Jennifer Rankin
@JenniferMerode
Followers
35,101
Following
1,147
Media
1,057
Statuses
13,932
Brussels correspondent @guardian Like ≠ always like.
Brussels
Joined September 2010
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
#BUS_KnockKnockKnock_KhonKaen
• 1249980 Tweets
スプリンターズS
• 85794 Tweets
CRかるび
• 47226 Tweets
WIN AT TODAY SHOW
• 42225 Tweets
スプリンターズステークス
• 34627 Tweets
ナムラクレア
• 25463 Tweets
三原じゅん子
• 22283 Tweets
REBECCA SUPPORTING ACTRESS
• 20328 Tweets
西村騎手
• 19965 Tweets
サトノレーヴ
• 19405 Tweets
ママコチャ
• 19019 Tweets
西村淳也
• 17339 Tweets
YINWAR x VIF x TOPS
• 15792 Tweets
#njdest
• 15768 Tweets
#相葉マナブ
• 15252 Tweets
ドゥラメンテ
• 14865 Tweets
マッドクール
• 14192 Tweets
ピューロマジック
• 10503 Tweets
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says the EU has given €35bn to Vladimir Putin in energy payments since the start of the war, compared to €1bn given to Ukraine in arms and weapons.
416
7K
16K
Zelenskiy's speech to EU leaders is extraordinary in so many ways, not least the namecheck of every single EU member state.
"We believe in the European Union and we believe that Germany will also be with us at the crucial moment. "
63
1K
8K
Why didn't UK take part in EU procurement?
No 10: 'We didn't get the email in time'.
Michael Gove: "Communication confusion".
NEW: Official minutes show UK took part in four EU meetings where bulk buying supplies discussed. The first was 31 January.
227
5K
6K
Spotted a copy of this on the wall of a Brussels office today.
50
2K
6K
Michael Gove fails to explain how being inside the EU prevented Conservative governments from tackling inequality, when questioned on Today. Not a single example. Because the main levers - public services and tax - have always been at national level.
#bbcradio4
78
1K
5K
The UK is not participating in EU procurement schemes to buy ventilators, protective gear for hospital staff or coronavirus testing kit. Confirmed by UK and EU sources.
293
4K
5K
Incredible admission by leadingTory Brexiteer Steve Baker. They were told to vote for WA without reading it “on the basis Michael Gove articulated: we could change it later”.
So they voted for it. And now discover there will be an border in the Irish Sea.
183
2K
4K
Angela Merkel: 'I did not set 30-day deadline'.
"I said that what one can achieve in three or two years can also be achieved in 30 days."
"It is not about 30 days. The 30 days were meant as an example to highlight the fact that we need to achieve it in a short time."
@Reuters
84
1K
3K
Fifty years ago today, 30 June 1970, the UK began negotiations to join the European Community, along with Ire, Den, Nor.
UK chief negotiator Con O’Neill: “What mattered was to get in.. (and) restore our position at the centre of European affairs, which since 1958, we had lost.”
50
1K
3K
Michel Barnier showed this slide to EU leaders last week. For EU shows how UK red lines leave FTA as only option.
196
3K
3K
Michael Gove: "Outside the EU, with a good trade deal in place, we can tackle the injustices and inequalities that have held Britain back."
The UK did not need to leave the EU to tackle injustices and inequalities at home. Not a new point, but true.
388
530
3K
The part about Hungary is something else.
"Hungary I want to stop here and be honest once and for all
You have to decide for yourself who you are with…
Listen, Viktor do you know what’s going on in Mariupol?"
16
437
3K
One more time: the EU did not ban crown stamps on British pint glasses.
53
752
2K
Party that voted for Brexit now sees advantage in closer economic ties with the EU.
The DUP says it now sees the "advantage" of a Brexit deal that contains backstop features it originally disliked
276
256
677
72
703
2K
David Davis, Dominic Raab, now David Frost. Three resignations over the wrong sort of Brexit.
97
354
2K
Who wants to break it to
@DKShrewsbury
that Brexit is on course to cost the UK more than all 47 years of EU budget payments combined. H/t
@Bloomberg
And that his gov is planning to hire 50,000 staff for Brexit paperwork.
