Europe sheds Brexit baggage, eyes bold relaunch

Bloomberg

What a difference a year makes for the European Union. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, will deliver the annual State of the Union speech this week in a more upbeat mood than a year ago, when the 28-nation bloc was buffeted by the UK’s decision to leave and anti-EU parties appeared to be on the march.
In a sign of the EU’s renewed confidence, Juncker will push for free-trade pacts with Australia and New Zealand at a time when the US is turning inward, along with a bloc-wide system for screening foreign takeovers and deeper euro-area banking integration. To underline the range of projects being planned without Britain, Juncker may not even refer to Brexit at all, according to two officials familiar with his thinking who asked not to be named discussing the speech.
“There’s a big sigh of relief,” said Michael Tscherny, a former EU official. “The populist tide appears to have been stemmed and Brexit doesn’t seem to be a big threat. But plenty of challenges, including the specter of trade wars, remain.”
Juncker’s moment in the sun comes as British Premier Theresa May struggles for leverage in the divorce talks, German Chancellor Angela Merkel looks set for a fourth term and Emmanuel Macron’s victory in France crowned ballot wins by pro-EU forces. As a result, the bloc senses an opportunity to snuff out centrifugal forces that have eased since they propelled the Brexit vote and rattled Europe’s mainstream political parties. The bloc’s leaders say 60 years of European integration provide the template for tackling current challenges that range from refugee flows and terrorist threats to high unemployment and sluggish investment.
In his September 13 speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, Juncker will ask EU governments to give his commission, the EU’s executive arm, the authority to begin free-trade negotiations with Australia and New Zealand. His plan comes on the heels of a provisional EU accord with Japan and a week before a hard-fought European deal with Canada enters into force.
The outreach to Australia and New Zealand will offer a fresh reminder of the EU’s global market-opening clout, further distance Europe from US President Donald Trump’s protectionist tilt and raise awkward questions for May. While forging ahead with Brexit, she plans to cut and paste the EU’s trade deals and will be unable to strike her own commercial pacts until after the UK quits the bloc in March 2019.
“It’s the decision of the United Kingdom to leave — a mistake for the United Kingdom — but democracy is democracy,” EU Parliament President Antonio Tajani told a Sept. 6 conference in Brussels.
Also on Juncker’s to-do list is a proposal for an EU framework to screen foreign investments in Europe when concerns arise about unfair competition.
A divisive issue among EU governments that could take years
to negotiate, Juncker is pushing it as a political reward for Macron after he defeated far-right challenger Marine Le Pen in France’s presidential election and his
upstart centrist party secured
a majority in a subsequent
parliamentary ballot.
While championing open markets, Macron has echoed traditional French calls for Europe to bolster its defenses against unfair trade and to ensure EU-based manufacturers have a level playing field globally.

May senses victory on Brexit
bill that faces tougher times
Bloomberg

Prime Minister Theresa May’s UK government is set to rally just enough lawmakers to back a key piece of Brexit legislation that will then face higher obstacles before it can become law.
Support from Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party and a lack of opposition within her Conservative Party mean May will likely squeak to victory on a bill designed to allow her government to copy European Union law onto the domestic statute book. Once enshrined, the laws can be edited after Britain leaves the bloc in 2019.
The real challenge will be whether May can keep the draft amendment-free at the so-called committee stage it enters next. The most contentious parts of the draft law are the so-called Henry VIII powers, which would allow ministers to make changes to existing laws, bypassing normal scrutiny by Parliament. The opposition Labour Party and minor parties say that amounts to a “power grab” that they plan to contest. Some Conservatives have expressed disquiet as well. The government warns that blocking the legislation would run the risk of a “chaotic” departure from the EU, with negative implications for companies and financial markets.
“Businesses and individuals need reassurance that there will be no unexpected changes to our laws after exit day, and that is exactly what the Repeal Bill provides,’’ Brexit Secretary David Davis said in a statement. “Without it, we would be approaching a cliff edge of uncertainty which is not in the interest of anyone.”
Not everyone is on board with Davis. Keir Starmer, Labour’s spokesman on Brexit, wrote in the Sunday Times that the bill is “an affront to Parliament and the principle of taking back control.” Former Tory Chancellor Kenneth Clarke told Sky News that while he’s been assured that the government won’t use the Henry VIII powers to make policy, “Parliament would be sensible to get them to write it so that they’re not giving themselves the possibility of using powers that no government’s ever tried to take at the expense of Parliament before.”
Even so, Clarke and other pro-European Tories, including former Attorney-General Dominic Grieve, former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan and former Business Minister Anna Soubry, have indicated they’ll vote for the bill, while seeking to amend it at its next step, the so-called committee stage.