as a stand-alone budget for the currency bloc to cushion economic shocks in individual member states and head off future crises.

In an interview with French weekly Le Point on Wednesday, he offered the first clues about what such a budget might look like, suggesting it could be funded by tax revenues that currently go into national budgets and total several hundred billions of euros.

Merkel, while voicing support for Macron’s budget idea, ruled out sums that large earlier this week, speaking of “small contributions”.

TIGHT WINDOW

Both the German and French sides say it will be important to have a rough plan for euro zone reform in place before German coalition talks begin in earnest, most likely in the second half of October.

That way, reform ideas can be embedded in the German coalition agreement, a detailed policy blueprint for the new government that can run over 200 pages.

One path, if Merkel emerges victorious as polls suggest, would be for Berlin and Paris to hold a bilateral summit on euro zone reform in early October and then present initial ideas to European partners at an EU summit scheduled for Oct. 19-20.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-eurozone-france-germany-idUKKCN1BB2AN

setmefree2

Tories to rally behind May over Brexit Bill

Senior Remain-backing Tories have said they will rally behind Theresa May at the next reading of the so-called Brexit Bill, pouring cold water on suggestions of a rebellion.

Labour’s 11th hour policy shift towards a soft Brexit has been seen by some as an opportunity to thwart passage of the EU Withdrawal Bill in a move that could even put pressure on May’s position.
It is expected that Labour MPs will be whipped to vote against the bill, meaning fewer than 20 rebel Tories would have to dissent for the government to lose the vote.
But senior Europhile Tories have told City A.M. they will rally behind the Prime Minister when the bill receives its second reading on September 11.

http://www.cityam.com/271085/tories-rally-behind-may-over-brexit-bill

cogito

setmefree2 wrote: »

http://www.cityam.com/271085/tories-rally-behind-may-over-brexit-bill

It's only a month since Corbyn whipped his MPs to support the Brexit bill and sacked thee shadow ministers who failed to do so. Now it seems he's going to whip his MPs to vote against.

Can someone please explain this to me.