Ursula von der Leyen and Keir Starmer plan meeting to drive UK-EU ‘reset’

[pellinore]

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and new British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer are to organise a meeting within weeks to accelerate a “reset” of relations three years after the UK left the bloc.

Von der Leyen was absent from the two big international events Starmer attended since his election victory on July 4 as she was campaigning for a second term as Brussels’ most powerful official. 

Her team hoped to see Starmer this week but are now working on a late August or early September meeting, officials familiar with the plans said.

Starmer outlined his intention to forge a new relationship with Europe last week when he hosted a gathering of the European Political Community at Blenheim Palace with almost 50 leaders of EU and non-EU states.

Ursula von der Leyen and Keir Starmer plan meeting to drive UK-EU ‘reset’ (archive.ph)

Edited July 24 by pellinore

[Wistman]

Uh oh.

[pellinore]

4 minutes ago, Wistman said:

Uh oh.

Starmer has done more for the UK in two weeks than the Tories did in 14 years. That's because he is working for the UK and not working to loot taxpayer's money for friends and donors as all the Tory PMs did.

Edited July 24 by pellinore

[OpenMindedSceptic]

32 minutes ago, pellinore said:

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and new British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer are to organise a meeting within weeks to accelerate a “reset” of relations three years after the UK left the bloc.

Von der Leyen was absent from the two big international events Starmer attended since his election victory on July 4 as she was campaigning for a second term as Brussels’ most powerful official. 

Her team hoped to see Starmer this week but are now working on a late August or early September meeting, officials familiar with the plans said.

Starmer outlined his intention to forge a new relationship with Europe last week when he hosted a gathering of the European Political Community at Blenheim Palace with almost 50 leaders of EU and non-EU states.

Ursula von der Leyen and Keir Starmer plan meeting to drive UK-EU ‘reset’ (archive.ph)

Utterly disgraceful. The EU are essentially condoning modern day slavery Africa and Starmer cosying up for another sip of champagne.

Starmer and Labour have failed the UK in less than 3 weeks, keep dithering and lack compassion but selling out the UK democratic process is a new low never seen since spies were  unmasked.

[pellinore]

2 hours ago, OpenMindedSceptic said:

Utterly disgraceful. The EU are essentially condoning modern day slavery Africa and Starmer cosying up for another sip of champagne.

Starmer and Labour have failed the UK in less than 3 weeks, keep dithering and lack compassion but selling out the UK democratic process is a new low never seen since spies were  unmasked.

And the UK has made modern slavery a feature of its economy due to Brexit, so we are not in a position to criticise: Post-Brexit restrictions on the free movement of workers from the EU have contributed to modern slavery becoming “a feature” of the care sector in England the Care Quality Commission has told MPs.

Modern slavery ‘a feature’ of care sector in England since Brexit | Brexit | The Guardian

Edited July 24 by pellinore

[Destination Unknown]

1 hour ago, pellinore said:

And the UK has made modern slavery a feature of its economy due to Brexit, so we are not in a position to criticise: Post-Brexit restrictions on the free movement of workers from the EU have contributed to modern slavery becoming “a feature” of the care sector in England the Care Quality Commission has told MPs.

Modern slavery ‘a feature’ of care sector in England since Brexit | Brexit | The Guardian

It's your beloved EU that made modern slavery a feature of the UK economy by allowing unscrupulous employers access to a never ending stream of cheap labour from the continent due to your beloved EU's Freedom of Movement, which also had the effect of suppressing wages for British workers.

