Barnier: Brexit negotiations to start when UK is ready, position of Brussels

The European Union's chief negotiator for Brexit said on Friday that negotiations on the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the bloc would begin when the country was ready.

Commenting after the hung parliament result in the UK snap election, Michel Barnier said the timetable and position of Brussels were clear.

Source: EFE

It's not just the VIX - low volatility is everywhere

The current slump in expectations of market volatility is not just a stock market phenomenon -- it is the lowest it's been for years across fixed income, currency and commodity markets around the world.

It shows little sign of reversing, which means market players are essentially not expecting much in the way of shocks or sharp movements any time soon. It's an environment in which asset prices can continue rising and bond spreads narrow further.

The improving global economy, robust corporate profitability, ample central bank stimulus even as U.S. interest rates are rising, and some fading political risk from elections have all contributed to create a backdrop of relative calm.

There is little evidence of investors hedging -- or seeking to protect themselves -- from adverse conditions.

It is most notably seen in the VIX index of implied volatility on the U.S. S&P 500 stock index, the so-called "fear index".

But implied volatility across the G10 major currencies is its lowest in three years, and U.S. Treasury market volatility its lowest in 18 months and close to record lows.

The VIX, meanwhile, has dipped to lows not seen since December 2006, is posting its lowest closing levels since 1993, and is on a record run of closes below 11. By comparison, it was at almost 90 at the height of the financial crisis.

Not much current "fear", then.

Implied volatility is an options market measure of investors' expectation of how much a certain asset or market will rise or fall over a given period of time in the future.

It and actual volatility can quickly become entwined in a spiral lower because investors are less inclined to pay up for "put" options -- effectively a bet on prices falling -- when the market is rising.

If a shock does come the cost of these "puts" would shoot higher as investors scramble to buy them. Surging volatility is invariably associated with steep market drawdowns.

According to Deutsche Bank's Torsten Slok, an investor betting a year ago that the VIX would fall -- shorting the index -- would have gained around 160 percent today. Conversely, an investor buying the VIX a year ago assuming it would rise would have lost 75 percent.

None of the huge political surprises of the past 12-18 months -- from Brexit to Donald Trump -- have managed to puncture the steady gain in risky assets, pushing actual volatility ever lower.

This phenomenon is playing out in major stock markets and the ripple effects are being felt in all asset classes.

Source: Reuters

European Commission chief Juncker: English is losing its importance in Europe

The President of the European Commission on Friday told an audience in Florence, Italy that the English language was losing its importance in Europe.

Before beginning his speech on the future of the European Union at the European University Institute, Jean-Claude Juncker deliberated over whether to use French or English.

Source: EFE

'No turning back': PM May triggers 'historic' Brexit

Prime Minister Theresa May formally began Britain's divorce from the European Union on Wednesday, saying there was "no turning back" from a decision pitching her country into the unknown and triggering years of fraught negotiations.

Nine months after Britons voted to leave, May notified EU Council President Donald Tusk in a letter that Britain was quitting the bloc it joined in 1973.

"The United Kingdom is leaving the European Union," May later told parliament in London. "This is an historic moment from which there can be no turning back."

The prime minister, an initial opponent of Brexit who won the top job in the political turmoil that followed the referendum vote, now has two years to settle the terms of the divorce before it comes into effect in late March 2019.

May, 60, has one of the toughest jobs of any recent British prime minister: holding Britain together in the face of renewed Scottish independence demands, while conducting arduous talks with 27 other EU states on finance, trade, security and other complex issues.

The outcome of the negotiations will shape the future of Britain's $2.6 trillion economy, the world's fifth biggest, and determine whether London can keep its place as one of the top two global financial centers.

For the EU, already reeling from successive crises over debt and refugees, the loss of Britain is the biggest blow yet to 60 years of efforts to forge European unity in the wake of two world wars.

Its leaders say they do not want to punish Britain. But with nationalist, anti-EU parties on the rise across Europe, they cannot afford to give London generous terms that might encourage other member states to break away.

BREXIT DIVORCE

May's notice of the UK's intention to leave the bloc under Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty was hand-delivered to Tusk in Brussels by Tim Barrow, Britain's permanent representative to the EU.

