How are you all doing? A very pleasant day to all of you. My name is Butch de Lisai. I'm a writer and professor here at the University of the Philippines. I'll be your host for this episode of Cultura Scenic at Ibapa, a project of TBUP of the University of the Philippines. Today we have a very interesting episode devoted to publishing in the Philippines and with me to co-host the program is a poet and fellow professor at UP, Neil Garcia. But today he's going to be also a guest on the panel because he happens to be the director of the University of the Philippines press. Neil Garcia. Yes, hello. Good day to everyone. Let's just make this a conversation. So I will be host but also guest. And we can now begin I think by introducing or asking our guests to introduce themselves. Let's begin from the right. Yes, I'm John Jack Wigley and I'm the director of the U.S.D. Publishing House. I'm Neni Santa Romana Cruz. I'm the chair of the National Book Development Board. Hello everybody. I'm Andrea Pachon of Florida's GM. Hello, I'm Karina Bolasco, the director of the Ataneo de Manila University Press. Yes. So Neil Garcia, director of UP Press and host for today's episode on publishing. I think we should begin by asking each of our guests to share their views on what the publishing industry in the Philippines is like and whether we have enough authors, we have enough books and enough readers. Okay. Well, I'm going to talk about the U.S.D. Publishing House experience. I believe that there seems to be more authors than readers. No, that's an overstatement. We publish all year around 40 plus manuscripts and some of them are literary, others are scholarly and there is absolutely no shortage of writers. But of course the selling of the books is another matter. So I think this is we'll try to sort the problems and the challenges and the issues facing the academic presses today. But yes, I believe that there are writers in the Philippines and in the U.S.D., in U.S.D. we have books ranging from literary to scholarly. We've published a dictionary on Bisual which won, I think, a national award for this and so some of them are groundbreaking but then again I think this problem of selling the book stems from the fact that I don't know if this is a problem really but the Philippines generally has this possesses what you call a reading culture because entertainment venues and spaces such as cinemas, concert halls and malls are what draw crowds. But when we talk about let's say books and readers that's an ultimately different problem. You've mentioned about 12 issues right there. So there's going to be a lot to unpack and I'm sure we can also ask the others about their experience. Our listeners know what they're going to be listening to for the next 45 minutes or so but before we get into those issues and I know that of course the guests here have a lot to say about these things. Let's go back to a basic question what is publishing because in the thinking of a lot of people it's just printing like you're making a book what exactly does a publisher do? Nanny would you like to answer that? Nanny by the way is not a publisher herself but she works for the National Book Development Board which brings all of these publishers together. Okay the principal mandate of the National Book Development Board which is today 22 years old created by law to provide incentives for the publishing industry. So what do we do? We have tax free importation of paper we have awards recognizing outstanding books we have capacity building activities so that when our authors and publishers go overseas we go beyond selling the book as commodity but we are now looking into selling rights of our books. So it's a big industry to work with to work for considering the limited budget we have because publishing is not yet considered by the government a very critical industry. So we try everything and we are an attached agency of the Department of Education because the constituents of the department are supposed to be our principal readers but that's another issue all together. So what we try to do is promote a reading culture promote readership highlight our local authors, illustrators designers and publishers. Okay Nanny just gave us an overview of what the NBDB does that's kind of at the at the back end of publishing. After all the books they are all published and now NBDB is available to help our publishers. But again, let's go back to the first question. What is the work of the publisher? So I'm going to ask Greya who is also with the NBDB by the way as its former executive director Greya what do publishers do? Publishers do a lot of work as I have recently just been. So when a writer has a manuscript perhaps it is acquired by an editor the editor puts another layer of value to the manuscript perhaps by structuring the kits in it making sure that it is ready for the reader. The publisher is also in charge of making sure that it might be what the reader wants in terms of say this is the proper size for the book is it the best cover for it to be picked up by the particular market identified by both the publisher and the writer the publisher must be able to connect the book to the reader in terms of distribution whether this is to the brick and mortar or online he must or she must have that network of things that might be able to do this warehousing which is the operations she might have people around the publishing house that might also help the writer connect with other markets aside from games. A lot of work. Sounds like it. So technically you take care of editing of the layout and design of printing. You process manuscripts raw manuscripts into books and that's a lot of work because it involves finessing the text also for scholarly or academic process it involves fact checking and indexing and doing all sorts of other things and then you have to provide the right package for that text in other words actual cover and that's also work because you have studies and you get input from the author you get input from your artists etc and then you publish the book and then you market the book which is probably the hardest part as Jack was saying because we do have a very precarious distribution system in the Philippines in the sense that you only have basically the monopoly of national bookstore as the largest network to distribute books. And as we know year after year the bookshelf the shelf space for Filipino titles in the NBS branches is shrinking and so we have to look for alternatives sort of venues really to distribute the books. We'll go into those issues later. Just to add to the publishing cycle we also establish the relationship with the author so you sign a contract which is very important because that's normally this is where most authors are not aware they don't read the fine print and so the publisher also in a way takes care or depending on how much the author gives the publisher they also manage the copyright of the manuscript and the author. Also for after distribution I think the end of the cycle is a kind of feedback system that you get back especially for textbooks because you revise them and even for some trade books because there would be feedback from readers and that goes back to the first stage in the cycle where you rewrite, revise and then it goes again through the same long process. So basically the publisher spends for the whole book. Yes. So you're taking a financial risk in publishing material. Where do you where do you get your authors? How do you make that first contact between publisher and author? Where do they come from? They crawl out of the wood. Their commission works you can a publisher can commission for example in textbook development so you identify authors, possible authors from different universities and you commission the writing of textbooks and they're also submissions. I think every publishing house kind of submission guidelines that are up on their websites. Some presses have deadlines for submission per cycle but for the UP Press and USC it's all year long. It's open the whole year. But I think because we are university presses naturally the manuscripts that we expect will be sourced from the academy. So we get really books or academic titles but we also get creative titles literary titles and they're coming from everywhere sometimes even overseas we get submissions from Filipino-Americans and diasporic Filipinos who have manuscripts. I agree with Jack there is an abundance of manuscripts. We don't have a shortage of writers. There's no problem I think distributing the books and also locating readers. We are competing I think with another kind of literacy which is audiovisual and I think the educational system is aware of that that our young people are moving away from print literacy towards audiovisual literacy. Sooner or later probably instead of term papers our students will submit videos. They will produce their papers as videos because that's their literacy so they shouldn't let go of print literacy or traditional literacy because without it you really cannot produce videos. Videos are premised on scripts and good stories and things like that. It is a problem. We'll talk about new media in a while but you mentioned the term university press. You made up a book in my publishers. I've read about academic publishers children's book publishers and commercial trade books. Can you help me sort out these categories? A university press is really quite distinct because its mandate is to promote academic and scholarly knowledge and so it's normally located in a university. It's part of a university and for UP in particular it's a special operation because we are subsidised by government unlike let's say U.S.T. Press or Ateneo, the Manila Press. In other words our employees actually get their salary from government and we don't source their salary from the funds generated from the sales of our books. So our books, the sales from our books go into basically subsidising more books and also goes into operational expenses for the press. So that's quite specialised and I think, I don't know if Jack or Karina will agree that I think the proper university press does not publish textbooks because academic titles, scholarly titles are supposed to be of a higher of a different quality from just textbooks. But I think that just to be viable because we are having a problem distributing the books we already publish. We have a lot of books in our bodega and I'm sure it's the same for Ateneo and U.S.T. that just to be viable I think some of us are considering publishing textbooks or are actually publishing textbooks. I want to ask Ateneo and U.S.T. about that. Since you come from private universities are you expected to turn the profit? Yes. That's my idea. I think at least not to drain the university budget by taking away from it and maybe the of course the university press people tell me they're not there for a profit but in terms of I wanted to say something about the textbooks because part of the mission is to contribute to nation building and we see textbooks as a major a major way means to influence education and many of the biggest publishers in the Philippines are really textbook publishers. Yes. Actually, that's very true. Anil said that we are subsidized by not really subsidized but we get our budget from the school, from the university itself but at the same time we do not feel, we should not feel that we are like the burden because we have a way of returning self-sufficient publishing house but I think the problem also lies in the on the one hand we feel that we should be a university press because all major universities should have university presses that adds to the prestige of the school but at the same time I also feel like how can we sell the books we cannot just churn, print the manuscripts year in and year out and nothing will be read so there are and then of course some of our even faculty members from USD think that the publishing house the USD publishing house is just for printing and since we are a single campus that's also our advantage I think because we have a very I mean we have like 40,000 students so if we're going to let's say publish a textbook and really get the support and the endorsement from the academic affairs we know in USD that the books are already being sold but at the same time the feeling that of course the university press shouldn't just