Police forces in the Spanish city of Barcelona have surrounded the regional parliament compound hours ahead of a potential declaration of independence of Catalonia.

The Mossos d’Esquadra, Catalonia’s regional police force, said on its Twitter page on Tuesday that security measures were imposed around the park where the parliament is located as there was the risk that opponents and supporters of Catalonia’s independence campaign could approach the area during a planned session in which regional leaders may declare Catalonia’s independence from Spain.

“For security reasons, Parc de la Ciutadella is closed to the public today,” said the short statement, without elaborating.

Several blue police vans were parked outside of the parliament building while metal barriers were set up at the entrance to the park.

A police spokesman said authorities hoped to “prevent any situation that would put pressure on parliamentary activity.”

“We are trying to avoid these situations, both on the part of pro-unity protesters as well as by groups of radical separatists,” he said.

The spokesman added that “a group of people forced their way into the park and threw objects against the parliament building” on Sunday, when hundreds of thousands of people staged a massive rally in Barcelona against the independence drive.

Separatist organizations in Catalonia have called on supporters of independence to gather in front of the parliament “to support and defend the declaration of independence.”

The calls come as Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont could finally declare independence during the Tuesday parliamentary session, more than a week after a controversial referendum in which around 90 percent from a population of 2.3 million voters, less than half of those eligible to vote in Catalonia, endorsed the independence campaign. The vote came amid some unprecedented tensions on the streets as more than 900 people were injured in clashes with the police.

The Spanish government in Madrid has labeled the entire process of seeking referendum in Catalonia as illegal, including the referendum and the Tuesday vote in the regional parliament.

The political crisis, the most serious for Spain in nearly four decades, have hugely affected the economically-vibrant Catalonia, as major companies and banks have either moved their headquarters out of Barcelona or have announced plans to do so if regional leaders declare independence.

Source: Presstv

British Prime Minister Theresa May has signaled she might demote Boris Johnson amid pressure to sack the foreign secretary, a report says.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, May hinted at her plans for Johnson, who is accused by some of her allies of undercutting her by taking a different position on Brexit.

“It has never been my style to hide from a challenge and I’m not going to start now,” the paper quoted May as saying.

“I’m the PM, and part of my job is to make sure I always have the best people in my cabinet, to make the most of the wealth of talent available to me in the party.”

May delivered a speech in Florence last month, proposing a two-year transitional period to be started after the UK leaves the European Union in 2019.

A few days earlier, Johnson said in a newspaper article that the two-year post-Brexit transition deal should be “done as fast as possible,” and that the period should last “not a second more” than two years for the UK.

His interventions were seen by many lawmakers as undermining May and causing unnecessary unrest prior to the party’s conference last week that culminated in a disastrous speech by May, spoiled by a coughing fit, a comedian handing her a bogus employment termination notice, and by letters falling off the slogans on the set behind her.

Referring to her conference speech, May told the newspaper, “I am a very determined person. I am not someone who gives up.”

Meanwhile, former Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps said Friday that 30 Conservative members of parliament supported a plot to topple the prime minister.

Shapps, who chaired the party between 2012 and 2015, said the premier’s leadership should now be challenged.

“I think she should call a leadership election,” Shapps told BBC Radio.

The news, however, caused senior figures, including Johnson himself, to rally around May and call for unity.

“We have just had an election and people are fed up with this malarkey,” Johnson said in a message to Conservative lawmakers.

May’s authority was already diminished by her decision to call a snap election in June that lost her party its majority in parliament just days before the opening of Brexit talks with the European Union.

To trigger a formal leadership challenge, 48 Conservative lawmakers need to write to the chairman of the party’s so-called 1922 Committee.

Source: Presstv

Most French voters are now dissatisfied with Emmanuel Macron’s performance, a poll shows, a dramatic decline for a president who basked in a landslide election victory less than four months ago. The poll, conducted by Ifop for newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD), showed Macron’s “dissatisfaction rating” rising to 57 percent, from 43 percent in July.

