Page 30 - bon-dia-aruba-Sept 17 2020

A30 world news
Diahuebs 17 september 2020

EU chief says UK cannot change EU-UK withdrawal agreement

insurance policy against any compromise would allow
unreasonable behavior by the lawmakers to vote before the
bloc. government took any actions
The prime minister said his that broke international law.
proposed law gives the U.K. Von der Leyen said the EU
government the power to would always respect the
override portions of the with- agreements that get its signa-
drawal agreement because ture and "we will never back-
the EU might "go to extreme track on that."
and unreasonable lengths" in The U.K. withdrew from the
its treatment of former mem- EU's political institutions on
ber Britain. Jan. 31 but remains in a tar-
Under persistent questioning iff-free transition period until
by Labour lawmaker Hilary the end of the year while ne-
Benn during a parliamentary gotiators work out the terms
committee hearing Wednes- of a future trade relationship.
day, Johnson was asked The European Parliament
whether the EU was "negoti- would need to approve any
ating in good faith." trade deal, and the leader of
"I don't believe they are," he the biggest group of the leg-
said. Johnson added later in islature, said that any deal
the hearing: "It is always pos- would stand no chance with
sible that I am mistaken, and EU lawmakers if the U.K.
perhaps they will prove my disrespected even the slight-
(AP) — The president of the Johnson to renege on parts the point by quoting from suspicions wrong." est paragraph of the Brexit
European Union's execu- of the U.K.-EU withdrawal a 1975 speech by former Five former British prime agreement.
tive arm said Wednesday that agreement dimmed those British prime minister and ministers have criticized "It makes no sense to negoti-
the United Kingdom cannot hopes even further. conservative icon Margaret Johnson's willingness to ate a future agreement (with)
unilaterally change the bilat- What's more, von der Leyen Thatcher. break international law. The a British prime minister who
eral Brexit agreement with- asserted, Britain is throwing "Britain does not break trea- government's top law of- is throwing out of the win-
out destroying global trust in its good name to the wind by ties. It would be bad for ficer for Scotland resigned dow the agreement that he
the country. not respecting a deal it signed Britain, bad for our relations Wednesday because of con- signed himself," Manfred
Insisting that chances for a in December. with the rest of the world and cerns about Johnson's legisla- Weber of the center-right Eu-
future trade deal were slip- "It cannot be unilaterally bad for any future treaty on tion. ropean People's Party said.
ping away by the day, Euro- changed, disregarded,"" she trade," von der Leyen quoted Johnson later secured sup- Weber warned: "Great Brit-
pean Commission President said in her State of the Union Thatcher's speech as saying. port for an amendment ain, you are losing your cred-
Ursula von der Leyen told address. "This is a matter of Johnson has called his plan to meant to assuage the dis- ibility at the global level."
EU lawmakers that plans by law and trust and good faith." unilaterally rewrite Britain's comfort among members of
British Prime Minister Boris Von der Leyen drove home divorce deal with the EU an his Conservative Party. The

Barbados seeks to drop Queen Elizabeth II as head of state

(AP) — Queen Elizabeth II would make much of a dif- Downing Street said the didn't materialize. cate it to a place that has not
has eight realms in the Carib- ference. decision lay in the hands Sue, the Barbadian who fa- yet been identified. But he
bean, but Barbados no longer "It is long overdue," he said. of government officials in vors republicanism, said he worries people have gotten
wants to be part of that king- "I don't subscribe to the pres- Barbados, with a Number is hopeful given the recent used to the political status
dom. ent system ... We still have 10 spokesman adding, "We protests against the statue of quo.
The former British colony to pay homage to the queen obviously have a shared his- British Vice-Admiral Hora- "I feel a lot of Barbadians
once known as "Little Eng- of England. I find it to be a tory and remain united with tio Nelson in the capital of are happy under the colonial
land" announced it plans to whole lot of nonsense." Barbados in terms of history, Bridgetown. Government trappings," he said. "They
replace the monarch with English settlers first arrived culture and language." officials have said they would have been in that mode for so
its own head of state in time in Barbados in the 1620s The Caribbean has only a remove the statue and relo- long."
for next year's 55th indepen- and turned it into a wealthy handful of republics that used
dence anniversary. sugar colony dependent on to be former British colo-
"Our country can be in no the work of hundreds of nies: Dominica, Guyana and
doubt about its capacity for thousands of African slaves. Trinidad & Tobago. Jamaica
self-governance," Barbados' The island gained its inde- has talked about becom-
Governor General Sandra pendence from the United ing a republic, but made no
Mason, who was appointed Kingdom in November 1966 moves. Meanwhile, at least
by the queen, said late Tues- and dropped the London- six former British colonies
day. "The time has come to based Privy Council in 2005 in the Caribbean continue to
fully leave our colonial past for the Trinidad-based Ca- be non-self-governing ter-
behind." ribbean Court of Justice as ritories, including Anguilla,
It is Barbados' second at- its final court of appeal, but Bermuda and the Cayman
tempt in five years to replace it remains a commonwealth Islands.
the queen with a local leader, realm. Barbados first pursued the
but some believe this time Barbados would need a two- idea of republicanism in the
will be different, in part fu- thirds majority in Parliament late 1970s and in 2008 pro-
eled by a recent push across to make the constitutional posed to hold a referendum
the Western Hemisphere to changes required to remove on the issue, but the date
bring down symbols of op- the queen as head of state was pushed back indefinitely.
pression. and implement a ceremo- Then in 2015, former prime
Barbadian businessman nial president. Prime Minis- minister Freundel Stuart an-
Chester Sue told The As- ter Mia Mottley's Barbados nounced Barbados would
sociated Press by phone that Labour Party controls both seek to become a republic
he supports the move even houses in Parliament. by the island's 50th indepen-
though he doesn't think it Buckingham Palace and dence anniversary, a plan that