text books but I agree also with Karina that we should look into that also there should be more the schools in other words what I'm saying is we are already in the middle we want to preserve the prestige of the university press but at the same time we also want to meet and we feel that textbook writing is the fastest way to have an exclusive domain of each other if you look at the example of a big university process abroad they have subsidiary process to take care of textbook publishing because it does subtract the prestige of the university press itself to start publishing textbook so I think maybe that's the model I'm thinking of pursuing for UP press as it is we're publishing books with textbook application possibilities so that's how I sort of justify it they're used as supplementary materials in college courses etc like parasitology we have a book on parasitology which is the only one in the Philippines on parasitology specific to Philippine parasites put together by a team of experts from UPPGH we cannot call it a textbook it's actually a reference book or a supplementary material they use it for their classes so I think to venture into direct textbook publishing the book itself will be a textbook we need to have a subsidiary press to take care of that the reason we can justify that is education and we're downstream really in terms of the educational system we get products from secondary education and from primary education if they come to us damaged then we suffer so how do we intervene we intervene by producing by making sure that the reading materials in let's say high school are of such a quality that more or less the students will be better better served by that we can justify it as being part of its mission to actually dabble in publishing textbooks for senior high school basic question how many students in the Philippines and how many universities we have how common is the university almost every every Philippine university has an office of publication or publications office but not all of them I have something called a university press so how did you know I know LASAL, FEU University of San Carlos I think LASAL yes of course San Carlos Sileman University has the big ones the major universities okay so that's one side of the publishing industry here but Andrea is with commercial publishing it's all about money segment actually stop that Andrea how do your operations differ from these other presses you know, okay so we are a commercial publisher but we are not you're a commercial publisher as we know so we do have it we also have a trade division but you know all commercial the trade we have children what do trade books include trade books include the literary and non-literary non-fiction and fiction so we have book books we have several imprints let's say romance which is not the witch commercial it's not really making the big boxy boxy aspect from it we are not the biggest trade publisher in the country really not that much you're in the grey it's sort of the grey and I think we can be proud that we are primarily a mid-lens publisher which means we are in it for the long game we're not going to take we would love books like that we will not turn it down because it's going to help finance the other books no if you look at the anvil titles it's really quite eclectic so you have cook books you have self-help books you have all these other books but you have very great wonderful literary titles books in social science etc in a way it's like the mother lilies regal films they have a lot of formula things no the background of that was when we because when anvil started it was really mandated or asked to produce a bunch of books that would sell in the book store so at that time everything Filipino books were only academic and scholarly but if you look at the imported books there were so many genres so our job then at the beginning was to produce equivalent titles in all these different genres in the book stores but are written by Filipino authors that's why the range is really amazing I think a very interesting question do Filipino books sell and if they do what do you sell what do you want to buy from the Philippines? what are the best selling titles of U.S. depress for example so we can just talk about that no we'll go down I think because we actually the academic presses are really small but I think the books that sell to us are the authors who have a cult following I think that's one thing with us we have Lourdes Vera we have Tomashans also we have Joey de los Reyes they have books these authors are marketers also they know their market they sell books to sell authors that's a new paradigm for us there are many authors that submit to us they just rely on the publishing house to market and distribute their works and one of the problems is sometimes we encounter a manuscript which we know would really win awards it's a good manuscript but we know probably will have a limited readership or no um that's a tricky question but I think I think it relies on the description then we have an editorial board I usually tell this or present this to the editorial board but of course the final decision has to come from me I know that this is a manuscript that is really worth publishing so what I do is I try to balance it by accepting manuscripts then I have a commercial appeal now we have a commercial UST because our mandate was faith, illumined by reason catholic, pontifical university but now it's a good thing that when I talk to the the priests are young in this case they are a little more open that's why what I do is to augment because we know that to just make a buffer or at least my trade off so I accept manuscripts that are not really that top of the line but I know who has a wide readership we don't have that pressure because our mandate is very clearly to support cultural literacy and to promote national culture as long as our editorial process actually deemed the manuscript worth publishing as long as it passes then we publish it we don't really care much about whether it has a market value whether it makes money or not so you look at our budega it's full of books I'm sure but actually the books are selling the books but I've noticed that certain books move faster than others so what kind of books are these well the best selling titles of UP Press are still the folklore series of Damiana yes each book is very thick so it's already expensive but how many thousand copies is that so oh my god I think 10th printing 11th printing so it's already each print run is 2000 authorized because it really runs out and you know the market for that would be diasporic Filipinos they want to remember where they come from and so they look for these alamats and legends that they had been read to or heard when they were children and so they buy the books so that's those are the best selling titles but then next to those would be actually social science and literary titles the literary titles in particular that sell our fiction titles short stories and novels more English Filipino more English than Filipino but even the Filipino ones to sell if they are written by people like Jun Cruz Reyes and you know they have caught followings or they have recall value already but poetry titles don't sell the simple truth of it all is that poetry books take forever to sell so we have still some copies left of poetry titles that were printed 10 years ago and I'll ask Andrea because they're the closest to the market to the open market out there when Neil mentioned let's say Dr. Uhenyo's book has sold maybe 200,000 copies you should see the checks I signed yes I mean it's a reason for joy but it's also cause for worry because we are publishing abroad and you know they sell in the millions why don't we get to that stage where an author can sell a million copies of his or her book in a country of 100,000,000 people because most of them are supposed to be the queen we're still residually all wrong well I think you know closest to that would be well happy about this stuff okay she has four books that she has published which I think earns a lot of money she can live off those four books Bob Orr's book because those books are adapted in schools okay so if you are not in school you can be assured that your checks will be substantial what makes me for a Filipino best seller how many thousands of copies does it take to be called the best seller here what kind of book any kind of book if it's a cookbook it's probably 5000 copies sold in a year to the end to Deanna's kitchen we should all write cookbooks 30 okay I put books through Deanna we could probably pick up a couple of authors and probably ask them if it's 500 to 1000 copies you can tell already if it's to be measured if it's more general but obviously she's a seller of a piece that's Deanna Carver and probably she is on trying non-traditional media but I think another aspect that you might look at here is the profile of the Philippines yes, which is well, I think the Philippines is a very commercial market and it's probably not what our literary writers might want but literary fiction not just here in the Philippines is really a niche market if you know that that a literary text is much more difficult to read demands more from the reader then you need manager but you do have these crossover books now and then which are acceptable both as literary titles and as popular maybe smaller and smaller circles that when I saw it I knew it was something that would cross markets yes, but there are many of them and not even books I'll read everything and anything so yes, and you can try for UP Press if the book sells out a thousand copies sell out in a year we consider it the best seller and we reprint right away actually we have a policy of books that are sold out within five years we can consider reprinting if we base it on bookstore data what's that Bob Ong for a time 30 or 20 of his titles sold 500,000 copies can you imagine? all together in one year also Miriam Santiago's Stupid is Forever sold more than half a million copies that's an ABS-CBN title and they even followed it up with Stupid is Forever more so it can go that many millions of copies again for our viewers to know these manuscripts is submitted to us will not pass our review process yes but I'd like to ask for example Bob Ong if I how much do I get out of selling a book? 15% of the net sales industry rate is that like at par with the global sample? is it still fair? is it fair? 15% okay but maybe you will choose the people that they make a living from the books Jessica Zaffer for a while I remember and Bob Ong certainly makes a living from the books from your end of things Nenny since you kind of oversee the whole industry what do you think are the basic problems of Philippine publishing? first of all we had a readership survey which is quite outdated now 2012 but we're preparing for a more comprehensive one this year we were given the budget in that survey what were the books they wanted to buy the Bible we don't know if they really read the Bible or they're expected to say Bible top of their head and then cook books and then humor books advice books those are the top constant sellers now I think a basic problem we have Andrea alluded to it is our distribution we have good books we have good authors we have fairs where we highlight award-winning books if we were in the more in the first world countries every library would be required to buy classroom libraries would have it so that is an essential factor here in the Philippines please help me find our public libraries where I can check out books we are very tight with our book budget but I have to buy every book I want to read why is it so during president Ramos's time he showed me a provision on some republic act where there would be public libraries in the municipalities we chose wonderful but when we do that we forget that every year you have to build up the collection and replenish for me that's a very critical question don't we have a champion in government who will undertake the buying of good books for our public libraries we haven't found a constant champion we've had champions who will do it for Nino Yaquino reading day but the next election he won't be there anymore so in PBBY and BDB we were saying Karina had suggested this when we choose communities why don't we use public libraries as one of the criteria along