Britain & EU member-states
G8 and world politics
11 June 2007
Angela Merkel can be content with the outcome of the G8 summit in Heiligendamm which she chaired with her by now characteristic mix of modesty, determination and pragmatism.
European choices for Gordon Brown
01 June 2007
Gordon Brown becomes prime minister at a pivotal moment for the European Union. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have emerged as powerful European leaders.
Sarkozy, secularism and Turkey’s European future
01 June 2007
Can things get worse for Turkey? The presidential election is stalled; the army threatens to intervene; millions are protesting in the streets; EU negotiations remain partly suspended; terrorism in the South-East could prompt military forays into northern Iraq; and the new French president wants to see Turkey in a Mediterranean...
Britain and Europe: A City minister's perspective
18 May 2007
Britain's membership of the EU strengthens London as a global financial centre, argues City Minister, Ed Balls. The UK should engage actively with the EU, to ensure that its financial regulation is proportionate, flexible, and implemented effectively.
If Nixon could go to China, Brown can go to Brussels
17 May 2007
W.B. Yeats lamented a Europe where, in politics at least, “the best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity”. As Tony Blair bows out as UK prime minister, British pro-Europeans will identify with his sentiments.
Nicolas Sarkozy: Turkophobe and protectionist?
08 May 2007
Most EU governments wanted Nicolas Sarkozy to win the presidential election. They think his liberalising economic agenda stands a fair chance of boosting France’s lacklustre economic performance.
Britain and the EU: a crisis looms
02 April 2007
British politicians are too complacent about Germany’s plan to salvage large parts of the EU constitutional treaty. They assume that other countries will reject the German presidency’s scheme, so sparing Britain from isolation. Indeed, there is now a consensus that stretches from UK treasury officials to Conservative leaders to The...
Issue 53 - 2007
30 March 2007
- Britain and the EU: a crisis looms, Charles Grant
- We are all Nordic now, or are we?, Katinka Barysch
- Ukraine’s real problem, Tomas Valasek
The view from 2027
22 March 2007
Given how much respect and esteem most Europeans feel for the EU today, one can easily forget that when it celebrated its 50th birthday, in 2007, it was widely disliked and mistrusted.
In defence of missile defences?
14 March 2007
For those spoiling for another good transatlantic fight, the headlines from last week’s EU summit must have come as manna from heaven.
What's happening to Airbus?
23 February 2007
Top of the agenda when Jacques Chirac meets Angela Merkel today in Berlin will be the crisis at Airbus. The European aircraft manufacturer has been forced to suspend a restructuring programme following inferference from both the French and German governments.
French candidates miss the point on globalisation
01 February 2007
The debate in the French presidential election has become dangerously protectionist. In the past, the EU’s commitment to free trade has prevented French politicians from advocating naked protectionism.
Issue 52 - 2007
26 January 2007
- Time to shake up the European Council, David Harrison
- French candidates miss the point on globalisation, Patrick Artus, Elie Cohen and Jean Pisani-Ferry
- Schengen should go west as well as east, Hugo Brady
The wrong benchmark for Eastern Europe
25 January 2007
In November last year, Anders Aslund, a long-time observer of transition economies, rang the alarm bells over Eastern Europe. In an FT article he talked about “Central Europe’s political malaise” and warned that budget profligacy and reform fatigue would keep the new members from catching up with the West.
The Tories and human trafficking: Don’t play politics
09 January 2007
The British Conservative party kicked off the New Year saying they wanted to sign Britain up to a 2005 European convention that grants rights to the victims of human trafficking. Odd that the Conservatives should suddenly develop such a concern for humanity: only a few months before they wanted to scrap UK legislation giving effect to a related European convention on human rights for all British citizens.
What to expect from the German presidency
03 January 2007
On 1 January 2007, Germany took over the rotating EU presidency. Chancellor Angela Merkel has ambitious goals, most notably an EU agreement on what to do with the Union’s moribund constitutional treaty.
Divided world: The struggle for primacy in 2020
01 January 2007
The world in 2020 will not see a new world order, but a competition between four ideas of how the world should be run: an American world striving for a balance of power that favours democracy; a 'Eurosphere' whose support for democracy is coupled with a belief in international institutions;...
A primer on the German presidency
21 December 2006
On January 1st 2007, Germany takes over the rotating EU presidency. Chancellor Angela Merkel has ambitious goals that include an EU agreement on energy policy and on what to do with the Union's moribund constitutional treaty. Both will be very difficult to achieve.
Has Germany been Finlandised (and has Britain)?
21 December 2006
During the Cold War, Finland was a prosperous, liberal democracy. But its leaders felt unable to criticise the Soviet Union, particularly on questions of foreign policy.
Segolene's crushing victory: Good or bad news?
26 November 2006
Segolene Royal’s victory in the socialist party’s (PS) presidential primary last week was widely expected. The scale of her triumph, however, came as a surprise.