108
803
2K
Boris Johnson to Angela Merkel on 21 August: “You gave set a very blistering timetable of 30 days, if I understand you correctly. I am more than happy with that.”
It’s day 30.
40
787
2K
Only ten days into Brexit and the demands to renegotiate the deal are in full flow. Unfortunately for British business, this isn’t going to happen unless UK gov wants a fundamentally different relationship.
109
962
2K
What does that even mean? Disingenuous. All 25 countries taking part in EU bulk-buying scheme for ventilators are independent nations.
#Marr
: Why hasn't UK taken part in EU ventilator scheme?
Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove says there was "some confusion" over the issue, but adds there's "nothing we can't do as an independent nation" that being part of the scheme would've allowed
807
272
592
91
695
2K
Boris Johnson claimed one of the benefits of Brexit was the restoration of the crown stamp on pint glasses.
Turns out that isn’t true. The UK could always use the crown stamp as long as it didn’t obscure the EU’s CE mark. 👑 🍺
59
585
2K
Angela Merkel gets sustained applause from MEPs after speech, where she said she had five priorities for the EU: fundamental rights, cohesion, climate protection, digitalisation and Europe’s responsibility in the world.
26
496
2K
Northern Ireland protocol “disastrous” says man who voted for Northern Ireland protocol and argued no need for debate on Boris Johnson’s WA bill.
45
460
2K
"And you hesitate whether to trade with Russia or not.
There is no time to hesitate.
It’s time to decide already."
7
173
2K
Michael Gove lists freeports as one of the gains of Brexit. These are allowed under EU law, although the commission now thinks they are a bad idea because of money laundering risks.
#bbcradio4
108
577
2K
More than four years after the UK voted to leave the EU, talks on a future relationship are deadlocked. But what if there had been a book on how to negotiate Brexit?
As it happens, it was in front of me all time - thread.
77
993
2K
"Please if you can get to your waterfront [to see the memorial by the Danube]
Look at those shoes.
And you will see how mass killings can happen again in today’s world
And that’s what Russia is doing again today."
7
192
2K
Brexit fatigue setting in in Brussels. One source says they have stopped reading British papers(!), because tired of 'cabinet deal imminent'/'cabinet deadlocked' story loop.
69
542
2K
Nigel Farage and the Brexit party have voted against a European parliament resolution calling for stronger EU action to counter election meddling and Russian disinformation.
Highlights from resolution here.
179
1K
2K
Boring but true: 1. The EU is offering UK more than Canada FTA. 2. The UK is seeking more than Canada FTA (although Michael Gove has claimed gov would be ready for some tariffs, i.e ‘true Canada’). 3. Australia is seeking its own Canada-style deal with the EU.
25
683
2K
Brexit is “one of the most spectacular mistakes in EU history” and came from a campaign marked by “an unprecedented readiness to lie”. An interview with Donald Tusk
25
797
2K
The same shoes. In Mariupol there are the same people. Adults and children. Grandparents. And there are thousands of them. And these thousands are gone and you hesitate whether to impose sanctions or not.
And you hesitate whether to let weapons through or not."
3
163
2K
Feeling like a broken record: the EU does not think it is punishing the UK because 1. the UK made a free choice to leave 2. non-members can't get club benefits.
And that's it.
22
577
2K
Danish PM provides Brexit quote of the day, which sums up EU mood nicely.
“It is difficult to give a helping hand to people who stand with both hands in their pockets,” Danish Prime Minister
@larsloekke
says about the EU’s difficulties on trying to help the UK solving
#Brexit
#eudk
16
597
1K
9
683
2K
EU27 diplomats were briefed on Brexit talks this morning and were told the British had presented no proper, written proposals, on replacing the Irish backstop.
1
67
1K
2K
Brexit truly was a slogan without a plan. MP who advocated ‘take back control’ now asks civil service to come up with ideas on what to do. They could start with 2014 balance of competences review that found law-making balance about right. But it’s too late. Via
@FT
75
508
2K
Lord Frost: "There is no doubt that we have tried to operate the Protocol in good faith."
There is in fact, a huge amount of doubt in EU circles that gov is trying to operate the protocol in good faith.
57
235
1K
The Brexit vision of 2016 never recognised that other countries are sovereign too. Now with the US and EU, Brexiteers are finding out.
