EU institutions & treaties
Staring into the abyss
01 July 2005
E!Sharp
Twenty years of progress towards a united Europe have come to an end with the French and Dutch votes against the constitution, with future expansion of the EU likely to be the biggest casualty, argues Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform.
Europe - Don't write the obituaries yet. A new France could put Britain on the sidelines
06 June 2005
New Statesman
The gleeful obituaries are piling up, not just for the EU constitution, but for the country that torpedoed it. France is in a mess, we read; its politics are paralysed, its economy is over-regulated and it just can't accommodate itself to globalisation with an Anglo-Saxon face.
But before we gorge on...
But before we gorge on...
Europe - Did we make the right choice?
03 June 2005
Yorkshire Post
Though often criticised as being undemocratic, popular referenda have been pivotal in the history of the European Union. Recent events in France and Netherlands aside, perhaps none more so than the 1975 poll confirming Britain's membership of the then European Economic Community.
European democracy: Where now?
02 June 2005
Open democracy
The rejection by French and Dutch voters of the treaty establishing a European constitution has precipitated one of the deepest crises in the European Union's fifty-year history.
Europe must keep its 'soft power'
01 June 2005
Financial Times
In the aftermath of the French rejection of the European Union constitution, on the eve of the Dutch referendum and amid political uncertainty in Germany, there is a growing risk that the EU will start to backtrack on its commitment to continued enlargement.
Yet, in recent years, Europe has prided itself...
Yet, in recent years, Europe has prided itself...
Tony Blair invite les Européens à réfléchir au non français
31 May 2005
Le Monde
Il faudra attendre lundi 6 juin pour savoir officiellement si le Royaume-Uni renonce à organiser son propre référendum sur la Constitution de l'Union européenne.
Un sale coup pour Blair
30 May 2005
L'Express
Comment réagit-on outre-Manche au non du peuple français?
Beaucoup de Britanniques opposés à la Constitution s'en réjouissent! Chez les conservateurs, dans la presse de droite europhobe, même au sein du Labour, où tout un courant ne veut pas de ce traité. Pour Tony Blair et le gouvernement britannique, c'est au contraire...
Beaucoup de Britanniques opposés à la Constitution s'en réjouissent! Chez les conservateurs, dans la presse de droite europhobe, même au sein du Labour, où tout un courant ne veut pas de ce traité. Pour Tony Blair et le gouvernement britannique, c'est au contraire...
There is life beyond a European constitution
23 May 2005
Financial Times
A No vote in France's referendum on the European Union constitutional treaty could open up a period of confusion, uncertainty and recrimination.
Si le France rejette le traité, il ne se passera rien
21 May 2005
Liberation.fr
Si les Français votent non le 29 mai, la Constitution europénne est morte. Ni un second référendum en France ni une renégociation du traité ne sont plausibles. Dès lors trois options sont possibles.
La première est qu'il ne se passera rien. Les chefs de gouvernement vont se rencontrer, enterrer le traité...
La première est qu'il ne se passera rien. Les chefs de gouvernement vont se rencontrer, enterrer le traité...
What If the British Vote No?
02 May 2005
Foreign Affairs
In June 2004, the member states of the European Union concluded the negotiation of a treaty that, if ratified, would establish a European constitution that would make substantive changes to the way the union works. For the first time, an individual would be appointed president of the European Council, overseeing...
Europe will survive a French Non
20 April 2005
Foreign Policy
It's easy to argue that the European Union (EU) has been in a state of crisis since its inception more than 50 years ago. France voted “No” to European defense cooperation in 1954 and vetoed British EU membership in the 1960s.
A British No would destroy more than the treaty
16 March 2005
Financial Times
If opinion polls are a fair guide, all European Union countries will ratify the new constitutional treaty - except Britain, which seems set to vote No in the referendum due in mid-2006.
Get your coat Mr Blair – you've just been asked to leave the EU
17 February 2005
European Voice
There are a host of ifs and buts. But the UK might, just might, be asked to leave the European Union if British voters reject the constitution, warns Charles Grant What if current opinion polls are a good guide to voting intentions in the ten member states that will hold...