Now that Europe is going through a severe economic and political crisis, its geographical and moral barriers are being erased for the sake of globalization, the participants of a round table discussion in Rome were quoted by Sputnik Italy as saying.

They claimed that Europe have already entered an era of uncertainty where cultural differences had blurred.

Italian journalist Marcello Veneziani, for his part, noted that the process of erasing all boundaries across Europe had come amid stark differences between the EU member states in terms of economic vitality and political sovereignty.

In this regard, Veneziani underscored the importance of boundaries being preserved.

"Without boundaries-related restrictions, any society can increase to immeasurable dimensions," he said, calling for the creation of a governing class who would be able to not only win elections, but also to manage the affairs of state.

In an interview with Sputnik Italy, Italian economics expert Alberto Bagnai, in turn, focused on the economic crisis in Europe and how it had spelled disaster for Italy, which had earlier been hit by the 2008 economic meltdown.

read more:

https://sputniknews.com/europe/201702141050653385-europe-italy-economic-...

The House of Lords has passed the Brexit bill, paving the way for the government to trigger Article 50 so the UK can leave the EU.

Peers backed down over the issues of EU residency rights and a meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal after their objections were overturned by MPs.

The bill is expected to receive Royal Assent and become law on Tuesday.

The BBC's Laura Kuenssberg said this would leave Theresa May free to push the button on withdrawal talks.

The prime minister could theoretically invoke Article 50, which formally starts the Brexit process, as early as Tuesday.

read more:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-39262081

Britain's Brexit secretary David Davis said in January that the United Kingdom wanted to have "the exact same benefits" after its departure as it did before. It is a comment that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hasn't forgotten. If the UK isn't as well positioned with the EU on trade and customs as it was before Brexit, his party won't approve the Brexit deal, he told parliament on Wednesday.

If Corbyn means this seriously -- his parliamentary group, after all, approved the motion for Brexit -- it suggests that he has lost touch with reality. The EU position -- backed by the European Commission, the European Parliament and EU member states -- has been crystal clear for months: Following Brexit, the UK cannot end up in a better situation than EU members, if only to avoid giving EU-skeptics in other countries a boost.

Theresa May, by contrast, finds herself in a position that could hardly be weaker. In only two years, she must lead the highly complicated negotiations to a successful conclusion -- a task which is, to put it mildly, rather ambitious. It's made even more complicated by the fact that she must fight on multiple fronts: Scotland, Northern Ireland, Brussels, the British economy and domestic British politics. If she doesn't succeed, a so-called "dirty Brexit" looms, the departure from the EU without a trade deal. Were that to happen, British trade with the EU would then be conducted on the basis of WTO rules. For the EU that would be unpleasant; for the UK it would likely be a catastrophe. The British Treasury has predicted that the country's gross domestic product could shrink by 7.5 percent in such a scenario and tax shortfalls would amount to 45 billion pounds.

read more:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/brexit-eu-negotiations-set-fo...

Britain has to pay for its double-agent game...