Feeble argument by Frattini
Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini has spoken out against the apparent joint preparation of EU decisions by Germany and France. “Pre-cooked decisions” are not acceptable, he says. Indeed, the whole …
European Commission
A parliament with a purpose
European Alternatives is circulating a petition calling upon the European Parliament to try to attach conditions to its approval of the members of the next European Commission. (You can read …
Reforming the City
The appointment of a Frenchman as European commissioner responsible for the City of London has produced ridiculous claims by people who hail it as a victory over Anglo-Saxon capitalism, and …
Collapse of Czech government shows weakness in EU
The latest news from the Czech Republic, famously that faraway country of which we know little, is that its government has collapsed. In a vote in the Czech parliament yesterday, …
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Au revoir, Nicolas Sarkozy, et merci
As the six month French presidency comes to a close, I have been asked for my reflections on the performance of President Sarkozy. Not only has he had to lead …
And welcome back, Peter Mandelson
As one hate figure for the right departs the stage, another returns, with the appointment of Peter Mandelson as secretary of state for business. The newspapers describe this as a …
Mandelson vs Hewitt
This blog discusses issues rather than personalities (Tony Benn would approve) so don’t be misled by the title. Discussion has started about who will be the member of the European …
The citizen as consumer
My attention is drawn to a speech earlier this week by Meglena Kuneva, the (first ever) Bulgarian member of the European Commission. I think it is great that Bulgaria is …
Attempts to revive EU constitution
By Richard Laming Published in The Independent, 19 February 2007 Sir: Simon Carr may be an experienced observer of Westminster but he is woefully ill-informed about the European Union (sketch, 8 …
Illegitimate comments
Jack Straw has published at last his proposals on reform of the House of Lords. (You can read about them here). The reform debate has been going on a long …