Barrow gave the letter to Tusk, the EU summit chair and former Polish prime minister, in the Council President's offices on the top floor of the new Europa Building, according to a Reuters photographer in the room.

That moment formally set the clock ticking on Britain's two-year exit process. Sterling, which has lost 25 cents against the dollar since the June 23 referendum, jumped to $1.25.

May signed the Brexit letter on Tuesday, pictured alone at the cabinet table beneath a clock, a British flag and an oil-painting of Britain's first prime minister, Robert Walpole.

Source: Reuters

EU trade unions call for UK to remain in single market after Brexit

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) on Monday called for the United Kingdom to remain within the European single market and customs union after its exit from the European Union in order to safeguard the rights of both British and EU workers.

As Wednesday's triggering of Article 50 gets closer and the launch of a two-year period of negotiations on the UK's exit from the bloc and future relationship with the EU, the ETUC called on the European Council to issue guidelines that "guarantee that workers will not be used as bargaining chips."

Source: EFE

Pound finds forward gear ahead of Lords Brexit debate

The pound rose against most major currencies on Monday, snapping a three-day fall versus the euro, at the start of another week likely to be dominated by questions about how Britain will leave the EU and the impact of Brexit on the economy.

The upper house of parliament, known as the House of Lords, was set to begin debating the bill which will pave the way for the formal start of talks on how Britain will leave the European Union, the triggering of Article 50.

Opposition party and crossbench Lords' members are seeking amendments to force the government to give more regular updates on the divorce talks and secure guarantees for the rights of EU citizens living in Britain.

The pound was enjoying its best day since the start of month, up 0.5 percent against the dollar at $1.2475 and at 85.16 pence per euro. It was also up by similar or more against the yen and Swiss franc.

"The Article 50 debate in the Lords could be more interesting than expected. It does seem that there is a bit more of a push for amendments," said Societe Generale FX strategist Alvin Tan. The regularity of such updates would be the most interesting element for currency markets, he added.

Former prime minister Tony Blair last week urged Britons to "rise up" and block or soften Brexit, but it may now be out of their hands -- many Europeans just want them to get on and get out.

While officially the door remains open for Britain to stay, many on the continent would not welcome a U-turn now. "This bus has left," one senior EU diplomat told Reuters.

Sterling volatility contracts, which give traders the options to bet on large swings in the pound, have fallen in recent weeks, suggesting markets expect no immediate drama when Britain does formally trigger Article 50.

The pound has been drifting lower versus the dollar since mid-January when British prime minister Theresa May sketched out her first real Brexit plan.

But it has climbed 4 percent against the euro as the shared currency has faced its own strains from political uncertainty in France and the Netherlands and Greece and Italy.

UK economic data is showing signs of stumbling. Asking prices for UK homes saw the smallest February rise since 2009, data from online property site Rightmove showed on Monday, dovetailing with weak consumer confidence numbers last week..

Business industry data is due at 1100 GMT that should show whether the weaker pound is still benefiting exporters.

On Tuesday, the head of the Bank of England will be grilled by a parliamentary select committee, while on Wednesday the UK's official statistics office will publish a revised reading of fourth quarter GDP figures.

Source: Reuters

UK's Supreme Court to rule if May can start Brexit without parliament

British Prime Minister Theresa May will learn on Tuesday whether parliament must agree to the triggering of Britain's exit from the European Union, potentially giving lawmakers who oppose her plans a chance to amend or hinder her Brexit vision.

The UK Supreme Court will give its ruling at 9:30 a.m. (0930 GMT) in a landmark case on whether May can use executive powers known as known as "royal prerogative" to invoke Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty and begin two years of divorce talks.

Challengers, led by investment manager Gina Miller and backed by the Scottish government and others, say May must first get lawmakers' approval as leaving the EU will strip Britons of rights they were granted by parliament.

That view was backed by London's High Court, prompting the government to appeal to the Supreme Court, the highest judicial body in the land.

The case has attracted huge attention from markets, with investors hoping parliament will temper moves towards a "hard Brexit", and it has again brought to the fore some of the ugly divisions among Britons produced by last June's referendum.

Brexit supporters have cast the legal battle as an attempt by a pro-EU establishment to thwart the referendum result after Britons voted by 52-48 percent to leave the EU, with judges denounced as "enemies of the people" and Miller receiving death threats and a torrent of online abuse.

