Brexit compounded UK's shortage of doctors, says study

LONDON, United Kingdom - Brexit has compounded a shortage of doctors in Britain, with an estimated shortfall of 4,000 in major specialty areas from EU countries, a study published Sunday said.

It comes as the crisis-hit NHS state-funded health service struggles after years of underfinancing, with record waiting lists for some hospital care due to the Covid pandemic but also a lack of doctors and nurses.

The Nuffield Trust, an independent health think tank, focused on four fields of medicine -- anaesthesia, pediatrics, cardio-thoracic surgery and psychiatry -- where European doctors had been particularly relied upon before the UK left the European Union.

It found that in the four areas -- where recruitment was already challenging -- "the increase in EU and EFTA (European Free Trade Association) staff slowed down, falling below the projected increase".

If the trend seen before Brexit had continued, there should have been more than 41,000 doctors from the EU or EFTA (Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein) registered in 2021, or at least 4,000 more than the figures showed.

"The campaign and result of the EU referendum is the obvious reason for a change in trend around 2015 and 2016," the study, commissioned by The Guardian newspaper, said.

It highlighted initial uncertainty over new rules for the movement of people, followed by tighter visa rules and "deteriorating work conditions" in the health system.

"The findings suggest that stagnation in the number of EU doctors in these specialities has exacerbated existing shortages in areas where the NHS has not been able to find enough qualified staff elsewhere," it added.

The Royal College of Nursing last week announced that its members would next month hold their first strike action in the union's 106-year history in England and Wales, citing pay, conditions -- and chronic staff shortages.

Agence France-Presse

US increasing tariffs on Airbus planes to 15 percent from 10 percent

The United States is increasing tariffs on Airbus planes imported from Europe to 15 percent beginning March 18, authorities announced Friday.

The duties have been at 10 percent since October, when Washington hit $7.5 billion in European products with tariffs.

The announcement from the office of the United States Trade Representative came just days after President Donald Trump said it was time to talk "very seriously" about a trade deal with the European Union.

Washington imposed punitive taxes on the $7.5 billion in European products after the World Trade Organization (WTO) gave the United States a green light to take retaliatory trade measures against the EU over its subsidies to European aerospace giant Airbus.

Other products -- including wine, cheese, coffee and olives -- have been taxed at 25 percent since October.

Industry executives in Europe and the United States are on tenterhooks awaiting each new announcement from trade authorities.

"It has become abundantly clear that tariffs on distilled spirits products are causing rough seas on both sides of the Atlantic," the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States said in a statement Friday.

The council called on authorities to withdraw 25 percent taxes on American whiskeys in the EU, and 25 percent taxes on liquors imported from five European countries, pointing to fears of a negative impact on the US economy and jobs.

But Trump, a real estate developer turned politician, sees tariffs as a negotiating tool.

After a trade war with China that lasted nearly two years and featured punishing reciprocal tariffs, Trump declared at the signing of a "phase one" trade deal with Beijing in January that it was a "momentous step ... righting the wrongs of the past."

He has now turned his sights to Europe though relations remain tense as Washington brandishes the threat of taxing European auto imports, a move targeting Germany, Europe's biggest auto exporter.

Trump wants EU member states to further open their markets to American products, particularly agricultural goods.

He has also threatened to hike tariffs on French wine -- currently taxed at 25 percent -- even further unless there is a deal on a digital tax which European nations want to impose on American giants such as Amazon and Facebook.

Agence France-Presse

British PM plots next move in Brexit stalemate

LONDON — The British cabinet was to gather on Tuesday seeking a way to leave the EU with a deal in 10 days' time, with torn MPs rejecting every possible path to Brexit.

Prime Minister Theresa May was to call in her cabinet to discuss the next steps after lawmakers failed to find a majority on any alternative to the divorce deal she struck with Brussels — an agreement they have also rejected three times already.

Brussels has set Britain an April 12 deadline to agree to the divorce deal, settle on an alternative or crash out of the European Union.