with the basketball courts and other wellness things it's really hard but when I talk to librarians they say but we have public libraries like Kesson City public library is wonderful but it's because it's new I want to visit it two years from now and it's beautiful I asked last month how many books do you have a thousand that's not much and that will be used and you'll have to replenish I maybe just my experience with the press is that especially during the international book fair when all the publishers get to gather in one place in Moa and sell the books our sales come from these municipal libraries actually because we are a government press we are the UP part of the UP system many of them are actually required to buy our books so we sell a number of titles because of that but I don't think it's uniform across all the municipalities of the country only probably the bigger cities will be sending representatives over to buy the books and I think they're mandated by their own governments local governments to actually do that there's a budget allocated to make sure these municipal libraries are supplied with new books every year that's why we have to keep publishing new books because they will not get the old titles anymore they bought them already so we have to have always new titles and like Jack I think our average number of books new books per year was around 40 to 50 titles a year and those are enough actually to bankroll the other books so long as all these municipal libraries do their job and buy the books so we don't really have to try too hard Jack if only the law is being followed and these libraries buy the books because it's also hard for example in the national bookstore they don't accept books anymore which were published like last year or two years ago I brought it up actually it's a virtual monopoly the national bookstore system it's nationwide you cannot just submit books to them and expect them to actually carry them in their branches they select and only their branches only certain branches and so we have to look for alternative venues and the problem there is for example if it's a high volume national bookstore outlet they can only order let's say 5 to 10 copies per title because they don't have a storage room and then if you have a friend who buys let's say 5 or 10 books then all the copies are gone and then they don't take the time to call to restart so that's really a problem and it's sad also because our authors expect to see their titles in national bookstore or national bookstore shelves and they keep making us to kulit why isn't my book there? are you distributing my book or not? and we tell them only in specific branches but probably the 3 copies that they asked for got bought already and so when you visited you didn't see the title anymore actually for university presses there are 2100 university and college libraries if there are only 1000 with social sciences and the rest are specialized our 1000 copies should go theoretically should not warehouse anymore so it's really reaching out to these libraries and maybe we're trying to see how we can do a standing order arrangement which is done in other countries all these municipal libraries these are not municipal libraries these are university and college libraries private but it also includes the state the state universities but that's just a few of the 2100 so we're trying to see a way of setting up a kind of standing order arrangement that if they trust the university press every new title is automatically delivered to the library so they don't have to worry about keeping up with what's the latest that has come out and then we arrange a kind of payment term maybe a package for them the municipal libraries and the public libraries will not want our books they will want the books from Enville or the trade publishers because these are for communities all kinds of people will go there young housewives who want to buy and read romances some will want to look at cookbooks so I think the constitution of a collection for a public library is very different from a university and college library maybe some of our books were used that are history books but then my experience that they do order particularly the bigger cities have been ordering books from us also because the decision system is very easy between new and the government so I think we have an edge there speaking of promotions let me bring up another important question how do we sell Philippine books abroad or Filipino authors you have more experience here than most people since you've been out there also as a literary agent you know what it's like out there what's keeping Filipino books and Filipino authors and being better known overseas well I think for the longest time the one who's really been selling Philippine authors abroad or maybe as a therapy as if you pick up a particular author and study the individual publishers and see what might fit for the particular manuscript who might be its market in the world so that was how I would be selling authors even in Anbu I wouldn't pick up my whole list I would pick up a few of the authors whom I feel might be able to cross borders what does it take to cross borders exactly would you be looking for in an author or a specific work it should be a novel shouldn't it it doesn't have to be a novel as a matter of fact that's a couple of non-fiction oh tell me about it what are those non-fiction titles and you see by the list that he's been doing throughout the years what kinds of books he might be interested in so that's how I would approach selling I am certainly limited by the people I know and it's not just something that I know an editor and he's going to take a book for me it's not really worth that way so personal connections come it's very personal it has something to do with building relationships with not just people but with companies so knowing that over the years what they want building your name as well and that they would be able to trust you that they won't send them a dog because that destroys your reputation and he sends out something that too many of those will mark you are Filipino authors difficult to work with a little bit what do you call it what we're looking for here they don't want to revise they're just speeding that's particularly literary authors because we don't have any literary editors actually but when you get feedback you don't even have to be someone who has a line by line editor you can't be a 5 page feedback that goes through let's say the narrative part the base the themes the building of characters and it's not line by line the characters are flat, not round the language you start from scratch you do them so we have a lot to learn if you want to cross over to the global market with the university process because we get two peer reviews they usually come back with very detailed suggestions for revision and they follow that's why it takes longer my experience with the U.P. Press is that literary manuscripts are either rejected or accepted entirely scholarly manuscripts are mostly rejected the few that are not rejected are actually conditionally approved meaning they have to be revised which is why which is why butch if you look at our catalogue our list of titles we have more literary titles than scholarly ones because the scholarly books actually very few of them pass their review process why is that I think that maybe we can bring up something not quite related to publishing but to the issue of publishing but to the issue of literature itself in the country we have national structures that support creative writing we have the workshops most of the big universities have their own workshops now we have awards we don't have a similar support for academic or scholarly writing so we need to sponsor someone has to think of sponsoring national academic writing workshops where these scholars can actually finesse their manuscripts and turn them into publishable books the research is probably okay which is what the feedback from the reviewers normally say that the research part is okay but the writing is terrible and it's the actual writing that needs some help and so that's where I think we can sort of there's room for improvement but I also wanted to say because one of the questions that we can ask in the book industry in the country what are the strong points or where is it strong and where is it weak I think we recognize that where it is strong is that there is this sort of abundance of talent a potential talent particularly for literary manuscripts so many writers right we don't have a problem sourcing manuscripts but we do have a problem editing the manuscripts and I think we don't have a good editorial culture in the sense that particularly even for literary editing it should be alright for a writer to submit his manuscript for literary editing but most writers wouldn't want that they would just say I'll just give it to another publisher and even the quality we don't have too many good literary editors either we do in-house editing in UP Press but only a couple of my editors are actually qualified to do literary editing and when a manuscript requires that actually I sit down with the author and say it's not covered by the work and you are one of my editors if you need to get him or someone else it's fine but it's your own call you source your own funds to pay your own editor scholarly editing sometimes technical editing we need someone like another economist for an economics manuscript another economist who writes better can probably help you write the pro so that it's better somebody get me a quick run down maybe Andrea e-books what's going on well I think the format of e-books I did it similarly for an enhanced book which uses the kind of content that's the effective that kind of format so I've been noise into e-books is it going anywhere? not really the global trend is that not really they're not doing well also maybe because it's not the kind of thing that might be bought so for the foreseeable future we're still really mainly in print well the e-book bubble has burst I think that's what the watchers are telling us globally it's not delivering the way it's supposed to the sales are going down with the print books going up so in fact it's probably smart or good for us to actually consider e-book publishing or digital publishing as just a minor alternative business model but our primary model should still be print publishing now we're running out of time so again this has been a wonderful conversation but I'd like to ask each of you for a few last words for our listeners getting with you Jack message to our readers sure to our viewers well yeah like I said we've also talked about e-ventures I'm not sure yet I don't know if we could catch up but I think being ahead of a publishing house is very hard especially if you're swimming against the tide we have mandates but at the same time we feel that this is our passion because we want to promote the reading culture of the Filipinos even though we feel that our Filipino books are not represented in commercial publishing, commercial bookstores maybe this is our calling I have been in the connected with the USD publishing house for 10 years now and I still fight the same passion I hope that the future of Philippine publishing is not bleak and we're doing our best to promote our books because if we don't read our fellow Filipinos who will read our books that's all I hope that there will be more readers than authors and that the general public will also take a closer look in reading our books even though we're academic presses I belong to the academic press I feel that it's high time that more Filipinos should know about what we do and what we publish Neni I can see that the board has to be more aggressive go beyond Metro Manila also highlight the local literatures we have so many languages the deaf-edned teaching materials in mother tongue in the different regional languages and it would help if most of our activities went outside Metro Manila and of course my perpetual cry about the access to books it really should be made available to everyone not only those who can afford them thank you yes I think publishers are a partner of schools and of government in promoting literacy in the country and literacy is the condition for the nation without literacy we cannot really have empathy for each other which