UK farmers will suffer outside EU

PMEM

25 Apr 2016

Hillary Clinton added her voice Saturday to those from across the Atlantic urging Brits to vote to stay in the EU in a June 23 referendum, reports Politico, picking up a statement to the Observer: http://www.politico.eu/article/hillary-clinton-backs-uk-in-a-united-europe/

British Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Elizabeth Truss admitted Friday that Brexit would be a car-crash for British agriculture. It "means much harder access for our products, much harder access for our agriculture in the EU because of tariffs and quotas," she said, according to Politico Morning Agri and Food: https://dub129.mail.live.com/?tid=cm8ufWXKUK5hGaugAhWtfxPg2&fid=flinbox

An African advocacy group that wanted Britain to leave the EU has quit the Brexit campaign in protest at Boris Johnson's "very alarming" comments about Barack Obama's Kenyan ancestry, which it said risked scapegoating immigrants, reports BuzzFeed: http://www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/africans-for-britain-group-quits-anti-eu-campaign-over-boris?utm_term=.ale5Z28qo#.inDJn2lAr

Kings College London has withdrawn a speaking invitation to Boris Johnson because of his disrespect towards the U.S. president, reports Politico: https://dub129.mail.live.com/?tid=cmfu80DqQK5hGm9AAjfePkNg2&fid=flinbox Read the Kings letter here: http://www.politico.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Screen-Shot-2016-04-24-at-7.31.23-PM.png

Brexit campaigners want French far-right leader Marine Le Pen to stay away from the UK ahead of the 23 June EU referendum, reports EUobserver. Labour party MP and co-chair of Vote Leave, Gisela Stuart said the government should ban Le Pen because of her "divisive and inflammatory comments" about Muslims: https://euobserver.com/tickers/133189

A far-right candidate won the first round of presidential polls in Austria on Sunday, dealing a historic blow to the traditional mainstream parties, reports EUobserver: https://euobserver.com/political/133194

Courtesy of Peter Morris, European Movement in North East

SERBIA - PRO-EU MEMBERSHIP PARTIES CRUISE TO BIG VICTORY: Skepticism is rising inside the EU, but outside the bloc its appeal still burns bright, reports Politico: http://www.politico.eu/article/serbian-election-vucic-eu-accession/

MARIO MONTI WARNS THE EU COULD DISINTEGRATE: Mounting crises and rising populism have the former EU commissioner and Italian prime minister worried, reports Politico: http://www.politico.eu/article/catching-up-with-mario-monti/

HPS, a strategy consultancy, is publishing a note later this morning claiming 54 percent of all media coverage in Germany on TTIP contains only negative content, risking the ability of even a presidential visit to sway opinion, reports Politico... Greenpeace is certain momentum is with the critics: "This trade deal is going nowhere," Juergen Knirsch said on behalf of the campaign group: https://dub129.mail.live.com/?tid=cmfu80DqQK5hGm9AAjfePkNg2&fid=flinbox

HANOVER, Germany - President Obama said on Sunday that he was confident the United States and the European Union would succeed in negotiating a new trans-Atlantic trade deal by the end of the year, saying the benefits of such an agreement were "indisputable", reports the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/25/world/europe/wary-of-big-business-germans-protest-trade-deal-as-obama-visits.html?emc=edit_ee_20160425&nl=todaysheadlines-europe&nlid=74103272&_r=0

A [European] Commission source confirmed that geographical indicators - name-protected food products which are a priority for the EU in the negotiations - are on the [TTIP talks] agenda: https://dub129.mail.live.com/?tid=cm8ufWXKUK5hGaugAhWtfxPg2&fid=flinbox

Obama weighed in on the[TTIP] investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) process, which, he noted, "is something that has gained a lot of attention … among those who generally oppose trade agreements", reports Politico. Obama downplayed opponents' concerns that the ISDS process, which is a longstanding part of most trade deals, unfairly allows multinational corporations to challenge national health, financial and environmental regulations: https://dub129.mail.live.com/?tid=cmR3jhB6MK5hGyIgAjfePxtA2&fid=flinbox

EUobserver said Tens of thousands rallied against a planned EU-US free-trade deal in the German city of Hannover this weekend, during a visit by US president Barack Obama. Obama told a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel it was "indisputable" that free trade had made the US and other countries' economies stronger: https://euobserver.com/economic/133186

Brussels think tank Farm Europe recommended in a policy briefing Friday that the EU not extend to Mercosur the customary "special and differential treatment" granted to developing countries. The reason? Parts of the South American trading bloc's agriculture sector are state of the art and on a par with the EU's, reports Politic Morning Agri and Food: https://dub129.mail.live.com/?tid=cm8ufWXKUK5hGaugAhWtfxPg2&fid=flinbox

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