Forty percent expressed satisfaction with the centrist leader – down 14 points from July. French government spokesman Christophe Castaner said the ruling party was going through a tricky time, but added that displeasing some people was a price worth paying if the government wanted to push through reforms.

“Yes, we are encountering difficulties, but you cannot just spend your time only looking at polls when you’re in government. We are there to transform the country. Our country needs us to take risks, and we are taking risks,” Castaner told BFM TV.

Macron, who is midway through a schedule of official visits to various European capitals, has suffered a number of setbacks since being elected, including tough debates in parliament over labor reform, a standoff with the military and cuts to housing assistance. Social media commentators and political opponents criticized the president after it emerged he spent 26,000 euros ($31,000) on makeup during his first 100 days in office and his office also backed down on plans to give his wife a formal, paid role after a public backlash.

Bernard Sananes, head of French polling company Elabe, said the latest survey could encourage Macron’s political opponents, after his party won a commanding majority in parliament. “It could mean, for the government, that the opposition mobilizes itself again,” Sananes told BFM TV. The Ifop poll showed the cumulative drop in Macron’s popularity ratings since May was bigger than that of previous Socialist president Francois Hollande over the same period. The poll also showed a drop in popularity for Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, with 47 percent expressing satisfaction with him – down 9 points from last month.

Macron, France’s youngest leader since Napoleon, faces a big test next month when the far-left CGT trade union leads a rally to protest against plans to deregulate the jobs market. “Now is the key time, with the labor executive orders to be presented,” said Francois Savary, chief investment officer at Geneva-based investment firm Prime Partners, who has an “underweight” position on French equities.

(Source: Reuters)

A new poll shows that British Prime Minister Theresa May’s approval rating has hit a record low, with opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn overtaking her for the first time. According to the survey compiled by Ipsos MORI for the London Evening Standard newspaper, only 34 percent of respondents said they approve of May’s leadership, while 59 percent expressed their disapproval with her minority government.

This is the lowest approval rating ever recorded for any modern-day prime minister immediately after an election. The poll also revealed that 44 percent of adults are satisfied with Labour leader Corbyn, only one percentage point less than those who are dissatisfied. Over one thousand adults across the UK participated in the poll.

“The turnaround in Mrs. May’s ratings is unprecedented in our previous data on prime ministers – from a historic high at the start of the campaign to a historic low just one month after an election, while also seeing her position among her own party supporters weakening and Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign surge continuing,” said Head of political research at Ipsos MORI Gideon Skinner.

“Having said that, she still has the edge as most capable PM among over 35s,” Skinner added. May’s rating has plummeted over a number of her policies, including social care and school funding. May’s Conservatives were enjoying a record surge in April in the polls when she opportunistically called for a snap election in hopes of getting an increased majority that could have strengthened her position before going into two years of intense negotiations with the European Union about Britain’s departure from the bloc.

However, May’s election gamble spectacularly backfired. British on June 8 voters dealt her a devastating blow, wiping out her parliamentary majority and throwing the country into political turmoil. Corbyn’s Labour, meanwhile, picked up dozens of seats. According to another poll released earlier this month, the Labour Party took an eight-point lead over the Conservative Party. The YouGov poll put Labour on 46 percent and the Conservatives on 38 percent.

Source: Presstv

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says she will postpone plans for a second independence referendum until after negotiations over Britain’s exit from the European Union have concluded next year. Sturgeon made the announcement in the Scottish parliament on Tuesday, saying that she was putting on hold her plans to introduce legislation that would demand a second referendum until autumn 2018 when Brexit terms are supposedly clear.

“The Scottish government remains committed strongly to the principle of giving Scotland a choice at the end of this [Brexit] process but I want to reassure people that our proposal is not for a referendum now, or before there is sufficient clarity about the options, but rather to give them a choice at the end of the Brexit process when that clarity has emerged,” Sturgeon said.

