No show by Von der Leyen to see Starmer's new government.

[L.A.T.1961]

Closer ties with the EU not getting off to the best start.

New U.K. leader Keir Starmer is hosting the European Political Community this week. EU officials wish he weren’t. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will not even be there herself. 

Prime Minister Keir Starmer will host around 45 leaders from European Union countries and other nations on the fringes of the bloc at a summit of the European Political Community. 

A trip to a summit, which still has an only vaguely defined purpose, hosted by the U.K.,  which left the EU in 2020, isn’t exactly appealing. “It’s the thing too much,” said one senior EU government aide. 

Over the weekend, however, Starmer declared Thursday’s summit would be the moment he relaunches Britain’s relationship with Europe after his landslide election victory on July 4. 

https://www.politico.eu/article/von-der-leyen-keir-starmer-european-political-community-summit/

[Setton]

Again, we're less than two weeks in and you expect this government to have undone eight years of Tories burning bridges.

Do you and @OpenMindedSceptic plan on spamming these threads for the whole five years of this parliament? You realise you're going to have covered every issue under the sun by August and have nothing to whine about when it might actually be valid.

Maybe I should keep the first paragraph as a copy-paste to save a bit of time...

[L.A.T.1961]

I am reporting the facts, call that what you want. 

You might think all the stop's would be pulled out to show Brussels appreciates the UK's new left wing, pro EU, government.

Apparently not so much. 😉

[Setton]

14 minutes ago, L.A.T.1961 said:

I am reporting the facts, call that what you want. 

Except you're not. The facts would be "can see Leyen isn't attending". You're putting the spin on that being a failure of the new government.

Just like the fact that not every manifesto pledge is in the first King's Speech. You add the spin (or in this case just lie) that this means the other promises are abandoned.

Quote

You might think all the stop's would be pulled out to show Brussels appreciates the UK's new left wing, pro EU, government.

Apparently not so much. 😉

Why would they? You're acting like they're wanting to repair relations with us, not the other way around. Out previous government burned that bridge, the EU isn't going to expend a lot of effort to rebuild it to serve our interests over theirs.

[OpenMindedSceptic]

1 hour ago, Setton said:

Again, we're less than two weeks in and you expect this government to have undone eight years of Tories burning bridges.

Do you and @OpenMindedSceptic plan on spamming these threads for the whole five years of this parliament? You realise you're going to have covered every issue under the sun by August and have nothing to whine about when it might actually be valid.

Maybe I should keep the first paragraph as a copy-paste to save a bit of time...

Liebour have been so utterly inept that it beggars belief. How about I stop posting the facts of their ineptitude when Liebour stop screwing up... it may take a while.... a v long while.

[Setton]

17 minutes ago, OpenMindedSceptic said:

Liebour have been so utterly inept that it beggars belief. How about I stop posting the facts of their ineptitude when Liebour stop screwing up... it may take a while.... a v long while.

Again, we're less than two weeks in and you expect this government to have undone eight years of Tories failure.

 

Hey look, that was quicker to copy and paste.

[OpenMindedSceptic]

3 minutes ago, Setton said:

Again, we're less than two weeks in and you expect this government to have undone eight years of Tories failure.

 

Hey look, that was quicker to copy and paste.

I have zero interest if we are 1 day, 1 week, 2 weeks in... they are meant to be a functioning government, this is not an apprenticeship scheme. Get a grip, the UK deserves much better.

[Setton]

1 hour ago, OpenMindedSceptic said:

I have zero interest if we are 1 day, 1 week, 2 weeks in... they are meant to be a functioning government, this is not an apprenticeship scheme. Get a grip, the UK deserves much better.

And they are functioning. But you can't achieve a long term goal in ten days.

[OpenMindedSceptic]

14 minutes ago, Setton said:

And they are functioning. But you can't achieve a long term goal in ten days.

They have screwed up. Leadership is tough, they are not capable or competent. 

Shall we write to all the world leaders and ask them to wait while Liebour try to catch up? 14 years of opposition and dropping the ball daily within 2 weeks.

They should be embarrassed. They are, frankly, an embarrassing mess to all watching on. 

 

[Setton]

38 minutes ago, OpenMindedSceptic said:

They have screwed up. Leadership is tough, they are not capable or competent. 

Shall we write to all the world leaders and ask them to wait while Liebour try to catch up? 14 years of opposition and dropping the ball daily within 2 weeks.

They should be embarrassed. They are, frankly, an embarrassing mess to all watching on. 

 

Whatever. I guess you'd be the expert on embarrassing messages based on your recent posts.

Just your daily reminder: Starmer is still more popular than Farage.

[OpenMindedSceptic]

14 minutes ago, Setton said:

Whatever. I guess you'd be the expert on embarrassing messages based on your recent posts.

Just your daily reminder: Starmer is still more popular than Farage.

Oh wow,which posts are you reading? 

You keep bringing up Farage for some reason???

Anyway, Starmer, what a poor leader. It is now clear he was so focused on the election date that he just didn't plan for day 1 in office or day 101 or any day. A weak, feckless leader  

[Setton]

8 hours ago, OpenMindedSceptic said:

Oh wow,which posts are you reading? 

