Tag Archives: european union

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “Of course the EU has to change”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 19th May 2013 - 10:45 am

No prizes for guessing which subject Nick Clegg tackles in his latest weekly letter to supporters: Europe. He rattles through the three positions: ‘calamitous outers’, ‘inconsequential renegotiators’ and ‘achievable reformers’. No prizes for guessing which he identifies with the Lib Dems. Over to Nick…

I’m writing this week’s Letter to you from Kirkwall in Orkney. Alistair Carmichael and Jim Wallace have been trying to persuade me to make the trip for a while and I’ve finally made it in order to join the celebrations of the centenary of Jo Grimond’s birth.

The big debate this week in British politics, which featured strongly in PMQs – where I was standing in for the PM (you can watch it here) – has obviously been about our future role in Europe. An issue on which Jo Grimond was a pioneer and leader.

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged featured, jo grimond, letter from the leader and nick clegg | 22 Comments

Duncan Hames MP writes… Must we continue to use food for fuel?

By Duncan Hames MP | Fri 17th May 2013 - 8:25 am

The European Union is currently committed to ensuring that 10% of each Member State’s transport energy will come from biofuels by 2020. This originated as a well-intentioned attempt to combat climate change, but time has shown that using food for fuel can have devastating impacts on hunger and the environment. I’ve come to accept that it is time for a re-think.

In addition to concerns over their green credentials, biofuels are now recognised to be a key cause of hunger, affecting millions of people in developing countries. The World Bank, OECD, WTO, IFPRI, IMF, and five other UN agencies recommended …

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged actionaid, biofuels, climate change, david cameron, edward davey, food for fuel, justine greening, lynne featherstone, malcolm bruce, nick clegg, norman baker and oxfam | 15 Comments

Opinion: 21st Century Britain will need the European Union

By Sean O'Curneen | Fri 26th April 2013 - 2:50 pm

Britain’s fraught relationship with the EU is perfectly rational. Think of it this way:

- if I have a problem and you solve it for me, I will like you;

- if you create a problem for me, I will not like you;

- if you solve a problem that I don’t have, I might like you, but I don’t need you.

This is exactly what lies at the heart of Britain’s relationship with the EU. Let’s consider what problems the EU solves:

All nation states need to trade their goods. Membership of the EU provides access to the Single Market, the largest market in

…

Continue reading »

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | 12 Comments

58% of Lib Dem members against pledging in/out EU referendum in 2015 manifesto

By Stephen Tall | Mon 1st April 2013 - 12:45 pm

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 650 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

David Cameron has said the next Conservative election manifesto will include a pledge to hold an in/out referendum on the UK’s continuing membership of the European Union. Do you think the next Liberal Democrat manifesto should include the same pledge?

34%

58% – No, it

…

Continue reading »

Posted in LDV Members poll | Also tagged david cameron and European referendum | 12 Comments

Liberal Democrat MEPs lobby for fair distribution of EU funding

By Mark Valladares | Thu 28th March 2013 - 9:20 am

Lib Dem MEPs have welcomed the Coalition Government’s commitment to ensure that cuts to European funding from 2014 onwards will be shared in a fair manner across the UK.

The Coalition Government has announced that England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will be subjected to an equal percentage cut of around 5% compared to the current 2007-2017 EU funding levels.

MEPs and national governments are currently negotiating the next long-term EU budget for 2014-2020. Although a final deal has yet to be reached, the EU’s budget is expected to be cut in real-terms for the first time in its history.
…

Continue reading »

Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged catherine bearder, edward mcmillan-scott and fiona hall | 22 Comments

LibLink: George Lyon MEP – EU budget cuts must not sacrifice research and investment

By Paul Walter | Mon 11th February 2013 - 2:53 pm

Writing on Huffington Post, George Lyon, MEP for Scotland, outlines concerns that the forthcoming round of EU budget reviews does not risk future growth prospects:

The EU Parliament will be scrutinising the proposals closely in the coming weeks before deciding whether to accept or reject the deal in the beginning of March. We must be clear – there are areas of spending that help us generate growth and these need to be our priority going forwards.

