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A8 WORLD NEWS
Monday 24 July 2017

Divided UK, inconclusive election could put brakes on Brexit

By JILL LAWLESS its brittle attitude toward
Associated Press Brexit will break and snap.”
LONDON (AP) — Lucy Har- Many on both sides of the
ris thinks Britain’s decision divide had assumed the
to leave the European picture would be clearer
Union is a dream come by now.
true. Nick Hopkinson thinks But the road to Brexit has
it’s a nightmare. not run smoothly.
The two Britons — a “leave” First the British government
supporter and a “remain- lost a Supreme Court bat-
er” — represent the great tle over whether a vote in
divide in a country that Parliament was needed to
stepped into the unknown begin the Brexit process.
just over a year ago, when Once the vote was held,
British voters decided by and won, Prime Minister
52 percent to 48 percent Theresa May’s Conserva-
to end more than four de- tive government officially
cades of EU membership. triggered the two-year
They are also as uncertain countdown to exit, starting
as the rest of the country a race to untangle four de-
about what Brexit will look cades of intertwined laws
like, and even when it will and regulations by March
happen. Since the shock EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, right, and British Secretary of State David Davis address 2019.
referendum result, work on the media after negotiations at EU headquarters in Brussels. Since the June 8 British election, there Then, May called an
negotiating the divorce has been a disunited British government, and an increasingly impatient EU. early election in a bid to
from the EU has slowed to (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert) strengthen her hand in EU
a crawl as the scale and negotiations.
complexity of the chal- “If we haven’t finalized it, tion last month clipped the hopefully we can reverse Instead, voters stripped
lenge becomes clearer. then anything’s still up for wings of Britain’s Conserva- Brexit altogether,” said May’s Conservatives of
Harris, founder of the pro- grabs,” she said. “Every- tive government, remainers Hopkinson, chairman of their parliamentary major-
Brexit group Leavers of thing is still to play for.” are gaining in confidence. pro-EU group London4Eu- ity, severely denting May’s
London, says she is hope- She’s not the only Brexiteer, “Since the general election rope. authority — and her ability
ful, rather than confident, as those who support leav- I’ve been more optimistic “Obviously the government to hold together a party
that Britain will really cut its ing the EU are called, to be that at least we’re head- is toughing it out, showing split between its pro-and
ties with the EU. concerned. After an elec- ed toward soft Brexit, and a brave face. But I think anti-EU wings. q

Poles protest for 8th day over contentious judicial changes

By VANESSA GERA way to cement his power. The legislation quickly passed Maas on Sunday welcomed the
Associated Press People waved flags of the Euro- both houses of parliament in re- possible EU sanctions against Po-
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Thou- pean Union and Poland as they cent days and now awaits Duda’s land, telling the weekly German
sands of Poles protested for the gathered in the evening in front signature to take effect. paper Bild am Sonntag that “the
eighth day Sunday over new rules of the presidential palace in the The moves to take control of the independence of the judiciary is in
passed by the ruling party that capital. courts have also alarmed the Eu- danger in Poland.”
would drastically limit the inde- They called on President Andrzej ropean Union, with Frans Timmer- “Somebody who gives so little re-
pendence of the judiciary. Duda to veto contentious legisla- mans, spect to the rule of law has to ac-
Protesters see moves by the popu- tion that would put the Supreme the vice-president of the EU’s ex- cept that he isolates himself politi-
list governing Law and Justice par- Court and other areas of the judi- ecutive, warning last week that cally,” Maas said.
ty as an assault on the country’s ciary under the party’s control. Brussels is very close to stripping He added that “the EU cannot
democratic foundations, accus- Polish media reported that other Poland of its voting rights in the stand and watch inactively. Rule
ing party leader Jaroslaw Kaczyn- protests were taking place in other bloc over rule of law violations. of law and democracy are the
ski of behaving in an authoritarian cities across Poland and Europe. Germany’s Justice Minister Heiko bedrock of the EU.”q