How the euro protects its members
Previous blogposts (here and here) have written approvingly of the trend to include more foreign-produced value added in a country’s exports. What this means is that the components and parts …
enlargement of the EU
The dawn of democracy in the Arab world
By Lucio Levi After the fall of the fascist regimes in Mediterranean Europe, in Latin America and in Asia and after the fall of the communist regimes in the big …
Federal Union review of the decade
In the spirit of the usual Federal Union reviews of the year, let us cast our minds back 10 years to see how federalism has fared over the course of …
Iceland should be welcomed into the EU
By Richard Laming Published in EUobserver, 28 July 2009 The human heart is on the left, a fact seemingly confirmed by the latest statements about Icelandic membership of the EU from …
Did Barack Obama talk out of turn about Turkey?
By Richard Laming Published in EUobserver, 9 April 2009 On his tour of Europe earlier this week, US president Barack Obama spoke warmly about the prospect of Turkey joining the European …
Independence for Kosovo
The province of Kosovo emerged from its chrysalis last week as a new state, separate from Serbia of which it was part for so long. It is not yet a …
Review of 2006
By Richard Laming Last year’s annual review remarked that 2005 had been a bad year for federalism. By those standards, 2006 was a better year. Not necessarily because there were …
The bellyachers of Europe
Message to Europa-Union Deutschland Congress, 22-23 November 2002, Hamelin Dear Friends, We have arrived at a very important turning point in Europe: namely, the enlargement of our European Union and …
Make your mind up
William Hague’s speech to the Open Europe group last week is a masterpiece of confusion, of seeking to have it both ways. As such, perhaps, it is a good illustration …
A sweet tooth is not a crime
By Richard Laming Published in EUobserver, 25 January 2005 The full weight of European law is about to fall on the heads of the new member states that joined last year. …