One major concern is the proposed funding for the Connecting Europe Facility. This new instrument is set to invest in modern infrastructure such

…

Continue reading »

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged eu budget | 4 Comments

The PM and the EU: Cameron’s zen art of compromise maintenance

By Stephen Tall | Sat 9th February 2013 - 10:25 am

Credit where it’s due. If David Cameron had returned to Britain empty-handed or walked out of the EU budget talks in a fit of pique he’d have been pilloried. Plenty of his opponents were hoping he’d do just that.

As it is, he’s able to boast (not without justification) that he’s successfully negotiated a 3% real-terms cut in the EU budget — to a cumulative €960bn (2014-20) — and protected the British rebate. Nick Clegg, who’s been a particular critic of …

Continue reading »

Posted in Europe / International | Also tagged angela merkel, david cameron, eu budget, featured, james kirkup and the economist | 13 Comments

EU’s Youth Guarantee to end “social emergency” of youth unemployment

By Richard Davis | Fri 1st February 2013 - 8:51 am

Recent economic announcements have been a true rollercoaster ride, with unemployment figures falling to one of the lowest levels, but then national output also falling. This disconnect between unemployment and GDP is still confusing economist, but the real worry is that youth unemployment is doing as expected, if not exceeding expectations. Youth unemployment in the UK now stands at just under 1 million, with over 1 in 5 young people now out of work. This has recently risen to the highest level since 2011.

Across the EU this picture does not improve with youth unemployment standing at 23.7% which equates …

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged youth unemployment | 5 Comments

Nick Clegg’s letter from the leader: People count

By Joe Otten | Sun 27th January 2013 - 10:20 am

This week Nick covers the economy, the fall in unemployment, the big problem with David Cameron’s speech on the EU, and rounds off with reform of the royal succession.

The point that while the economy is weak, employment is surprisingly strong is something that is perplexing the economists (video) and I’m surprised it doesn’t get more attention.

It hasn’t hit the headlines, perhaps because the fall in unemployment was thought to be a blip. But after over a year, this is clearly something to be welcomed. I’d like to …

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged act of succession, brexit, economy, letter from the leader, nick clegg and unemployment | 8 Comments

Opinion: Cameron is wishing for an EU that already exists

By Giles Goodall | Fri 25th January 2013 - 11:21 am

The prime objective of David Cameron’s Europe speech was always to placate anti-European critics on his right flank rather than to set out a bold vision in the national interest. And in that sense, his ‘red meat’ pledge of an in/out referendum after 2015 may succeed in sating his own party’s Eurosceptic appetite, at least in the short term. But there are at least three reasons why his strategy is not only mistaken, but risks deeply damaging the national interest.

First, while the ‘repatriationist’ wing of Cameron’s own party may be satisfied with the promise of a renegotiation of as yet …

Continue reading »

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged single market and sovereignty | 12 Comments

LDVideo: Tim Farron – It would be “completely mad to have a referendum now” on EU

By The Voice | Tue 22nd January 2013 - 8:25 pm

Lib Dem party president Tim Farron — who resigned from the Lib Dem front-bench in 2008 to vote in favour of a referendum on the Libson Treaty — explained today why he thinks it would be “completely mad” to hold a referendum while the UK is tryng to get out of the biggest recession in living memory. You can watch the 2-minute video here:

Continue reading »

Posted in YouTube | Also tagged European referendum and tim farron | 5 Comments

Opinion: A new group to urge close EU ties and fight the growing isolationist tide

By Adam Nathan | Mon 21st January 2013 - 9:53 am

As a Lib Dem member who supports membership of the EU but sometimes finds this hard to verbalise to my friends, I have often noticed that Europe brings out strong opinions in people.

It can be a source of heated argument around the dinner table and on TV studio sofas. The stronger the views on one side, the more entrenched the other can become. Facts can be in short supply.

