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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has largely abandoned support for the European Union’s migrant quota system, instead, pushing for what she has termed “flexible solidarity” and a “Marshall Plan” for Africa to prevent illegal migration. Merkel made her remarks on Wednesday at a meeting of the European People’s Party, a European Union parliamentary group of which Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CSU) is a member, Le Point reports. “If we fail to provide a common answer to questions of illegal migration, the foundations of the European Union will be called into question. Action is really needed here,” she said. Merkel appeared to...

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday she expected “contentious discussions” at a G7 summit this week, given differences with US President Donald Trump on trade, climate and security. Speaking two days before the Canada meeting of the club of major industrialized democracies, Merkel also said the leaders may not necessarily manage to agree on a final joint statement. “I think everyone knows there will be difficult discussions there, because G7 summits deal with the global economy, trade, climate protection, development—and foreign policy,” she told German parliament. […] Merkel vowed to enter the talks “in good faith”, but stressed that...

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Leaders of the Group of Seven rich nations headed for a summit in Canada on Thursday more divided than at any time in the group’s 42-year history, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” policies risk causing a global trade war and deep diplomatic schisms. In a bid to rebuild America’s industry, Trump has imposed hefty tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, including those from key G7 allies like Canada, Japan and the European Union. He has threatened to use national security laws to do the same for foreign car imports and has walked back on environmental...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel shared a picture on her official Instagram account that shows her staring down President Donald Trump during the G-7 Summit in Canada this weekend. True to form, online commenters have since turned the photo into a humorous caption contest. Merkel—or an aide that runs her account—shared the picture on Saturday, as Trump was preparing to depart early from the meeting in Montréal, Quebec ahead of a high-stakes Singapore meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The photo depicts Trump sitting behind a table with his arms crossed, while stony-faced aides and leaders look in his direction....

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President Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May will not be holding a formal bilateral meeting at the G7 summit this weekend. “Obviously the European Union will be responding. We want to ensure, and we’re working with others in the European Union to ensure, that that response is proportionate, that it is within the WTO rules,” May told reporters. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron have floated the idea of issuing a formal rebuke of Trump's tariffs at the summit's conclusion.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday no leader was forever, suggesting a more confrontational attitude towards U.S. President Donald Trump as leaders from the Group of Seven countries prepare to clash on trade at a summit in Canada. asked by reporters whether the problem with Trump was that he “didn’t care about being isolated”, Macron said: “You say the U.S. President doesn’t care at all. Maybe, but nobody is forever,” he told a news conference flanked by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “The six countries of the G7 without the United States, are a bigger market taken together than...

President Donald Trump plans to depart from this weekend's Group of 7 summit in Canada several hours early, the White House announced Thursday, punctuating an explosion of acrimony between Trump and his foreign counterparts on the eve of the talks. The White House said Trump would depart mid-morning on Saturday, skipping sessions on climate change and the environment. An aide will take his place, the White House said.

France called on Friday for more ambition from Germany in reforming the eurozone, saying Europe faced a “now or never” moment with rising external threats from the United States and China. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, speaking in German to a business conference in Berlin, offered the first official response from Paris to European reform proposals sketched out by Chancellor Angela Merkel in a weekend newspaper interview. He welcomed her support for the idea of a eurozone investment budget, one of French President Emmanuel Macron’s key demands, but said France and Germany had “a way to go” to reach...

A historic island fort is being sold for less than the price of a one-bedroom flat in London. Stack Rock Fort, off the coast of Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire, was built to defend Britain from an invasion from France's Napoleon III. Made up of three floors with spiral staircases leading to each one, with cannon rooms, former sleeping quarters, the island provides a 360-degree view of the Haven waterway. The average cost of buying a home in London is £471,944 and the average cost in Wales is £152,999, according to the UK Land Registry.

The European Union on Tuesday reacted to Iran’s announcement that it will boost uranium enrichment capacity, saying a “first assessment” indicated the plan does not breach its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal. “Following a first assessment, the announced steps per se are not a violation of the JCPOA,” Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini, told AFP, using the official name for the agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). “However, at this particularly critical juncture, they will not contribute to build confidence in the nature of the Iranian nuclear program,” she added. Earlier on...

The principal leader of the Church of England has declared the European Union (EU) “the greatest dream realised for human beings since the fall of the Western Roman Empire”. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, made the statement in a speech to the General Assembly of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) in Serbia on Sunday. “[The EU] has brought peace, prosperity, compassion for the poor and weak, purpose for the aspirational, and hope for all its people,” he claimed. He also highlighted how there are “Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and many of no faith at all” in European now, arguing:...

France, UK sail warships in South China Sea Patricia Lourdes Viray (philstar.com) - June 4, 2018 - 10:02am MANILA, Philippines — In a bid to challenge China's increasing militarization in the South China Sea, France and the United Kingdom will sail warships in the contested waterway. French Minister of Armed Forces Florence Parly and British Secretary of State for Defence Gavin Williamson made this statement at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore over the weekend. In her speech during the plenary session of the defense summit, Parly relayed France's support for a code of conduct in the South China Sea that...

Europe “must take its fate into its own hands” faced with a western alliance divided by Brexit and Donald Trump’s presidency, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday. “The times in which we could completely depend on others are on the way out. I’ve experienced that in the last few days,” Merkel told a crowd at an election rally in Munich, southern Germany. “We Europeans truly have to take our fate into our own hands,” she added. While Germany and Europe would strive to remain on good terms with America and Britain, “we have to fight for our own destiny,” Merkel...

Despite the turbulence of the Weimar years, Germany has followed a steady capitalist economic model since the end of the Second World War. But that doesn’t mean people like the idea, a new study shows. Contrary to the US, where belief in capitalism is as entrenched as hot dogs and baseball, Germany has always had a more complicated relationship to the philosophy of competitive markets. This is, after all, the country that gave us the founding communist thinkers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. And a study published by Statista and YouGov on Tuesday shows that only 16 percent of Germans...

With Germany raking in more taxes due to strong economic performance, the leader of its liberal party has suggested state officials are enriching themselves at the cost of the taxpayer. “The greed of the state has taken on kleptocratic characteristics,” Christian Lindner, head of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) told Handelsblatt on Wednesday. A kleptocracy is a form of government in which officials corruptly use public funds for personal gain. “The yearly tax intake of the state is set to be €100 billion higher in 2020 than this year, if we don’t act. For the FDP, it is clear that...

Britain has reclaimed its place as one of the top five countries that firms look to make deals in, just six months after dropping off the list in the wake of the country’s surprise to leave the European Union, according to a survey released Monday. In its half-yearly report of business executives, consulting firm EY said Britain has rebounded to be the third most attractive destination for mergers and acquisitions, behind the U.S. and China. Last October, in the wake of the Brexit vote, it had slumped to seventh and out of the top five for the first time in...

Deepening ties with European companies and “old friends” like the United States and Japan would help Britain preserve its global role in finance after leaving the EU, an industry body said on Wednesday. TheCityUK published a to-do list for the financial sector and government, saying June’s vote to leave the European Union magnified the challenge of keeping up with global competition in finance. Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris and Milan all hope to win a slice of London’s market share in financial services. …

London could lose more than a million jobs if Britain quits the EU and fails to adopt more outward-looking trade policies, according to a report commissioned by Boris Johnson, the London mayor. In those circumstances, the capital could shed 1.2m jobs and lose out on tens of billions of pounds of gross domestic product, the report says.