The EU’s response to the covid pandemic has been slow and underwhelming but one of its (many) presidents thinks we should be looking at the bigger picture—the slow train will safely reach its destination. In its tracks citizens’ lives are lost or devastated. Following up our earlier post under this title, we re-focus on the … More Words versus Deeds – 2
The European Commission has published its report on the results of a survey requested and co-ordinated by the European Commission’s and European Parliament’s Directorates-General for Communication. The full report can be downloaded from [1]: Earlier we commented at some length on the preparations for the Conference on the Future of Europe, so we can be … More The Future of Europe
Of the EU’s many shortcomings, which we have detailed in the course of this five-year blog, two ideas are at the root of them. 1. “Ever Closure Union” is a euphemism for a process of planned unification, whereby Europe is to be reduced to a uniform state (a “level playing field”) from a varied, dynamic … More Why the Union Project is Unsound
In the UK there is outrage about lobbying on behalf of private enterprises by ex-prime ministers and top civil servants, Parliament has demanded an investigation and expects to see changes made. Meanwhile MEPs in Brussels have taken a different approach to their own activities.* Quotations are from EUObserver: 16 April 2021 [1] Headline: MEPs reject … More More on Lobbying and Corruption
In this post we come up to date and contrast the ideal version of itself that the EU presents to its supporters, and to the world at large, with the performance of the EU in its practices. (Quotations are in red.) [1] Speculating simply, the EU may be popular because of the goals and values … More Goals and Values
The EU has drawn together all the relevant bits and pieces that have emerged over the years to define its legal authority into a single document. Because the few citizens who were given a choice rejected the idea of a Constitution, a long-winded fudge, called “Consolidated Versions of the Treaty on European Union and the … More What About the Treaties?
Our last post looked at how the Lisbon Treaty represented a constitution in disguise, sneakily introduced because voters who were asked didn’t want one and others weren’t asked in case they too rejected it. The plan was agreed by the EU Council during its meeting at Laeken in 2001 and they would not be defied. … More The Laeken Declaration
We’ve referred occasionally to the draft European Constitution. In this post we look a little more closely at its formation and its conversion into the Lisbon Treaty after the draft was rejected in referendums in France and The Netherlands in 2005. The full text of the draft Constitution can be downloaded [1]. Here is the … More Constitutional Deception
Merkel’s and Macron’s undermining of the Oxford-Astra Zeneca vaccine may derive from their instinctive reactions to any hint that Britain’s future after Brexit might be fruitful, but they are reckless and are damaging enthusiasm for the EU. Whilst infections, hospitalisations and deaths in the UK are plunging, in Germany the vast majority of the Oxford-AstraZeneca … More Sputnik launched in the EU
There is little to doubt that European unity was inspired by the desire for peace after two devastating world wars. With the founding of the European Union this great and noble cause has been obscured and diverted down a different path. In 1949, the Council of Europe (CoE) was formed to create conditions for peaceful … More Paved With Good Intentions
This EU Won't Work 