The hard truth is that Europe represents half of all our trade in

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged featured | 16 Comments

The flagrant consistency of the Lib Dems’ position on an in/out EU referendum

By Stephen Tall | Sun 20th January 2013 - 8:55 am

As a follow-up to my post The surprising truth about that Lib Dem in/out EU referendum leaflet — and as a handy guide for journalists in the future — I thought I’d piece together the timeline of the recent history of the Lib Dems’ position on holding a referendum to give the British people a say on our future relationship with the European Union.

As you can see, it’s a picture of quite shocking, erm, consistency…

2007:

Lib Dems (under Ming Campbell) …

Continue reading »

Posted in Europe / International | Also tagged European referendum, featured, Ming Campbell and nick clegg | 19 Comments

LibLink: Guy Verhofstadt thinks that David Cameron would be wrong to leave the EU…

By NewsHound | Fri 18th January 2013 - 3:51 pm

In a piece for the Huffington Post entitled “The UK Is Sleepwalking to the EU Exit. It Is Time to Wake Up”, Guy Verhofstadt, Leader of the Alliance of Liberal and Democrats in Europe (ALDE) Group in the European Parliament, gives a glimpse of the difficulties facing David Cameron in seeking to renegotiate the United Kingdom’s relationship with the European Union. He warns;

Cameron will not succeed if he attempts to hold his European partners to ransom, exchanging acquiescence to EU treaty change over the eurozone for a unilateral repatriation of powers.

and notes, in language that Liberal Democrats would …

Continue reading »

Posted in Europe / International, LibLink and News | Also tagged ALDE, david cameron and guy verhofstadt | 18 Comments

The surprising truth about that Lib Dem in/out EU referendum leaflet*

By Stephen Tall | Thu 17th January 2013 - 1:25 pm

On Monday morning, Nick Clegg was given a hard time on BBC Radio 4′s Today Programme by interviewer Justin Webb, who accused him of changing his position on an EU referendum on the basis of this pictured leaflet (click to enlarge**).

Nick brushed it to one side, correctly pointing out that the party has stuck to its 2010 manifesto pledge (my emphasis):

The European Union has evolved significantly since the last public vote on membership over thirty years ago. Liberal Democrats therefore remain committed to an in/out referendum the next

…

Continue reading »

Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged Alistair Carmichael, david heath, European referendum, featured, george eaton, justin webb, nick clegg and tim farron | 33 Comments

Opinion: Businesses, politicians and voters speak against a Brixit

By Richard Davis | Tue 15th January 2013 - 11:23 am

I have long been a fan of the Westwing, and I was recently reminded of a particular scene where President Bartlett faces a difficult decision on whether to reprieve a man on death row or not. His local priest tells him a tale of a man who prays for help, but refuses all assistance when it is offered, claiming that God would save him. However, on his death he is told by St. Peter that God had sent a multitude of people to help him, but he had not accepted any of their help.

This seems to bear some resemblance to the current situation with Cameron floundering on what to do with the European Union. The problem is that recent polling has shown that the Conservative party is losing votes to UKIP and so his backbenchers believe the only way to regain those ‘lost votes’ is to be harder on the EU and call for a Brixit (British exit from the EU).

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | 30 Comments

What Lib Dem members think about an in/out referendum & the future of the UK in Europe

By Stephen Tall | Sun 13th January 2013 - 2:25 pm

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

By 2:1 majority, Lib Dems reject new EU referendum

Do you think the Government should or should not call a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union?