"We are not being asked to overturn the result of the EU referendum," David Neuberger, president of the Supreme Court said at the conclusion of a four-day hearing in front of all its 11 judges in December.

"The ultimate question in this case concerns the process by which that result can lawfully be brought into effect."

If May wins the case, she can follow her planned timetable for invoking Article 50 by the end of March.

If she loses - a more likely eventuality according to legal experts - she will probably need to bring in a parliamentary bill that will open up the Brexit process to scrutiny from lawmakers.

BREXIT PLANS

Last week May set out her stall for negotiations, promising a clean break with the world's largest trading block as part of a 12-point plan to focus on global free trade deals, setting a course for a so-called "hard Brexit".

Some investors and those who backed the "remain" campaign hope that lawmakers, most of whom wanted to stay in the EU, will force May to seek a deal which prioritizes access to the European single market of 500 million people, or potentially even block Brexit altogether.

Analysts said sterling would likely be lifted by a ruling against the government, though its gains would be limited as that outcome has already been largely priced in.

"I still think there is a lot to fight for," public relations executive Roland Rudd, who heads the Open Britain group that wants to keep ties with the EU as close as possible, told Reuters last week.

"The prime minister has articulated her early view about the direction of travel, but how we get there, in what form and how it finally gets driven, is all up for discussion."

While some in parliament remain strongly opposed to the path set by May, the main opposition Labour Party has said it would not block Article 50, and parliament's House of Commons overwhelmingly backed a motion backing her timetable, in a non-binding vote in December.

"Given the strong vote in the Commons, we would certainly be hopeful that the March 31 deadline can be achieved," a source from May's Conservative party told Reuters.

Labour's leader Jeremy Corbyn has said he would seek to amend any bill to ensure parliament can hold May to account. But he has also said he would not seek to delay triggering Article 50.

The small Liberal Democrat Party and Scottish nationalists, who are adamantly opposed to May's Brexit plans, are likely to take the chance to cause difficulties for the government.

Further problems could lie in the unelected House of Lords upper chamber, with Liberal Democrat peers expected to try to block the bill. However, the government remains confident it will be passed.

While the thrust of the Supreme Court case centers on whether the British parliament has to give its assent, the judges also heard arguments from the Scottish government and lawyers for Northern Irish challengers that Britain's devolved assemblies must give their approval too.

Should the court agree, an outcome ministers believe is unlikely, an ongoing political crisis in Northern Ireland could derail May's timetable, following the collapse of the province's power-sharing government.

Scotland's parliament, with a nationalist administration, is also strongly opposed to Brexit.

Source: Reuters

Pound drops following Theresa May's Brexit date announcement

Pound Sterling took another tumble against the dollar on Monday following the British Prime Minister's official Brexit announcement.

At the Conservative party conference on Sunday, Theresa May announced that the United Kingdom would trigger  the mechanism to leave the European Union before the end of Mar. 2017.

Source: EFE

Informal summit of 27 EU leaders gets underway in Bratislava

European Union leaders, with the exception of the United Kingdom, on Friday initiated proceedings for the informal EU summit in Bratislava to discuss future reforms and challenges in the wake of the shock Brexit vote.

The 27 leaders hoped to come up with a roadmap for a post-Brexit EU, and were to discuss topics such as the migrant crisis, future economic reforms, border control and collaborative security measures against terrorism.

"We need solutions for Europe and we are in a critical situation," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel upon her arrival, before adding that the meeting would not be able to solve all of the problems within the EU.

Her Italian counterpart Matteo Renzi said that the bloc should steer away from bureaucracy and focus on the fundamental questions.

Meanwhile French President Francois Hollande asked for priority to be given to security and an economic plan as well as outlining future employment terms that would deliver hope to young people.

Spain's acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said the lack of public confidence in the EU was due to a triple failure in security.

In his diagnostics he outlined a lack of border security, a lack of counter-terrorism security and a lack of financial security, specifically low economic growth, as contributing factors to the problem.

President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, called for unity ahead of the meeting in Slovakia, while European Council President, Donald Tusk, said that the differences between EU nations were easier to overcome than people thought.

The summit is due to open with a discussion on Britain's shock decision to leave the EU in a referendum on June 23, although negotiations on the terms of the secession will not be addressed as the UK has yet to submit its official request to exit.

