December 14, 2016
The meeting of the 27 EU leaders over dinner on 15 December is their first chance to have a real political debate about Brexit since the summer. In the absence of any clear signal from London about where the UK wants to go when it leaves the EU, the summit debate will inevitably be more… » read more
Posted by Andrew Duff
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, Brexit, Court of Justice, European Council, Future of Europe |
December 3, 2016
1. The British government has decided to offer weekly Brexit briefings to the foreign media. But British journalists will be excluded, leaving many of them in their habitual state of incomprehension or prejudice about the European Union. Ministers still insist they will give ‘no running commentary’ on Brexit. Until they do so, at least, I… » read more
Posted by Andrew Duff
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, Association Agreement, Brexit, EU referendum, EU treaty, European Economic Area, Liberal Democrats |
October 18, 2016
In London everyone is agitated about how to trigger Article 50. Proceedings continue in the English High Court on whether the government needs the consent of parliament before it triggers Article 50. It should surprise nobody that the EU dimension is largely absent from the London courtroom. Nobody mentions that Theresa May, in her capacity… » read more
Posted by Andrew Duff
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, Brexit, Court of Justice, EU referendum, European Commission, European Council, European Parliament, House of Commons |
September 14, 2016
For the moment, attention is focussed on the future trade relationship between the UK and the EU. Given that Brexit means Brexit, as Theresa May lucidly puts it, British negotiating options boil down to three: (1) to try for access to the single market via the European Economic Area, like Norway; (2) to fall back… » read more
Posted by Andrew Duff
As no member state has ever left the European Union, there is no useful precedent for the process of British withdrawal under Article 50 TEU. There are, however, several association treaties between the EU and third countries which may offer guidance as the UK seeks to define a new settlement with the EU once its… » read more
Posted by Andrew Duff
July 4, 2016
Most people will have never read a single article of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) before they stumbled recently across Article 50. Alas, those ‘most people’ seems to include many British lawyers and politicians whose acquaintance with the constitution of the European Union has been hitherto remote. So here is my guide to Article… » read more
Posted by Andrew Duff
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, Brexit, Court of Justice, EU referendum, EU treaty, European Commission, European Council, European Parliament, House of Commons |
May 24, 2016
Consider, for a moment, what will happen next if the Leavers win the referendum. After a raucous weekend, one assumes that the prime minister will make an apologetic statement to the House of Commons on Monday 27 June. The next day, leaving Samantha Cameron to begin the packing at No 10, David will make his… » read more
Posted by Andrew Duff
April 29, 2016
As the British referendum looms, a false sense of expectation is spreading in Brussels. Some wishful thinking is excusable: Britain’s partners have grown tired of having to tolerate David Cameron’s general contempt for the European Union and of circumnavigating his efforts to salvage the synthetic unity of his Conservative party. The opinion polls show a… » read more
Posted by Andrew Duff
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Enlargement, EU Institutions, UK in Europe , Brexit, Cameron, Court of Justice, ECHR, EU referendum, European Commission, European Council, European Parliament, Future of Europe |
April 19, 2016
Because he is Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Minister of Justice we should take the statement of Michael Gove more seriously than we might pay heed, for example, to the obiter dicta of the Mayor of London. In his speech on Tuesday (19 April), Mr Gove asserted… » read more
Posted by Andrew Duff
February 4, 2016
There is much said and to be said about this Brexit business. But here I will deal here only with the continuation of the negotiations between now and the meeting of the European Council on 18-19 February. On 2 February, the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, published a letter and a Draft Decision… » read more
Posted by Andrew Duff
President of the Spinelli Group. Visiting Fellow, European Policy Centre. Liberal Democrat MEP 1999-2014.
