I was talking to a friend yesterday evening, who felt that a referendum on EU membership was a good thing. He agreed with my point that what the UK (and the Union more generally) needed was a full public debate, but saw a referendum as a way to kick-start that into life. Fortunately, the rest […]
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Cynicism comes easily: to watch the events of this week unroll has been to see every cliche of European integration at play. Backroom deals, grandstanding eurosceptics, scapegoating and general ignorance – sadly, an all too common sight in and around the EU. Rather than wallow in this, I would rather try to step back and […]
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Only a short post this week, as I’m attending the first European conference on Learning & Teaching in Politics, IR and European Studies at the University of Maastricht (yes, there again). Obviously this week potentially represents an important moment for the EU, with its possible resolution of the Spitzenkandidat issue at Ypres. Certainly, to listen to […]
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Coming to Brussels this week, it’s be heartening to see so much discussion of key international developments, coupled to an emergent sense of collective identification. Sadly, the World Cup and the Red Devils’ successes remain of limited interest to me. However, I do find it telling that the heat of public debate that followed the […]
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By Roberta Guerrina Over the last two years the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has been engaged in a campaign to end sexual violence in conflict. The Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict taking place in London on 10-13 June 2014 is the culmination of this campaign. It is four days of workshops, exhibitions […]
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I was of all places in Brussels, at the presentation of the European Week of Sport, when Simon Usherwood proposed to write something on Euroscepticism and the theme of the week, the World Cup. Because, yes, it is that time again, football’s biggest tournament is upon us and this time it comes from Brazil. Unlike […]
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