of course literacy fosters imagination imagination is the foundation of empathy but I think that other than just sourcing, publishing and disseminating books publishers should more and more consider an additional function which is really to help create a social and a critical life for books because it's not enough that you actually produce the book or even put the book on a bookshelf to be bought you also have to sponsor occasions for the books to live and so with the UP Press we have started partnering with such entities as the Institute of Creative Writing and other such bodies within the university sponsoring fora book forums symposia in order for our books to be discussed and appreciated by the academic community so I think maybe that's an additional function that traditionally publishers didn't have to do but now I think we need to consider doing it thank you I guess it's for I'd like to speak to the writers given the question for the writers I think Andrew would love to work with authors who feel that art is collaborative work when you are open to inputs on how to make the book better and I can guarantee that it would come out as a better product and might emphasize product capital P the book is still a commodity that has to reach a consumer and that is a reader and for us and for me in particular the reader is not an amorphous reader is exact you can speak to the reader and you are trying to reach the reader in various ways with publicity and marketing and selling through writes and network and so it's a very a reader is a being it's a human person and so for every imprint that Anvil comes out with we have identified the profile and if the author is willing to talk to that reader and help us shape the manuscript so that it might be better received by the reader I would love to work with that after that thank you I think the problem with books and reading is the same for the problem for theater, local theater local visual arts it's all throughout and I think it's because of the way we teach the arts here we're always like performance oriented so the talented we catch them and we train them whether it's dance, music, writing workshops for everybody but we never do anything about the rest of the class the rest of the 40 who are not as talented or who are not talented at all they're not being taught to be the audience for these artists for these writers we never discuss history Philippine history of our visual arts of our literary arts of our dance or music we never expose our students to our local works not only in literature but when you take the usual art course you will show them the western Picasso and everybody but they probably will be able to recognize a painting but we'll never know any Filipino painter so it's the same all throughout so our we have to develop also our own art history, music history dance history so that this schools can teach it and yeah, raise a generation or teach a generation to appreciate our local works well thank you Karina and again thank you to all our guests today these are the top guns of Philippine publishing I'm Buccellisa and thank you for your continued support of culture, scene and other from TV UP thank you very much


Okay, my name is Michael Collins, and I'm the Director General of the IIEA, the Institute of International and European Affairs, and I'm pleased, very pleased indeed, to welcome you all for this IIEA webinar, which is co-organized with the European Parliament Liaison Office here in Ireland. With the deadline for extending the UK's post-Brexit transition period now passed, negotiations between the EU and the UK have taken on, obviously, a new urgency. MEPs will have a vital role to play in the process, as an agreement on the future relationship can only enter into force if it is approved by both the European Parliament and the European Council. We're absolutely delighted this afternoon to be joined by David McAllister, MEP, Chair of the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee, and Chair of its UK Coordination Group. David has been generous enough to take time out of his schedule to speak with us and to be with us this afternoon. David is an important German and EU voice with a distinguished career in EU and German politics. He has been an MEP since 2014, and has been a Vice President of the European People's Party since 2015. He has held a variety of political offices in Germany, including Minister President of North Saxony, and we at the Institute of International and European Affairs were delighted to welcome him previously in November 2016, a lot of water under the bridge since then. David will speak to us for about 15, 20 minutes or so, and then we will go to your Q&A. You will be able to join the discussion using the Q&A function on Zoom, which you should see on your screen. Please feel free to send your questions in throughout the session as they occur to you, and we will come to them once David has finished his presentation. If you would like to tweet, and we would encourage you to do so, please use the handle at IIEA. It's just a reminder that both today's presentation and the Q&A are on the record. With that, David again, a very, very warm, cavemen of falsia, 100,000 welcomes to Ireland to the IIEA. Thank you for joining us, the floor is yours. Okay, thank you, Michael Collins, and thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for participating and showing interest. I'm happy to have the opportunity of this conversation, which takes place during the fifth round this week of the negotiations on the future EU-UK relations. Now, you all, especially in Ireland, followed with great interest for high-level meeting on the 15th of June. Both sides, at that time, agreed to inject new dynamics in the talks, or as the UK Prime Minister put it, to put the tiger in the tank. Now, since this high-level meeting on the 15th of June, the negotiators and their teams have met three times, once for a restricted round of negotiations in the week of the 29th to the 30th of July in Brussels, and twice for two specialized sessions that took place in the weeks of the 6th of July and the 30th of July, all in preparation for this fifth negotiating round, which has now started on Monday. In my opinion, and I think my opinion is shared by many of my colleagues in Brussels, the European Union is engaging constructively and in line with the mandate entrusted to the European Commission by the Council with support of the European Parliament, and let me add, fully in line with the political declaration, everything that this declaration was negotiated line by line by the EU and the UK government is contained in the EU strategy. However, not everyone in Brussels is of the opinion that the UK government is showing the same level of commitment, may I add, unfortunately. Core divergences remain between the two sides on governance, the level playing field and fisheries, and we will have to see if this fifth negotiating round will bring a major breakthrough. Now, Michael Collins already mentioned the role of the European Parliament. The European Parliament's resolution in these negotiations is clear. In June, we voted with an overwhelming majority, a resolution on the negotiations for a new agreement with the UK with 574 votes in favour, 34 against, and 91 abstentions. With this resolution, with this report, we proved that the Parliament continues to stand united behind the chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, and the mandate given to him by the Council and fully in line with the political declaration. Today, I would like to focus on three main issues. First, the implications of a nodial scenario at the end of the transition period. Second, the progress, or rather the lack of progress in the ongoing negotiations. And third, the implementation of the withdrawal agreement, and in particular the protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland. Now, on the first point, whatever is agreed or not, there will be a significant change as of the 1st of January. Even if the European Union and the United Kingdom conclude a highly ambitious partnership, covering all areas agreed in the political declaration by the end of this year, the UK's withdrawal from the EU are key. The internal market and the customs union at the end of the transition period will inevitably create barriers to trade and cross-border exchanges that don't exist today. It is the UK government that has decided that a chosen form of partnership with the EU will be based on a free trade agreement and not on any close of form of association, such as a customs union. So the EU's message to businesses in the EU 27 member states, I think I'm talking less about Ireland because you are fully aware of all these consequences, but the message of the EU to businesses in the other 25, 26 member states has been very clear, as of the 1st of January next year, the trading situation between the EU and the UK will completely change. By its nature, a free trade agreement will never be equivalent to frictionless trade, as we stated in paragraph 32 of our European Parliament's resolution. There will be broad and far-reaching consequences for public administrations, for businesses and citizens as of the 1st of January next year, regardless of the outcome of the negotiations. If an FTA is concluded, the changes might be less stark, nevertheless the administrative solution for customs, sanitary, phytosanitary, and other product-compliant shakes will be completely different since the UK will become a third country. Two weeks ago, the European Commission issued a communication on readiness at the end of the transition period. I know from many talks with the Commission and with Michel Barnier that there are still a number of economic operators that are not fully aware of the consequences of the EU leaving the single market and the customs union, therefore the Commission's recent update of the readiness and preparedness notices is essential to avoid serious disruption at the end of the transition period. In parallel, the European Commission is reviewing and, where necessary, updating all original 102 stakeholder preparedness notices published at the time of the withdrawal negotiations, many of which continue to be relevant for the end of the transition period. Of course, the European Parliament will continue to be involved as a co-legislator in adopting any necessary contingency measures and accompanying legislation that would ensure that businesses continue operating with a high degree of legal certainty as of the 1st of January, whatever the outcome of the negotiations might be. We stand ready to act very fast. Now, businesses will need time to prepare for the changes to the customs, regulatory and VAT excise regimes, but the full application of the protocol as of the 1st of January 2021 necessarily implies. For businesses in Northern Ireland, and you are very well familiar, this will include the introduction of customs procedures and formalities for goods entering Northern Ireland from Britain and for goods leaving Northern Ireland for Britain, the introduction of regulatory checks and controls, including sanitary and fighter sanitary controls for goods entering Northern Ireland from Britain, the introduction of prohibitions and restrictions and respect of goods entering Northern Ireland from Britain and for goods leaving Northern Ireland from Britain, and many, many more things. So this will also mean a major change for Northern Ireland. To avoid disruptions of business activity, the UK should urgently engage with the business community in Northern Ireland as businesses there must be able to prepare for the new requirements well in advance. The commission services have stated that they are available to provide any assistance that may be required. Now, the second point, the progress ought to be more precise for lack of progress in the negotiations. The meetings of the chief negotiators and their teams in various formats over the past three weeks haven't achieved the desired success. The UK government unfortunately didn't match up to the level of commitment of the EU side to look for a solution for the most sensitive areas. I still hope to see concrete progress at this next round of negotiations this week. We are witnessing, and still now, no real advancements from the UK side. The clock is ticking to reach a deal in the interests