Tag Archives: europe

Christian de Vartavan

Time for the UK to engage with Europe on AI sovereignty

By Christian de Vartavan | Wed 20th May 2026 - 10:25 am

On Monday evening, a major evidence session of the House of Lords APPG on Artificial Intelligence — of which I am an associate — took place, where it became clear that the question of British and European AI sovereignty is no longer an abstract policy debate but is rapidly becoming a central political priority.

The session, organised by the Big Innovation Centre under Professor Birgitte Andersen and chaired by Lord Tim Clement-Jones, brought together policymakers, academics and industry leaders to confront a stark reality: the UK is too dependent on foreign — particularly American — AI infrastructure, platforms and large language models. This dependence carries significant implications for economic resilience, strategic autonomy and long-term technological capability.

A significant contribution came from Josephine Kant of the newly established UK Government AI Sovereign Fund, an initiative designed to strengthen Britain’s strategic autonomy in AI. Its creation signals a broader shift in thinking — away from the assumption that global markets alone will deliver resilient technological ecosystems, and towards a recognition that public policy must play a more active role in shaping critical infrastructure.

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Mathew Hulbert

Mathew on Monday: Swirling unease among urban Lib Dems

By Mathew Hulbert | Mon 18th May 2026 - 5:14 pm

The celebratory yellow smoke from the 2024 general election may have cleared, but inside the local party branches of some of our major cities a very different kind of atmosphere is settling in. It is a thick, unmistakable sense of urban unease.

Whilst the national narrative remains focused on the “Blue Wall” breakthroughs, a growing contingent of activists and councillors in our urban heartlands are beginning to ask a difficult but very necessary question: at what cost?

As others have intimated on this website over the past week, in the wake of recent local election results the mood among urban Lib Dems has shifted from quiet concern to open frustration and potential dissent.

I got a sense of this when, on Thursday evening, whilst on the train travelling down to London to appear on Talk, I got a message from a very prominent city-based Lib Dem asking if I had a few minutes for a chat. In our subsequent phone call this person, usually very affable, was noticeably reaching the end of their tether at what they perceive as the party leadership all but abandoning us being competitive in urban areas. I gave this a brief mention on Talk later that evening and clipped it up for social media the next day. The reaction from others in the party was interesting and, in some cases, very telling. Whilst most folks agreed that something is going very badly wrong others tried to suggest that everything is hunky dory in the party and there are no problems.

As I suggested on my Political Frenemies podcast on Friday evening, sticking your head in the sand and ignoring the reality of a situation is not a very sensible or useful way to behave for a political party.

For years the party’s strategy has pivoted heavily toward suburban and rural gains – a strategy that undeniably delivered seats in Parliament. However, on the ground in our cities, many feel the federal party is leaving them to rot.

Several well-known figures within the party have now broken ranks. Tom Gordon MP, Cllr Victor Chamberlain and former London Mayoral candidate Rob Blackie have all waded in. In private forums and increasingly public social media posts, activists are criticising recent local election results as a sign of an ever-narrowing political identity for the party. It is clear that tailoring our message so specifically to disenchanted Conservatives in the shires, we are becoming background noise in the diverse, high-density wards of the English North and Midlands.

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Gareth McAleer

Reuniting with Europe: Rebuilding What Brexit Broke

By Gareth McAleer | Mon 16th March 2026 - 12:04 pm

Six years after Britain left the European Union, the promise that we would “take back control” rings hollow. The truth is painful: Brexit has weakened our country. It has diminished our prosperity, our standing, and our confidence. What was sold as liberation has instead become a slow estrangement from our closest allies and from the European identity that once helped define us as an open, confident nation.

For Liberal Democrats, the damage goes deeper than trade or economics. Brexit was a rejection of something essential: our belief that Britain’s strength lies in cooperation and shared purpose. It narrowed our horizons and encouraged a politics of resentment and blame. For millions who see themselves as both British and European, it felt like being written out of the story of our own nation.

The Damage Done

Brexit has left marks on every part of our national life. Small firms struggle with new border checks that slow exports and drain their budgets. Farmers face endless forms and higher costs. Musicians and creative workers have lost easy access to European tours. Investment has slumped, and the “global trade revolution” we were told to expect has produced little reward.

Yet the damage is not only economic. It is emotional, generational, and cultural. For young people, the Continent is no longer a place of effortless study, work, and discovery. The loss of Erasmus+ was not a policy detail but a breaking of connection. Freedom of movement, once taken for granted, is now a memory, and many Britons are only beginning to understand what that freedom meant. Families that once moved easily between London and Lisbon or Glasgow and Athens now feel distance where closeness used to be.