Backbenchers in parliament's lower House of Commons seized the initiative by holding a round of votes last week on eight alternative Brexit options, but failed to agree on any of them.

It refined them down into four choices on Monday but once again a majority voted no to them all, even with the cabinet abstaining.

The result was close for proposals to negotiate a permanent customs union with the EU.

Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay hinted the government could now bring its deal back for a fourth vote this week and avoid a longer delay to Brexit that would mean holding European Parliament elections in May.

"To secure any further extension, the government will have to put forward a credible proposition to the EU," he said.

"The only option is to find a way through which allows the UK to leave with a deal.

"The best course of action is to do so as soon as possible."

He said the cabinet would meet on Tuesday to consider the results of Monday's votes "and how we should proceed".

'Face the abyss': Verhofstadt

Following Monday's votes, Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's Brexit coordinator, said: "A hard Brexit becomes nearly inevitable".

When MPs meet again on Wednesday "the UK has a last chance to break the deadlock or face the abyss," he said.

The EU has called an emergency summit for April 10 and warned that without a plan, Britain risks abruptly ending ties with its largest trading partner two days later, causing huge economic disruption.

Anand Menon, professor of European politics at King's College London, told AFP that Tuesday's cabinet meeting would be "relatively upbeat".

"The cabinet can say 'OK, the ground is perhaps right to come back to parliament for a fourth time with Mrs May's deal' and say to parliament, 'look, we gave you two chances to come up with something, you've failed both times. Vote for this deal otherwise next week there is a real danger of no-deal'."

Britain voted by 52 percent to leave the EU in a 2016 referendum, but the process has been mired in divisions over the terms of the divorce and what kind of future ties to seek.

The political chaos forced May to postpone Britain's exit from the original date of March 29.

Elusive majority

Monday's first motion, calling for the government to negotiate a permanent customs union with the EU, was defeated by 276 votes to 273.

The second option, dubbed "Common Market 2.0", would accept May's divorce terms but require her to negotiate a new EU customs arrangement and membership of the EU single market. It was beaten by 282 votes to 261.

A vote on plans for a second referendum went down by 292 to 280.

The final option, which would have instructed government to revoke the legislation to leave the EU a day before Britain is due to crash out, was rejected by 292 to 191.

Nick Boles, the MP who had proposed the Common Market 2.0 plan, quit May's Conservative Party after the vote.

"I have given everything to an attempt to find a compromise," an emotional Boles told parliament.

"I have failed chiefly because my party refuses to compromise. I regret therefore to announce I can no longer sit for this party," he said.

The Conservatives rely on backing from Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionists for a narrow majority, which shrunk even further with Boles' departure.

'Division and despair'

Tuesday's newspaper front pages raked over the continued impasse.

"Farce as Commons fails to agree any Brexit plan AGAIN," said the Daily Mail.

"We voted for Brexit, all you say is no," said the Daily Express.

The Daily Mirror called it "another night of division and despair".

The Guardian's analysis said May "still faces an intractable decision, a ticking clock, a mutinous party, an aghast British public and a frankly baffled EU."

source: philstar.com

Italy's far-right Salvini calls for populist 'European spring'

Warsaw - Far-right Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on yesterday said populists from Italy and Poland should spark a "European spring" to replace the centre-right influence of Germany and France, as the EU prepares for key elections.

Salvini, who is also Italy's deputy prime minister, was speaking in Warsaw ahead of talks with Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the powerful leader of the governing rightwing Law and Justice (PiS) party, expected to focus on European parliamentary elections scheduled for late May.

The vote could see nationalist and far-right parties across Europe upset the bloc's balance of power currently dominated by the centre-right.


"We are preparing a new equilibrium and new energy in Europe and Poland and Italy, absolutely, will lead this new European spring," Salvini said in the Polish capital Warsaw, adding that "we have a new plan for Europe" intended to replace the dominant "French-German axis".

Salvini's anti-immigration League party has ruled in coalition with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement since a general election last year.

Rome has had numerous spats with Brussels, notably over immigration and the country's efforts to implement a big-spending budget to apply populist measures.