“We will not seek to introduce the legislation for an independence referendum immediately,” she added. “The Scottish government will reset the plan I set out.” Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) noted that the “uncertainty” of the Brexit process is now her priority and her party is focused on getting “the best deal out of Brexit – the best deal for Scotland.”

“Instead, we will – in good faith – redouble our efforts and put our shoulder to the wheel in seeking to influence the Brexit talks in a way that protects Scotland’s interests,” she noted. The pro-independence Scottish Greens called on the SNP leader not to back down on her bid to have a second referendum and to “continue fighting” for another vote on the issue.

Source: Presstv

Spanish lawmakers on Thursday as expected threw out a Catalan bid to hold an independence referendum which a court had already ruled illegal. Pro-separatist regional president Carles Puigdemont presented a bill calling on Madrid to “respect” the wealthy northeastern region’s attempt to hold a vote in October.

But 250 out of 350 lawmakers, led by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s conservatives and backed by the main opposition Socialists and centrist Ciudadanos, voted down the move. Regionalist and pro-independence parties as well as the far-left Podemos group cast 92 votes in favor of a referendum.

Backed by a majority of pro-separatists in the Catalan regional assembly, Puigdemont wants to hold a referendum asking voters if they want their region, population 7.5 million, to be an independent republic.

Madrid has rejected the move as unconstitutional. Catalans appear divided on the issue, with 48.5 percent against and 44.3 percent in favor according to latest polls, although some three-quarters back holding a referendum.

(Source: AFP)

UK Queen Elizabeth II has presented Prime Minister Theresa May’s policies to the new Parliament, at a tumultuous time for Britain and as May’s future in power remain uncertain. The queen took to Westminster on Wednesday to read out a list of the government’s intentions for the lawmakers on their first day in office, following the June 8 snap general election that saw May’s Conservative Party lose its narrow majority.

The legislative program that the monarch laid out on behalf of May was a pared-down version of her party manifesto for the election and dropped some key promises to instead focus on Britain’s exit from the European Union (EU). “My government’s priority is to secure the best possible deal as the country leaves the European Union,” said Elizabeth II. “My ministers are committed to working with Parliament, the devolved administrations, business and others to build the widest possible consensus on the country’s future outside the European Union.”

Eight of the 27 bills that were included in the agenda revolved around Brexit, while the rest were focused on other issues such as the recent wave of terror attacks that hit Britain as well as the deadly apartment block fire in Grenfell Tower last week. Absent on the list, however, were May’s manifesto pledges to tax the elderly more heavily for their own care and slash free lunches for schoolchildren, the very unpopular policies that were blamed for May’s uninspiring election performance.

Faced with growing calls to step down since the vote, May has been struggling to save her reign by striking a deal for a minority government with the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). The deal plunged into new jeopardy on Wednesday after the DUP handed in an expensive £2 billion list of demands to the Tories, including £1 billion pumped into the health service in Northern Ireland and a similar figure for infrastructure projects, according to the BBC.

If true, this would make it impossible to get a deal on Thursday, the new deadline that was announced after a series of similar delays. Notwithstanding the uncertain future she faces, May has decided to press ahead with the previous schedule for the EU talks. UK Brexit Secretary David Davis held the first round of talks with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier on Monday. Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn, who managed to win many seats for his party in the election against all odds, took the opportunity on Wednesday to attack May and pitch himself as her replacement.

The opposition leader, who refused to bow to the queen, said at the beginning of the parliamentary session that the government has “apparently run out of ideas altogether.” While noting that Labour was “a government in waiting,” Corbyn said people in many traditionally Tory areas had chosen “hope over fear” by voting for his party. The so-called Queen’s Speech was marred by “Day of Rage” protests outside Westminster, where hundreds of Londoners had gathered to call for May’s resignation.