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Jack Meredith

In response to Dominic Rider: confederation is comfort, federalism is capability

By Jack Meredith | Wed 28th January 2026 - 12:40 pm

Dominic Rider is right about the moment we are in. The transatlantic guarantee is wobbling; Europe is being reminded, again, that dependence is not a strategy. When Washington treats alliances as transactional, Europeans either grow up fast or get pushed around slowly. The Liberal Democrats should say what comes next.

Where I part company with Dominic is on the destination. He argues for “confederation, not a superstate”. That contrast misses the real problem. Europe already exercises power: the single market sets rules, sanctions shape foreign policy, and standards shape economies. The question is not whether Europe will have power; it is whether that power is democratically governed and has clear lines of responsibility.

A confederation keeps the fog. It offers reassurance, but it leaves the constitutional flaw untouched: paralysis. Dominic is right that unanimity lets one government block action. Qualified majority voting helps, but procedure alone will not fix a system designed to avoid clarity. A Europe that wants to act like a strategic player needs institutions built for action, not for reassuring capitals.

Federalism is the democratic solution. A federal United States of Europe is not the abolition of nations; it is the constitutional ordering of shared power. It means voters can see who governs, what they control, and how to change course. That is not a “superstate”. It is power placed under law, limited by a written settlement, and answerable to citizens.

The principle is simple: do together what must be done together; keep the rest close to home. Defence, trade, external borders, major infrastructure, and climate commitments belong at the federal level because they are cross-border by nature. Taxation, welfare, health, education, culture, and constitutional arrangements should remain national, devolved, or local because diversity is a strength. Subsidiarity should not be a slogan; it should be enforceable.

Defence is the acid test. Pooled procurement is valuable, but deterrence cannot rest on voluntary top-ups and ad hoc deals that unravel whenever politics shift. If Europeans want strategic autonomy, they need a single security actor: capability planning that matches threats, industrial scale to reduce duplication, and a chain of command that is democratically accountable. Committees do not deter revisionist powers; credible forces and clear commitments do.

The “superstate” fear is real, but it is misaimed. What people resent is unaccountable decision-making. The EU already has a far-reaching influence, just in a hybrid form where citizens struggle to “throw the rascals out”. Federalism does not add power for fun; it puts existing power under democratic control, clarifies competencies, and makes responsibility legible.

That is also the British opportunity. Public opinion has shifted; more voters now believe Brexit was a mistake. Yet that sentiment will remain politically inert unless someone offers a serious answer to the next question: rejoin to do what? Labour treats Europe as a problem to be managed, not an opportunity to be seized. Conservatives are trapped by their own coalition. The Liberal Democrats have the freedom, and the duty, to lead.

But leading means more than tiptoeing back into yesterday’s Europe. People can smell timidity. They will not rally to “rejoin, but change nothing”. A federal programme is clearer: Britain should return to help build a Europe that can defend itself, compete economically, and uphold liberal values, not just with speeches.

So what should Liberal Democrats argue for? Treaty reform towards a constitutional settlement: an elected European executive accountable to an elected parliament; a senate of states to protect national voice through transparent votes; majority decision-making where collective action is required; and hard subsidiarity so everything not explicitly federal stays closer to the citizen. That is how you make European power democratic.

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Edward Marsh

Securing the United Kingdom in a changing world: Why Mark Carney was right at Davos.

By Edward Marsh | Wed 28th January 2026 - 11:10 am

In a world still reeling from rapid geopolitical shifts, the question of national security and strategic autonomy has never been more pressing for the United Kingdom. The post-Second World War era of a relatively stable, rules-based international order – underpinned by multilateral institutions, shared norms, and strong Western alliances – is being challenged on multiple fronts. Nowhere was this tension clearer than in Mark Carney’s landmark address at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, where he delivered a stark analysis of the changing global order and what it means for middle powers like the UK.

Carney’s central thesis was that the international system is not merely evolving – it is rupturing. For decades, the UK, alongside its allies, benefited from what was labelled a rules-based order: predictable trade, collective security, open sea-lanes, and multilateral dispute resolution. But that era is increasingly giving way to a world dominated by great power rivalry and economic coercion. According to Carney, we are now in “the midst of a rupture, not a transition” – a point that resonates as global leaders grapple with the reality of a more volatile geopolitical landscape.

This rupture is characterised by powerful states leveraging economic integration as a strategic tool and weapon — using tariffs, supply-chain dependencies, financial infrastructure, and energy ties to bend smaller partners to their aims. Carney warned that continuing to rely on outdated assumptions of mutual benefit is no longer tenable when integration itself can become a source of subordination.

