…As French president, Macron, says Europe must renew itself or fall***

The BBC has fired a presenter who tweeted an image of a chimpanzee dressed in clothes with the caption “Royal Baby leaves hospital’’.

Meghan, wife of Prince Harry, gave birth, in the early hours of Monday, to a baby boy, Archie, the first mixed race child to be born into the top hierarchy of British royalty in recent history.

“Just got fired,” Danny Baker, the broadcaster with BBC Radio 5Live, said on Twitter.

The BBC also reported the news, though a spokesman for the BBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The 61 year-old 5Live presenter was accused of mocking the duchess’ racial heritage.

A BBC spokesperson said: “This was a serious error of judgment.”

The corporation added that Baker’s tweet “goes against the values we as a station aim to embody.

“Danny is a brilliant broadcaster, but will no longer be presenting a weekly show with us.”

After an initial backlash on social media, Baker said: “Sorry my gag pic of the little fella in the posh outfit has whipped some up. Never occurred to me because, well, mind not diseased.

“Soon as those good enough to point out its possible connotations got in touch, down it came; and that’s it.’’

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan showed their son to the public for the first time on Wednesday.

Harry and Meghan, whose mother Doria Ragland is African American, revealed on Wednesday their new son was named Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.

The royal couple announced the names on their official Instagram account, but did not say why they chose them or whether the infant will hold any royal titles.

Archie, who is seventh in line to the British throne, is expected to hold dual citizenship of Britain and the U.S.

Congratulations have poured in from well-wishers in Britain and other countries, including many celebrities, since Meghan gave birth to the boy weighing 3.26 kilograms.

Harry, 34, is the second son of the heir to the throne, Prince Charles.

Harry married former actress Meghan, 37, in a spectacular wedding at the royal Windsor Castle in May 2018.

The queen and Philip now have four children, eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Prince William, who has three young children with his wife Kate, the duchess of Cambridge, welcomed his younger brother to “the sleep deprivation society’’ on Tuesday.

The queen’s grandfather, King George V, changed the royal family’s name from the German Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor – after Windsor Castle – in 1917 during World War I.

Philip also changed his name during World War I after his grandfather, Prince Louis of Battenberg, adopted the family name Mountbatten. 

In the meantime, the EU must focus on climate, security, and growth after continent-wide elections in two weeks, or fall, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday.

Micron said this as the leaders met in Romania to chart the way forward following Brexit.

The leaders of all members except Britain meet on Europe Day in the town of Sibiu, which has German and Hungarian roots, 15 years after the EU’s expansion east finally consigned to history the Iron Curtain that had divided Europe since World War Two.

With European Parliament elections set for May 23-26, they will hammer home their goal of staying united in spite of the Brexit damage, as well as having a first go at assigning the bloc’s most powerful jobs later this year.

“In 15 days, some 400 million Europeans will choose between a project…to build Europe further or a project to destroy, deconstruct Europe and return to nationalism,” Macron said on arriving to the informal talks among the 27 leaders.

“We need to move faster now and with more determination on European renaissance,” he said.

“Climate, protection of borders and a model of growth, a social model…is what I really want for the coming years.”

France and seven other EU countries proposed getting to “net-zero greenhouse gas emissions” by 2050 for the Sibiu discussion, which is rich in symbolism but expected to produce no concrete decisions.

That partly reflects how troubled the times are for the EU.

Divided over issues ranging from migration to democratic standards, the EU is grappling with Brexit and a wave of populism, and faces external challenges from China to Russia to the U.S.

It is also lagging behind on issues from climate change to cyber security.

But the 27 leaders signed off on a declaration promising to “defend one Europe”, “stay united, through thick and thin” and “always look for joint solutions” in the next political cycle until 2024.

More immediate consequences could come from informal discussions on appointing new people to the EU’s most powerful roles at the helm of the European Council.

This will brings together national leaders, the executive European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Central Bank and the joint diplomatic service.

All five posts are up for grabs later this year and the outgoing European Parliament has already named its picks for the Commission job including a conservative German, Manfred Weber, and a Dutch socialist, Frans Timmermans.

The national leaders, however, want to keep firm control of the process where party politics, geographies, policy priorities as well as the candidates’ personal profiles all play a role.

Agreeing the choice took three summits and three summer months of horse-trading the last time round and the Sibiu summit chairman Donald Tusk will propose finishing it in two goes now.

Hungary’s eurosceptic Prime Minister Viktor Orban as well as Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras were among those speaking against Weber.

The leaders of Luxembourg and Lithuania opposed the idea of following the parliament’s picks.
While desirable for smooth future cooperation, no formal unanimity is required.
Orban and Britain’s former Prime Minister David Cameron opposed the nomination of the current head of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, in 2014.

Other names in the hat include Brexit negotiator Frenchman Michel Barnier, or Margrethe Vestager, Denmark’s current commissioner who imposed hefty fines on global tech giants Google and Apple.
Tusk wants to convene another summit in Brussels on May 28, two days after the European Parliament vote to let the national leaders discuss the results and agree on their next steps.