This was going on long before Brexit, with the 'Financial Times' reporting in August 2015 that, quote: "Ruthless UK employers trap migrants in ‘modern-day slavery’", stating that thousands of low-paid EU migrants face exploitation, with unscrupulous employers paying less than the minimum wage, charging exorbitant rents and sometimes even withholding migrants’ passports. (See link below).

https://www.ft.com/content/43daccd0-410d-11e5-9abe-5b335da3a90e

And it's only since the ending of the EU's free movement of cheap labour from the continent that British workers are now finally seeing an increase in wages after years of stagnation whilst we were in the EU. (See link below).

https://www.hiringlab.org/uk/blog/2022/02/24/hiring-challenges-fuel-big-wage-gains-in-jobs-exposed-to-brexit/

Edited July 24 by Destination Unknown

[OpenMindedSceptic]

1 hour ago, pellinore said:

And the UK has made modern slavery a feature of its economy due to Brexit, so we are not in a position to criticise: Post-Brexit restrictions on the free movement of workers from the EU have contributed to modern slavery becoming “a feature” of the care sector in England the Care Quality Commission has told MPs.

Modern slavery ‘a feature’ of care sector in England since Brexit | Brexit | The Guardian

That's simply not true. 

But the EU now, have decimated GDP with 'tariff free trading, imposing swingeing conditions. Ghana had something a third if their GDP wiped out.l forcing working conditions to new depths. 

It is one reason why the Polish MEP publicly rebuked Ursula recently.

A full working relationship with the EU is an up yours to Africa but the MSM never explain it so you probably don't even understand it.

I recall few people here understanding the ponzi scheme of the holy trinity ie capital asset manipulation with the EU that keeps places like Greece and Italy poorer.

And if anyone does sit down for 20 mins to understand it then it's passed off as an innocent mistake which is either a) a lie, or b) gross misconduct of Ursula - which is it?

[+ouija ouija]

Sorry . . . did we have a referendum on this? I seem to have missed it.

[Setton]

5 hours ago, pellinore said:

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and new British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer are to organise a meeting within weeks to accelerate a “reset” of relations three years after the UK left the bloc.

Can't possibly be true. The right wing failures on here assured us that von der Leyen not being at one event must mean she had no interest in Starmer's promised reset.

Edited July 24 by Setton

[pellinore]

4 hours ago, ouija ouija said:

Sorry . . . did we have a referendum on this? I seem to have missed it.

We did, and Remain voted to remain as we were, and Leave voted for 50 different things, according to which lie they believed. Something very few, if any, voted for was to leave the Single Market (Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan said during an interview in 2015 that: "To repeat, absolutely nobody is talking about threatening our place in the single market") and Mr Brexit Nigel Farage believed we would remain in the EEA like Norway (NIGEL FARAGE often cited the Norwegian model as an attractive option for Brexit Britain before the 2016 EU referendum- Express).

Boris Johnson was pushed into a hard Brexit by the ERG, most of whom are no longer even MPs. Not the public, who wanted a good deal not a poor one.

So Sir Kier is only carrying out the "will of the people" in seeking closer harmony with the EU (a will which has got stronger each month we have remained outside the SM).

No one as far as I know voted to be poorer and have increased immigration- which is what we have ended up with.

Edited July 24 by pellinore

[Destination Unknown]

29 minutes ago, pellinore said:

We did, and Remain voted to remain as we were, and Leave voted for 50 different things, according to which lie they believed. Something very few, if any, voted for was to leave the Single Market

The only ones spewing out that lie is undemocratic Remoaning little crybabies like YOU pellinore.

PM David Cameron spent £9 million pounds of UK taxpayers money on a blatantly one-sided pro-EU propaganda booklet which was sent to every household in the land telling us all exactly what voting to leave the EU would mean, and that also meant leaving the Single Market.

Cameron also clearly stated on the 12th June 2016 BBC One Andrew Marr Show that, quote: "The British public would be voting, if we Leave, would be to leave the EU and leave the Single Market."

Here you go: David Cameron (Remain), Andrea Leadsom (Leave), Michael Gove (Leave), Boris Johnson (Leave) and George Osborne (Remain), all saying before the vote that a vote to Leave the EU would also be a vote to Leave the Single Market.

