In a week when David Cameron is being admired in the United Kingdom for standing firm in Europe in a heroic if always doomed bid to prevent the inevitable appointment Jean-Claude Juncker as President of the European Commission, it may seem churlish to raise some potentially profound implications of these developments for the very survival… » read more
Archives for UK in Europe
eeb1.com_fichiers_news_fichiers1_1679_2014-06-LD-34 BACC 2014 CHEMISTRY VP Sefcovic made some commitments to the European Parliament. He said in 2013 ”Concerning European Baccalaureate 2012 exams, the Commission regrets the problems encountered at the mathematics and chemistry exams. The Commission requested a detailed report from the Office of the Secretary-General of the European Schools which was prepared by independent… » read more
Communications, English, EU Citizens and Media, future EU, InfoSociety, Member States, UK in Europe |
With Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Union got its first elected major offical. Voter’s will has eventually prevailed over backroom-ism in Brussel, ushering a new era in the unification of Europe. The debate on his nomination in previous weeks turned into an unprecendented common display of democratic will, that might have ultimately sealed this turning point.… » read more
English, EU Elections 2014, EU Priorities 2020, future EU, Member States, UK in Europe |
From majority to minority: how the Conservative Party and British euro sceptics are finding it hard to adapt to a new reality
June 26, 2014
This coming Friday the EU Heads of State will gather in Brussels to chose Europe’s next top technocrat. David Cameron has made it his personal mission to ensure that Jean-Claude Juncker will not become the next Commission President. Yet, if Cameron’s aim was to ensure Juncker never sets foot in the Commission President’s office he… » read more
English, EU Elections 2014, EU Priorities 2020, UK in Europe |
By Kathleen Garnett David Cameron has made it his personal mission to ensure that Jean-Claude Juncker will not become the next Commission President. Yet, if Cameron’s aim was to ensure Juncker never sets foot in the Commission President’s office he has gone about it in the worst way possible. EU Perspectives has already described Cameron… » read more
English, EU Elections 2014, EU Priorities 2020, UK in Europe |
Much ado about nothing
June 3, 2014
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, so the old saying goes. Yet, judging by much of the hysteria since the Parliamentary elections last week many would have us believe that the EU is in urgent need of fixing. EU Perspectives is going to stick its neck out and propose that, contrary to what every… » read more
What do the EP election results really mean?
May 29, 2014
by Brendan Donnelly, Director of the Federal Trust and former Member of the European Parliament/// Predictably, many commentaries in the British mass media have gloatingly presented the European Elections as a continent-wide reject ion of the process of European integration, as the long-ignored peoples of Europe rising up in democratic wrath against their oppressors in… » read more
By Lord Wallace, Lords government Whip responsible for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office/// There’s a wide gap between the debate leading up to the Euro-elections and the similarly confused public debate about Britain’s foreign policy and security priorities. For UKIP and some on the Conservative Right, France and Germany represent threats to British sovereignty, to… » read more
By Chris Whitehouse The commitment of Prime Minister, David Cameron, to hold an “In/Out” Referendum in 2017 on the country’s membership of the European Union risks smashing the mould of British politics and destroying the Conservative Party as we know it – whatever the outcome of the vote. A “Yes” vote is far from assured,… » read more
by Charles Kennedy MP, President of the European Movement/// As the debate around Britain’s EU membership intensifies ahead of the European Parliament elections on 22 May, it is worth remembering the advantages the EU brings to its members. 9 May marks the beginning of a process of cooperation, which intended to make war between Europe’s… » read more
#EP2014: There may be trouble ahead
May 8, 2014
by Brendan Donnelly, Director of the Federal Trust and former Member of the European Parliament./// The European Elections are sometimes described by academics and other observers as “secondary” elections, in which the electorate take little notice of the European policies or claimed achievements of those standing for election, but simply express their (often unfavourable) judgements… » read more
By Jason Anderson for WWF In 2013 Scotland met almost 47% of its electricity needs from renewables and there is plenty more to come. If anyone doubted we can respond to the challenge the IPCC set out, the example offered by Scotland and many other countries the world over show the EU can and must… » read more
by Giles Goodall, Liberal Democrat European Parliamentary Candidate for South East England and a member of the European Movement’s National Council/// Caught up in our hokey-cokey debate about whether we should be in or out of the EU, we Brits often miss the bigger picture in Europe. Nowhere is this truer than in the UK’s… » read more
It’s been a busy few weeks for Nigel Farage. You’d have thought, like the rest of us, he’d take a couple of days off to enjoy an Easter break with his long-suffering, hard-working German wife and family, but no. What with the EU Parliamentary elections so close at hand there’s not a moment’s rest for… » read more
Agency reverses position after reading blog posting!
April 24, 2014
The power of a Whitehouse blog post is unprecedented! A UK Government agency has reversed its policies after reading one of my earlier postings. The Food Standards Agency has announced that it is reversing its previous decision not to process applications for novel food approvals. The Agency’s Director of Communications, Stephen Humphreys, tells me: “Your… » read more
The Economist: Stonehenge offers lessons for Eurosceptics
April 22, 2014
“Excavations of a neolithic village close to Stonehenge have provided new explanations of its origins. It was not made by aliens or foreigners. It was built by Britons at a time of remarkable cultural interconnectedness. Shards of 4,500-year-old pottery excavated in Wiltshire follow a pattern originating in Orkney, a Scottish archipelago; the bones of animals… » read more
UK Government agency lacks resources to do its basic job
April 17, 2014
By Chris Whitehouse Staffing crises and soaring workloads at a UK Government Agency have forced it to throw up its hands in bureaucratic despair, a bizarre email acknowledgment suggests. Two main causes come straight to my mind…
Agriculture & Food, English, Health & Consumers, Member States, UK in Europe |
Rem Korteweg: ‘Europe is a resource-poor continent’
April 10, 2014
The last interview for my book project Next Europe was on exactly the same spot where I had my first: the Press Club in Brussels. Several months on the road, mostly in The Hague, Brussels and Paris, I now have a fine collection of insights into the challenges and opportunities of the EU in the… » read more
CAP reform process comes closer to completion
April 9, 2014
by Dr Alan Bullion, Principal Analyst, Informa Agra /// The adoption of five EU regulations last December marked the end of a two-year decision-making process on reforming the Common Agricultural Policy. But that was still not the end of the story, as they did not clarify how all of the requirements would be implemented at… » read more
The prospect of an in-out referendum in the UK in 2017 (if the Conservatives are back in power) is a fantastic incentive for politicians (and academics) to come up with new ideas on ways of governing Europe. The Brits are showing the way on how national parliaments can become more involved in holding the EU… » read more
English, EU Citizens and Media, EU Priorities 2020, UK in Europe |