Last month Italy passed a revised 2019 budget, watering down key measures to avoid being punished by the European Commission and financial markets.

- 'Discrimination'? -

Salvini also told Polish media he had spoken about creating a "Italian-Polish axis" in closed-door talks with PiS Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

Earlier on yesterday, Morawiecki said his government shared "many" of the criticisms levelled at the EU by Salvini, accusing Brussels of discriminating against some countries.

"Different member states are treated quite differently in very similar situations, so this probably a definition of discrimination, isn't it?" Morawiecki told US broadcaster CNBC on yesterday.

"One country has a budget deficit of 2.4 percent (Italy) and another country has a deficit exceeding 3 percent (France)... and they are treated differently because of some other aspects," he said, referring to a budget dispute between Brussels and Rome.

"There should not be this different treatment by Brussels," Morawiecki said, adding that "so with Mr Salvini we are on the same page with regards to many European matters."

Also facing a general election at home in Poland late this year, Morawiecki recently appointed young far-right politician Adam Andruszkiewicz, in what critics say amounts to a bid to court groups with anti-migrant and ultra-nationalist views.

Since taking office in 2015, the PiS government has put Poland on a collision course with the EU over a string of controversial judicial reforms.

Brussels insists the measures pose a threat to judicial independence, the rule of law and ultimately to democracy.

Warsaw has since backed out of its reform aimed at retiring Supreme Court judges deemed by the EU's top court to undermine judicial independence.

source: philstar.com

EU court rules Britain can revoke Brexit unilaterally

LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg — Europe's top court ruled Monday that Britain could halt Brexit without the approval of fellow EU member states, in a victory for pro-Europeans on the eve of a key House of Commons vote.

"The United Kingdom is free to revoke unilaterally the notification of its intention to withdraw from the EU," the European Court of Justice said, in response to a suit from a group of Scottish politicians.

"Such a revocation, decided in accordance with its own national constitutional requirements, would have the effect that the United Kingdom remains in the EU under terms that are unchanged as regards its status as a member State," the court ruled.

Following a 2016 referendum, Britain declared its intention to quit the European Union on March 29 last year, triggering the "Article 50" EU treaty procedure that would see it definitively leave two years later, on the same date next year.

British Prime Minister Theresa May's government insists it has no intention of halting the process and has agreed a draft withdrawal agreement with the 27 remaining member states.

The withdrawal agreement is expected to go before the British parliament for approval on Tuesday.

If, as appears likely, it is rejected it would raise fears that Britain could crash out of the union on March 29 without a deal or that it could revoke or postpone Brexit in order to hold another referendum.

The court's ruling will be welcomed by campaigners for a second referendum, but May's government insists it has no intention of reversing course, whatever the court in Luxembourg might say.


"We don't want to stay in the EU. We voted very clearly," Environment Secretary Michael Gove, an influential cabinet Brexiteer, told BBC radio.

"This case is all very well but it doesn't alter either the result of the referendum or the clear intention of the government to leave.

"It's the intent of the government to honour that referendum mandate."

source: philstar.com

British MPs wrangle ahead of momentous Brexit debate

London - UK lawmakers held up a momentous Brexit debate on yesterday, accusing the government of contempt over its handling of the withdrawal agreement, as a top EU legal opinion stated Britain could even call off its departure from the bloc altogether.

Prime Minister Theresa May is facing resistance on all sides of the House of Commons to the withdrawal agreement she struck with the European Union last month.

Its chances of being approved look slim, raising the risk of Britain crashing out of the world's largest single market on March 29 without trade arrangements in place.


The Conservative leader was set to tell MPs in a speech later on yesterday that the deal "delivers for the British people".

"The British people want us to get on with a deal that honours the referendum and allows us to come together again as a country, whichever way we voted," May will say, according to comments released by her Downing Street office.

But her speech is being delayed by a dispute over the government's refusal to publish the full legal advice it has received about the implications of May's plan.

Conservative House leader Andrea Leadsom told MPs that May's government had a right to receive confidential opinions that were unhampered by political considerations.