The President of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaite, assured that the member nations would remain "open and cooperative" as ever with regards to the UK.

In the wake of the British vote, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said that he hoped to find common ground in order to create a social Europe, with growth, employment and prosperity for its people.

"What Europe needs now is a new vision and a concrete agenda for change," he added.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, said that the Visegrad group (V4)_ a central European alliance comprising Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia_ would advocate the creation of an EU army, the devolution of immigration laws to national level and a curb of Brussels' powers.

The topic of an EU army returned to the discussion table following Brexit, although some leaders seemed less convinced of its necessity than others.

"I haven't heard talks of an army, we talk about improving defense cooperation, but not an army; we don't want to duplicate NATO," said the Lithuanian president.

Taavi Roivas, Prime Minister of Estonia, shared the view of Grybauskaite, and urged more defense coordination in order to increase stability in the region.

Incumbent Chancellor of Austria, Christian Kern, warned that Europe should be poised for all eventualities with regards to the migrant deal struck with Turkey earlier this year.

Source: EFE

Post-Brexit EU needs joint military HQ, Juncker says

The European Union's chief executive called on Wednesday for a joint command headquarters for EU military missions and greater defense cooperation, reviving long-running efforts to reduce reliance on the United States.

In his annual speech to the European Parliament, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said no single EU government had a military big enough to deal with security challenges on Europe's doorstep, from Islamic militants to a more hostile Russia.

The proposals, echoing a plan put forward this week by France and Germany, are part of a broader attempt to rally EU nations after Britain's vote to leave the bloc and to capitalize on its departure - London having opposed the idea.

"We must have a European headquarters and so we should work towards a common military force," Juncker told the European Parliament, although officials stressed this did not amount to an EU army. "This should be to complement NATO," he said, also outlining proposals for a common defense fund.

EU leaders struggling for support have identified security as one of citizens' main concerns following militant attacks in Paris, Brussels and Nice over the last year. Washington is keen to see Europe do more in its own neighborhood and U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump has questioned whether NATO should support allies not seen to be spending enough on defense.

Leaders must also compensate for Britain's departure from the bloc. As Europe's biggest-spending European power, the British exit could reduce the EU's military capacity by a quarter without steps to remedy the situation, analysts say.

Even before Britain's decision to leave the EU, years of defense budget cuts, as well as militaries that work in isolation, have diminished Europe's ability to run missions including peace keeping, disaster relief and counter-terrorism operations at home and abroad.

The plan, which follows failed attempts in the 1950s and the 1990s, would not mean soldiers all wear the same uniforms, EU officials say. It involves more cooperation among countries that wish to run missions together, while avoiding duplication in developing military assets at the industrial level.

More than three-quarters of EU government defense contracts are awarded to their national industries, while the bloc has 19 types of armored infantry fighting vehicle, compared to just one in the United States, according to EU data.

"From an economic point of view, bringing together our military resources could be clearly justified," Juncker said. "The lack of cooperation is something that is costing Europe 20 to 100 billion euros a year," he said.

Still, the United States is wary about a new EU military headquarters, worried it would replicate NATO's command center, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, in Belgium.

Washington wants to see EU governments spend more money on equipment and not waste it on headquarters. One solution could be to turn an existing national army and navy command center in Germany or France into a European headquarters, experts say.

Source: Reuters

Andrea Leadsom drops out UK race to replace PM David Cameron

Energy spokeswoman Andrea Leadsom on Monday dropped out of the contest to become leader of the British Conservative Party and the United Kingdom's next prime minister.

Announcing her withdrawal to the press in central London, Leadsom wished remaining leadership contender, Theresa May, "the very greatest success."

Adding that she had her "full support."

The Conservatives must decide who is to replace David Cameron as government leader.

What happens next will depend on the 1922 Committee, a private Conservative Committee of lawmakers, who are due to set out a timetable regarding to the change of leader.

David Cameron announced his resignation as British Prime Minister on June 24, 2016, after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union.

Source: EFE

The USA, EU meet to advance TTIP negotiations in wake of UK's Brexit

The United States and the European Union exchanged a large number of proposals linked to a huge free-trade deal between the two on Monday with a view to reaching agreements before President Barack Obama's term in office ends.