31
334
1K
Inaccurate. EU draft mandate for Michel Barnier proposes "an independent arbitration panel" to resolve EU-UK disputes. Not ECJ. But ECJ would be sole arbiter of any questions about interpretation of EU law.
From a British Brussels-based journalist.
All serious trade deals include independent arbitration mechanisms. The EU position is that the ECJ should be the arbitration. My understanding is that the UK government will not accept that.
126
58
397
51
451
1K
Germany’s Europe minister Michael Roth not holding back. “Brexit is a big shitshow” and 90% of British cabinet have “no idea how workers think live, work and behave”.
47
539
1K
Remember those days in 2016 when this was the Brexit plan. "British people will still be able to go and work in the EU...there will continue to be free trade, and access to the single market."
44
828
1K
Jean-Claude Juncker says other 26 won't abandon Ireland: "This is not a game and neither is it a single bilateral issue. It goes to the heart of what being a European Union member means. Ireland’s border is Europe’s border."
24
477
1K
The first for a very good reason: no EU country requires a visa for Ukrainian refugees.
The UK Government’s Ukraine Family Scheme is the first visa scheme in the world to launch since President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
It gives Ukrainian people the freedom and means to support themselves while they are here in the United Kingdom.
(1/2)
2K
163
306
26
386
1K
The three lawyers the government took advice from over breaking international law were all committed Brexiteers - one was only one year qualified and had worked for Vote Leave.
52
885
1K
We are all talking about
#specialplaceinhell
but the really interesting thing was what Donald Tusk said about Jeremy Corbyn.
Can't recall Tusk mentioning Labour leader so directly before.
56
636
1K
The so-called "new Brexit punishment" is in fact a Canada style deal or Australia terms.
51
290
1K
Michel Barnier says he is not optimistic about the talks. "To be quite frank I feel that the consequences of Brexit have been and still are underestimated."
36
441
1K
Only in Brussels could a document be titled 'Towards a Compass'.
37
112
1K
In case anyone seriously thinks the EU is about to change everything for a PM Boris Johnson...
EU official: “We would be really stupid if we had refused the reasonable negotiators and now suddenly reopen the door to Boris. I don’t think so.”
40
510
1K
"France, Emmanuel, I really believe that you will stand for us."
Macron is one of only two leaders to be mentioned by name.
"Ireland, well almost."
12
103
1K
The UK is quietly seeking access to the EU’s pandemic warning system
57
718
1K
A few lines that stood out:
"The Netherlands stands for the rational so I know we will find common ground."
"Italy thank you for your support."
"Belgium we will find arguments."
4
107
1K
Dear EU, US, Australia and New Zealand.
Please sign a trade deal with us, because when we break the law it's only "in a very specific and limited way"
Yours sincerely,
HM Government
30
459
1K
Italians “also love freedom, but we also care about seriousness”. Italian president rebuts Boris Johnson.
13
396
1K
A fishing union tells
@BBCRadio4
Farming Today it wants renegotiation of TCA to increase quotas and reduce non-tariff barriers. And this is why Brexit never ends, because leave campaign promises can never be fulfilled.
24
320
1K
Jean-Claude Juncker:
*the EU wants a deal
*the EU thinks a deal is possible
*the EU thinks no-deal is a very bad idea
*the backstop can be replaced by a backstop equivalent
This has been the EU position all along.
40
307
1K
Six years ago today David Cameron announced an in-out referendum on the UK's EU membership.
He said there would be time for "a proper, reasoned debate".
And here we are.
104
492
1K
Today would have been the first day of the UK's six-month EU presidency. Instead...
34
930
995
Narrator: in October 2019, Boris Johnson agreed to a post-Brexit border down the Irish Sea.
Boris Johnson warns he'd allow a post-Brexit border down the Irish Sea “over my dead body”
169
81
103
24
341
1K
Angela Merkel has told the Bundestag that Germany and EU must be prepared for no-deal. "Progress in talks is, to put it cautiously, very limited." via
@Reuters
Hard to think of politician more different to Boris Johnson who was talking last month about outline deal in July.
31
333
1K
It's 10 years to the day since David Cameron promised an in/out referendum on the UK's EU membership "to settle this European question in British politics".
And here we are.
