Cyprus-Forum.com

[Kikapu]

Oops Oops!

The Telegraph
Britons living in EU countries barred from returning in post-Brexit residency row

Charles Hymas
Sun, January 3, 2021, 2:27 PM GMT+1

Britons living in EU countries have been barred from returning to them after Christmas in a post-Brexit row over residency.

People trying to return to Spain and Italy after their Christmas holidays were either turned back on arrival or barred from getting onto flights after being told that their pre-Brexit "green cards" were not valid for entry.

The problems began on Saturday when border officials at airports in Madrid and Barcelona refused to recognise the documents despite declarations by the Spanish and Italian governments that they should be treated as valid for entry.

Instead, border officials insisted they would not allow entry to anyone without a new post Brexit photo-ID card, which most British residents have applied for but have yet to receive.

As a result, British passengers were turned back on arrival on at least two flights to Barcelona and had to return to the UK. Passengers on one flight from Newcastle had to fly back without their baggage, which was left at the airport.

The problems spiralled when airlines also started refusing to fly resident Britons back to Spain or Italy without the new post-Brexit foreign identity card. Airlines can be fined if they allow people to fly to a country without the right documentation.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/british-citi ... 00620.html

[Paphitis]

Oops!

The Telegraph
Spain will have last word who enters Gibraltar, says Foreign Minister

Jamie Johnson
Sat, January 2, 2021, 5:46 PM GMT+1

Spain will be able to decide who can enter Gibraltar under the terms of a post-Brexit deal, its Foreign Minister has said, sparking a furious response from the Territory’s Chief Minister.

Just hours before the UK formally left the EU a preliminary deal was struck which allows Gibraltar to join the Schengen zone, ensuring free movement of people and goods into the British Overseas Territory.

But in an interview with Spain’s El Pais newspaper, Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya said: “Schengen has a set of rules, procedures and instruments to apply them, including its database, to which only Spain has access. Gibraltar and the United Kingdom do not.

“In order to enter a Gibraltar integrated into the Schengen area, the responsibility for border control is in Spanish hands.

“That is why the final decision on who enters the Schengen area is Spanish, of course.

https://news.yahoo.com/spain-last-word- ... 20008.html

Sure! Geez, all the doomsayers predict major calamities for British Citizens in EU, Gibraltar, Cyprus SBAs etc etc.

In essence though, it’s all wishful thinking as nothing really changes.

What the Spanish are saying is they are going to make a hard border with Gibraltar. Ok fine! But who is going to be harmed by that more? Spain with its hard border or Britain? Britain still has access to Gibraltar by air and sea.

[Pyrpolizer]

Paphitis' never ending fanfare.
So in which areas is the UK more competitive to benefit from ANY free trade agreement with ANY country, or even the CANZ? BoJo knew very well how to blind the British consumers with arguments like they are going to have much cheaper and better beef from Australia, question is who is going to feed the British farmers who will go out of bussiness.
At best the heavily advertised "new trade deals" will be a mild suicide to whatever's left of the British industry.

[Londonrake]

It'll be several years I suspect before the dust settles and the pros and cons of leaving the EU start to become apparent. During which I'm sure some people will relish any opportunity to deliver "I told you so" at every twist and turn. And, let's be honest, after the past 5 years there won't be a scarcity of those who would be quite happy to gloatingly see the UK go down. Adding "Patriot" to their other credential "Democrat". At the moment though it's all really a matter of speculation and clearly, given events, is moot.

A word from a High Priestess of Remain recently:

"The Remain lawyer, Gina Miller, has admitted defeat in the Brexit battle as she called for arguments to stop as “divided nations do not prosper”.

Ms Miller, the campaigning businesswoman who defeated two Prime Ministers over legislation involving Brexit, has accepted that the UK has to move forward now that the UK has completed the transition period.

She said: “I would say that we have to now stop these arguments. I'm not going to spend 20 years obsessing about this.”

Ms Miller, who in September 2019 saw her appeal upheld by the Supreme Court after she said the prorogation of Parliament was unlawful, having successfully taken the Government to court in 2017 over the triggering of Article 50, cautioned that “there is absolutely no point in us being a divided country”.

She told LBC’s Andrew Pierce: “Divided countries do not prosper. We have covid, we don’t know what else is coming round the corner, the future is uncertain and unless we can work together to make sure that we are not damaged as a country, I'm sorry but this will just end up being a lost opportunity.”

