On May 10 Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), addressed the Netherlands Parliament in Den Hague. He opens with some boiler-plate puff: “This year, we celebrate the 60th and 25th anniversaries of the Treaties of Rome and Maastricht. Despite the many challenges that we face as Europeans, we should never forget the significant … More A Draghi on Reform?
Guy Verhofstadt* is among the most vociferous supporters of the EU and strongly favours ever closer union towards a federal European government as the solution to its present persistent problems. Writing in the New York Times on May 16, he is enthusiastic about the implications of Emmanuel Macron’s substantial victory in the French presidential election. … More View from the parapet
There is not much news from home about Brexit because of the election next week. However, things progress on the Continent. First, it is interesting that the ECJ has decided that it is not necessary for all 34 national and regional parliaments to approve the trade agreement with Singapore, QMV will do. This has implications … More Onwards, and Upwards?
EU Finance Commissioner, Pierre Moscovici (who is a former French finance minister), asks that the EU should give Emmanuel Macon a chance. He said that his victory was a good signal for Europe because the French had chosen to beat extremism. He didn’t mention that about 11 million French citizens did vote for ‘extremism’ or … More Bonne Chance Avec Ça
Emmanuel Macron has big plans to revive France and the EU. In France he faces many difficulties, not the least of which is getting some La République En March! deputies into parliament in the forthcoming election. More relevant to this blog he has some quite radical ideas for reforming the EU but he will face … More France, Germany & EU
The question is often asked, ‘why is the EU so inflexible in its operations?’ There are no doubt many parts to the answer; one which we have offered is ideology, which permeates the foundations of the project and is held tenaciously by its leaders. A related characteristic of the EU is its constitution. Now the … More Trick or Treaty?
Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, spent two days in the Republic of Ireland, making some attempts to ease concerns there that a hardened border with Northern Ireland will cause major problems. Last Thursday he addressed the Irish Parliament, a rare honour for a non-parliamentarian. He also visited the border and addressed a summit … More Signs of Softening?
Writing in the Daily Telegraph on 9 May, Daniel Korski asks us not to panic, or to get too pessimistic about the outcome of the forthcoming Brexit negotiations. “For all this heat belies the positive progress that has been made over the last six months or so. Working quietly and with none of this week’s … More Messages by Telegraph
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?
This EU Won't Work 