Much of the backdrop to Carney’s analysis is the reality of the international leadership exerted by the United States under President Donald Trump, whose policies have unsettled long-standing diplomatic norms. Trump’s aggressive trade stance – including tariff threats tied to strategic interests such as Greenland – and his readiness to prioritise unilateral action over multilateral cooperation have highlighted the fragility of previous assumptions about Western unity.

While Carney refrained from naming Trump directly in his speech, the subtext was unmistakable: the security environment that the UK has long relied upon – anchored by predictable American leadership – is no longer guaranteed. The UK can no longer take for granted that allies will act within established norms or that economic integration will safeguard its interests.

What this means for the UK and for us as Liberal Democrats

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Tom Reeve

Europe knows Trump’s game. Because Europe invented it.

By Tom Reeve | Thu 22nd January 2026 - 7:32 pm

Donald Trump came to Europe expecting to dominate it. Instead, he was sent away with a flea in his ear.

Like many people watching this drama unfold, I was preparing myself for the worst. A new generation of gunboat diplomacy, the dissolution of Nato and the fracturing of the rules-based order. 

However, the row over Greenland tells us something important about the world we are now living in – something to give us hope. Trump arrived armed with threats, tariffs and performative bluster, assuming that European countries could be picked off one by one. He assumed that pressure would fracture solidarity, that intimidation would produce concessions, and Europe would blink.

It didn’t. Europe closed ranks.

What Trump discovered is that Europe recognised his playbook because it has lived it, refined it, and ultimately abandoned it.

Europe invented coercive power politics. For centuries, European states built empires through a ruthless blend of military force, trade pressure, legal fictions and strategic intimidation. They perfected the art of getting what they wanted without always firing a shot. They learned how to extract concessions, how to divide opponents, how to cloak power in respectability.

Europe knows exactly how coercion works because it once ruled much of the world through it.

But Europe also learned something else, the hard way. When empires collapse and there are no weaker territories left to dominate, coercion between peers does not produce stability. It produces catastrophe.

Twice in the twentieth century, European states tore themselves apart in wars of unprecedented scale. Those wars were not accidents. They were the logical endpoint of unrestrained power politics between economically, militarily and organisationally comparable nations. By 1945, the lesson was unavoidable. Among equals, intimidation does not deliver lasting advantage. It delivers ruin.

That is why post-war Europe rebuilt itself on alliances, law and economic interdependence. Not out of sentimentality, but out of survival. Institutions were not designed to express virtue – they are the bedrock of the bloc. They were designed to prevent a return to the world that had nearly destroyed the continent.

This is the context that Trump, who has an instinctive hatred for strong institutions, misread in respect of Greenland.

When he threatened tariffs to force European acquiescence, he expected compliance. Instead, European leaders treated the threat as what it was: an attempt at coercive bargaining. They responded collectively, legally and calmly. The result was telling. The tariffs were shelved. Sovereignty was upheld. Trump was left claiming a vague “framework” and a promise to talk, more or less the outcome he would have achieved had he asked nicely in the first place… and with far less damage to his own credibility.

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Tim Holden

Hope dawns for Britain’s neglected communities: honouring the Brexit vote by fixing trade, not leaving prosperity behind

By Tim Holden | Mon 15th December 2025 - 2:44 pm

To the proud Leave voters across the Midlands, the North East, the South, Wales and all areas that backed the decision: You voted for sovereignty, you voted to take back control, and you voted for a better economic future in British hands. The Liberal Democrats understand that vision and share your desire for a thriving United Kingdom.

​But across our fishing ports, industrial heartlands, and farming communities, there is a growing, painful reality. The Conservative Government’s deal failed to deliver on those promises, creating a legacy of bureaucracy, crippling costs, and a constant drag on our local economies.

​Worse still, the Labour government, despite acknowledging the damage, has so far refused to take the decisive action needed to fix it. While ministers debate in private and offer small ‘resets’, they remain trapped by the same old ‘red lines’, ruling out the most effective solution and leaving our businesses in limbo.

​The Liberal Democrats have therefore taken the reins to deliver. We are leading the push in Parliament to finally bring about the economic renewal you voted for.

​The Shared Failure to Deliver: Why the Labour Government’s Stance Falls Short.

​From Hull and Grimsby to the industrial towns of the North East and the manufacturing hubs of the West Midlands, the pain of the current trading arrangement is evident.

​Manufacturing Stalled:

Local factories rely on complex ‘just-in-time’ European supply chains. The current deal means paperwork, checks, and delays that slow production and hike costs. Neither the Conservative deal nor the current Labour government’s minor ‘resets’ have addressed this fundamental friction.

