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Betty MacDonald, the author of The Egg and I and the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Series is beloved all over the world. Don't miss Wolfgang Hampel's Betty MacDonald biography and his very witty interviews on CD and DVD!
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Theresa May and Brexit border deal
Theresa May fails to strike Brexit border deal with Irish government
Lack of agreement threatens to put back progression of Brexit
negotiations to second phase, ahead of crunch meeting between PM and
Jean-Claude Juncker
Theresa May and the Irish government have failed to reach a deal on
the crucial Brexit issue of the Northern Ireland border ahead of a
crunch meeting on Monday lunchtime with the European commission
president, Jean-Claude Juncker. Despite intense efforts over the weekend to agree a proposal on how to avoid a hard border in Ireland, Irish officials revealed at midnight on Sunday that “there is still a way to go” to achieve a meeting of minds on the issue. “The Irish government remains hopeful – but at this stage it is very difficult to make a prediction,” said an official. Q&A
Why is Dublin opposed to the idea of a hard border?
The failure to seal a deal threatens to delay the progression of the Brexit negotiations to the second phase covering trade and the UK’s future relationship with the EU. May will meet Juncker with the UK’s final offer on the three main
issues in the first round of Brexit talks – the Irish border, citizens’
rights and the financial settlement. Talks could continue into Wednesday when the European commissioners
are due to meet to discuss their recommendation to European leaders on
whether “sufficient progress” has been achieved to move talks on to
trade and transition arrangements. May had been given the deadline of Monday 4 December to table the
offers before a European council summit on 14 December, when EU leaders
will decide if “sufficient progress” has been made to proceed to the
next phase.
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But
although the money and citizens’ rights issues have been mostly
resolved, the future arrangement with Ireland has remained a significant
obstacle because the British government has yet to offer a firm
commitment explaining how it will guarantee avoiding a return to a hard
border after Brexit. For Ireland, and the EU27 as a whole, the problem has become a
potential dealbreaker, with Dublin given an effective veto on progress
of talks. Ireland’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister Simon Coveney
had said on Sunday morning that Ireland had “no desire” to be a
roadblock to progress but said the country wants “concrete” proposals on
how a hard border with customs and people checks would be avoided. Coveney told the broadcaster RTE that Monday was “undoubtedly a very
big day in the context of Brexit negotiations” and that “certainly the
hope is that those meetings will result in a momentum that can be
carried into the leaders’ summit”. Chances of a deal with British officials had been put at 50:50 on
Sunday afternoon, but at midnight Brussels time, officials said an
agreement had not been reached. “Contacts continue at official level in order to reach agreement.
There is still a way to go,” said an Irish official. “There must be
clarity on the need to avoid regulatory divergence which would lead to
the re-emergence of a border. “A positive outcome to the talks between UK PM May and President Tusk
and President Juncker will be very important if we are to make the
progress necessary before the European Council,” the Irish official
added. A special meeting of the Irish cabinet has been called for Monday morning in which ministers will get an update.
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In
London, a government spokesman said: “With plenty of discussions still
to go, Monday will be an important staging post on the road to the
crucial December council.” Two hours before Monday’s lunch with May, Juncker is to join the
European parliament’s Brexit coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, along with
members of the chamber’s Brexit steering committee, to discuss
outstanding issues on the future rights of EU citizens after the UK
leaves the bloc. Although this issue is largely resolved, Juncker requested the
meeting to refresh himself on the problems MEPs continue to have with
the progress on citizens’ rights, including British resistance to
cementing a role for the European court of justice (ECJ) in protecting
the status of EU nationals living in Britain. Beyond the issue of the ECJ, the parliament also wants the UK to drop
any charges for EU nationals when they apply for settled status
post-Brexit. They are also insistent that future family members of those living in
the UK today should be covered by whatever benefits are dispensed by
the withdrawal agreement. The parliament must ratify any treaty on
Britain’s withdrawal from the EU before Brexit in March 2019. May is coming under strong pressure from Tory Brexiters unhappy with
some of the compromises that she has already made in the process. Many
of her MPs would want to see her abandon Brexit negotiations altogether
if the EU summit in December rules against opening trade talks. Q&A
What is a hard Brexit?
On Sunday, senior Conservative Brexiters set new red lines for May in
the talks with the EU, significantly reducing her chances of getting a
deal acceptable to the whole of her party. The former cabinet
ministers Iain Duncan Smith, Owen Paterson, Nigel Lawson and John
Redwood said it would be unacceptable for the ECJ to have any
jurisdiction over the UK during the planned two-year transition after
Brexit.
Duncan Smith set out his objections in an article in the Sunday
Telegraph in which he said he particularly opposed a plan for the ECJ to
have an ongoing role, beyond the transition, adjudicating on the rights
of EU nationals in the UK.
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Paterson,
Lawson and Redwood, along with more than 30 other Brexiters, have
signed a letter coordinated by the group Leave Means Leave listing seven
conditions they say should apply before the UK makes any divorce
payment to the EU. But on Sunday, in a message to Tory Brexiters, the health secretary
Jeremy Hunt suggested that if May were brought down, Brexit might not
happen. He said: “If we don’t back Theresa May, we will have no Brexit.” Speaking to BBC1’s Breakfast programme on Monday Paterson, the former
environment secretary, insisted the group was “right behind the prime
minister”. “She’s made a very generous offer in Florence, which the European Union were pretty churlish about,” he said. “All we are doing is restating what we had in the Conservative party
manifesto, which was a promise to deliver what the 17.4m people voted
for, which was to leave the single market, leave the customs union, and
very importantly, leave the ECJ.” Asked why the ECJ element had to be completed in March 2019, Paterson
said it was vital to avoid “some muddled transition for which we’re
half in and half out” so the UK could begin forging a post-Brexit
future. Asked about the Irish border issue Paterson, who also spent two years
as Northern Ireland secretary, said: “I’m very dismayed by the
importance being given to this. I really think this is soluble.”
Betty MacDonald Fan Club, founded by Wolfgang Hampel, has members in 40 countries.
Wolfgang Hampel, author of Betty MacDonald biography interviewed Betty MacDonald's family and friends. His Interviews have been published on CD and DVD by Betty MacDonald Fan Club. If you are interested in the Betty MacDonald Biography or the Betty MacDonald Interviews send us a mail, please.
Several original Interviews with Betty MacDonald are available.
We are also organizing international Betty MacDonald Fan Club Events for example, Betty MacDonald Fan Club Eurovision Song Contest Meetings in Oslo and Düsseldorf, Royal Wedding Betty MacDonald Fan Club Event in Stockholm and Betty MacDonald Fan Club Fifa Worldcup Conferences in South Africa and Germany.
Betty MacDonald Fan Club Honour Members are Monica Sone, author of Nisei Daughter and described as Kimi in Betty MacDonald's The Plague and I, Betty MacDonald's nephew, artist and writer Darsie Beck, Betty MacDonald fans and beloved authors and artists Gwen Grant, Letizia Mancino, Perry Woodfin, Traci Tyne Hilton, Tatjana Geßler, music producer Bernd Kunze, musician Thomas Bödigheimer, translater Mary Holmes and Mr. Tigerli.