"What we break now may be very difficult to fix later," Leadsom said.

Opposition Labour Party member Keir Starmer said "the government is wilfully refusing to comply with a binding order of this House and that is contempt".

The row is unlikely to have any impact on the course of Brexit.

But it does highlight how little control May's fragile minority government has over MPs ahead of next yesterday crucial vote.

- 'Brexit shambles' -

Pro-European MPs pressing for a second referendum on staying in the EU received a sudden boost from an opinion issued by a legal adviser to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

Advocate General Campos Sanchez-Bordona stated that Britain could halt the entire process without the agreement of other EU countries.

"That possibility continues to exist until the withdrawal agreement is formally concluded," he said.

Downing Street reaffirmed on yesterday that May has absolutely no intention of doing so -- and that the ruling was in either case only advisory.

"It does nothing, in any event, to change the clear position of the government that Article 50 is not going to be revoked," May's spokesman said.

But the Scottish National Party's Alyn Smith -- one of several MPs who brought the case -- proclaimed: "We now have a roadmap out of the Brexit shambles."

- Renegotiate Brexit? -

The vote next week has huge implications for Britain's future and that of May herself.

Left-wing Labour said May's defeat next yesterday would likely trigger a confidence vote to bring down her government.

She has also been constantly challenged by hardline eurosceptics in her own party and might face an internal leadership contest as well.

Hardline Conservative Brexiteers say May's compromise deal does not represent enough of a break with Brussels.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) -- the Northern Ireland party propping up May's government -- also objects to special provisions for the province.

Many of May's critics want her to go back and renegotiate.

- Brexit bill -

The EU Withdrawal Agreement covers a settlement of £39 billion (43.7 billion euros, $49.8 billion) that Britain will have to play for leaving.

It also sets out the rights of EU expatriates and plans for a post-Brexit transition period lasting to December 2020.

The extra time is intended to give both sides a chance to strike a new trade and security relationship.

Failure to do so would trigger a "backstop" arrangement that keeps Britain in an EU customs union -- with Northern Ireland also following EU rules on regulation of goods.

May insists this is necessary to avoid border checks in Ireland. Opponents say this risks tying Britain to the EU for years to come.

source: philstar.com

Google faces hefty EU fine in shopping case by August: sources

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM | EU antitrust regulators aim to slap a hefty fine on Alphabet unit Google over its shopping service before the summer break in August, two people familiar with the matter said, setting the stage for two other cases involving the U.S. company.

The European Commission’s decision will come after a seven-year investigation into the world’s most popular internet search engine triggered by scores of complaints from both U.S. and European rivals.

The EU competition authority accused Google in April 2015 of distorting internet search results to favor its shopping service, harming both rivals and consumers.

The Commission and Google declined to comment. The U.S. company has in the past rejected the charges, saying that regulators ignored competition from online retailers Amazon and eBay Inc.

Fines for companies found guilty of breaching EU antitrust rules can reach 10 percent of their global turnover, which in Google’s case could be about $9 billion of its 2016 turnover.

Apart from the fine, the Commission will tell Google to stop its alleged anti-competitive practices but it is not clear what measures it will order the company to adopt to ensure that rivals get equal treatment in internet shopping results.

The regulator could set out general principles or specific instructions for Google to follow, said an observer.

The Commission’s tough line is in sharp contrast with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission which settled its own web search case with the company in 2013 by requiring Google to stop “scraping” reviews and other data from rival websites for its own products.

Google made three unsuccessful attempts to settle the case with the previous European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia in a bid to stave off a possible fine and a finding of wrongdoing.

May’s lead falls to 3 percentage points, YouGov poll shows a week before election
Almunia’s successor Margrethe Vestager, however, has shown no willingness to settle with Google.

The company has also been charged with using its Android mobile operating system to squeeze out rivals and with blocking competitors in online search advertising related to its “AdSense for Search” platform.

The platform allows Google to act as an intermediary for websites such as online retailers, telecoms operators or newspapers. The Commission has warned of massive fines in both cases.

source: interaksyon.com