The meeting was the 14th round of negotiations for the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a US-EU bilateral free trade and investment agreement encompassing half the world's economy.

Source: EFE

President Obama: a smooth Brexit process is in everyone's interest

President of the United States, Barack Obama, urged on Friday that the British exit from the European Union be a smooth transition amid warnings from the European Council that brexit will have serious geopolitical consequences.

Speaking prior to a NATO Summit scheduled to last until Saturday, Obama spoke of the strength and importance of the US-EU relationship, describing the bloc as a great political and economic achievement that must be preserved.

Source: EFE

Nigel Farage resigns as UKIP leader

Prominent leave campaigner Nigel Farage stepped down Monday as leader of the eurosceptic United Kingdom Independence Party.

Announcing his resignation to the press, Farage said that he had achieved his political goal in light of the UK's decision to leave the European Union in the June 23 referendum.

"My aim in being in politics was to get Britain out of the EU, that is what we voted for in that referendum two weeks ago," Farage said.

"I've done my bit, I couldn't possibly achieve more."

Farage, who is also a member of the European Parliament, had been UKIP leader since 2010 and had spent the majority of his political life advocating for the UK's departure from the EU.

He said he would "continue to support the party, support the new leader, watch the renegotiation process in Brussels like a hawk and, perhaps, comment in the European Parliament."

A central figure in the "leave" campaign in the lead up to the UK's EU referendum, Farage described Friday June 24 as British "independence day."

His role in the campaign drew accusations of populism and xenophobia from politicians on both sides of the campaign.

One controversial "leave" poster depicted a line of migrants on the Slovenian border with the words "Breaking Point."

Leader of the "remain" campaign and British Prime Minister David Cameron said the poster was "wrong in fact and in motivation."

Farage said the referendum campaign had been difficult at times.

"During the referendum I said that I wanted to take back my country, what I am saying today is that I want to take back my life and I will start right now," Farage said.

Farage had previously announced he would stand down after losing the South Thanet constituency in the 2015 general elections but he stayed on as leader after the party rejected his resignation.

Source: EFE

Após Brexit, secretário de Estado dos EUA pede tranquilidade ao mercado

O secretário de Estado norte-americano, John Kerry, encontrou-se hoje (27), em Bruxelas, na Bélgica, com o secretário-geral da Organização do Tratado do Atlântico Norte (Otan), Jens Stoltenberg, com o objetivo de discutir uma solução para a crise política decorrente da saída do Reino Unido da União Europeia.

“Ninguém deve perder a cabeça”, disse Kerry, ao falar sobre a instabilidade política e econômica provocada pela decisão dos britânicos que, em referendo na última quinta-feira (23), votaram pela saída do Reino Unido do bloco. O secretário de Estado deve ter um encontro ainda hoje com o primeiro-ministro britânico David Cameron. Em Bruxelas, Kerry reuniu-se também com a chefe de política externa da União Europeia, Frederica Mogherini.

A viagem do secretário de Estado dos Estados Unidos tinha inicialmente a meta de discutir a programação de temas da cúpula da Otan, que ocorrerá nos dias 8 e 9, de julho, em Bruxelas. Agora, depois do referendo britânico, a cúpula ganhou um novo significado para os países membros da Otan, que reúne, entre outros integrantes, 22 países da União Europeia.

Em entrevista a jornalistas, o secretário-geral Stoltenberg, disse que "depois que o Reino Unido decidiu abandonar a União Europeia, a Otan tornou-se não só uma plataforma ainda mais importante para a cooperação entre Europa e América do Norte, como também um mecanismo de defesa e de segurança entre os aliados europeus".

O resultado do referendo provocou, na sexta-feira, a desvalorização de 10% da libra esterlina – a moeda britânica – e a maior queda das bolsas de valores europeias em um período de cinco anos.

Hoje, o mercado financeiro mundial continou instável, apesar dos esforços dos líderes europeus para acabar com a incerteza política e econômica desencadeada pelo referendo britânico.

O ministro das Finanças do Reino Unido, George Osborne, disse que a economia britânica é forte o suficiente para lidar com a volatilidade causada pelo referendo.

