Archive for european union
Europe: good news, but not big news
Into my inbox yesterday came an email from London Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford, welcoming a sensible new decision which the European Parliament has made that will give the public better information and – thanks to that better flow of information – make the relevant market work more efficiently. Just the sort of good news that [...]
Nick Clegg on why he was absent from the Euro statement
In case you missed it on last night’s news here is Nick Clegg explaining his view on the Euro summit and why he wasn’t in the Commons for David Cameron’s statement: And from the weekend, here are the highlights of Nick Clegg’s interview with Andrew Marr, followed by my own views. BONUS FEATURE: A huge [...]
It’s the Euro’s fate, not Britain’s fate, which is the key post-summit question
Sat on a shelf a few metres away from me is a box containing the various military medals won by my relatives over previous generations. The medals criss-cross Europe, coming from different countries, over the three wars that had a German-French conflict at their centre. To British eyes that count of three wars may seem odd, but...
Europe: what Liberal Democrats have been saying today
Nick Clegg: "I have said for months that it would be best to avoid arcane debates about treaty change altogether and if we had to proceed down that road, it would be best to do so in a way that did not create divisions in Europe".
What are Lib Dem MEPs up to when it comes to money?
I’ve been wondering for a little time what the Liberal Democrat MEPs are pushing for when it comes to the European Union’s budget, which makes London MEP Sarah Ludford’s latest email update particularly timely: No pro-European LibDem can be other than fully committed to reform of the EU. Any flaws in the way it is [...]
Lib Dem pressure succeeds as European countries push for tougher action on global warming
Britain, France and Germany have joined forces this week to call for a major toughening of the EU’s target for greenhouse gasses. They have called for the current target of a 20% cut by 2020 to be increased to 30%. In a statement they also played up the potential economic benefits of the move, “If [...]
Book review: Saving the European Union
Andrew Duff’s book Saving the European Union: The logic of the Lisbon Treaty, written early in 2009, has an endearingly open comment about his own political views compared with those of his colleagues:
My party, the UK Liberal Democrats, and group, the Alliance for Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), have been amazingly tolerant of finding [...]
Referendum: what’s going on?
As The Voice and others have covered this week, the Liberal Democrat policy on a Euro-referendum – or not – has been in the news. Understandably the media reports have caused some confusion over what the party’s current policy is – and on this occasion I don’t think the media is to blame.
The party’s policy [...]