 

29 minutes ago, pellinore said:

(Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan said during an interview in 2015 that: "To repeat, absolutely nobody is talking about threatening our place in the single market") and Mr Brexit Nigel Farage believed we would remain in the EEA like Norway (NIGEL FARAGE often cited the Norwegian model as an attractive option for Brexit Britain before the 2016 EU referendum- Express).

All of which was said before the referendum campaign even took place, and NOT during the campaign period itself. They were also taken out of context by you undemocratic Remoaners as well.

Here's James McGrory, Co-Executive Director of Open Britain, getting his backside handed to him by Andrew Neil on the BBC Sunday Politics show. This is an eye-opener as to just exactly how much you undemocratic Remoaning little crybabies will go in order to twist the actual truth to suit your own narrative:

 

29 minutes ago, pellinore said:

Boris Johnson was pushed into a hard Brexit by the ERG, most of whom are no longer even MPs. Not the public, who wanted a good deal not a poor one.

You do actually realise that the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement is actually the most comprehensive FTA ever to be struck between the EU and a non-member don't you pellinore? 🤔

An FTA in which your beloved EU describes on their own website as being one that, quote: "goes beyond traditional free trade agreements". (See link below).

No other country trading with the EU has such an agreement, so if you think our FTA with the EU is "a poor deal", then that isn't saying much for any of the FTA's the EU has previously negotiated with other countries then is it.!! 🤦

https://policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/eu-trade-relationships-country-and-region/countries-and-regions/united-kingdom_en

29 minutes ago, pellinore said:

So Sir Kier is only carrying out the "will of the people" in seeking closer harmony with the EU (a will which has got stronger each month we have remained outside the SM).

The Conservatives won the 2017 AND the 2019 General Elections on a manifesto of honouring Brexit, which included leaving the Customs Union and the Single Market, plus Labour have just won the 2024 General Election with a manifesto explicitly stating there would be no return to the Single Market, the Customs Union, or Freedom of Movement, so don't ever try and tell us again that people didn't vote to Leave the Single Market pellinore, because they DID.

Edited July 24 by Destination Unknown

[pellinore]

21 minutes ago, Destination Unknown said:

The only ones spewing out that lie is undemocratic Remoaning little crybabies like YOU pellinore.

PM David Cameron spent £9 million pounds of UK taxpayers money on a blatantly one-sided pro-EU propaganda booklet which was sent to every household in the land telling us all exactly what voting to leave the EU would mean, and that also meant leaving the Single Market.

Cameron also clearly stated on the 12th June 2016 BBC One Andrew Marr Show that, quote: "The British public would be voting, if we Leave, would be to leave the EU and leave the Single Market."

Here you go: David Cameron (Remain), Andrea Leadsom (Leave), Michael Gove (Leave), Boris Johnson (Leave) and George Osborne (Remain), all saying before the vote that a vote to Leave the EU would also be a vote to Leave the Single Market.

 

All of which was said before the referendum campaign even took place, and NOT during the campaign period itself. They were also taken out of context by you undemocratic Remoaners as well.

Here's James McGrory, Co-Executive Director of Open Britain, getting his backside handed to him by Andrew Neil on the BBC Sunday Politics show. This is an eye-opener as to just exactly how much you undemocratic Remoaning little crybabies will go in order to twist the actual truth to suit your own narrative:

 

You do actually realise that the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement is actually the most comprehensive FTA ever to be struck between the EU and a non-member don't you pellinore? 🤔

An FTA in which your beloved EU describes on their own website as being one that, quote: "goes beyond traditional free trade agreements".

No other country trading with the EU as close neighbours has such an agreement, so if you think our FTA with the EU is, quote: "a poor deal", that isn't saying much for any of the FTA's the EU has previously negotiated with other countries then is it. 🤦

https://policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/eu-trade-relationships-country-and-region/countries-and-regions/united-kingdom_en

The Conservatives won the 2017 AND the 2019 General Elections on a manifesto of honouring Brexit, which included leaving the Customs Union and the Single Market, plus Labour have just won the 2024 General Election with a manifesto explicitly stating there would be no return to the Single Market, the Customs Union, or Freedom of Movement, so don't ever try and tell us again that people didn't vote to Leave the Single Market pellinore, because they DID.