of our citizens and businesses. At this stage, the UK side needs to make real and concrete openings. Otherwise, the negotiations will remain at a standstill despite efforts to advance. As a European Union, our position remains based on the political declaration to continue to insist on parallel progress in all areas. The European Parliament was very clear once again in our latest resolution that we will continue not to accept any form of the famous cherry picking. Parliament's position is that we are ready to agree to an ambitious, modern and wide-reaching FTA with the UK, but it is conditional on first, comprehensive binding and enforceable provisions related to the level-paying field. Second, the agreement must include a complete, sustainable, balanced and long-term fisheries agreement, and third, a robust, single, coherent and solid governance system as an overarching framework with the Court of Justice of the EU as the sole interpreter of EU law provisions. There is no other third country to which the European Union has proposed a fully tariff-free, quota-free trading deal. This is exceptional. However, this comes at a certain price. This has to be accompanied by level playing field provisions. In terms of WTO rules, the EU can only justify this access by corresponding obligations. Otherwise, other third countries could request similar market access from the EU. To be very clear, and I'm often on British media and sometimes criticised for this, our rules are not dramatic. They are simply a guarantee to protect the interests of our businesses and our citizens against unfair competition. The extremely tight negotiations timeline that the UK government itself has imposed is another reason why the deal has to be with zero quotas and zero tariffs. Recent trade negotiations have shown that tariff-line by tariff-line negotiations could take several years, which simply isn't possible. The UK has voluntarily chosen to leave our single market and it is impossible that a third country has access to the internal market benefits without being subject also to its obligations. So, for example, issues such as mutual recognition of professional qualifications for regulated professions or unlimited freedom to provide services simply cannot be negotiated as part of a free trade agreement. Many integration mechanisms of the EU internal market exist benefiting companies and individuals to mention the most visible ones such as Roman regulation on mobile charges or harmonised mechanisms for authorising medicine products or chemical substances. However, only being a full member of the internal market can guarantee access to all these instruments. Now concerning the governance of our future agreement, the European Union stands strong behind its demand for an overarching governance framework which fully preserves the autonomy of the EU's decision making and legal order. The court of justice of the European Union in Luxembourg should be the sole interpreter of EU law. This is a constitutional requirement, not a negotiation position. The European Union cannot conclude an international agreement that refers to EU law concepts and rules, for example, on data protection, but which does not preserve the court of justice of the European Union's role when it comes to disputes on interpretation. If we don't cater for this in the agreement, we will all be in serious legal trouble. Moreover, an alternative dispute settlement mechanism could only be envisaged if it guarantees independence and impartiality to the CJEU in line with the case law. Of course, similarly, the agreement should not restrict the autonomy of the British legal system. And finally, my third point on the implementation of the withdrawal agreement. The implementation of the withdrawal agreement is crucially important for the negotiations for our future relationship. It remains the yardstick for the UK's commitment to the negotiations with the EU. A new partnership can only be built on the foundations of the faithful and effective implementation of the withdrawal agreement. Of course, I cannot address a mainly Irish audience without discussing the implementation of the protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland. Very early on, the negotiations ahead of the UK's withdrawal from the EU, both the UK and the EU acknowledged the unique situation of Ireland and Northern Ireland. They agreed that a specific solution was needed to reconcile the different interests at place. The solution in the end was found in the form of the protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland, which of course you all very well know. As not being Irish, but German and half British, I am very cautious regarding the implementation of the withdrawal agreement. And I can assure you that the European Parliament will continue to scrutinise this aspect of the negotiations closely. In the UK Coordination Group, we regularly meet with Maros Shevchovich to be informed about the natus rounds of the joint committee. And it's thanks to Irish colleagues like Maread McGinnis and Sean Kelly, that I am very well aware of the technical complexity and the political sensitivity of this issue. So I would like to just make four points clear. First, on the UK paper on the protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland, the UK counterparts have shared a good cooperation spirit during the second meeting of the Specialized Committee that took place on the 16th of July. And some progress was recorded on technical issues, but there are still lots to be settled. If you want to move from aspiration to operation, such as customs procedures on goods entering Northern Ireland, the necessary IT requirements for the VAT system to be operational, and more importantly, the presence of the EU representatives in Northern Ireland. The issue of exit declarations is an old point of friction. The Irish protocol Preamble states that quote, nothing in this protocol prevents the UK from ensuring unfettered market access for goods moving from Northern Ireland to the rest of the UK's internal market. And the same commitment is repeated in Article 6. However, it is clear that this refers only to goods moving from Northern Ireland to Britain. The promise of unfettered access is qualified. So nothing in this protocol can prevent unfettered access for tech sales, but other obligations might, such as the EU's customs code, which requires an exit declaration. The second point on the need to have a detailed timeline of measures for the application of the Irish protocol. We continue to demand assurances from the UK government about what measures and detailed timelines it intends to take on the timely and efficient implementation of the Irish protocol. The protocol must be fully operational on the 1st of January next year. It is therefore of paramount importance for the UK to further intensify the technical engagement, to resolve all outstanding questions and to take the necessary practical actions without any delay. I am glad that at the meeting of the Specialized Committee that took place on the 16th of July, the UK has now engaged in technical discussions covering the full array of issues under the protocol. Now, third on the preparation of the important decisions that are due to be taken by the Joint Committee before the end of the transition period. The Joint Committee will need to flesh out some important decisions concerning the application of the protocol before the end of this year, such as further defining processing for the purpose of assessing that goods brought into Northern Ireland from outside the European Union will not be subject to commercial processing in Northern Ireland. Establishing the other criteria to be applied for considering that goods brought from Northern Ireland from outside the European Union are not at a risk of subsequently being moved into the European Union and very important for the EU, determining the practical working arrangements relating to the exercise right of EU representatives to be present during the activities of the UK authorities regarding the application of EU law. I think it's positive that the last week's meeting of the Joint Committee was constructive and the UK government has shown commitment to resolve these issues, still more needs to be done. And finally, I do hope that an agreement can be found quickly on all institutional agreements, such as the establishment of a technical office of the European Commission in Belfast. I understand that such a permanent presence is a sensitive matter as regards domestic politics in Northern Ireland. So the European Union should assure that we are talking about a simple technical back office and not a diplomatic presence. And finally, in addition to the Irish protocol implementation, the European Parliament remains very vigilant on citizens' rights issues covered by the withdrawal agreement. And this also of course matters for Northern Ireland. So to conclude on a positive or a cautiously positive note, I still remain hopeful that in the interest of companies and citizens on both sides of the channel and on both sides of the Irish Sea, we will manage to find an agreement and avoid the more serious disruptions expected in case of a no deal. This fifth and this sixth negotiating round will now be crucial. The ball is once again in the British court and we will continue to support Michel Barnier, who's doing an excellent job with his team for the Commission on behalf of our member states. Thank you for your attention and now I'm having to look forward to an interesting Q&A session. Thank you very much, David, for that lucid and very informative presentation. We really do appreciate the clarity of it and the firmness of it too. Just before we come to the Q&A, just as you say, you're half German and half British and I think I remember meeting you at one stage shortly after the Brexit decision in 2016 and just very mindful of this mixed heritage that you have. But just on a personal level, how difficult has this sag I've been for? Now, we don't just have the sag of this whole Brexit issue been for you on a personal level given your mixed heritage as a part. Well, thank you, Michael, for asking. Well, I'm 49 years old and married to my wife and I. We have two daughters and we live in a small town in North Germany. I grew up in West Berlin. My father was with the British military in West Berlin during his final posting before he got retired. And so I was born British and the British military hospital in West Berlin. But I also have German citizenship. My home country is Germany. We speak German at home with our children.  