A brief one this week, but just a linguistic observation. David Cameron talks about ‘using the veto‘ a lot these days (and it will be said a lot more in the days to come). However, it’s never clear what this ‘veto’ is. Think back to last Christmas and the Fiscal Compact negotiations, where Cameron ‘used […]
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William Hague gave a rare speech on the EU this week. Entitled “Europe at a crossroads: what kind of Europe do we want?”, he sought to map out some of the major challenges the EU faces, having sung the praises of the Single Market. These he listed as: differentiated integration; democratic legitimacy; and division of […]
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A member of your country’s senior government resigned this week, amid charges of improper lobbying: you probably read about it. Or maybe you didn’t, because that individual was John Dalli, European Commissioner for Food. Indeed, if you didn’t live in the Brussels bubble, or follow the right people on Twitter, it’s highly unlikely you’d have […]
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I’ve just contributed to LSE’s EUROPP blog on the way David Cameron has managed his party over the EU. Here’s the intro: Much as it did for his predecessors in the 1980s and 1990s, the “Europe Problem” has caused headaches for UK Prime Minister, David Cameron. While some have commented that Cameron has been more […]
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In recent weeks I’ve been working on a new edition of ‘The European Union: A Very Short Introduction’ (OUP, all good bookshops, etc…), since one of two things have happened since the 2007 edition came out. The exercise has been a good one for me, asking me to step back from the more parochial concerns […]
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So, it appears that Mitt Romney isn’t a robot after all. Who’d have thought it? Engaging, lively, still a little sneer-prone and not all that likeable, the Mittster took the fight to an oddly quiet Obama. Looking tired, POTUS remained resolutely within himself, declining easy pitches he could have smashed out of the park with […]
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