What a load of bumf! The British public were told repeatedly we would enjoy the exact same rights and benefits once we left the SM and have less red tape.

It was endlessly repeated. Also, we would benefit from a nimble economy and be better off financially, and by controlling our borders have less immigration.

People believed it.

Instead, we got the exact opposite: immigration legal and illegal through the roof and at record levels, the economy being stifled, new border controls coming in with biometric checks, and non-tariff barriers on imports and exports hitting goods exports at -15%

Economy hit by -4% overall, new trade deals to hammer our home industries including farming, fishing, universities, goods trade, etc, etc.

You can repeat your tosh as much as you like, the public have had enough, they will support Starmer and hope he can get us a better deal. If you cared about the UK, you would back him too.

The hard-line Brexiter politicians were swept away in the landslide GE, the hard-line working-class Brexiters will have sadly passed away come the next GE.

Get behind the winners and embrace 'Change!' There are no ideological reasons why we should support higher immigration and being poorer. For goodness' sake try to be positive and support the UK!

 

 

 

Edited July 24 by pellinore

[Destination Unknown]

13 minutes ago, pellinore said:

What a load of bumf! The British public were told repeatedly we would enjoy the exact same rights and benefits once we left the SM and have less red tape.

No they weren't pellinore, stop lying. Are you actually trying to dispute the videos I've linked of both pro-EU and Brexit politicians saying we would leave the Single Market?

13 minutes ago, pellinore said:

Economy hit by -4% overall

Why are you lying. Haven't you figured it out yet pellinore, your lies just won't wash with me, because unlike you, I actually know what I'm talking about, which is why you get a spanking from me every single time you spew out your blatant lies on here.

Unless you have a portal to an alternative universe where Brexit never happened, there is no evidence to back up that negative 4% hit to our economy claim.

Over the course of 50 years, France and the UK’s economy has had exactly the same rate of growth pre-Brexit, just as it has done post-Brexit, but now all of a sudden we're supposed to believe that our economy would be 4% better than France if Brexit hadn't happened.🤦

As you can see from the interactive graph in the link below, the UK's GDP has exactly mirrored that of France, whether we were in the EU or not. (Source: IMF).

At no point prior to Brexit was the UK's GDP 4% higher than the GDP of France, they both mirrored each other exactly, so where is this alleged 4% drop in the UK's GDP then, or, to put it another way, why isn't the GDP of France now at 6.15% (4% higher) than the 2.17% GDP the UK is seeing right now? 🤔

That negative 4% figure is nothing more than a crystal ball prediction from a group with a reputation for getting it wrong, and it's ironic that you are falling for it whilst at the same time telling Leave voters they fell for Leave campaign lies, but seeing as you are obviously into hypotheticals that cannot possibly be answered one way or another with any degree of certainty, how much better would a post-Brexit UK's economy have been had Covid/Ukraine/energy crisis/global events etc. never happened? 🤔

https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/PPPSH@WEO/FRA/GBR

Edited July 24 by Destination Unknown

[pellinore]

14 minutes ago, Destination Unknown said:

1. Are you actually trying to dispute the videos I've linked of both pro-EU and Brexit politicians saying we would leave the Single Market?

2.That -4% figure is just crystal ball predictions from a group with a reputation for getting it wrong, 

1.Yes, because despite the facts, people believed what they wanted to believe, and they were reassured by Brexiter politicians that they would get what they wanted. I don't dispute the videos; I dispute the messages. (Even you believe the lies you were told, and still believe them, which shows how pervasive and persuasive they were.) Remain told them the truth, which you now agree with.

2. The consistent -4% is the best the OBR can predict, and the OBR is the best the UK can muster. If you don't trust the OBR, you don't trust the UK to forecast its own economy.