​Betrayal of Our Fishers:

Seafood exporters are still facing bureaucratic nightmares. The Labour government, like its predecessor, has refused to embrace the one goods based solution, a Customs Union hat would virtually eliminate this red tape.

​A Failure of Political Will:

While Labour ministers have suggested that a new customs arrangement would boost growth, the party’s official position continues to stick to manifesto promises that lock them out of the most effective path to prosperity.

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George Cunningham

Starmer must address the Nation

By George Cunningham | Mon 8th December 2025 - 10:56 am

In case the message hasn’t quite got through to our European Leaders, you can’t voice it more starkly than in the new U.S. National Security Strategy.

The new strategy shows the U.S. administration’s contempt towards the European Union (unsurprisingly, given it is a powerful economic competitor). It believes the EU is endangering European civilisation (e.g. “migration policies”, “loss of national identities”, “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition”), and declares that the U.S. will therefore “cultivate resistance” to save us, which will de facto lead to increasingly interfering in our internal politics to encourage right-wing governments getting elected.

As I have said before, Europe’s leaders have been too obsequious in their pandering to the current U.S. administration. The reason is obvious. We are beholden to the U.S. for many aspects of our security. Yet now we must think how we can manage the Ukraine war and European security on our own. We must bolster urgently our European defences, sufficiently to deter the expansion of Russia hybrid warfare against Europe and its evolution into kinetic warfare, threatening the lives of our own citizens.

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David Chalmers

Moldova election preview

By David Chalmers | Sun 28th September 2025 - 1:59 pm

View of Moldovan townThis weekend  voters go to the polls in Moldova – one of Europe’s least known countries sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine – in a parliamentary election that many observers are calling its most consequential ever, that will decide whether the country continues on a pro-European track or veers back towards Moscow’s sphere of influence.

The War in Ukraine looms ever large over this tiny country. Its capital Chisinău, in more peaceful times, is only a two hour drive from Odessa and the Black Sea. During my visit this summer I was told that, at the beginning of the Russian invasion in 2022, people in Chisinău could hear the sound of missiles, bombs and artillery fire coming from Ukraine.

Moldova declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, having been sliced off from Romania after the Second World War. Moldovans who make up 75% of the population are closely related to Romanians (7% of the population) and basically speak the same language, with a shared history and culture. As a result Romania maintains close ties with its little neighbour and there are some who would like to see the two countries reunited. Many Moldovans have a Romanian passport.

Other large ethnic groups are the Russian speaking Ukrainians (7% of the population) and Russians (4% of the population). During Soviet times Moldova with its idyllic climate, excellent wine and food was an attractive retirement destination for people from the other Soviet States. At the end of the Soviet Union, it was regarded as one of the wealthier soviet states with a population of 4.3 million. Following the economic collapse after 1991 and the subsequent political crisis resulting in low employment, low wages and  lack of opportunities – over a third of the country’s population left and 1.5 million now live abroad with only 2.5 million still resident in Moldova.  

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Vince Cable

Vince Cable writes: Boycotting Trump

By Vince Cable | Sun 14th September 2025 - 8:50 am

Whoever advises Ed Davey gets full marks for suggesting the boycott of next week’s  Trump banquet at the Palace. And congratulations to Ed for taking up the right issue in the right way at the right time. 

A boycott  signals clearly that Lib Dems reject the Labour government’s obsequious, subservient cultivation of Trump. And to focus on Trump’s active complicity in the horrors of Gaza touches the moral core of British public opinion. 

I set something of a precedent by boycotting the state dinner for the King of Saudi Arabia when I was Acting Leader. There was some tut-tutting from party grandees as well as the anti-Lib Dem press (ie. most of it). I was accused of disrespecting the Royal Family. 

But we should argue that the use of royalty to massage the vanity of appalling guests – from Mobutu and Ceausescu to Trump – is, itself, disrespectful to the head of state. I never experienced any subsequent rebuke from the Palace for my boycott and I very much doubt if Ed’s dealings with the King will be affected.

The focus on Gaza is timely and correct. But there is a wider issue: the way in which the government has turned the UK into a supplicant, vassal state of Trump’s America. The implications go beyond the indignity of bowing and scraping to Trump. Of course, the USA has been our close ally since wartime and is the centrepiece of NATO. Continued US support is currently needed to help support Ukraine in its existential struggle. But clinging to hope and sentiment isn’t a strategy.