Ms Miller defended her work campaigning against the Government on Brexit over the years, as she said there was no one who “believes more in parliamentary sovereignty and has actioned more in defending it than I would argue myself and my team”.

She added that attention would have to be paid to the “next four or five years and if things don't work out and damage our country in any way and we are not able to pursue the opportunities in a way that benefits our country, then we will have to think again”.

[Paphitis]

Paphitis' never ending fanfare.
So in which areas is the UK more competitive to benefit from ANY free trade agreement with ANY country, or even the CANZ? BoJo knew very well how to blind the British consumers with arguments like they are going to have much cheaper and better beef from Australia, question is who is going to feed the British farmers who will go out of bussiness.
At best the heavily advertised "new trade deals" will be a mild suicide to whatever's left of the British industry.

Can Cyprus sign a FTD with a country that isn’t a member of the EU? It can but it must be approved by the EU.

Britain however needs no such approval. They can sign a FTD with Australia, Canada, US, Chy-na, or India if they do wish.

Plus, they have the added benefit of not having any interference into their own affairs. In other words, they are not dependent on the EU, ECB or the other global entity that will serve its interests.

Pyro, the Brits embarrassed the EU. After so many years of ridicule and Warfare, they got their way and won.

That alone is worth a lot more than any amount of money.

Plus they can form their own FTD bloc and there is nothing the EU can do about it - for instance, they could form their own block known as CANZUK.

[Get Real!]

I predict Britain will get lovey-dovey with Turkey, and they’ll also be forced to be nicer to Russia too.

Basically, any significant non-EU potential trading partner/market, they’ll start sucking up to...

[Pyrpolizer]

Paphitis' never ending fanfare.
So in which areas is the UK more competitive to benefit from ANY free trade agreement with ANY country, or even the CANZ? BoJo knew very well how to blind the British consumers with arguments like they are going to have much cheaper and better beef from Australia, question is who is going to feed the British farmers who will go out of bussiness.
At best the heavily advertised "new trade deals" will be a mild suicide to whatever's left of the British industry.

Can Cyprus sign a FTD with a country that isn’t a member of the EU? It can but it must be approved by the EU.

Britain however needs no such approval. They can sign a FTD with Australia, Canada, US, Chy-na, or India if they do wish.

Plus, they have the added benefit of not having any interference into their own affairs. In other words, they are not dependent on the EU, ECB or the other global entity that will serve its interests.

Pyro, the Brits embarrassed the EU. After so many years of ridicule and Warfare, they got their way and won.

That alone is worth a lot more than any amount of money.

Plus they can form their own FTD bloc and there is nothing the EU can do about it - for instance, they could form their own block known as CANZUK.

Why are you avoiding the question?

[Kikapu]

It'll be several years I suspect before the dust settles and the pros and cons of leaving the EU start to become apparent. During which I'm sure some people will relish any opportunity to deliver "I told you so" at every twist and turn. And, let's be honest, after the past 5 years there won't be a scarcity of those who would be quite happy to gloatingly see the UK go down. Adding "Patriot" to their other credential "Democrat". At the moment though it's all really a matter of speculation and clearly, given events, is moot.

Hang on a minute, LR.

No one wants to see the UK go down just because the remainders lost the battle, but perhaps not necessarily the war. Whichever way things go from now on, it is not the remainders fault one way or the other. It won’t even be the fault of majority of the leavers, because the government were never up front with the people, therefore, anything that goes wrong after Brexit, you bet your bottom dollar that those responsible for U.K’s downfall (should it happen) must be held accountable. Anyone buying into Boris’s Jubilation that the UK is now ready to be all it can be and can stretch her legs after 40+ years of being kept on ball and chain by the EU, must be sleep walking and they will too need to hear about it.

Patriotism is not about doing everything our government tells us to do without question. As a matter of fact, it is the complete opposite. If things goes wrong, I will be the first to point fingers at every twist and turn because for the last 40+ years U.K. being in the EU has served the UKs interests well economically and politically, and when some right wing nutcases risk the livelihood of many, then yes, I will crap all over them as it happens and not going to wait 5 years to see how things come out. There was nothing broken by the UK being in the EU, but if it breaks now, look out Boris, Farage and gang.