90
335
1K
“There are already more than 25,000 civil servants working on Brexit and that number will actually rise as we leave the EU,” says former DexEU permanent secretary.
The entire European Commission employs 32,200 people.
29
760
914
European commission spokes scathing on Jeremy Hunt Soviet Union comments:
"I would say respectfully that we would all benefit - and in particular foreign affairs ministers - from opening a history book from time to time."
12
326
905
Keir Starmer wants Britain to be “the bridge between the US and the rest of Europe”. This notion never even caught on when Britain was in the EU, as Paris, Berlin etc never thought they needed a British bridge to Washington.
206
175
879
Eldorado was a mythical place. Many searched for gold that was never to be found.
45
222
877
Boris Johnson and Michael Gove have spent years making misleading claims about what Brexit would mean. Now their deal speaks the truth.
14
201
862
Brussels police
@zpz_polbru
estimate that 6,000 people are taking part in
#TrumpNotWelcome
march.
33
429
800
Now we have hindsight.
Everyone knows much more about how the EU works, including me.
Given what was known (and possible to find out) in 2015, it's staggering how far this case for Brexit rested on cherry-picked data, wishful assumptions and group think.
Ends
51
144
829
Some British diplomats were shown this campaign, by an EU contact. They thought it was a spoof.
Duty-free shopping with the EU is coming back, if we leave without a deal.
People travelling to EU countries will be able to buy beer, spirits, wine and tobacco without duty being applied in the UK.
🍺🍷Read more👇
5K
816
2K
35
320
809
Maroš Sefčovič says "honesty about what the UK signed up to is needed. Honesty that the EU cannot solve all the problems created by Brexit and the type of Brexit chosen by the UK."
19
199
789
Powerful and important response to Jeremy Hunt's Soviet Union remarks from Latvia's ambassador to the UK.
A cheap applause line at Conservative party conference will test relations with natural allies.
Dear
@faisalislam
, just FYI - Soviets killed, deported, exiled and imprisoned 100 thousands of Latvia's inhabitants after the illegal occupation in 1940, and ruined lives of 3 generations, while the EU has brought prosperity, equality, growth, respect.
#StrongerTogether
222
3K
6K
14
419
778
Worth remembering that in the David Davis parallel universe (2016 edition) by now the UK was meant to have tariff-free access to EU, other trade deals in the bag, economic gains of Brexit visible.
For EU 31 December is a hard deadline and UK gave up only route to extension.
Former Brexit Secretary David Davis tells
@BBCBreakfast
he doesn’t think there’ll be time to ratify a Brexit trade deal — and there’ll have to be a pause — ‘a freeze’ — while that happens
209
72
152
20
179
792
Context to Priti Patel's 'send the boats back' plan.
Last year the Home Office said that after Brexit transition, the UK "will be able to negotiate its own bilateral returns arrangements" with EU member states. That's all gone very quiet.
13
215
769
Niche fact: this will be the first 'state of the union' speech by a European commission president without heckling by Nigel Farage and his MEPs. Because there are no British MEPs.
23
131
772
Incredible how much time the country has spent debating a third runway at Heathrow (at least 15 yrs) versus time spent deciding whether to leave the EU ( about 4 months).
27
369
765
'Trust me, UK can negotiate a better, Canada-style deal' says David Davis.
He conflates withdrawal treaty and future talks.
A Canada deal would require Irish backstop.
Very misleading from a former Brexit secretary.
This deal is not what the people voted for. It will tie us to the Customs Union for years to come with no way out. But there is still time to negotiate a Canada+++ deal that delivers on the referendum. So let’s get on with it.
2K
2K
4K
71
219
745
Northern Ireland is an "incredibly attractive place to invest" for businesses because it has access to the EU and UK market, said Rishi Sunak. Once again, Brexit supporter speaks in favour of the single market access the whole UK once had.
26
271
775
So Lord Frost resigns over Covid plan B, net zero and tax rises, and nothing to do with a big concession on the ECJ, dialling down Article 16 threat and bring bogged down in endless negotiations on the Northern Ireland protocol.
27
143
751
Jeremy Hunt has graciously decided that the UK and EU will have three weeks to renegotiate the not-for-renegotiation deal that took 17 months to agree
69
301
743
The EU has NOT received a letter from Theresa May. "Maybe it will come, maybe it will not come. I guess here again we have to demonstrate patience," a senior EU official says dryly.
