Latest posts
Regulation, regulation, regulation
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It is enduring mystery how otherwise intelligent people can claim to support the European single market but at the same time object to EU regulation. The single market was created by suppressing national regulations and did so by creating super...
Emily Davison – a tribute
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It was 100 years ago that campaigner Emily Davison ran among the horses at the Epsom Derby in protest that women did not have the right to vote. She fell under the King’s horse and was killed. In 1928, just 15 years later, women finally..
Interpol or Europol?
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There has been a flurry of criticism lately of Interpol, the body that coordinates international police work, for allowing itself to be used for political purposes. Members of Interpol include some rather unsavoury regimes that have issued arre...
The Impact of EU Membership on the UK since 1973 (13 May 2013)
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London, 13 May 2013 Registration is now open for this one-day, policy-orientated conference, organised by the University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES), which involves practitioners who have been actively engaged in the Europea...
Proved right on press regulation
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This blog has not expected to be proved right so quickly on press regulation, but that’s what happened today. At the end of last year, when the Leveson commission published its report into the standards and regulation of the press, this w...
EU institutions in a changing European landscape (22 February 2013)
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Debate, 12:45 – 14:15, Friday 22nd February 2013 Policy Network in cooperation with the European Parliament Information Office in the UK is hosting an informal lunchtime discussion with Klaus Welle, Secretary General of the European Parliament,...
Trade war over gambling
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International trade disputes often shine a light on odd behaviour, and the dispute between the United States and the tiny Caribbean island country Antigua and Barbuda is no exception. Originally colonised as a site for sugar plantations, the de...
The UK and the EU Budget (20 February 2013)
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2.00pm – 5.30pm followed by a reception Mary Sumner House, 24 Tufton Street, London SW1P 3RB Speakers: Vasco Cal, Economic Adviser, Bureau of European Policy Advisers, European Commission Dr Giacomo Benedetto, Lecturer in Politics, Royal Hollow...
Multi-speed Europe and the single market (25 February 2013)
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Joint seminar by Federal Trust, Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation and Global Policy Institute 25th February 2013 5.00pm – 7.00pm National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London SW1A 2HE Speakers include John Cooke, Council Member, The Federal Trust, an...
The wrong conclusion on welfare reform
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In his speech on Europe yesterday, David Cameron observed that Europe, with seven per cent of the world’s population and 25 per cent of world GDP, accounts for 50 per cent of world welfare spending. This is a striking statistic but is it...
No end to the controversy
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Brendan Donnelly, Director of the Federal Trust and a former Member of the European Parliament, has commented as follows on Mr Cameron’s speech on Britain’s position in the European Union: “Despite the publicity that has surrounded...
The Speech
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So we have finally heard The Speech. David Cameron spoke this morning to outline what Conservative party policy on Europe would be after the next election. (Read the speech here.) David Cameron wants to renegotiate the terms of British membership of...
A bit off
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If a future British government wants to renegotiate membership of the EU, the Fresh Start group of Tory MPs has published its view of what that renegotiation should achieve. The central claim is that the EU does too much, so there are policies...
Dam!
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The intergovernmental way of doing business took another knock yesterday at a meeting of the Mekong River Commission (MRC), a body that brings together Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia to manage the water resources of the region. The Mekong river...
Speech, interrupted
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The will he? won’t he? was finally settled, with a date of 18 January in Amsterdam for David Cameron’s speech on Europe. But then reality intervened in the form of a terrorist attack on a gas installation in Algeria which provides rather more p...
A lack of leadership
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It has been a consistent theme of this website that Britain’s role in Europe is declining because of a lack of leadership. Yes, public opinion is drifting against the EU, but that’s hardly surprising when nobody is willing to put the opposite c...
Prospects for a referendum on Europe
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Report on discussion at the Federal Union committee The prime minister will give his long-awaited speech on his new Europe policy this coming Friday. In it, he will announce a plan for a referendum on Europe. All that remains unclear are the question...
The UK’s 2014 opt-out: what future for the UK within EU police and criminal justice co-operation? (31 January 2013)
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The European Movement and The Queen Mary Criminal Justice Centre, in association with JUSTICE, are holding an event to discuss the UK government’s decision on whether to opt out of EU co-operation measures in the field of criminal and policin...
Does Europe need a new treaty?
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A talk last night by Andrew Duff MEP, president of the UEF and author of a recent paper, “On governing Europe”, in which he outlined the need for and route towards a new European treaty. (Read the paper here.) The present EU institutions are in...
Silence where a policy should be
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The coalition government’s mid-term review and relaunch yesterday gave us an update on what they think they have achieved. Of course, because the coalition is made up of two separate and, at the next election, competing political parties, what th...