You keep bringing up Farage for some reason???

Anyway, Starmer, what a poor leader. It is now clear he was so focused on the election date that he just didn't plan for day 1 in office or day 101 or any day. A weak, feckless leader  

And still more popular than your choice.

[OpenMindedSceptic]

1 hour ago, Setton said:

And still more popular than your choice.

My choice? Who would that be?

And I note you cannot name a post where I have made an embarrassing message... but then I knew you can't find one, it is just your wild imagination. 

Starmer, v poor leader.

[itsnotoutthere]

Perhaps she's busy sorting out her own problems :-

(Ursula just so happens to be married To Heiko Von Der Leyen, the director of Orgenesis, which is owned by Pfizer) That's the very same company that she signed an eye watering €71 billion contract to buy 4.6 billion doses of the controversial jabs from.

Edited July 18 by itsnotoutthere

[Setton]

7 hours ago, OpenMindedSceptic said:

My choice? Who would that be?

And I note you cannot name a post where I have made an embarrassing message... but then I knew you can't find one, it is just your wild imagination. 

Easy, here's a list.

[Ozymandias]

On 7/17/2024 at 6:38 PM, L.A.T.1961 said:

I am reporting the facts, call that what you want. 

You might think all the stop's would be pulled out to show Brussels appreciates the UK's new left wing, pro EU, government.

Apparently not so much. 😉

Von Der Leyen is attending the European Parliament all day today where she is endeavouring to be re-elected European Commission President for a second term. She had to deliver a speech as part of the debate before the election in which she was required to set out her programme if elected. As it turned out she was re-elected by the 707 members of the EU Parliament in a secret democratic vote by a majority of 401. Following the election process she was required to give an acceptance speech to parliament.

By what stretch of your limited imagination do you think she should have been present at Blenheim Palace instead? It's just another example of some people in the UK's sense of exceptionalism and entitlement! Or maybe its their simple ignorance. 

[L.A.T.1961]

21 hours ago, Ozymandias said:

 

By what stretch of your limited imagination do you think she should have been present at Blenheim Palace instead? 

She was an hour away by plane. 

Reuters put out the news of her re-election at 2:52pm. 

If she had indicated her intent to go,  if reelected, there would have been time.

Zelensky managed it and he is fighting a war. Charles attended and he has cancer. 

[Ozymandias]

On 7/19/2024 at 5:46 PM, L.A.T.1961 said:

She was an hour away by plane. 

Reuters put out the news of her re-election at 2:52pm. 

If she had indicated her intent to go,  if reelected, there would have been time.

Zelensky managed it and he is fighting a war. Charles attended and he has cancer. 

I don't know whether you are being naive or disingenuous. You are certainly ignorant of the facts concerning the whole election process and her necessary involvement in it. She was officially engaged on more relevant and pressing political business. She wasn't President until re-elected in the afternoon (as you said), after which she was required to give an opening address to the Parliament and chair the process by which the Vice-Presidents and Quaesters had then subsequently to be elected by ballot. She could not have left the Parliament until all of this official business was completed and the new office holders were elected and installed. She could not have been at Blenheim even if she wanted to.

In any case, whereas the resetting of international relations with the EU is an important matter for the new UK government and for some other individual member countries of the EU, the UK is not such a priority for the EU. Starmer is saying all the right things, but it will take more than words and two weeks in office to make the EU forget the shameful behaviour of the Tories towards Europe in the last eight years and for Brussels to trust the UK again. Furthermore, the manner in which the EU-UK relationship pans out in the long run is not the EU's decision.

The EU is made up of 27 sovereign and independent states, all of whom have a say in how things will go and I am quite sure it will not be plain sailing for the UK. Some of their representatives attended as part of the European Political Community that Starmer recently hosted at Blenheim. This is definitely a positive as it is always good to talk, but talk is cheap.

[L.A.T.1961]

20 hours ago, Ozymandias said:

 

The EU is made up of 27 sovereign and independent states, all of whom have a say in how things will go and I am quite sure it will not be plain sailing for the UK. Some of their representatives attended as part of the European Political Community that Starmer recently hosted at Blenheim. This is definitely a positive as it is always good to talk, but talk is cheap.

I think we can both agree on that. 

The positive talk by Starmer is more to subdue the pro EU Labour MP lobby than expectations to negotiate substantial changes.

The modus operandi of the EU is to punish the UK for leaving and then another beating if we should want to go back, the beating will materialise in the cost's and the time it takes.

Which would be into decades of negotiations.

And Labour don't have that long.

[Ozymandias]

2 hours ago, L.A.T.1961 said:

I think we can both agree on that. 

The positive talk by Starmer is more to subdue the pro EU Labour MP lobby than expectations to negotiate substantial changes.

The modus operandi of the EU is to punish the UK for leaving and then another beating if we should want to go back, the beating will materialise in the cost's and the time it takes.

Which would be into decades of negotiations.

And Labour don't have that long.

The EU is not punishing the UK. The UK chose to be a third country and pushed for a hard Brexit. The EU is treating the UK like any other non-alligned non-member and the UK is faced with the problem of having to deal on an individual basis with the 27 independent states that make up the EU.