But this is not only the case for people who hold a British passport. I am still very, very sad that the United Kingdom has left the European Union the first of February. There's nothing positive about Brexit. But we have to accept political reality. And now we have to make the best out of the situation. I have I know many UK politicians throughout all the different political parties, the Conservatives, the Labour Party, also a number of politicians in Scotland where my dad originally came from. He was born 1919 in Glasgow. As a German citizen with a British background and as a convinced European, I just still really believe that in the EU of 27 member states, of 28 member states would be better than 27 member states without the UK. But no country is hit so hard like Ireland. And that's why I really found it impressive how the other 26 member states have shown solidarity with the Republic. And your former T-shock, Leo Veradka, for instance, I know from many conversations with my Chancellor, Party Leader Angela Merkel, was very helpful in explaining her the sensitivity and the complexity of the Irish, Northern Irish order. So that's what I can tell you. I just do hope that we will find an agreement until the 31st of October because that is technically the deadline as Michel Barnier has pointed out. The UK will remain an important neighbour, an important trade partner and for my home country, Germany, a very important political partner in G7, in G20 or in NATO. Thank you very much for that David. I could ask you a question that's just come in here from Pat Cox, who's of course former member of the European Parliament. He's also an IAEA board member and as the former president of the European Parliament. And he says at this late stage are the only effective options a free trade area agreement with no tariffs and quotas subject to the conditions referred to or alternatively a hard exit based on WTO tariff schedules and how late is too late to avoid the WTO option? Well the UK has now decided that they will definitely leave on the 31st of December. They will leave the customs union the single market. Everyone knew that if the UK had requested to extend the transition period we wouldn't have said no but they have categorically ruled this out. Michel Barnier has several times said that for him, latest on the 31st of October, we need a ready text technically negotiated by the two teams. So this increases the time pressure which has already been enormous. The option is still that we want a comprehensive agreement with the United Kingdom with the free trade agreement being at its core. We want a single agreement with an overarching single governance framework. This has a lot to do with the experiences the European Union has made for instance with Switzerland where our relations are based on I guess now more than 100 agreements which has made things even more complicated. So we want a single comprehensive agreement and an FDA at its core and at its as its base. I would well it's always difficult to predict the outcome but I guess it's well at this stage nobody can predict if we will find an agreement or not. I try to point out in my initial statement that a lot now depends if the UK is ready to follow the commitments the UK government made and the political declaration that is the way forward especially now where we're under such enormous time pressure. If an agreement is not doable then we will have to prepare for a no deal and this will then mean at least at the beginning that on the 1st of January we will probably fall back on the WTO rules. This wouldn't be good for EU businesses this definitely wouldn't be good for Irish businesses. On the other hand this would also not be good it would actually be very bad for British businesses and let me just compare we will be exporting about 15% of our goods to the UK once the UK has left our single market whereas 50% roughly of goods will still go to the world's largest single market so it's actually more in the interest of the British side to get this agreement done and I do hope that British industry and British businesses will point this out very clearly to the government and the negotiating team on the British side. Very good David just if I could just put you back on to your on to German territory again just momentarily we switch back and forth as appropriate but just the level of preparedness and I think we've all been put on notice about the the need to prepare and prepare adequately for a no deal or for all eventualities in Germany at least my time there it had already been factored in you know that the Brexit was a reality and people had begun to act accordingly. How concerned would people on the ground and business people in particular as well as politicians obviously how concerned would they be about a no deal option it's obviously perhaps not as quite as problematic or catastrophic maybe as it might be for us but in Germany can Germany live with a no deal Brexit and how inconvenient would that be? Well the Chancellor Angela Merkel like many other representatives of the German government has always made clear that we would prefer of course to reach a deal with the British of course we want to put our future relations on a solid legal basis that is the way forward but you might have followed Angela Merkel's speeches in the Bundestag and also what she said on position the European Parliament she said in the moment she just cannot guarantee that we will find an agreement and she's always been outspoken that she's in favor of an agreement she's ready to compromise but it cannot be a compromise which will in the end violate fundamental principles of the European Union and our single market so as many other member states of the European Union Germany has also stepped up its preparations for a no deal outcome the specialty in Germany is of course but it's not only the federal level which needs to prepare it's also the lender level and as the former minister president of Niedersachsen which you mentioned Michael I know that for instance the government in Niedersachsen is also stepping up the preparations. German industry has always been clear that they are very very interested in having a as much as possible frictionless trade relation with the UK but even German industry the big organizations BDI and BDA have always said we are fully aware if a country voluntarily leaves the single market and the customs union things won't be as they were before and German industry has also been clear that for us in Germany it's important that the single market comes with four packages and that the four freedoms of the single market cannot be divided and in your language from the English language you pick cherries in the German language we pick raisins was seen and taken but to pick raisins in Germany is just as unpopular as picking cherries in Ireland very good and can I just put to your question from from John Hagen who's from Trinity College here in Dublin he says is there any truth in the rumor to the rumor that some in the quote-unquote inner circle at number 10 would be happy to have no agreement I know you have a lot of contacts at political level of the UK and that's just what I just interjected about myself but if this is so is this a worry or will the EU simply accept that reality and move on well I can't tell you anything about the inner circle of a tendowning street I'm a German Christian Democrat not a British conservative I just do hope that everyone who is responsible in London knows exactly what consequences the one or the other decision would have and I do believe it's better to have a deal than not to have a deal that's for sure the UK government is has the mandate to negotiate for a Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the European Union will try to convince our British counterparts in the ongoing negotiations what we believe would be beneficial for both sides but this has been stated so often and even though I don't dance I know that it always takes to tango and we will have to accept any British position the high level meeting on the 15th of June and I was able to participate at this high level meeting sitting next to the president of the European Parliament this high level meeting at least with one thing clear that we cannot go on like we did after the third and the fourth negotiating round that you have dozens of highly qualified experts sitting on both sides of the digital negotiating table but there's no progress on substance in the political sensitive issues this now requires a political leadership and it's up to the UK Prime Minister to take a decision whether he still is interested in getting this free trade agreement done our offer as I mentioned is unprecedented full access to the world's largest single market but this requires that the existing standards of the level playing field are implemented and these standards now exist in the UK and I think they've been also beneficial for the people of Great Britain and Northern Ireland that's why from our understanding this should be something the UK could be ready to accept and a final point don't underestimate the importance of fisheries not all EU member states fish in the North Sea in the channel and in the Irish sea but we have been very clear also as a European parliament that we want an agreement on fisheries to be a fully integrated part of the overall trade agreement we want to get done with the UK fisheries is of huge concern especially for the Netherlands, for Denmark and for France and you have followed the last few days at the European Council of Brussels how important the role is of these three countries and I think also if I recall correctly it was an issue that was to which Germany was indifferent either I mean despite the fact that the fishing industry in Germany would be very small industry overall I think some of it is within the Chancellor's constituency or state and you know it's not an issue without political significance and moment in Germany as well so you mentioned the three states obviously Ireland as well but obviously even countries like Germany it's a fisheries issue is still a very very sensitive political issue we have free fishery free fishing ports in Germany where British fish is landed one is Cuxhaven which is my home district the other one is Bremerhaven which is very close to my hometown and the third one is Sassanitz and Sassanitz in the Baltic is indeed in the constituency of Chancellor Merkel so Chancellor Merkel and knows quite a lot about how much British fish is caught by German fishermen it's actually I find it's still quite odd to give fish nationalities of human beings but I've learned now that we have to define what's a British fish what's a German fish amongst an Irish fish sadly so very good okay can I just ask you a question maybe you touched on it in your remarks in an event but from Neil Willoughby from the Ibeck which is the Irish Employers Federation he says thank you for your informative and clear presentation may I ask you please to comment on the issue of governance further for the comment further on the issue of governance and outline if and where you see the potential for a compromise on this issue and on the role of the ECJ is there room for compromise there on the issue of governance on the ECJ well as I mentioned one an important point not only for the Commission but also the European Parliament is that we want an overarching governance framework for the whole future cooperation with the United Kingdom there isn't much appetite in Brussels for individual single agreements with individual single governance structures and the European Court of Justice I mentioned in my presentation attending the high-level meeting in with Prime Minister Johnson on the one hand and Charles Michel Ursula von der Leyen and David Sassoli on the other hand I once again heard that the UK Prime Minister has totally ruled out any say of the European Court of Justice for British citizens and British businesses now we have to accept this position of the UK Prime Minister and obviously this is not only his position but this is backed by the conservative majority in the House of Commons but then we need to find a solution how we can find a dispute settlement mechanism and I was clear in my presentation that the European Court of Justice is the sole interpreter of EU law and the law of a single market and this is not a negotiating position this isn't a bargaining chip this is a constitutional requirement so if we include in the agreement any kind of direct references to EU law which of course would make things much more easy then this from my point of view as a lawyer includes that then the Court of Justice the European Court of Justice is the only institution which can interpret EU law I think that's I mean that's pretty much common sense now if the UK doesn't accept this then indeed we will have to find a dispute settlement mechanism like we have with in other trade agreements which will then be composed of British judges on the one hand and European judges on the other hand but of course also this kind of solution will have to respect the impartiality and the independence of the European Court of Justice on the one hand but of course of the British legal system on the other hand so this is a tricky issue but and it will make things more complicated but if the British side completely refuses to accept any further jurisdiction coming from Luxembourg then we will have to find an innovative solution David just the I think even the UK may have been a little bit surprised about the cohesion and solidarity of the 27 member states not just in backing Ireland but on issues in general in relation to the negotiating mandate and has there been any evidence at the level of the European Parliament of any kind of diminution or weakening in the solidarity the cohesion of the union and to what extent would the UK ever have hoped to be able to get in behind the the or through to the individual member states and maybe persuade them to to to break or to to to weaken this solidarity is there any evidence that that solidarity is any less strong now than it was in 