During the course of our blogging about the EU and the Brexit Referendum we have touched repeatedly on a number of themes. In this post we highlight the disdain in which the EU and its leaders hold the people and their nations. So great is the mission that it must not be impeded by citizens’ … More High and Mighty
Even reliably supportive journals get short shrift when they ask critical questions of the EU and its reliable lack of transparency. The leaders excuse themselves. EUobserver has challenged the European Parliament (EP) to publish, in the public interest, the documents prepared by an ad-hoc working group charged to propose options to reform the allocation of … More Expensives
Even among supporters of the EU, and it Ombudsman (a woman) the manner in which the appointment was made (see Revealing Appointment) has raised concerns. Of course these have had no effect. In February the European Commission appointed Martin Selmayr to the post of Secretary-General, effectively the head of the EU’s civil service. We posted … More Revealing Appointment-2
Labour’s official policy on Brexit is to honour the people’s choice in the 2016 Referendum by leaving the EU (as promised in its 2017 manifesto). It would seek to remain in the Single Market with membership of A customs union. This would mean we would have all the economic benefits of remaining in the EU … More Leave’s Labour’s Lost
This post is the third and final part of our review of Jean-Claude Juncker’s speech to the European Parliament. The full text of his speech can be downloaded from here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-political/files/soteu2018-speech_en_0.pdf Responsibility: Swipes and Digs “It is our Galileo programme that is today keeping Europe in the space race. No single Member State could have … More State of the European Union 2018 – 3
This post is the second part of our three-part review of Jean-Claude Juncker’s speech to the European Parliament. The full text of his speech can be downloaded from here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-political/files/soteu2018-speech_en_0.pdf Unification The Five Presidents Report [1] is not often referred to directly these days but its plan still underpins the economic activities of the Union … More State of the European Union 2018 – 2
Jean-Claude Juncker gave his last SOTEU presentation as President of the European Commission to the European Parliament on September 12, his third since the UK Referendum. We commented on the previous two [1], [2] and now add the third. This post is the first of a three-part review of his speech. The text of his … More State of the European Union 2018 – 1
“…have lighted fools the way to dusty death.” If we are guided by intended outcomes rather than actual ones we are unlikely to follow the best path. We cannot know the future for sure but if we look at the past, the present, recent trends and current plans for the EU and our part in … More All our yesterdays…
Comments on ‘Lessons for the EU from the Austro-Hungarian Empire’ (The Economist, ‘Charlemagne’ on 01/09/2018). We take issue with the author’s assumptions and the claim that all will be well in the end. Even usually uncritical Remainers have noticed that there is something amiss with the EU. The Economist (TE) has a revealing article on … More Spinning Past the Point
The White Paper (WP), following the agreement of (much of) the Cabinet in early July, sets out the details of the UK Government’s latest proposal for the UK to leave the European Union. This posts offers comments on selected ‘highlights’ from the paper. In her Foreword the Prime Minister refers to the result of the … More Chequers White Paper
This EU Won't Work 