42
239
737
Michel Barnier reminding us that at age 21 he voted yes in a French referendum to allow UK, Ireland and Denmark to join the European Economic Community.
Brexit is a "pity, a shame.. it's better that we are together".
10
236
715
The UK had the right to return asylum seekers to other EU countries as an EU member state. Then Boris Johnson campaigned to take back control.
15
184
729
“Jobs lost will be lost here, that is the Brexit reality.” Whenever I read stories like these I can’t help thinking of Michael Gove’s claim in 2016 that Brexit Britain would be in an Iceland to Turkey free trade zone. What does he think about that now?
46
246
720
There are 126 days until the UK leaves the EU economic system for good. The conventional wisdom is that a deal (another oven-ready triumph?) will be agreed at the last minute.
Yes it can happen, but the risks of no-deal are real - thread.
39
440
718
Imagine the EU conceded an end date to the Irish backstop...
- message to Ireland that a difficult departing member matters more
- tells Tory Eurosceptic backbenchers they have upper hand over 27 elected leaders
- breaks EU's cherished unity
And that's just the politics.
24
253
722
Now official: the European commission is taking legal action against the UK over the internal market bill.
Ursula von der Leyen says provisions are "breach of the obligation of good faith laid down in the withdrawal agreement". If adopted "full contradiction" of Irish protocol
16
257
711
King Johnson and his courtiers: “Theresa May wouldn’t have pulled that off if she had been there for 40 years.”
And what did Boris Johnson pull off? basically reverting to the original NI only backstop May had said no UK PM could accept.
14
222
713
In a parallel universe David Cameron is preparing for difficult but inconclusive talks on the EU's next seven-year budget at this week's European Council.
Not many people are talking about it.
16
175
717
"Britain never had a lot of influence in Europe," says former minister Digby Jones.
This is staggeringly untrue. Ignores creation of the single market and British support for EU enlargement - two of biggest EU policies of last 25 years, but that's not all...
51
481
709
And I also have a deadline: my baby is due before any Brexit deal. So I’m stepping back from Brexit (and everything else).
When I return UK-EU will be in different phase. But just as EU never stands still, Brexit will never be quite done.
Thank you for following.
106
21
714
Sabine Weyand told EU ambassadors that decision to vote on Malthouse compromise - already rejected by Brussels umpteen times - showed that parliament was “divorced from reality”.
5
365
697
Emmanuel Macron on the Brexiteers: "Those who said the British people would save hundreds of millions of pounds or euros have lied."
16
289
672
Crucially for remainers, the ECJ rules that cancelling article 50 would not change UK's membership terms.
So the UK would keep all its opt-outs and the rebate.
16
324
685
Greece has got this clause into M Barnier's draft Brexit mandate on "restitution of unlawfully removed cultural objects". Backed by Italy and Cyprus.
Greece is said to be concerned about co-operation with UK on art trafficking, as London is a centre for art and auction houses.
32
287
662
"Leaving the European Union is a bit like leaving the internet," says self-declared pragmatic Nordic
@alexstubb
"You can do it, but it’s kind of stupid."
It's also personal. His wife is British, his children have dual British-Finnish citizenship.
9
246
657
From the end of 2022 UK travellers will have to get authorisation and pay €7 to enter the EU's Schengen zone (fee covers multiple visits over three years).
European commission announced today its European Travel Information and Authorisation System is on track.
108
409
651
Scottish government calls for 2-year extension of the Brexit transition period. i.e. the maximum.
Also points out the Joint Ministerial Committee of four nations on EU negotiations hasn't met since January.
20
345
653
British officials don't seem to have ruled out joining any EU procurement (option expires when UK leaves transition period) and stress NHS will get everything needed. Obviously that follows criticism from NHS staff that shortages of protective kit are putting them at risk.
34
233
639
Remarkable that French, Germans and Italians taking Good Friday agreement more seriously than British politicians, says ex PM John Bruton.
16
318
638
Luxembourg PM Xavier Bettel: anyone who says a no-deal Brexit is the fault of the Europeans doesn't know their history. The UK chose Brexit and London (i.e. Westminister) needs to take responsibility.
13
187
627