63% – Should not

5% – Don’t know

And 92% would vote to remain

…

Continue reading »

Posted in LDV Members poll | Also tagged eu referendum and featured | 11 Comments

Vince the Lib Dem Eurosceptic on the “extraordinarily historically important” European single market

By Stephen Tall | Sat 12th January 2013 - 6:10 pm

Vince Cable - Some rights reserved by Liberal Democrats I’m grateful to PoliticsHome’s Paul Waugh for reporting Vince Cable’s words stressing the importance of the EU’s single market at a time of deep austerity in the western world:

“State aide cuts to the heart of the big debate which is rippling though our country at the moment which is about our future within the European Union. I have to say that this whole issue of raising again in a fundamental way British membership and the terms of

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged paul waugh and vince cable | 25 Comments

LibLink: Ming Campbell – Europe offers the best deal for Britain

By NewsHound | Sat 12th January 2013 - 1:00 pm

Menzies Campbell Former Lib Dem leader Ming Campbell has called on David Cameron to put the national interest ahead of his party’s interest as he prepares for his major speech on Europe:

Those who argue for disengagement in whole or even part have a duty to tell us what the consequences would be. So far they have failed to do so. We need to be rational, not emotional. The issue must be about the essential nature of the relationship, not about squashing the ambitions of Ukip. The EU offers the best deal for Britain.The

Continue reading »

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged angela merkel, Ming Campbell and peter bone | 8 Comments

The Eurosceptic tide is turning. Lib Dems must be in the vanguard

By Giles Goodall | Fri 11th January 2013 - 10:21 am

We have become used in recent months to unrelentingly bad news about our relationship with Europe. ‘UKIP now the third party’, ‘Majority would say no to EU’ and ‘UK heads for the Brexit’ have become commonplace headlines. But while the current polls and general debate are still far from positive, several recent developments suggest the tide is starting to turn on the antis – and are enough to give cheer to pro-Europeans from all sides.

First – in case you missed it – the Obama administration has made clear in no uncertain terms to its concern about the UK’s Eurosceptic …

Continue reading »

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged barack obama and ukip | 40 Comments

Opinion: Norway? No way! Why a life on Europe’s periphery is not an option for Britain

By Giles Goodall | Sun 23rd December 2012 - 4:35 pm

Norweigan coast In Britain’s recent EU debate, it’s clear that the anti-Europeans have been doing most of the running. When they’re not basing their arguments on wholesale lies, they fall back on a mixture of half-truths, assumptions and wishful thinking. One of the best examples is the common claim that Britain can leave the EU but keep trading with the Single Market, ’just like Norway’. A have-your-cake-and-eat-it solution that sounds like the best of both worlds. They highlight the non-EU country’s considerable oil wealth – irrelevant to the membership debate – to drive home their point.

Continue reading »

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged Norway | 24 Comments

Did you know the Lib Dems have lost half a million voters to Ukip? Here’s what I think it means.

By Stephen Tall | Tue 18th December 2012 - 4:55 pm

Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft — who, as ConservativeHome’s Tim Montgomerie has noted before, spends more on polling than all three parties combined — has today published the latest survey looking at the timely issue of the threat of Ukip. Nigel Farage’s party is now regularly polling around the level of the Lib Dems, seemingly taking voters disproportionately from the Tories, contributing to lengthening Labour poll leads.

Continue reading »

Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged featured, immigration, lord ashcroft, peter kellner and ukip | 51 Comments

Fiona Hall MEP writes … Paying the world’s poorest people for their precious resources

By Fiona Hall MEP | Tue 11th December 2012 - 10:27 am

The battle to ensure that companies publish what they pay for developing countries’ natural resources has finally reached the home straight.

The EU Accounting and Transparency Directives are in the ‘trialogue’ stage, a negotiation between the EU Parliament, Commission and Council to decide upon the final form that the legislation will take. Liberal Democrats have been involved in this process from the beginning - I wrote the report for the European
Parliament’s Development Committee and am now joined by Jo Swinson, as she continues to maintain the UK Government’s strong leadership stance in ensuring that the final legislation includes the necessary measures to combat corruption.

