AP, Brussels :
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says he does not expect a nuclear buildup in Europe, despite U.S. threats to pull out of a Cold War-era missile agreement over allegations that Russia is violating it.
The U.S. says that Russia’s 9M729 missile system contravenes the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and NATO allies agree that is probably the case.
The pact between Moscow and Washington bans an entire class of weapons – all land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a range between 500 and 5,500 kilometers (310-3,410 miles)
Stoltenberg said Wednesday that “I don’t foresee that allies will deploy more nuclear weapons in Europe as a response to the new Russian missile.”
He said that NATO allies are now assessing “the implications of the new Russian missile for our security.”
STRASBOURG (Reuters) – European Council President Donald Tusk told the European Parliament on Wednesday that he would be ready to call a special summit on Brexit whenever negotiators said “decisive progress” had been made toward a deal.
Briefing lawmakers on last week’s regular summit, Tusk recalled that EU leaders had agreed that they would meet again to endorse a deal if their negotiator Michel Barnier judged that enough progress toward a deal had been made. A meeting penciled in for Nov. 17-18 is still on hold.
“I stand ready to convene a European Council, if and when the Union negotiator reports that decisive progress has been made,” Tusk said. “The Brexit talks continue with the aim of reaching a deal,” he added, saying no one wanted talks to fail.
He repeated that he believed leaders would extend Britain’s status-quo transition period after Brexit in March if London asked for that-an issue May raised at the summit.
“It was made clear by the UK that more time is needed to find a precise solution,” Tusk said. “Therefore, there is no other way but to continue the talks. Leaders expressed their full trust and support for Michel Barnier.”. UK businesses have run out of time to prepare for the consequences of Britain leaving the European Union in March without an exit deal, a government audit showed on Wednesday.
The findings by the National Audit Office, the government’s spending watchdog, were published with London and Brussels at loggerheads in Brexit talks.
They threaten to deal a political blow to Prime Minister Theresa May, who has made the phrase that “no deal is better than a bad deal” her mantra.
The audit said uncertainty over the course of the negotiations has delayed preparations for a no-deal scenario, with organised crime gangs potentially stepping in to smuggle goods across the new EU-UK frontier.
“Businesses do not have enough time to make the changes that will be needed if the UK leaves the EU without a ‘deal’,” it said.
