EU nationals May’s priority as she triggers Article 50
LONDON — Theresa May will pledge to fight with “fierce determination” for every single person in the U.K. — including the millions of EU nationals worried about their future status — when she triggers...
View ArticleThe 342 steps between UKREP and Brexit
Follow Playbook on a speedy walk between the UK’s Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels and European Council President Donald Tusk’s office around the corner. From POLITICO Europe on Vimeo.
View ArticleIt’s official: Britain tells EU ‘we’re leaving’
Britain officially told the EU on Wednesday it will leave the bloc, setting the clock ticking on a two-year period for negotiating its departure. Tim Barrow, Britain’s ambassador to the EU, handed over...
View ArticleEU’s Brexit goal to ‘minimize costs’: Tusk
The European Union’s objective in Brexit negotiations will be to “minimize the costs for EU citizens, businesses and members,” European Council President Donald Tusk said on Wednesday. “This is about...
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Brexit talks will be tedious, nasty and painful
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst — negotiators on both sides of the English Channel clutched that trite prescription like a security blanket on Wednesday as U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May...
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Catalonia faces obstacles to its independence dreams
Spain Catalonia’s bid for independence continues to dominate headlines. El País ran a story on infighting within the regional government’s ruling pro-independence coalition. It reported that Vice...
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UK says EU’s €2 billion China fraud estimate ‘inflated’
The U.K. is disputing an “inflated” estimate by the EU that it owes €2 billion in lost duties and VAT connected to a Chinese fraud network. In a robust four-page letter to the European Commission,...
View ArticleManfred Weber: May knows Brexit will cause damage
LONDON — Theresa May is willing to make an extra effort to get Brexit talks to the next phase but is also aware that leaving the European Union “is difficult and will cause damage,” a senior member of...
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Anatomy of a Brexit deal
LONDON — It was all set for Wednesday. Then Thursday. In the end the British deal with the EU to move forward with divorce talks was sealed before the sun rose on a cold Brussels Friday morning. For...
View ArticleBritain spent nearly £1,000 delivering Article 50 letter
The British government’s decision to hand-deliver a letter to trigger the start of its official exit of the European Union cost the country’s taxpayers nearly £1,000, according to figures disclosed to...
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Britain moves big into Brussels
Britain is leaving Europe, but it’s hardly leaving Brussels. The U.K.’s diplomatic footprint in the European capital — currently hidden behind a congested Brussels roundabout, stretched above a Lloyds...
View ArticleEU Brexit summit goes ahead as planned
EU leaders in Brussels reached an agreement with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Saturday to ease Spain’s concerns about Gibraltar and clearing the path for EU27 leaders to approve the Brexit...
View ArticleUK barred from EU cybersecurity meeting: report
The U.K. ambassador to the EU complained that British officials had been “disinvited” from an EU cybersecurity meeting addressing the risks posed by Chinese equipment maker Huawei, the Financial Times...
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Brussels can’t help but extend the Brexit horror show
The U.K. will almost certainly get another Brexit extension — but don’t ask the EU to admit it. In the meantime, officials in Brussels and other EU27 capitals will spend a few more weeks watching in...
View ArticleEU27 ponder how to deal with UK request for Brexit delay
EU27 leaders are considering Boris Johnson’s Brexit delay request and how to turn it to their own maximum advantage — though some are wondering if there’s any advantage left to gain. After the British...
View ArticleUK won’t nominate EU commissioner before election, ambassador tells Brussels
The U.K. will not nominate an EU commissioner until after its December 12 national election, Britain’s Ambassador to the EU Tim Barrow wrote in a letter to the European Commission on Wednesday night,...
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Dazed EU insists Commission will not be delayed as UK refuses to make nomination
Brexit may finally have left Brussels flummoxed. EU27 officials have long expressed frustration and dismay over machinations in London, and insisted that they are preparing for every eventuality,...
View ArticleBrussels launches legal action against UK over failure to nominate commissioner
The European Commission launched an infringement procedure against the U.K. on Thursday over its refusal to nominate a candidate for EU commissioner. “As the Guardian of the Treaties, the European...
View ArticleUK government to skip EU summit
LONDON — Boris Johnson will not attend the European Council summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, nor will he send an official or envoy in his place, a spokesperson for the U.K. government said....
View ArticleDespite Brexit, high honors for Brits serving in Brussels
Britain may have quit the EU, but serving Britain in the EU capital still ranks as a good way to catch attention and make it to the Queen’s Birthday Honours lists. This year’s awards include four...
View ArticleUK names Brexit negotiator as new EU ambassador
LONDON — Lindsay Croisdale-Appleby, a career diplomat who earned Boris Johnson’s trust in Brexit talks as deputy chief negotiator, will be the next U.K. ambassador to the EU. He will take over from...
View ArticleNew global vaccine fight follows old diplomatic playbook
LONDON — Vaccines are the new diplomacy, but it’s not all that different to the old diplomacy. Countries around the world have been plunged into tense talks over vaccine supplies that have threatened...
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Liz Truss keeps EU guessing with ‘good cop, bad cop’ Brexit routine
LONDON — One’s a smooth operator well used to dealing with Brussels. The other’s a Brexit hard-liner who’ll be working with a Tory agitator dubbed the “second horseman of the Apocalypse.” In picking...
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World leaders know their place at the funeral of the century
LONDON — It was the grandest of state funerals. It was a rare moment of shared national reflection. It was also a masterclass in diplomatic choreography. Two full hours before Queen Elizabeth II’s...
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Inside the deal: How Boris Johnson’s departure paved the way for a grand...
LONDON — It was clear when Boris Johnson was forced from Downing Street that British politics had changed forever. But few could have predicted that less than six months later, all angry talk of a...
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Rishi Sunak could get mobbed (and bag a trade deal) when he heads to India
LONDON — Rishi Sunak might struggle to set pulses racing at home. But Downing Street hopes for a different story when the U.K. prime minister visits India next month. His ascent has already been...
View ArticleBritain’s national security adviser Tim Barrow set for US ambassador gig
WARSAW — Rishi Sunak on Tuesday declined to shoot down reports that national security adviser Tim Barrow is heading to Washington as Britain’s next ambassador. The U.K. prime minister confirmed that...
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Inside UK Labour’s push for a US special relationship — even with Trump
LONDON — His big moment may not have to wait much longer. If, as polls predict, Keir Starmer becomes prime minister in the U.K’s general election due on July 4, he’ll likely find himself sitting next...
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Putin threatens war as Western allies near deal on missile strikes in Russia
Britain and the U.S. are poised to cross a decisive Rubicon in the Ukraine war on Friday at a White House summit where they will discuss plans to allow Kyiv to strike targets inside Russia with...
View ArticleStarmer and Biden brush off Putin’s threat of war
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer brushed off Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threats Friday as they met to discuss Ukraine’s pleas to use British-supplied...
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Britain’s hunt for a Trump whisperer
LONDON — While the world scrambles to adjust to the reality of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, behind the scenes Britain is feeling the heat more than most. Relations between the...
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