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Recent Posts
veto Archive
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How to go to war with Syria
Posted on 28/08/2013 | 1 CommentParliament has been recalled tomorrow for a debate on the crisis in Syria. The use of poison gas in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta appears to have crossed a line, and western governments are preparing to respond with military force. There are two related questions […] -
A bit off
Posted on 22/01/2013 | No CommentsIf a future British government wants to renegotiate membership of the EU, the Fresh Start group of Tory MPs has published its view of what that renegotiation should achieve. The central claim is that the EU does too much, so there are policies that should […] -
Poland is the right place to hold a summit seeking unanimity
Posted on 15/09/2011 | No CommentsThe finance ministers of the eurozone member states will gather in Wroclaw, Poland, on Friday for a meeting to discuss the financial crisis. Poland is the right place to hold such a meeting. I don’t mean Poland because it holds the presidency of the Council […] -
The Irish vote today
Posted on 02/10/2009 | No CommentsThe Irish people vote on the fate of the Lisbon treaty today: British eyes are looking west to see what they will decide. One of the founding principles of the European Union is that it is for each country to decide for itself whether it […] -
Conservative policy on Europe becomes clearer
Posted on 03/06/2009 | No CommentsFor some time now, the Conservative policy on the Lisbon treaty is to hold a referendum on it if it is yet to come into force, but if it has come into force by the time they come into power, they have said merely that […] -
Do the eurosceptics really want the veto?
Posted on 10/12/2008 | No CommentsTory eurosceptic MP Daniel Kawczynski suggested, in the House of Commons yesterday, that Greece should not be allowed to veto the accession by Macedonia to the EU while the issue of the name “Macedonia” remains unresolved. (The Greeks famously object to the use of the […] -
The path of agile decision-making
Posted on 21/10/2008 | No CommentsHow should international organisations take decisions? The case for Qualified Majority Voting has just signed up its newest recruit, John Craddock. General Craddock is Supreme Allied Commander Europe, which makes him the leading American military figure in Nato’s operations, so is hardly to be found […] -
The case against unanimity
Posted on 13/08/2008 | No CommentsThe phenomenon of the tragedy of the commons is well-known: a resource common to all is over-exploited to the disbenefit of all because there is no means of restraining individuals in their use of that resource. A fish stock is depleted because it is in […] -
After Lisbon, a coalition of the willing
Posted on 06/08/2008 | No CommentsThoughts this summer are turning to how to continue with the Lisbon treaty or, alternatively, how to continue without it. A reader of this blog suggests that the proposal for a coalition of the willing, as described by Christoph Leitl here, is worth considering. He […] -
The retention of the veto
Posted on 26/02/2008 | No CommentsA rather clumsy statement in the House of Commons today by Gisela Stuart, opponent of the Lisbon treaty, on the subject of the location of the European Parliament. It is well-known that the EP moves between Brussels and Strasbourg every month, and almost as well-known […]