Constitutionally Speaking The EU treaties are now in effect its constitution (although rejected by French and Dutch voters the constitution written by Giscard D-Estaing’s committee was incorporated almost word-for-word under the Lisbon Treaty in 2007). This includes financial policies – that’s practically unheard of in comparable countries’ laws. For the eurozone they enshrine German priorities, … More Short Shorts
The result from France indicates that some extreme reactions against the EU are not sufficiently popular to get governments overthrown. EU leaders will take these results as confirmation of their success; they shouldn’t, the resentment continues to smoulder but a majority of Europeans appear to be rejecting xenophobia and extreme nationalism as solutions. But that … More Can EU be rescued?
It must be quite rough in the English Channel (La Manche in French, Ärmelkanal in German, both meaning ‘sleeve’) just now, with the hot wind from pre-negotiation posturing blowing up our sleeve, even if there’s little else up it. Richard North, in his blog EUReferendum (Friday May 5), ascribes the heat and noise to justified obligations … More Mercury rising
There is growing evidence that Germany is using its weight to drive the EU in the direction it favours; towards a federalised Europe. We open with thought-provoking advice from Germany: http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-39705689/son-of-nazi-leaders-warning-on-germany Niklas Frank, son of a wartime Nazi leader, spoke to Stephen Sackur of the BBC’s Hard Talk programme. Frank is not confident that Germany … More Germany calling the shots
Unreality The EU Project is not grounded in reality and does not serve the people. The latter point is clear to those willing to look at what is happening to citizens in many of the nations supposed to be converging on a prosperous future together. For more than half its existence the EU has been falling … More Shorties-9
If, as is generally predicted, Emmanuel Macron wins the presidency of France in the second round, on May 7th, there will be much relief in Brussels, and Strasbourg. The alternative would reduce Brexit to a side show. For at least another week, relief will be at bay as tension remains high, with the possibility of … More French Election, Part 1
This post is a follow-up to our recent one, Dis-integration. We offer some other pieces of evidence that illustrate the contradictions between claims of unity and the reality for citizens, which come from Germany, Hungary, Poland, Greece and Italy. The EU is dominated by Germany and it is disregarding EU rules. Germany’s 9% trade surplus … More Working Together?
From Jean-Claude Juncker’s State of the Union address to the European Parliament last September: “I have witnessed several decades of EU integration … But never before have I seen such little common ground between our Member States. So few areas where they agree to work together.” From the Rome Declaration of March 2017: “Europe became … More Dis-integration
WTO rules are the default in the event that the UK cannot strike a trade deal with the EU. How bad might that be? Will there be a tariff wall against UK exports that kills our trade? We should clarify that whilst the EU has handled all negotiations on behalf of its constituent states, all … More WOT, no trade deals?
The recent White Paper from the European Commission put forward five possible scenarios for the development of the EU towards 2025. We reviewed the paper in Our Commentary on the White Paper and More on the White Paper. One of the posited scenarios was that the Union would progress at different speeds; the multi-speed scenario. … More Who wants the Euro?
This EU Won't Work 