Fonte: Agência Brasil

Londres rejeita convocar outro referendo sobre UE

O governo britânico disse hoje (27) que não pretende convocar outro referendo sobre a saída do país da União Europeia (UE). A hipótese de uma nova consulta popular ganhou força nos últimos dias, quando mais de 2 milhões de pessoas assinaram uma petição online solicitando outro referendo. O site petition.parliament.uk chegou a travar com a quantidade de pedidos.

A iniciativa partiu de um cidadão identificado como William Oliver Healy, que pede para os deputados britânicos a "implementação de uma norma pela qual, se o voto para sair ou ficar na UE for inferior a 60%, com uma participação de 75%, deveria ser convocado outro referendo".

Na consulta da última quinta-feira (23), 51,9% dos eleitores votaram para que o Reino Unido saísse da UE, contra 48,1%. A eleição contou com 72% da participação.

O Partido Conservador também disse hoje que o novo líder da legenda será apresentado até 2 de setembro, em substituição ao posto de David Cameron, que renunciou devido à derrota nas urnas pelo Brexit (sigla que significa Britain e exit - saída em inglês).

Fonte: Agência Brasil

Brexit rocks U.S. financial markets

Stocks plunged Friday in early trading on the New York Stock Market following Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

The Dow Jones Industrial average fell 409.87 points, or 2.28 percent, in the 30 minutes after the opening bell, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq tumbled 2.74 percent as investors and traders reacted to the British exit - Brexit - from the European bloc.

Source: EFE

Brexit: 'Surge' in searches on Irish passports, says Google

The overwhelming majority of the searches came from Northern Ireland.

The search giant also reported more searches for "what happens if we leave the EU" around midnight on 23 June and for other phrases such as "British independence day" and "Norway EU" .

One expert cautioned that the data does not reveal actual volumes of searches.

On the financial implications, Google Trends said it had recorded the highest-ever search interest in sterling.

During the early hours of the morning, the pound fell by more than 10% - to a level not seen since 1985 - before slightly rebounding.

And there was a spike in searches for "Move to Gibraltar" - from London users - after the EU referendum polls closed.

Tobias Preis, at Warwick Business School, cautioned that search data should be interpreted with special care as only relative figures are known, so spikes in some specific activity could be caused by a small number of people.

Prof Preis added that the phrase "David Cameron" vastly outperformed searches relating to Irish passports and "what happens if we leave the EU" between the hours of 04:00 and 06:00 BST.

"It could be the case, for example, that people supporting or opposing the idea of leaving the EU are trying to understand the position of the other party," he also told the BBC.

"It's pretty unlikely that all those people who are searching for answers will up sticks and move," added Jonathan Freeman, director of digital consumer insights firm i2 Media Research.

"Certainly a lot of people were pretty shocked, it was very close - people would have just been wanting to find as much information as they could," Mr Freeman - who is also a psychologist at Goldsmiths, University of London - told the BBC.

How is Google Trends data calculated?

Although it might not immediately be obvious, Google Trends graphs do not track the absolute volume of searches over time.

Instead, they give an indication of relative search popularity.

"To do this, each data point is divided by the total searches of the geography and time range it represents, to compare relative popularity," explains Google on the Trends website.

"The resulting numbers are then scaled to a range of 0 to 100."

For example, the firm adds, users in Fiji and Canada could have the same value for a given search term if they're equally likely to look for it during the same period - regardless of the actual number of searches made.

Source: BBC

Privacy Shield: White House makes EU spying promise

The agreement is designed to replace the Safe Harbour pact, which the EU Court of Justice ruled invalid in 2015.

One key change is a commitment from the White House regarding bulk collection of data sent from the EU to the US.

The UK's Information Commissioner said a post-Brexit UK may have to adopt EU data protection rules to trade with it.

If approved by the EU member states, the pact could take effect in July.

The EU-US Privacy shield is designed to make it easy for organisations to transfer data across the Atlantic.