Edited July 24 by pellinore

[Destination Unknown]

11 minutes ago, pellinore said:

1.Yes, because despite the facts, people believed what they wanted to believe

Well you obviously did (and obviously still do), despite the glaring evidence to the contrary - (videos, plus three General Elections stating there would be no return to the single market, the customs union or freedom of movement).

11 minutes ago, pellinore said:

2. The consistent -4% is the best the OBR can predict, and the OBR is the best the UK can muster. If you don't trust the OBR, you don't trust the UK to forecast its own economy.

I just don't trust the OBR to forecast the UK's economy, because they've consistently been proven wrong.

That negative 4% GDP nonsense by the OBR is a "prediction" on FUTURE GDP growth up until 2035, NOT how much GDP has been LOST since Brexit happened, and their predictions have already been completely obliterated by the 'Office for National Statistics' (ONS's) September 2023 uprating of UK GDP anyway. They were only ever forecasts pellinore, not reality - and the ONS uprating proves that they were a fantasy, but as usual you Remoaners will latch onto anything negative, no matter what it is, and immediately blame it on Brexit.

Edited July 24 by Destination Unknown

[pellinore]

5 minutes ago, Destination Unknown said:

Well you obviously did (and obviously still do), despite the glaring evidence to the contrary - (videos, plus three General Elections stating there would be no return to the single market, the customs union or freedom of movement).

I just don't trust the OBR to forecast the UK's economy, because they've consistently been proven wrong.

That 4% GDP nonsense by the OBR is a "prediction" on FUTURE GDP growth up until 2035, NOT how much GDP has been LOST since Brexit happened, and their predictions have already been completely obliterated by the 'Office for National Statistics' (ONS's) September 2023 uprating of UK GDP anyway. They were only ever forecasts pellinore, not reality - and the ONS uprating proves that they were a fantasy, but as usual you Remoaners will latch onto anything negative, no matter what it is, and immediately blame it on Brexit.

Not just the OBR, but the IMF thinks Brexit is crazy: New fears Brexit has ‘drained life out of UK economy’ following IMF report | The Independent

And every other economist in the world, apart from the ERG, Liz Truss, and the Tufton Street think tanks. All of which are several sandwiches short of a full picnic.

[Destination Unknown]

54 minutes ago, pellinore said:

Not just the OBR, but the IMF thinks Brexit is crazy: New fears Brexit has ‘drained life out of UK economy’ following IMF report | The Independent

I've already debunked that one pellinore in posts #2 & #7 in the link below, as you well know.

And if you actually bothered to read the article that you linked from 'The (Not So) Independent', you'll find that the only person making the claim that Brexit has somehow "drained the life out of the UK’s economy" is that scruffy commie grifter and paid for EU shill Mike Galsworthy, chair of the anti-Brexit pro-EU 'European Movement UK' - the IMF itself has made no such claim, and doesn't even mention Brexit in their latest report, as you also well know. (See link below).

https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2024/07/16/world-economic-outlook-update-july-2024

A bit more on the destruction of the OBR "4% narrative", which follows the ONS revision of the UK's GDP figures from September 2023.

In their March 2019 'Economic and Fiscal Outlook' (EFO) the OBR stated that the UK's GDP growth would be 4% lower over 15 years (the "long term") than if it had stayed in the EU.

In their March 2023 EFO, they stated that their "assumption" about the impact of Brexit on the UK's trade intensity is "broadly on track", and that as a result they would not adjust their view that productivity would be 4% lower by 2035.

However, the September 2023 revision of the UK's GDP figures by the ONS, which put the UK's GDP 1.8% higher than they had thought it to be when the OBR had made their statement, means that the trade intensity is significantly higher than being "broadly on track" with the OBR forecasts, and so these OBR forecasts need to go directly into the bin.

