EU and the UK
date: 09/12/2016
First press briefing by Michel Barnier, Chief negotiator for the Article 50 negotiations with the UK
In his first press briefing, Michel Barnier, Chief negotiator for the Article 50 negotiations with the UK, explained that the period for actual negotiations will be shorter than two years. Article 50 says that "EU treaties cease to apply to the country in question [leaving the EU] from the date of entry into force of the agreement, or within 2 years of the notification of the withdrawal". Mr Barnier clarified that once Article 50 is triggered, the Council will need to set guidance and this will take a few weeks. He also reminded that at the end of the process, still within the two-year period, the agreement needs to be ratified by the European Parliament, the European Council and the UK. As this ratification process may take around five months, this leaves less than 18 months to negotiate. Mr Barnier argued that if Article 50 is triggered by March 2017, it is safe to say an agreement could be reached by October 2018. He stressed four principles that are important from the EU's point of view: unity is the strength of the EU, rights and benefits of EU members, negotiations won't start before notification and the single market and its four freedoms are indivisible.
Michel Barnier's full speech
Car emissions: Commission opened infringement procedures against seven member states, including the UK, for breach of EU rules
On 8 December, the European Commission launched infringement procedures – the formal way to ensure that agreed and adopted EU law and rules are implemented in practice – against seven EU member states, including the UK. The infringement cases against Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and the United Kingdom – the member states that issued type approvals for Volkswagen Group in the EU – are for not applying their national provisions on penalties despite the company's use of illegal defeat device software. The UK and Germany also refused to disclose, when requested by the Commission, all the technical information gathered in their national investigations regarding potential nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions irregularities in cars made by Volkswagen Group and other car manufacturers on their territories. The other three member states (the Czech Republic, Greece and Lithuania) failed to set up penalties systems to deter car manufacturers from violating car emissions legislation.
A letter of formal notice is a first step in an infringement procedure and constitutes an official request for information. The member states now have two months to respond to the arguments put forward by the Commission; otherwise, the Commission may decide to send a reasoned opinion and ultimately, if matters are not rectified, to refer the member states concerned to the European Court of Justice.
PISA 2015 survey: UK outspends other developed economies on education
The UK spends about 30% more on the education of 6-15 year-olds (from public and private sources combined) than the average across the 35 developed OECD countries. The 2015 Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) also shows that British students outperform their peers in science proficiency while gender gap trends common in other countries are less pronounced in the UK.
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