Single EP seat wars – it’s that time of the year again
Like Christmas, the debate on a single seat for the European Parliament comes round once a year. This time last year MEPs backed amendments calling for the Parliament to have a single seat. Today...
View ArticleGetting caught in the web of Internet reform
It’s become difficult to escape legislation on Internet regulation. In Europe, and across the Atlantic to the US, the governance of cyber-land hasrisen to the top of the political agenda. In January...
View ArticleEuro 2012 – to boycott or not to boycott
Not that you’d know it from the peculiarly damp and dismal weather that has afflicted Brussels over the last month, but summer is rapidly approaching. In two months time politicians and hacks will be...
View ArticleBeware the wrath of tax-paying Greeks
Christine Lagarde is paying the media price for some unwisely strident remarks about the plight of Greece. Asking during an interview over the weekend whether she felt any sympathy for ordinary Greeks...
View ArticleNo more moralising, Greece needs its own Marshall Plan
Now that the dust has settled on the second Greek general election in as many months it is striking to realise that the two elections have not achieved a lot. A coalition of Pasok and New Democracy is...
View ArticleSurprise summit success buys time and credibility
Last Wednesday I was bracing myself for yet another failed EU crisis summit followed immediately by the usual flight of capital courtesy of panicky financial traders. It was a relief to find that Italy...
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Cam’s euro-vision deserves a fair hearing
David Cameron’s EU speech attracted vitriol from the usual suspects last week. Guy Verhofstadt accused him of “playing with fire”, the Socialist group’s Hannes Swoboda said it was “tragicomic” – and...
View ArticleForget the MFF, it’s trade not budget aid that matters
EU leaders started their first summit of 2013 in fine fashion. First talks set to begin at a civilised 4pm were delayed until 8.30pm – a cruel interruption into carefully laid dinner plans. Then there...
View ArticleOnly in Italy?
A common phrase was on the lips of pundits this morning – only in Italy. With the centre-left scoring only the narrowest of victories, leaving them with control of the lower house – the Chamber of...
View ArticleAn outbreak of Tory moderation on Europe or just wishful thinking….
For most of the past fifteen years, pro-European Conservatives have been on the endangered species list in British politics. In 2008 only three Conservative MPs out of a caucus of nearly 200 voted in...
View ArticleThe EU budget farce is over….for now at least
At the end of it all, a deal was done. But it was always going to. But seldom have so many working hours been wasted to achieve so little as the EU’s interminable budget negotiations. Spare a thought...
View ArticleDoes UKIP now have the cash to cause an earthquake?
If opinion polls are to be believed, UKIP has more than a fighting chance of winning next May’s European elections. And their prospects have certainly been done no harm by multi-millionaire Paul Sykes’...
View ArticleDo Europe’s liberals have a death-wish?
Next year’s European elections are threatening to shake up the political balance in Europe. Far-right nationalist parties could quite conceivably take 100 seats next May. Marine Le Pen’s National Front...
View ArticleMore UK referendum games….
So Labour leader Ed Miliband has ruled out a referendum on EU membership…or has he? As ever, it is not the end of the matter. Some conservative commentators have, predictably, described the move as...
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