Brexit postcard from Brussels: Le Pen goes on the offensive
Sky's Darren McCaffrey reports from the EU capital, rounding up the main Brexit-related news of the day.
Wednesday 22 February 2017 11:05, UK
Welcome to my latest postcard from the EU capital.
Every day I'll bring you the latest Brexit-related news from a continental perspective.
:: THE CZECH'S HIT OUT AT MAY'S ALTERNATIVE FACTS
The Czech Republic's EU minister Tomas Prouza, a vocal critic of Brexit has hit out again, accusing the Theresa May of lying about freedom of movement.
Mr Prouza warned the PM was resorting to "alternative facts" on internal EU migration and her rhetoric could hammer negotiations and future UK-EU relations.
He argued Britain should build a future relationship based "on facts and respect, not populism and lies".
And it didn't end there.
He also accused May of providing no clarity of what Brexit actually meant saying, "Brexit means Brexit" to "Brexit means hard Brexit" to "Theresa May's speech means Theresa May's speech".
:: LE PEN ON THE OFFENSIVE
The far-right French presidential candidate is mounting a legal action against EU officials who want hundreds of thousands of euros back for alleged misuse of funds.
Le Pen, who is a leading candidate in April's elections, is targeting the European Parliament's most senior civil servants, according to Politico.
The civil lawsuit is seeking symbolic compensation of one euro for "moral and material damages".
And the National Front are also accusing Martin Schulz, the former European Parliament president, of being behind what Le Pen describes as a politically motivated campaign against her in Brussels.
:: DOES DUBLIN WANT MORE BANKERS?
So, Dublin is braced, excited even, about financial firms leaving London and .
But do regulators want a sudden influx of bankers?
Many in Ireland are still scarred by their disastrous post-2008 banking crisis and won't want lots of potentially unstable firms swamping the Irish market.
And so it seems the Central Bank of Ireland wants a "substantial" presence in the country, which means people and infrastructure, and not just paper companies, being set up.
:: KHAN'S EUROPEAN TRAVELS
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has announced he's going to visit five major European cities next month to declare that the capital remains the number one destination for investment, business and tourism, and to discuss London's needs from the Brexit negotiations.
The Mayor is expected to visit Berlin, Brussels, Paris, Madrid and Warsaw over six days in March with a plan to "strengthen the historic economic, business and cultural ties London shares with its European neighbours".
The jaunts are part of his 'London Is Open' programme and is expected to include meetings with senior politicians, city leaders and business leaders.
:: O'LEARY - I TOLD YOU SO, OR I WILL
He could never be accused of holding back his views. Well now, the CEO of Irish company Ryanair, Michael O'Leary, has said he is convinced that "by the end of two years" Brexit supporters are going to change their point of view.
This is on "the most ridiculous" decision ever made by the British.
Mr O'Leary said: "I continue to believe that in two years, when the British population will have realised that the proponents of Brexit lied to them, they will change their point of view."
Do you agree? Let him ... let me ... know.
Darren McCaffrey is back again on Monday. Follow him on Twitter: @DMcCaffrey