Key points of the agreement are:

The US will create an ombudsman to handle complaints from EU citizens about the Americans spying on their data

The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence will give written commitments that Europeans' personal data will not be subject to mass surveillance

The EU and US will conduct an annual review to check the new system is working properly

However, in May the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) said the Privacy Shield agreement needed to provide "adequate protection against indiscriminate surveillance" and "obligations on oversight, transparency, redress and data protection rights".
The agreement has now been amended. Some of the changes include:

A written commitment from the White House, stating that bulk collection of data sent from the EU to the US can only occur under specific preconditions and must be "as targeted and focused" as possible

More explicit data retention rules: companies now have to delete data that no longer serves the purpose for which it was collected

A specification that the ombudsman will be independent from national security services

A spokesman for the European Commission said: "This new framework for transatlantic data flows protects the fundamental rights of Europeans and ensures legal certainty for businesses."

Brexit implications

While the EU-US Privacy Shield agreement would only apply to the UK while it remained a member of the European Union, the UK's Information Commissioner said Britain would probably need to adopt similar terms.

"If the UK wants to trade with the single market on equal terms we would have to prove 'adequacy' - in other words, UK data protection standards would have to be equivalent to the EU's General Data Protection Regulation framework starting in 2018," said a spokeswoman for the Information Commissioner's office in a statement.

"With so many businesses and services operating across borders, international consistency around data protection laws and rights is crucial both to businesses and organisations and to consumers and citizens."

Source: BBC

O que a Brexit significa para o Brasil

A saída do Reino Unido da União Europeia deve ter um impacto econômico significativo sobre o país e o bloco, mas suas repercussões vão muito além.

Ninguém deve passar incólume pelo "risco político mais significativo para o mundo desde a crise dos mísseis em Cuba", de acordo com Ian Bremmer, presidente da Eurasia.

Mas o que acontece com o Brasil? No curto prazo, volatilidade: nessa sexta-feira, o dólar disparava mais de 2,5% e voltava acima dos 3,40 reais.

"A Brexit faz os mercados financeiros se afastarem do risco. E ao fazer isso, vão focar em sair e se rebalancear dos mercados maiores e mais líquidos. Isso significa primeiro e inicialmente o México, que tem um mercado líquido e de 24 horas, mas também significa Brasil", diz Barry Eichengreen, professor de Economia e Ciência Política na Universidade de California em Berkeley.

Um dólar mais alto pressiona a inflação e adia a consequente queda dos juros, mas colabora para o ajuste das contas externas e na recuperação econômica através das exportações.

Mas analistas apontam que apesar das turbulências de curto prazo, o mercado cambial brasileiro vai continuar sendo dominado por questões domésticas e políticas como impeachment, teto de gastos e reforma da previdência.

Em nível mundial, a dúvida é sobre as consequências mais amplas da decisão. Outros países vão tentar sair da União Europeia? Ou as regras podem mudar para desencorajar esse tipo de reação? Como os bancos centrais vão reagir?

Uma grande dúvida é se a Brexit pode ser o sinal mais visível de uma reação mais generalizada contra a globalização em nível mundial.

O discurso de Donald Trump, candidato republicano nos Estados Unidos, ecoa vários aspectos da campanha pela Brexit, algo que ele próprio destacou hoje.

"Existe uma reação contra o comércio e a globalização mas eu acho que é muito mais focada no movimento de pessoas do que de bens. O efeito no Brasil é incerto: se há sinais de que o mundo está se distanciando do comércio livre, é ruim para todos, mas é cedo demais para dizer se é esse o caso", diz Russ Roberts, pesquisador em Stanford e anfitrião do podcast EconTalk.

No Brasil, os sinais são de que uma nova abordagem de comércio exterior será tentada após anos de fechamento e aposta em um multilateralismo que parou de dar frutos.

A economia brasileira é a mais fechada do G-20, segundo estudo recente da Câmara de Comércio Mundial. As exportações são apenas cerca de 12% do nosso PIB, contra 24% na Índia e 32% na Espanha.

Nosso último tratado de livre-comércio foi com Israel, em 2010. Não estamos há tanto tempo sem um novo desde o início do Mercosul em 1992 e uma das perspectivas mais sólidas é justamente de um acordo com a União Europeia.

"O impacto para nós no longo prazo pode ser positivo se seguirmos a trajetória de reformas que se começou agora. Em um mundo cada vez mais fechado e nacionalista ganhará quem conseguir seguir o caminho inverso e o Brasil é candidato a isso. Por isso, talvez o maior impacto do Brexit é reforçar a decisão de seguir com as reformas na economia", diz Sérgio Vale, economista-chefe da MB Associados.

Fonte: Exame