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EU democracy vs euroscepticism
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There is a distinction I must make for this article. The term eurosceptic covers a large group of people but for this article I am really referring to those who are no longer going to be persuaded that the EU is a good thing, those who will...
Cameron's speech, thoughts
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On Wednesday David Cameron gave a much anticipated speech with regards to the UK's future in the EU. He set out a few principles that he believed the EU had to meet if it was to be right for the UK, though there was little in the way of details (asid...
So what are the positives of the EU?
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Those who are in favour of the EU can often find themselves so wrapped up in explaining why eurosceptics' arguments for leaving are wrong or inaccurate that it can be hard to remember the reasons why the UK's membership of the EU is a good thing! (or...
ECB supervision of banks - politics and economics
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EU finance ministers have now agreed to give the ECB powers to supervise the largest lenders within the eurozone. The exact details are that the ECB will have oversight of banks with over 30bn euros in assets or which have a significant presence...
Law-making in the EU
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Lots of people in the UK at least aren't very clear about how laws are made in the EU and how the different parts interact with each other in this process. This article is therefore an attempt at a simple presentation of how it works (whilst simultan...
The EU budget: Who is the UK fighting?
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It has come to my attention that with the media coverage of the arguments back and forth over the size of the EU budget a sort of 'them and us' attitude has been created. I hesitate to say created as this attitude prevails through much of the UK medi...
Commons defeat on EU budget
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The House of Commons recently voted against the government on the issue of the EU budget (by 307 votes to 294), demanding that the EU budget for the next 7 years be 'reduced in real terms'.Naturally the eurosceptics have been overjoyed by this news.
Reforms I believe the EU needs
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1. It needs more direct accountability. For example, power of dismissal of individual commissioners by the European Parliament. 2. The eurozone needs further integration and at the moment it seems to be going in the right direction but they stil...
EU Nobel Peace Prize
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When it was announced that the EU would be receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, there was much discussion over whether it deserved this reward. Whether now, when there is lots of division and crisis in the EU, was an appropriate time or whether those thi...
Thoughts on possibility of an EU referendum
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Firstly, allow me to make it clear that I am in favour of a referendum on the EU. No matter what misgivings I may have about the ability of the electorate to properly decide on such a complex issue, that is in many ways simply the nature of democracy...
Barroso's Gaffe
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Recently Jose Barroso, the president of the European Commission made some comments about further integration within the EU. This is not a new thing, there have been plenty of mentions of further integration with the ongoing eurozone crisis as many fe...
Euromyth Monday: UK immigration policy is controlled by the EU
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Apologies for the week-long gap, getting back into the work routine (aren’t we all?)In the continuation of my Euromyth Monday series, today we’re addressing ‘the EU controls UKimmigration policy’.This is partially true, partially false.We’l...
Euromyth Monday: Bendy bananas
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Hello readers, welcome to a new feature called 'Euromyth Monday' where I examine what are know as 'euromyths'. I'll try to look at where the myths come from, what the reality is and even if they are myths at all or perfectly reasonable claims, dismis...
UK, trains and the EU
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Some in the UK have a tendency to point to the EU has a source of lots of problems, not really investigating the issue in detail and often referring to only superficial links. The privatisation of the trains in the UK is an example of this.So why do...
Romania Crisis Part 2
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18889374Following on from my previous article about what the EU would actually do in response to the political crisis in Romania it seems that the action taken so far has been in the form of criticism and p...
Problems with calculating EU influence on UK laws
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In this article I sometimes refer to ‘EU laws’, by this I mean EU directives, regulations and ECJ rulings. If I refer to one of these specifically e.g. ‘EU directives’ then I’m only talking about that thing, not all three. Information taken...
I agree with The Telegraph?!
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/9389279/Britain-should-pick-and-mix-over-Europe-instead-of-apeing-Norway.html The Telegraph, for non-UK readers, is a strongly conservative, right wing, eurosceptic paper. The article was written by...
Romania Crisis
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18822790'A top EU official has urged Romania's prime minister to safeguard judicial independence and the rule of law, amid a paralysing political crisis.The message came from European Council President Herman Va...
Cyprus: Russia or the EU?
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Recent reports have come out of Cyprus asking for loans from both the EU and Russia. A decision that is less surprising in the light that Cyprus was already given a loan of €2.5bn at the beginning of this year, a move that went largely unnoticed. C...
EU summit, did Germany lose out?
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After the recent EU summit many German newspapers turned on Angela Merkel for having given way under pressure from France, Italy and Spain. This week though, it appears that some German newspapers are changing their tune and are in fact giving Merkel...