2016 no I don't have this impression I think the European Union has showed remarkable unity of the 27 and this unity was also a precondition for until now as I'm keeping our position and to be very successful in these negotiations of course we have to compromise and we need to find consensus the European Union had to make difficult compromises already as regards to withdrawal agreement for the the UK to leave the European Union and so I still don't see any divisions between the member states there's been a high level of cohesion and for a good reason I mentioned that the European Parliament's resolution was adopted with an overwhelming majority in the end it was only a few dozen colleagues who voted against the resolution and 91 abstentions this shows in the European Parliament that the European People's Party the Social Democrats and the Liberal Renew and the Greens that these four groups are fully supporting the line of Michel Vanie and his team and if you look at the other groups we had some support some abstentions some no from the some votes against from the far left and from the conservative parliamentary group and the only ones who are against our report were the far right which isn't really a surprise because most representatives of the extreme right-wing parties in the European Parliament want their member states also to leave the European Union or at least they're not interested in a strong European Union if you look at parties like the Alternative for Deutschland or the Lega from Italy or the Rassaut Le Mans from France so no the European Parliament and the member states have shown full support and that's why this vote in the European Parliament was so crucial because of course this vote was an indicator how far the European Parliament is still standing behind the negotiator. The House of Commons found worldwide attention in trying to pass the necessary legislation for the British withdrawal the European Parliament was quiet in the first half of this match but the European Parliament will have the final word on any agreement we find with the United Kingdom and that's why the European Parliament's report on the ongoing negotiations in June is of course far-reaching and we might know that we won't be able to implement every single paragraph we adopted but it's very well worth reading not only in Brussels but also in London and issues like the implementation of the Irish-Novan Irish protocol or the implementation of the agreed citizens rights are very very important to colleagues not only those coming from the Republic. I think one of the concerns or among the many concerns I suppose would be that the agreement whatever agreement is achieved at the end of the day and people talk about very thin agreement being one of the possibilities there that thereafter you know the whole relationship between the EU and the UK could be very very could remain very very fractious and difficult awkward tempestuous indeed for quite some time to come so even if you do get agreement there is the prospect I suppose for a long time to come of a very challenging relationship between the UK and the European Union whether over the wider relationship or whether over specifically the Northern Ireland protocol which has many dimensions within it which are obviously quite complex quite challenging so I suppose the concern would be and just your comment on it even with an agreement how messy is the relationship going likely to be after the 1st of January particularly well obviously if there's a no deal it's going to be very messy but even if there's something better than no deal but a thin deal the prospect of a very very difficult awkward partnership relationship between the UK and the European Union in the broad sense but then specifically over Ireland as well. I'm not sure if you have the same proverb or saying in the Irish or English language we say in the German language if you button a shirt you have to get the first button right because if you don't get the first button right you can continue buttoning the shirt and it will never be positive it doesn't matter if you use rocket science or not. So the first button was from my point of view the withdrawal agreement which was in the end a decent compromise between both sides which made possible that the UK could actually leave on the 31st of January the European Union the European institutions but of course this was a Brexit mainly a name only and now the second very important button is now the agreement on our future relations but many many more steps will then need to be taken. Unsurprisingly I always love to quote my Chancellor Angela Merkel who I've been supporting all her political career and I think she's been a fantastic leader for our country. Angela Merkel said two or three days after the UK referendum in 2016 in the German Bundestag it skipped Keinen Grund gastig zu sein which would translate in English there's no need to be nasty. She said we're all sad that the British are leaving they are going to leave the European Union we all regret this but we have to accept this decision and now we have to make the best out of it and the British won't sail away to Newfoundland they will remain where they are exactly at the doorstep of the world's largest single market and with one land border with the Republic and we are in this together and perhaps even the harshest critics of cooperation with the European Union in London noticed in these last months what it means in these challenging times of a pandemic that you can get solidarity that you can get support that we're all missed together this pandemic has hit us all but it hasn't hit us all equally hard and that so many people in Germany like an island were so sad to see the high numbers of deaths in the United Kingdom and if the UK was still a member of the European Union the situation the UK would have also played a crucial role now at the European Council when we were talking about economic support the economic recovery plan but okay so to make it short the UK will remain an important trade partner for us an important I know I have to be careful talking about this when I'm speaking to an Irish audience but from a German point of view also an important NATO ally and we in Germany are fully aware if it comes to strengthening European defence and security cooperation we will want to continue our close cooperation with our British allies and friends by the way that's another reason why I find it so unfortunate that the whole field of foreign policy security and defence cooperation has not been included it's not part of one of the 11 negotiating tables but this was once again a British decision but perhaps after the first of January 2021 we could also put our future cooperation in these issues on a solid legal basis David now that you mentioned Angela Merkel by name let me just digress a little bit and maybe bring you back on to a German soil and a little bit on German politics as well as weaving in a little bit about the MFF and the and the the next generation EU fund just and all go over to one in the kind of the relatively limited amount of time we've left maybe to cover some of these issues but just Angela Merkel now is one year from from her from her her intended departures from German politics obviously you know she's been at the helm for for so many years now it's almost impossible for some of us to imagine what life was like before her so Angela Merkel will be leaving within the next year obviously elections I presume are scheduled for next September 12 months what is what is the chancellor's legacy if I may put it like that bearing in mind of course the achievements of the last number of days not the least of which involves at the major grant funding that's going to be available to deal with the pandemic which involves obviously the European Union or commission borrowing money which again is almost heresy I would have thought from from a CDU point of view but in any event what is the chancellor's legacy and second question to that is who is the next chancellor going to be uh dear now that's a very difficult question well first of all we Germans were following uh but it's not always that simple to form a government and elect a new head of government in your country I think Irish politics hardly ever been so much on German evening news uh and and Germans um followed with large interest out for the first time the two competitive parties in your country have now formed a coalition government it's perhaps similar to when the grand coalition was formed in Germany which was also at the beginning you couldn't imagine that Christian Democrats and social Democrats would sit in a government and now we've been sitting for so many years now the term of the German Bundestag will expire in autumn 2021 so Angela Merkel has another at least 15 16 17 months in office until her successor will then be elected by the German Bundestag Angela Merkel is in a very special situation that she for the second time in her career is presiding uh the presidency of the council I mean every 13 and a half years a country can manage this difficult task and Angela Merkel now has actually the possibility of doing this for a second time and of course this German presidency of the European Union will be an important part of her chance to ship the expectations are high let me add I think they're just too high there are some peoples in Brussels who believe that everything that has been left over since 2015 could now be sorted out by the Germans in their six months no no this won't be the case a presidency is always challenging it doesn't matter if you're a small a medium-sized or a large country the main issues for the German presidency apart from the ongoing EU UK negotiations will of course be the multi financial framework for the next seven years and the economic recovery fund my impression is and I was following just like you the negotiations very closely in Brussels that a remarkable achievement has been made who would have thought that just a few weeks ago the European Union the 27 member states could agree on such a hugely enormous package and considering at what odds the member states were when the council when the summit started in uh on Friday to put it in a nutshell the EU summit compromise from my point of view the recovery plan is a positive step forward and I think the European parliament which will be meeting for an additional plenary session tomorrow in Brussels you will hear a positive echo from most of the MEPs on the recovery plan we welcome this agreement the 750 billion euros recovery instrument but my take is not so positive yet for the long-term EU budget why because I don't believe that the European parliament will be ready to accept record low ceilings as they in the end mean renouncing to the EU's long-term objectives and a strategic autonomy and this in times where citizens are asking for more so if we talk like in Ireland like in Germany about more European solidarity more European action in health public health in research in digitalization in youth or in the historical fight against climate change or in more and closer cooperation on foreign affairs and even defense then it is from my point of view to be criticized that key programs to reach these objectives have been considerably shrunk and lost most of their top ups under next generation EU so it's a mixed picture the council will now face once again tough negotiations with the European parliament but one thing is clear we need to get an agreement before the end of this year so that all participants of EU programs have clarity from the first of January onwards so the council will now finalize its mandate to enter negotiations with the parliament the negotiations will be quite entertaining parliament will set out its conditions and take up negotiations with the German presidency of the council of the EU then as soon as possible but we need to get it done the sooner the better Excellent just one final question Hane and some for myself just you are to what extent would there be a level of disappointment and concern in the European parliament that there wasn't a stronger linkage drawn between the funding in the mff and the rule of law issue I mean maybe that's inevitable that I would ask that question but I mean I think there is a concern out there that maybe the the outcome in the end was weaker than than many people