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So Martin Schulz, are you, or are you not, a federalist?
Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament and wannabe Commission President, was on BBC World’s Hard Talk yesterday (4th December 2013), and used the following words: You used the term that I...
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Security theatre at the European Parliament: letting the terrorists win
This afternoon I tried to go into the European Parliament. The EU institution that is supposed to represent people like me – citizens of the European Union. I am not a lobbyist or a journalist or an...
View ArticleEnough of your indignant anger, Schulz. Step away.
I listened to a speech by President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, in Berlin this morning at the Soul for Europe conference. It was typical Schulz, full of bottled up indignation and...
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Really, what’s the UK’s problem with EU democracy?
It’s a familiar refrain: that the EU is not adequately democratic. You’ll hear it in the Brexit referendum campaign, most notably from the advocates of the UK leaving, but even David Cameron’s letter...
View ArticleDavid Cameron, democracy and the European Parliament
At the height of the Eurozone bailout crisis, Alexis Tsipras went to address the European Parliament. Why bother with that? was the cry of sceptical journalists who have never paid attention to the...
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Tories breaking the law on how they replace MEPs leaving the European...
A story caught my eye in The Guardian this morning. “Former candidates sue Conservative party after missing out on MEP posts” it is titled. Remember that MEPs are elected on regional lists, and each...
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Gianni Pittella and his “caro amico” Joseph Mifsud
The world has been asking themselves who the “mystery professor” Joseph Mifsud is. The British press – Byline and Carole Cadwalladr in The Guardian – have been connecting Mifsud to Alok Sharma and...
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In Germany everyone cares about the EU, but not really about the European...
A short while ago I needed to buy a plant pot so headed off to my local Hellweg DIY store. And EU flag was fluttering in front of the building, and placards inside told me “Hellweg zeigt Flagge für...
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The UK had only one card to play in the Brexit end game: the timetable. And...
I don’t know if it was the intended strategy all along (I first mused about it in November), but in these fraught December days in the Brexit end game it has become abundantly clear that the UK’s...
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It is time to wonder: is the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), as...
A question has been on my mind for some time: when is the UK Government going to really begin to do the hard implementation work that is inevitable as a consequence of having signed the Northern...
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European Parliament: if you take Brexit scrutiny seriously, why not call...
Days before the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) finally emerged on Christmas Eve, the European Parliament had already expressed its concern at the process, and refused to be bounced into...
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What’s up with this 9th European Parliament?
It’s two years since the 2019 European Election, marking the start of this 9th term of the European Parliament. And for a while I have had this nagging feeling that something is not right about the...
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