Source: Presstv

British Prime Minister Theresa May’s negotiations on staying in power with the support of the Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) have not proceeded as expected. “Talks are ongoing with the DUP and we continue to work towards a confidence and supply arrangement,” a Conservative source told Reuters on Tuesday.
“As we have said, both parties are committed to strengthening the Union (between the UK’s member nations), combating terrorism, delivering Brexit and delivering prosperity across the whole United Kingdom.” “While our discussions continue it is important the government gets on with its business.” DUP sources also complained of the lack of “negotiating experience” on the Conservative side, a day after the separate Brexit talks also got underway. “The negotiations haven’t proceeded in a way that DUP would have expected,” a source told Sky News.

May had called for a snap election in April in hopes of getting an increased parliamentary majority that could have strengthened her position before going into two years of intense negotiations with the European Union about Britain’s departure from the bloc. However, May’s election gamble spectacularly backfired. British voters dealt her a devastating blow last Thursday, wiping out her parliamentary majority and throwing the country into political turmoil.

Now, the premier has been trying to save herself by forming a coalition government with the DUP, which won 10 seats. May and DUP leader Arlene Foster have met to discuss a plan to form the government. The DUP has been urging May’s government to give “greater focus” to the negotiations and that the DUP “can’t be taken for granted.” May’s office announced on Saturday that the DUP had agreed to support her government on the basis of a “confidence and supply” arrangement in parliament.

The so-called confidence and supply agreement means that the supporting party will back the government in motions of confidence by either voting in favor or abstaining, while retaining the right to vote otherwise in matters of conscience. “Supply”, on the other hand, refers to bills required for a minority government to receive funds to allow it to enact its policies.

Tory MPs have threatened they would object to a formal coalition, citing the DUP’s position on abortion, climate change and gay rights. A total of 326 seats is needed for a majority in the Commons, as efforts to run a minority government are usually doomed to fail because of the inability to get any legislation through the parliament, which means that an arrangement with another political party is essential.

Source: Presstv

The UK has started the marathon negotiations for its exit from the European Union (EU) by giving in to the bloc’s demands on how the talks should be held. Hours after arriving in Brussels to kick off the first day of the talks on Monday, UK Brexit Secretary David Davis agreed to settle the divorce terms before getting to the details about future relations with the EU.

This is a stark retreat from Davis’ core demands before the talks, where he had called for parallel talks on both aspects of the process. The British minister raised the issue once again yesterday only to be shut down by EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, who said the European Council would only proceed to future ties when “sufficient progress has been made” in other areas.

The EU has demanded an early agreement on three issues: the rights of EU nationals living in the UK; the UK’s “exit” payment to the EU; and the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Davis, who had warned the EU’s timetable would risk an early collapse of the talks, said after meeting Barnier that backtracking on London’s preferences was not a sign of “weakness.” “It’s not when it starts, it’s how it finishes that matters,” he argued, noting that the timetable was “completely consistent” with what the government of Prime Minister Theresa May had aimed for.

Asked if he had made any concessions to the UK in exchange, Barnier said the talks were not about “punishment” or “revenge” and the two sides had to simply accept the “responsibility and the consequences” that came with their decisions.

“I am not in a frame of mind to make concessions, or ask for concessions,” he said. “Basically, we are implementing the decision taken by the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, and unravel 43 years of patiently-built relations,” he added, referring to the last June EU referendum in the England, where 52 percent voted in favor of Brexit.

The two sides agreed to initially hold a week of negotiations every month until a new structure is defined. They also agreed to set up working groups of “senior experts” to work on the three key issues. Davis said there was already “much common ground” on citizens’ rights. Some 3.5 million EU nationals live in the UK compared to 1.2 million Britons spread around the continent.

The UK has also dismissed an ultimatum by the EU to pay a “divorce bill” of around £60 billion before sitting at the negotiating table. May expects the process to be completed by March 2019 but the EU has warned that the two sides should reach a deal before October 2018.

Source: Presstv