[Kikapu]

Opinion
Foreign policy
‘Global Britain’ is willing to trade away everything. Including scruples

Simon Tisdall
The UK’s new deal with Turkey ignores appalling human rights abuses and should have been scrutinised by parliament
Sun 3 Jan 2021 07.00 GMT

The UK’s new trade agreement with Turkey, signed last week, ignores the Turkish government’s continuing human rights abuses, boosts its dangerous president, and undermines ministerial pledges that “global Britain” will uphold international laws and values. The deal took effect on 1 January without even rudimentary parliamentary scrutiny. Here, stripped of lies and bombast, is the dawning reality of Boris Johnson’s scruple-free post-Brexit world.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s “strongman” leader, is pleased as punch. He’s the new, biggest fan of Britain’s international trade secretary, Liz Truss, whose shabby work this is. Erdoğan hailed the deal as the start of a “new era” and a landmark for Turkey. After years of disastrous economic mismanagement and fierce rows with the US and EU over Turkish policy towards Russia, Syria, Libya, Greece and Cyprus, Erdoğan badly needed a win. Hapless Truss delivered.

The fact that Johnson used the spectre of Turkish migrants to frighten Leave voters in 2016 appears forgotten now. His government has created a favourable bilateral trade framework, and promised bespoke “upgrades”, to a leader who frequently mocks the EU and faces possible European trade sanctions. How does that square with Johnson’s vow to be “the best friend and ally the EU could have”? The level playing field is already tipping.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... EfEaRECWUk

[Londonrake]

No one wants to see the UK go down just because the remainders lost the battle, but perhaps not necessarily the war. Whichever way things go from now on, it is not the remainders fault one way or the other. It won’t even be the fault of majority of the leavers, because the government were never up front with the people, therefore, anything that goes wrong after Brexit, you bet your bottom dollar that those responsible for U.K’s downfall (should it happen) must be held accountable. Anyone buying into Boris’s Jubilation that the UK is now ready to be all it can be and can stretch her legs after 40+ years of being kept on ball and chain by the EU, must be sleep walking and they will too need to hear about it.

Patriotism is not about doing everything our government tells us to do without question. As a matter of fact, it is the complete opposite. If things goes wrong, I will be the first to point fingers at every twist and turn because for the last 40+ years U.K. being in the EU has served the UKs interests well economically and politically, and when some right wing nutcases risk the livelihood of many, then yes, I will crap all over them as it happens and not going to wait 5 years to see how things come out. There was nothing broken by the UK being in the EU, but if it breaks now, look out Boris, Farage and gang.

I disagree. I've been reading quite a few threads here and there and whilst I'm not talking about all Remainers, or pointing a finger, there are certainly some who clearly want their view to be vindicated by disaster. I hope they're not holding their breath.

Is it the Remainers fault? I believe to a considerable extent that the way things unfolded was down to their efforts. Had the result of the referendum been accepted (as I believe it would if it had been the reverse - certainly anyway by me) and the country moved on in a unified and coherent way then things I suspect would have worked out much better. What happened though? For over 4 years we had a lot of people in Parliament who treated the EU referendum with undisguised contempt and worked together to try and collectively overturn it. All sorts of schemes were attempted. The Labour party lied in their 2017 election manifesto, promising to honour the result and then betraying its voters. As a result they're in the wilderness, although still it seems arrogantly refusing to acknowledge the cause. People like Bercow, Clarke, Benn, Soubary, Grieve and many more in the House worked collectively to undermine the referendum, as did the unelected House of Lords. We witnessed the likes of Blair and Hesletine routinely jetting back and forth between London and Brussels in order to "advise" the EU Commission on how it could effectively do the same thing. Combined, giving ongoing grist to the EU mill. Why bother to negotiate seriously when all that's working in your favour. So, yes, IMHO Remainers have a lot to answer for.

The comforting idea that Boris Johnson (or Farage) alone was responsible for Brexit's absurd. There were 4 major electoral events between June 2016 and last December. The people of the UK voted in all of them to leave the EU. They didn't do that because of a single politician or "some right wing nutters". There was a 6 month campaign - heavily loaded on the Remain side - before the referendum. Afterwards, 4 years of digesting daily news about the various struggles. Perhaps next to Covid the people of the UK have never been so well informed on a subject. Still though, even nowadays, I'm reading crap saying the vote was all the result of a few words on the side of a bus.

The fact is we've left the EU - fully. Any ideas of us going back cap-in-hand are the fantasy of those who don't have a clue concerning the people they're talking about. So, apart from some sort of self gratification thing, I wonder, what's the point of continually carping? What is there to be achieved?

No disrespect meant. I hope you'll believe that. However, I think you and I have entirely different perspectives when it comes to patriotic sentiment about the UK.