May 14, 2007
by Nosemonkey
6 Comments
You see, the thing about the EU is that it’s first and foremost supposed to promote and facilitate free trade. Of course, as not every country in the world is a member of the EU, what it’s ended up being … Continue reading
April 5, 2007
by Nosemonkey
1 Comment
From the Financial Times: The European Union yesterday offered to open its huge market fully to poor countries that signed bilateral trade deals this year. Brussels is proposing to scrap tariffs and quotas on sensitive products such as beef, corn, … Continue reading
March 22, 2007
by Nosemonkey
4 Comments
I know that as a good pro-EU type I should find this pathetically awful farce depressing, rather than amusing, but it’s tricky. The Berlin Declaration, for those of you who are lucky enough not to know, is the agreement German … Continue reading
March 18, 2007
by Nosemonkey
1 Comment
(A quicky, as I’m still insanely busy…) With the overdue exit, stage centre-right, of Chirac it looks like France could have its first change in forever of fundamentally shifting its relations with its fellow EU member states. Pretty much since … Continue reading
March 10, 2007
by Nosemonkey
5 Comments
1) A handy short explanation of why I’ve been writing about the EU constitution here a lot recently. 2) A new bilingual blog aggregator type thing from new(ish) French news channel France 24, designed to provide an insight into the … Continue reading
March 8, 2007
by Nosemonkey
2 Comments
Looks like Dave’s finally making vague moves to lay out his approach to the EU in somewhat more clear terms than “we don’t like the EU much, but we won’t tell you quite how much” and “We’ll quit the biggest … Continue reading
March 5, 2007
by Nosemonkey
2 Comments
Alternative headline: Contentious issue on which no presidential candidate has any answers is largely ignored in presidential election debates shocker! Yep, it’s not just me who’s noticed the lack of any concrete EU policies from any of the French presidential … Continue reading
March 1, 2007
by Nosemonkey
2 Comments
After his little upset Italian PM Romano Prodi’s managed to get through the vote of no confidence (winning by five votes – which considering how close in numbers the two main coalitions are is actually not quite as tight as … Continue reading
February 21, 2007
by Nosemonkey
Comments Off on Britain and the EU constitution
Something from me over at The Sharpener…
February 13, 2007
by Nosemonkey
1 Comment
OK, so what have I missed while I’ve been busy? The Centre For European Reform blog has been discussing the failure of the EU constitution and the need for a new kind of “pro-Europeanism”, in relation to that “Europe’s Story” … Continue reading
January 31, 2007
by Nosemonkey
2 Comments
I’m still mired in an intensive real-world project (all revolving around clarifying the insane complexity of post-Soviet Russian politics, which anyone who’s looked into it even briefly will know is a tough – if fascinating – gig…), so continued light … Continue reading
January 24, 2007
by Nosemonkey
5 Comments
Following former French Prime Minister [tag]Laurent Fabius[/tag]’ recent sensible suggestions for a multi-tier Europe, over at Cicero’s Songs there’s a report on another proposal, this time from Estonian Prime Minister [tag]Andrus Ansip[/tag] (followed by some musings of Cicero’s own). Yep, … Continue reading
January 17, 2007
by Nosemonkey
5 Comments
Finally, someone with some influence is calling for something I’ve reckoned is a (the?) way forward for the [tag]EU[/tag] for a while (and some other loosely pro-EU types agree): a complete re-think of the [tag]European Union[/tag], reformulating it along a … Continue reading
January 8, 2007
by Nosemonkey
5 Comments
A couple of responses to my lengthy, deliberately pretentiously-titled explanation of my attitude towards the [tag]EU[/tag]. First from a fellow [tag]pro-EU[/tag] type, Nanne of DJ Nozem, who has a slightly different – yet broadly similar – take, and argues “The … Continue reading