British parliament

The new British prime minister, Boris Johnson, said in his first speech in Parliament that Brexit would turn Britain into the greatest place in the world, BTA reported.
He also said that London will not nominate a candidate for EU commissioner to the new EC staff.

Former London Mayor and engineer of Brocott Boris Johnson was announced today as the next UK prime minister and new Conservative Party leader.

He won in-house elections among 160,000 members of the Tories with 92,153 votes. 

Johnson (55) will officially take over the post of prime minister tomorrow.

Challenges to the new prime minister

The British Parliament was evacuated today due to a fire alert, BTA reported.

Reuters witness said that "A message over the PA system urged people to leave the building. Lawmakers were also asked to leave the area as a loud alarm sounded. The alarm ended around 20 minutes later and lawmakers, staff and journalists were allowed back into the Palace of Westminster."

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades will issue a demarche to British Prime Minister Theresa May over the "unacceptable" comments made in the British Parliament on Tuesday by UK Minister of State for Europe Alan Duncan, who described Cyprus' exclusive economic zone (EEZ), where Turkey plans to conduct exploratory hydrocarbon activities, as an area whose "sovereignty is under dispute."

Cyprus' Foreign Ministry has summoned the British High Commissioner Stephen Lillie to explain the British stance on Cyprus' exclusive economic zone (EEZ) following statements made Tuesday in the British Parliament by UK Minister for Europe Alan Duncan.

Minister-delegate for European Affairs George Ciamba chaired on Tuesday in Luxembourg a new meeting of the General Affairs Council (Art. 50), organised under the aegis of Romania's Presidency at the EU Council, context in which he tackled several scenarios regarding Brexit.

The British Parliament passed a law aimed at forcing the government to ask EU leaders for a new break in Brexit to avoid divorce without an agreement on April 12, AP and AFP announced. The law was approved by the House of Lords and the House of Commons late last night.

British Prime Minister Theresa May wrote today a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk, asking for a postponement of Brexit until June 30, Reuters reported.

"The United Kingdom proposes that this period should end on 30 June 2019," May said in the letter.

In Washington D.C. on Wednesday, Romania's Minister-delegate for European Affairs George Ciamba held bilateral meetings with U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Terner Mnuchin and U.S. senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis), chairman of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

While the European Union and Britain wrestle over the "Irish backstop" issue in their stalled Brexit agreement, a similar problem is taxing another island at the other end of the continent - Cyprus.