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WORLD NEWS Thursday 3 OcTOber 2024
The U.K. and EU vow to mend their Brexit battered ties

By LORNE COOK that the first of what should
Associated Press become a regular series of
BRUSSELS (AP) — The Unit- EU-U.K. summits should be
ed Kingdom and the Eu- held early next year.
ropean Union agreed on Earlier, standing alongside
Wednesday to strengthen von der Leyen, Starmer told
their relationship after the reporters that he believes
damage caused by Brex- “the British public want to
it and to hold a series of return to pragmatic, sen-
meetings, including at the sible leadership when it
highest level, on issues like comes to dealing with our
economic growth, energy, closest neighbors, to make
security and migration. Brexit work and to deliver in
In a statement issued after their interests, to find ways
talks in Brussels, U.K. Prime to boost economic growth,
Minister Keir Starmer and strengthen our security and
European Commission tackle shared challenges
President Ursula von der like irregular migration and
Leyen agreed on “the im- climate change.”
portance of the unique re- Von der Leyen welcomed
lationship” they share and his visit and the opportunity
vowed to “ambitiously” to strengthen EU-U.K. rela-
strengthen their coopera- tions.
tion. Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer meets European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen “We have a set of solid
The leaders both recom- in Brussels, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. Associated Press agreements in place,” she
mitted to the Withdrawal said. “We should explore
Agreement and other vention so that asylum- er underlined the shared agenda for their coopera- the scope for more coop-
pacts reached on the seekers can be deported challenges that they face, tion will be established in eration while we focus on
terms of Brexit as Britain left without the intervention of notably because of Rus- coming months. the full and faithful imple-
the world’s biggest trade rights courts. sia’s full-fledged invasion of It would start by “defining mentation” of the Brexit
bloc four years ago, the first Britons voted to leave the Ukraine, and they both “re- together the areas in which agreements underpinning
country to do so, creating EU during the 2016 Brexit iterated their unwavering strengthened cooperation their painful and costly di-
a deep rift between them. referendum, when a key support for Ukraine’s sover- would be mutually benefi- vorce.
They also reaffirmed their promise of the campaign eignty.” cial, such as the economy, Starmer also held talks with
commitment to uphold in- to exit was that it would They said that “a stable, energy, security and resil- the other leaders of the
ternational law and to the give the U.K. more control positive and forward-look- ience, in full respect of their bloc’s main institutions: Eu-
European Convention on over its borders. But immi- ing relationship was in their internal procedures and in- ropean Council President
Human Rights. gration figures have gone mutual interests and pro- stitutional prerogatives.” Charles Michel and Euro-
Hard-line Brexiteers want up, not down, since then. vided the basis for long The two said they would pean Parliament President
the U.K. to leave the con- Von der Leyen and Starm- term cooperation.” An meet again in the fall, and Roberta Metsola.q

Investigators in Haiti accuse three members of transitional

presidential council of corruption

By DÁNICA COTO was appointed earlier this year after tar-
Associated Press geted gang violence forced the country’s
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — An anti- former prime minister to resign, leaving
corruption agency in Haiti on Wednesday Haiti without a leader. The council works
accused three members of the country’s alongside new Prime Minister Garry Conille
transitional presidential council of bribery and is tasked with helping run the country.
in a scathing report that threatens to de- It wasn’t immediately clear if the council
stabilize the country’s fragile political sta- would take any action against the three
bility. members, who did not return messages for
Smith Augustin, Emmanuel Vertilaire and comment.
Louis Gérald Gilles are accused of de- Impunity remains widespread in Haiti even
manding more than $750,000 from the di- as the Unit for Combating Corruption con-
rector of the government-owned National tinues cracking down on government of-
Bank of Credit to secure his job, the Unit ficials.
for Combating Corruption said in its report. The agency accused Gilles of organizing
“The message is clear. No one is above the a meeting on May 25 among the council
laws of our republic!” said Hans Joseph, members, the former bank director, Raoul Ex-senator Louis Gerald Gilles, from left to right, pastor Frinel
the unit’s director, as he detailed the cor- Pascal Pierre-Louis, and Haitian consul Joseph, barrister Emmanuel Vertilaire, businessman Laurent
ruption allegations during a news confer- Lonick Léandre at the Royal Oasis Hotel Saint-Cyr, interim Prime Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert, Judge
Jean Joseph Lebrun, who is not a member of the council, former
ence where he unveiled the report. in the capital of Port-au-Prince, where senate president Edgard Leblanc, Regine Abraham, former
Behind him stood at least half a dozen in- the demand for more than $750,000 was central bank governor Fritz Alphonse Jean, former diplomat
vestigators wearing caps and face masks, made. Leslie Voltaire and former ambassador to the Dominican
their identities concealed. According to the report, Pierre-Louis told Republic Smith Augustin, pose for a group photo during an
The report is a significant blow to the nine- investigators that Gilles and Léandre took installation ceremony, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, April
member council and is expected to fur- his phone and those of others present be- 25, 2024. Associated Press
ther erode people’s trust in it. The council fore the meeting began.q