who have a who have concern about the rule of law issue might have wanted well it's interesting how the agreement on the rule of law has now been interpreted quite differently if you hear the statements from Budapest or Warsaw they're quite different to what you're hearing from Paris or Berlin and I'm pretty sure that this will play a major role in the debates in the European parliament the European parliament from my point of view will remain firmly against watering down the mechanism to reduce or suspend EU funding if a member state disrespects the rule of law this issue needs to be dealt with now it shouldn't be put off it needs to be addressed it needs to urgently be tackled and I'm very sure that the European parliament will also be ready to enter into co-negotiations under co-decision to continue building as I would call it a European Union of fundamental rights and values because what we have to make clear to all 27 member states is we are definitely more than a free trade area and a single market we are a union of values and a union of fundamental rights and I cannot accept if certain standards regarding the rule of law are not fully implemented and not fully respected in certain member states and this in the end must also have consequences for EU funding well thank you very much David we're in the IEA nothing if not efficient in terms of timekeeping it's now four o'clock in Ireland I know it's five o'clock where you are but I just wanted to draw these this the webinar to a conclusion if I can by just extending on behalf of a very extensive number of people who've tuned in to listen to us and to watch this afternoon say thank you to you for for bringing a perspective which obviously is you know you have you have that that that unique perspective in so many ways but thank you for sharing your thoughts with us and the the views from within the European Parliament we really do appreciate them the issue remains and all of these issues remain a deeply deeply topical here so we would look forward to welcoming you back again at some stage in the future maybe when we have after the first of January next year greater clarity in terms of what the outcomes actually actually is well thank you for inviting me and thank you for the large interest obviously this event has found and it was an honor by the way to have this conversation with you since you're one of the of the longest-serving diplomat in the history of the Irish front service and let me add you are an excellent representative of your great country in Berlin between 2013 and 2019 thank you David that's a great note on which to leave you so thank you very much indeed enjoy the summer break and thank you for the great work you're doing in the European Parliament thank you


Hi friends, welcome back to my channel and welcome if you're new here. My name is Jen. I'm a certified weight loss and nutrition coach and I'm on the WW or the Weight Watchers Blue Plan. It's Friday, so it's another weigh-in day. We're gonna talk about my week, set some goals for the upcoming week and of course go over this week's WW workshop topic. So if you're excited for another Friday weigh-in video, give this one a huge thumbs up. It really helps out my channel and of course lets me know to keep putting out these weigh-ins every single week. Don't forget if you're new or you're watching and you haven't yet subscribed, join our community, hit the subscribe button, ring the bell next to it so you never miss a Friday weigh-in video or another video in general. Check out the description box down below where you're going to find my nutrition coaching website. I do offer personalized to you macros and calories. Whether you're on Weight Watchers or not, it is so important to know how many calories you should be eating every day as well as what should be your macronutrient goals. Things like carbs, fats and protein. I can figure all of that out for you. You can order that service again on my website. You'll also see 30 and 60 minute one-on-one coaching sessions. If you're looking for just a little bit more one-on-one individualized support, I offer those as well. Also in the description box, you'll find links and discount codes to all of my very favorite things as well as one free month on WW. If you're thinking about it or you haven't quite decided if you wanna join, there is a link down below where you will get one free month and in return. I also get one free month. So thank you in advance for using my link. If you're on the fence on whether or not you want to join WW. You'll also find my Facebook group. We'd love to have you join that community as well. It's very supportive and loving and just a great place to be. So head on over and join us there. So we have a workshop topic to discuss a way in to go over and we need to set some goals because it is April. It is April. Absolutely a fantastic week. As a lot of you know, we picked up our new puppy Palmer on Saturday. So it has been a very hectic, chaotic week for me. Lots of lack of sleep, lots of time spent getting him accustomed to Diesel and Lola. It's been quite the challenge. I actually have a video coming out here shortly. I've logged the entire process of picking up Palmer, introducing him to Diesel and Lola and kind of how he's been doing over the last week or so. So stay tuned for that video coming out shortly. As I mentioned in last week's Wayne video, I decided that for the remainder of the month of March, I wasn't going to be tracking my food. This was to take one thing off of my plate with how busy I knew it would be having a new puppy. And let me just tell you upfront, that was the best decision that I could have made. I'd barely have time to eat more or less track my food. So it was such a great decision to just take that off of my plate and be able to focus on making healthy food choices, getting in my activity. And let me tell you, with a new puppy, I'm getting in more activity and more steps than ever. And also just really focus on making Palmer feel at home and introducing him and establishing a relationship with Diesel and Lola. So I'm grateful that I took that off my plate. I don't regret it at all. It's been very freeing and it's been much more relaxed when it comes to what I'm eating to not have to worry about tracking it. I will say that even though I'm not tracking my food, I seem to be even more mindful. And also the other thing that I've noticed, which has been a huge eye-opener for me, is I think about food a lot less. Because I'm not tracking it, I just eat when I'm hungry and I make a good decision. I eat a portion of the foods that I'm having, whether it be considered healthy or unhealthy, and I move on with my day. So one thing I have noticed and one thing I've really been enjoying besides having to track and spend time doing that is the fact that I really just don't think about food as often. So if you're someone that doesn't track, let me know down in the comments if you've experienced this same thing where you just don't think about food as much. Besides being busy, the new puppy not tracking my food, I did have a good week. And like I said, I've been getting in more steps than ever. So that has been great when it comes to my weight loss journey. But before I jump into my weight loss results for the week, let's talk about this week's WWW workshop. This week's topic is the secret to being more active. We're going to use a term called temptation bundling when it comes to making us more active and moving our body just a little bit more. The definition of temptation bundling is pairing something you love with something you should or must do. So let's dive a little bit deeper into this. Studies show that when people actually do intentional activity or movement for pleasure, they're more likely to not only lose weight but also to sustain their weight. But I get it, not everybody loves working out, myself included. That's where temptation bundling comes in. This is where it can really help you out when it comes to getting in intentional movement. So you're going to take the I should list plus the I love list and that's going to equal your temptation bundle. So here's an example of that. I should walk more often or I should try a new workout class. Plus I love listening to a podcast or catching up on the phone with a good friend. So match one from each of these lists to temptation bundle. I should walk more and I love to listen to podcasts.  So just remember the I should list plus the I love list equals your temptation bundle and this should get you moving just a little bit more. So now let's jump into this week's weigh in and we'll set some goals moving into next week, which is April. I cannot believe you guys that we are starting the second quarter of 2021 already. So without tracking, with going out of town, with moving a little bit more because of a new puppy, when I stepped on the scale today, I'm actually down 0.2 pounds. I didn't expect to lose anything to be honest. As you know, last week I maintained my weight. The other two weeks of the month I lost a little bit. So the fact that I'm down an additional 0.2, I will absolutely take it. This is my last weigh in for the month of March. So I'm going to put here on the screen my weight loss for the month. Now it wasn't a lot, but I'm okay with that. Life happened in the month of March. A lot of things were thrown my way that were out of the ordinary. So the fact that I ended the month with any weight loss at all makes me extremely happy.  Slow and steady wins the race in my opinion. So as long as at the end of the month, the scale is moving in the right direction, I'm a happy girl. So my goals moving into April and moving into this next week, primary forefront, the most important goal is to get back to tracking. So starting on April 1st, I am back to tracking my food. I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing when it comes to activity. I'm still doing jazzercise three times a week. Like I said, I've been moving a lot more, getting in a lot more steps every day with having a new puppy because we're taking him out every couple of hours. We run around our yard. And if you didn't know our backyard's about two acres. So there's a lot of space for the dog to run, for us to run. And I'm just getting in more neat, non-exercise activity thermogenesis just moving my body throughout the day, which actually is more important to weight loss than intentional movement. So I'm excited that I'm getting in that non-activity related movement during the day. And I'm attributing that to the little bit of weight loss that I lost this week is just getting in a little bit of extra movement. You will see in my video when we picked up Palmer that we ate fast food, we ate dinner out. There was no holds barred on what we were eating. We had to eat out. I had to make the best choices that I could. But I also wanted to enjoy my last meal before a new puppy. So back to tracking, back to seeing the scale move in the right direction, hopefully every week during the month of April. And as part of my spring challenge over on my Facebook group, we have a water challenge for April and that is to drink at least a half of a gallon of water every day.  So that is my goal moving into April is to continue to drink my gallon of water every single day. So now I wanna hear from you guys. Let me know how your week was. Let me know if you gained, if you lost, kind of how you felt when you stepped on the scale this week. Most importantly, what are your goals for the month of April? I can't wait to hear from you. If you are interested in joining my Facebook challenge, it's not too late. Head on over, join my Facebook group. You'll find the information for the spring challenge pinned to the top of my group. So you can definitely still come over and join us. It's three months long, lots of challenges, giveaways, prizes, support, zoom calls, super, super fun. So if you're interested, head on over and join us. Don't forget to give this video a big huge thumbs up and subscribe. If you haven't yet, I'd love to have you join this community as well. Please discount codes to all of my favorite things. My Facebook group and my nutrition coaching website are all down in that description box. Happy Friday, my friends. I hope you have the best day ever and I'll see you in tomorrow's massive. It's time for Costco again, grocery haul. Bye.