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 18, 2016
European Council meetings are deliciously unpredictable – especially, like today’s, when constitutional matters are raised. There are new faces around the table (including the new Latvian prime minister, Maris Kucinskis, who only took office last week) who are largely unknown and, as far as one can tell, largely unknowing about the EU’s constitutional problems. Several… » 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
December 10, 2015
Dear Prime Minister, I understand from press reports that you are increasingly frustrated by the obstacles that appear to obstruct your renegotiation of the terms of UK membership of the European Union. Maybe I can help. First I will deal with the substance of your demands for treaty change, and then on the form. ‘Ever… » read more
Posted by Andrew Duff
November 30, 2015
Ever ambitious, the British government is seeking to renegotiate the terms of UK membership and to reform the European Union all in one go. One of its key demands is to strengthen the powers of national parliaments. In the perspective of eurosceptic politics, this seems like an easy hit. Indeed, the ruse has been swallowed… » read more
Posted by Andrew Duff
November 13, 2015
Conservative parliamentarians have lined up to deride David Cameron’s speech of 10 November as falling far short of the radical renegotiation of Britain’s terms of membership that they want. This domestic reaction has misled the casual foreign observer to conclude that Cameron’s demands can be quite easily accommodated by a European Union which is vexed… » read more
Posted by Andrew Duff
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, Brexit, Cameron, Court of Justice, ECHR, EU referendum, EU treaty, EUCharter, The Speech; Future of Europe; Britain in Europe; Convent 15; federal union. |
The Conservative government’s attempt to renegotiate the UK’s terms of membership of the European Union continues to distress Britain’s pro-Europeans, antagonise its anti-Europeans and bamboozle its EU partners. Prime minister David Cameron has realised that there are two cardinal principles of EU primary law which he will not be allowed to breach: freedom of movement… » read more
Posted by Andrew Duff
October 1, 2015
The first time it happened, on 22 November 1989, the German Chancellor outshone the French President. It was under a fortnight since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Helmut Kohl sounded confident and decisive, clear in his call for enlargement of the European Community and commitment to the goal of political union. François Mitterrand, by… » read more
Posted by Andrew Duff
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Enlargement, EU Institutions, Euro & Finance, Global Europe, UK in Europe , Cameron, Hollande, Juncker, Kohl, Macron, Merkel, Mitterrand, Schauble, Schulz |
September 7, 2015
This article argues that the UK government’s renegotiation bid is too feeble to be deserving of concessions by its EU partners, but that the rest of the EU can give the British what they seem to want by pressing on themselves to federal union. Is David Cameron really serious about renegotiating the terms of the… » read more
Posted by Andrew Duff
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EU Institutions, Euro & Finance, UK in Europe , Brexit, Cameron, EU referendum, federal union, Future of Europe |
June 21, 2015
There are still those who assert that everything the European Union needs to do can be done under its existing treaties. Few of these pundits stop to explain why it is that if indeed everything can be done under the existing treaties, everything is not, in fact, being done. So that seems a good question… » read more
Posted by Andrew Duff
President of the Spinelli Group. Visiting Fellow, European Policy Centre. Liberal Democrat MEP 1999-2014.
