Displaying items by tag: EU

A migrant crisis on the Turkey/Greece border is entwined with Idlib, the last stronghold of Syrian rebels backed by Turkey. Russia supports Syria and intends eradicating rebels from Idlib. When 34 Turkish soldiers died in Russian airstrikes, Turkey withdrew from an agreement to prevent refugees from crossing Turkey’s borders with Greece and Bulgaria, so by 5 March 25,000 refugees and migrants had gathered on the Greek border, seeking to cross into Europe. But they faced Greek troops repelling them with tear gas and water cannons on the land border and denying landing permission at the coast. EU leaders voiced unwavering solidarity with Greece, pledging to deploy urgent border guard reinforcements on land and at sea, and to disburse immediately some €350 million in aid, sending a message to the EU's 440 million citizens that they will prevent a new wave of arrivals at a time when the continent is struggling to prevent a coronavirus epidemic. See

Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French foreign minister, says that EU and UK negotiators are likely to rip each other apart, with the two sides expected to fight particularly hard over fishing rights and financial services. He says it will be tough for Britain to achieve its aim of a free trade deal by the end of the year, given the differences between the two sides. As 27 EU states draw up their mandate for future relationships, France is expected to call for a tough stance. Pray for fair legislative control over UK agriculture and fisheries. See

UK Christian politician Jeremy Hunt read Brother Andrew’s book ‘God’s Smuggler’ in his youth. This gave him a lifelong prayerful concern for the persecuted church. When he was appointed foreign minister, he looked into what the foreign service was doing to help persecuted Christians worldwide. What he discovered made him uncomfortable: there had been very high-profile interventions supporting Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, Bahai in Yemen, and Yazidis in Iraq - but little UK and international diplomatic assistance for suffering Christians, even though NGOs and churches were advocating on their behalf. Mr Hunt identified possible blind spots for persecuted Christians by his staff: awkwardness about bringing God into politics, post-colonial guilt, and fearfulness of being seen to impose our faith on others. He called it ‘misguided political correctness’ in his independent review. Now Boris Johnson has appointed a special envoy on freedom of religion or belief to head up the process of dealing with Christian persecution. The UN and the EU have similar envoys.

Britain has legally entered a 'transition period', and is free to pursue trade deals with other countries immediately while hammering out terms of future EU relationships. Boris Johnson said that Britain will not obey Brussels rules to get a trade deal while Brussels demands that the UK give access to fishing waters. They are on another collision course. Before trade talks can begin in earnest they must agree a negotiating mandate, spell out their red lines and be finalised by early March. Meanwhile, trade tensions rise as the UK hires more patrol boats to keep out EU fishing fleets ahead of a potential showdown over access. Pray for the 40 officials, called 'Taskforce Europe', leading negotiations for the UK. They are led by one-time business lobbyist and diplomat David Frost, who will negotiate directly with Michel Barnier. In April/May UK trade talks with the EU and other nations are expected to intensify even more. See also

The mandate for the 2019-2024 European Union sees the election of new MEPs to the Parliament and a change to the whole European Commission, as Ursula von der Leyen replaces Jean Claude Junker as president. Pray for God to direct the new members to be people of integrity as they step into positions of authority. Ms von der Leyen, who took office on 1 December, will focus on an ambitious climate agenda to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, and will work closely with the European Parliament to strengthen democracy and create a fair social market economy in Europe. She also gave a very personal insight into her idea of Europe’s path amid global challenges saying, ‘We need to do it the European way’.

‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.’ (Isaiah 43:18-19) With God all things are possible. In Matthew 17 Jesus told His disciples that if they had faith as small as a mustard seed, they could say to the mountain, ‘Move from here to there’, and it will move. Father, we ask you to move the mountains of discussions that will be taking place in the coming days, especially now that a Brexit deal has been agreed, but has to be backed by all 27 EU members and debated in Parliament on 19 October. May everything progress in line with Your purposes and under Your authority.

The EU squandered millions on overseas projects last year, including paying for broken toilets in Haiti and providing computer systems for empty offices in Jamaica. Auditors examined the EU’s £138 billion annual budget. The budget for aid and overseas projects was around £720 million in total: 3% of this was misspent on items such as a Mozambican radio drama series. They found that a further £4 billion was misspent because the EU Commission had sometimes ‘assumed’ that cash was spent within the rules. The UK pays £9 billion to the EU annually, and the bloc is demanding £39 billion in a Brexit divorce bill - even if there is no deal. Tory MP Nigel Evans said, ‘While we’re in the EU, we have little control over how this money is spent. In fact, it looks as if no-one is in control.’ 2.6% of the EU’s total budget was misspent last year, up from 2.4% from the year before.

Having addressed the Conservative Party conference, Boris Johnson has also delivered new Brexit proposals to the EU. These included plans to replace the backstop, with Northern Ireland staying in the European single market for goods, but leaving the customs union - resulting in new customs checks. Mr Johnson has explained the proposals to MPs, and will update the House of Commons next week. Michael Gove said that the government had given ‘serious proposals’ to the EU; however, one EU spokesman has described them as ‘gravely concerning’, and other commentators are sceptical. The UK hopes to begin a period of intense negotiations, with the aim of reaching a final agreement at the EU summit on 17 October. Let us pray for God to drench European leaders with His strategies as they discuss their response to the latest Brexit plan.

In 2016, while a majority of the nation voted to leave the EU, a much larger majority of our MPs voted to remain. Boris Johnson prorogued Parliament, bringing a bitter period of debate and huge rage across the benches and in the media. On 4 September MPs passed a bill which aims to prevent a no-deal Brexit, and Mr Johnson failed to obtain the necessary majority to call an October election. At the time of writing, there is considerable confusion about what will happen next - so all the more reason to pray.

Emmanuel Macron is launching a bid to block EU/US trade talks because of Donald Trump’s refusal to sign up to the Paris climate agreement. Trump enraged Brussels when he described the EU as ‘brutal trading partners’ in a tweet offering support to Britain after the Brexit summit, which also stated, ‘Things are about to change’. Brussels wants to keep new trade deals simple, but is unsure of unpredictable Trump. The US ambassador to the EU warned that Washington would fight ‘unfair barriers’ against American companies. An official said that France is opposed to the initiation of any trade negotiations with countries outside the Paris climate agreement. This stance is at odds with Germany’s position, and could lead to more friction between Paris and Berlin.