Brexit by 31st October: Another Unlikely Promise
COMMENT | The UK must leave the EU by 31st October – so says the ERG Brexiter MPs, together with Boris Johnson and other assorted Tory leadership candidates. A party that just got 9% of the vote in the European elections has Tory leadership candidates – and so…
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An Industrial Strategy for Europe
COMMENT | The proposed merger between car-makers Fiat-Chrysler and Renault highlights what is likely to be a growing trend in Europe over the next five years: devising and implementing an EU-wide industrial policy to take on the twin challenge of American…
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European Elections: Brexit and the EU’s Top Posts
COMMENT | The European Parliament elections, the largest supranational democratic exercise in the world, have produced mixed results. The main centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) and centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) finished a respective…
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European Elections: UK’s Ever More Fractured Politics
COMMENT | Across the EU, the European Parliament election results are broadly reassuring. The populist far right in Hungary, Poland, France, Austria, Italy and the UK did well, but not as well as some feared. Overall, the centre ground held. That the Parliament…
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An Independent Scotland in the EU: Timing and Challenges
COMMENT | With her speech to the Scottish parliament this week, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon set out an approach to a potential second independence referendum in the next two years. She included major caveats, not least Brexit going ahead and Westminster…
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Brexit and The Politics of Extending Article 50
COMMENT | Brexit faces yet another ‘crunch’ week. The UK could tumble over a ‘no deal’ cliff edge this coming Friday, yet most assume that somehow the UK and EU will shift the deadline forward a bit more. But what decision a frustrated EU27 will take at their…
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Brexit Showdown: Deal, No Deal, No Brexit
COMMENT | European Council president, Donald Tusk, has now called an emergency EU summit on Wednesday 10 April – ahead of the new Brexit day of 12 April. So the UK has just over a week to find a way ahead. Many expect a request for a long extension – but…
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GM Foods, the US-UK Trade Negotiations and Scottish Food Production: A Heady Mix
COMMENT | The first shadow boxing for the post-Brexit trade talks has begun. Wholly predictable hackles have been raised by the US ambassador, Woody Johnson, who has accused UK farming of being a ‘museum of agriculture’ which should embrace chlorine…
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