In summary: The previous statements by the OBR have been completely obliterated by the ONS uprating of the UK's GDP of 1.8% higher than previously thought, making these OBR "assumptions" complete garbage.

Edited July 25 by Destination Unknown

[+and-then]

13 hours ago, ouija ouija said:

Sorry . . . did we have a referendum on this? I seem to have missed it.

Not that I've heard, but I could have missed it, I guess.  If the elected bodies there are as corrupt as they are in the US, no referendums are needed.  Unless the "consent of the governed" is revoked in a way they grasp and learn to respect, they will only grow worse until they openly crush people under the boot.

[itsnotoutthere]

6 hours ago, and-then said:

Not that I've heard, but I could have missed it, I guess.  If the elected bodies there are as corrupt as they are in the US, no referendums are needed.  Unless the "consent of the governed" is revoked in a way they grasp and learn to respect, they will only grow worse until they openly crush people under the boot.

It's heading that way.

[itsnotoutthere]

Von der Leyen threads the climate needle to keep her job

BRUSSELS — Ursula von der Leyen has just pulled off a delicate green balancing act. 

The German politician secured a second term as European Commission president on Thursday with a political program carefully designed to woo both conservatives and environmentalists, who united to give her a comfortable victory. 

Here’s how she did it: Smuggle green policies into her program, all framed as measures to boost the economy and security, and leave the inevitable fights for tomorrow.

Basically, she pulled a Joe Biden — taking inspiration from the U.S. president’s decision to disguise his signature climate law as an economic package dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act. 

https://www.politico.eu/article/european-commission-president-ursula-von-der-leyen-european-peoples-party-green-party-climate-change/

[Setton]

9 hours ago, and-then said:

If the elected bodies there are as corrupt as they are in the US

Not at all, the right here is just sore they lost an election so badly and they can't accept the outcome.

You should chat to them, you'll have a lot in common.

[Setton]

3 hours ago, itsnotoutthere said:

Von der Leyen threads the climate needle to keep her job

BRUSSELS — Ursula von der Leyen has just pulled off a delicate green balancing act. 

The German politician secured a second term as European Commission president on Thursday with a political program carefully designed to woo both conservatives and environmentalists, who united to give her a comfortable victory. 

Here’s how she did it: Smuggle green policies into her program, all framed as measures to boost the economy and security, and leave the inevitable fights for tomorrow.

Basically, she pulled a Joe Biden — taking inspiration from the U.S. president’s decision to disguise his signature climate law as an economic package dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act. 

https://www.politico.eu/article/european-commission-president-ursula-von-der-leyen-european-peoples-party-green-party-climate-change/

Wait so she's going to improve the economy as well as the environment??

What a b****.

[L.A.T.1961]

If the UK keep signing bi lateral agreements with individual EU countries then an EU deal is less likely. 

And Starmer is not holding off signing these deals, the most recent with Germany.

The EU expressly forbid individual bi lateral deals during brexit negotiations as it was said to weaken Brusels hand.

By action if not words it looks like Starmer is not going to ignore bi lateral deals just to wait for something official from Von der leyen.

I would imagine Germany not waiting for an EU/UK approach to be produced has not gone unnoticed. 

 

Germany, UK sign deal to boost military ties

Germany and the UK said on Wednesday that they would cooperate more closely on defense and security issues.  

The statement came as UK Defense Secretary John Healey visited Berlin to hold talks with his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius.

On Wednesday, both ministers inked a joint defense declaration that was hailed as the first of its kind between the NATO allies.

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-uk-sign-deal-to-boost-military-ties/a-69756113#:~:text=Berlin and London signed a,security ties with the EU.

 

[itsnotoutthere]

25 minutes ago, Setton said:

Wait so she's going to improve the economy as well as the environment??

What a b****.

In reality no, neither of those things.

[Setton]

24 minutes ago, itsnotoutthere said:

In reality no, neither of those things.

Sure it isn't. Classic right wing response at the moment, complain that someone delivers more than expected 😆