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | 1 Comment

Opinion: Focusing on the size of the EU budget is side-lining the wider issue of what it is spent on

By Paul Haydon | Wed 28th November 2012 - 2:47 pm

The outcome of the EU budget summit last week was not as bad as it could have been. Cameron did not wield his veto, as he was threatening to just a few days before. And while EU Leaders did not reach a final agreement, progress was made towards reaching a compromise at the next Council meeting in early 2013. Crucially, the UK was able to drum up support for a real-terms freeze amongst like-minded member states such as Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. This is …

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged common agricultural policy and eu budget | 10 Comments

Catherine Bearder MEP writes … The British media is in love with the Euromyth

By Catherine Bearder MEP | Tue 27th November 2012 - 9:02 am

The invented tales about European Union policy have the ability to amuse and terrify the public.

But Catherine Bearder, a Liberal Democrat MEP for South East England, explains why she has launched her Euromyth Buster campaign to make sure fact is not substituted for fantasy.

Let’s face it, is it any surprise people in the UK get exasperated by the European Union? They are swamped with erroneous tales of alleged devious directives and barmy plans from ‘meddling Brussels bureaucrats’. I have my favourites.

There was the ‘fear’

…

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | 16 Comments

4-in-10 Lib Dem voters inclined to leave EU, says poll – a reminder why our pitch should be ‘In Europe to reform the EU’

By Stephen Tall | Sun 18th November 2012 - 4:20 pm

‘If a referendum were held on the UK’s membership of the European Union, how do you think you would vote?’ That’s the question posed by polling company Opinium and published today in The Observer — with the following result reported by the paper:

Almost four out of 10 Liberal Democrat voters support leaving the EU, according to a new poll which shows that hardline euroscepticism has taken hold in Britain’s most pro-European party. An Opinium/Observer survey has found that 39% of Lib Dem supporters

…

Continue reading »

Posted in Europe / International, Op-eds and Polls | Also tagged nick clegg | 23 Comments

Fiona Hall writes: EU exit would jeopardise Britain’s global trade

By Fiona Hall MEP | Tue 6th November 2012 - 4:24 pm

For years Europhobes have been propagating the misconception that Britain has to choose between the EU and the rest of the world.

However, this ‘choice’ between the EU and the rest of the world is a false choice. Indeed, being part of the EU is the best way to increase Britain’s trade with emerging markets. As Nick Clegg pointed out in his speech on Europe last week, the EU has free trade agreements in force with 46 countries and negotiations with another 78 countries are currently under way. In addition, the European Parliament last week lent its weight to launching new negotiations with the USA and Japan.

Continue reading »

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged nick clegg and trade policy | 25 Comments

LibLink: Menzies Campbell – Europe is the glass jaw of the Tory party. It has taken a hit

By NewsHound | Mon 5th November 2012 - 4:54 pm

In the Independent, Sir Menzies Campbell gives his perspective on the latest Tory shenanighans on Europe:

Europe is the glass jaw of the Tory party. Some of their dissidents have been heard to say that Mr Cameron should behave like Margaret Thatcher. But it was her “No, no, no” to Europe which was the straw that

Continue reading »

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged conservative party and david cameron | 3 Comments

Opinion: A storm in a jam jar – my top 5 Euromyths

By Giles Goodall | Mon 29th October 2012 - 11:53 am

Those of us familiar with the EU are used to its complicated processes, obscure acronyms and often unfathomable procedures. We sometimes forget that it is still a hybrid project that no-one has ever tried before: a multinational, multilingual experiment in international cooperation where countries decide by common accord to pool decision-making in certain areas and under certain conditions for their own mutual benefit.

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | 30 Comments

Opinion: Four point plan for a liberal, democratic Europe

By James King | Sat 27th October 2012 - 2:35 pm

Europe is rising up the political agenda. It’s an issue that could bring down David Cameron or break-up the coalition. Yet the Liberal Democrats are strangely silent. The EU didn’t appear on the Brighton conference agenda and we no longer have a Minister in the Foreign Office. We need to develop a vision for a liberal, democratic EU and get smart about fighting for it.

Here’s my four point plan:

Continue reading »

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged david cameron, Ming Campbell, nick clegg, paddy ashdown and sharon bowles | 47 Comments