 The Trump presidency should surely be wake-up call to Britain and other European countries. If the ‘Special Relationship’ amounts to no more than the American President’s susceptibility to flattery, a love of royal photo-opportunities and a liking for Scottish links golf courses, it is worthless. It could evaporate as quickly as Peter Mandelson’s role as Trump ‘whisperer’ and courtier-in-chief. Any defence guarantee to Ukraine or the rest of Europe is unreliable and is discounted in the Kremlin accordingly. Trade agreements are even more precarious.

The choice facing the UK and other Western allies is stark. One is to ‘hang in there’ in the hope that Trump will continue to smile in our direction, will mellow and be succeeded by someone less capricious, avaricious and opportunist. That appears to be UK government policy. Sadly, there is little sign of mellowing or of a more tractable successor. The recent humiliation meted out to the Japanese in their negotiation over trade is a warning that even the most craven of supplicants will be trodden underfoot if it suits Trump’s mood.

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David Chalmers

Reflections on Ukraine’s Independence Day

By David Chalmers | Sun 24th August 2025 - 8:54 am

People gather in Mykolav to support caputred soldiers

Today, the Ukrainians celebrate their Independence Day.  How fitting that it comes just over a week after that  meeting in Alaska between Trump and Putin and the subsequent meeting at the White House between Trump and European Leaders – where the independence of this heroic nation was the main topic for discussion. 

I am sure that many Lib Dems will have  joined in the celebrations this weekend – a reflection of the strong friendships that  have been formed with the Ukrainians living in the UK. As liberals we  recognised early on that the Ukrainians were fighting our war against the forces seeking to destroy the very basis of  our liberal democracies – forces also determined to undermine our liberal values.  That bond is  also reflected in the strong relationship that the Liberal Democrats have formed in the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe ALDE and Liberal International with  our Ukrainian sister parties  – President Zelensky’s Servant of the People Party and the opposition party Golos, led by our dear friend Kira Rudik.   Many personal friendships have developed, with Kira a well known face and frequent visitor to our party Conferences and Yevheniia Kravchuk,  the Vice President of ALDE,  attending last year’s Autumn Conference in Brighton.  The Lib Dems have stood steadfastly behind our Ukrainian partners during this time of war, but also in helping  to rebuild their country and society when they at last enjoy peace.

But not peace at any cost.  The Ukrainians have fought and lost too many of their people –  soldiers on the battlefield and civilians in  the attacks on their homes – to just give it all up,  as if those that have given their lives were worth nothing.   

I was invited to visit Ukraine at  the end of May to attend the Black Sea Security Forum in Odesa, and I was in the country when Ukraine carried out one its most daring acts of the war – Operation Spiders Web – involving  multiple drone attacks from within side Russia on its military airfields, which saw a third of its bomber fleet destroyed.  A truly historic day for Ukraine.

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Mark Valladares

15 May 2025 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Thu 15th May 2025 - 10:55 pm
  • Lib Dems say shocking hospital wait stats should “shake us to our core”
  • GDP: Govt must now use UK-EU summit to boost growth
  • Sneaky Kemi needs to “take head out of the sand” on EU
  • Lib Dems move to quash sell-out law allowing foreign stakes in UK newspapers
  • Cole-Hamilton to First Minister: SNP have failed social care and NHS

Lib Dems say shocking hospital wait stats should “shake us to our core”

Responding to the Royal College of Emergency Medicine estimating that there were more than 16,600 deaths of patients linked to long waits in A&E for hospital beds last year, Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson Helen Morgan MP said:

These figures should shake us to our core. People are dying needlessly in corridors and glorified cupboards as staff are stretched to breaking point, working in conditions that resembling the stuff on nightmares.

This is where we must draw a line in the sand. The Conservatives led us to this point – an NHS on its knees and countless preventable deaths – but it is up to this Government to make sure that this never happens again.

The Health Secretary must step up, free up much-needed hospital beds by overhauling social care as he has pledged to do and back our campaign to end corridor care by the end of this Parliament. That is what the public deserves.

GDP: Govt must now use UK-EU summit to boost growth

Responding to GDP growth of 0.2% for March and 0.7% over Q1 of 2025, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:

This is positive news for the economy but this is no time for complacency.

These figures are from before the Chancellor’s jobs tax came into force and Trump’s trade war began.

The government needs to use the UK-EU summit on Monday to boost businesses and cut red tape, including by immediately starting talks on a bespoke customs union.

Sneaky Kemi needs to “take head out of the sand” on EU

Following Kemi Badenoch’s speech to the International Democracy Union, James MacCleary MP, Liberal Democrat Europe Spokesperson, said:

Kemi sneaking off to Brussels to talk down Britain: I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised. It’s a well-rehearsed act.

She’s wrong on Europe: standing stronger together with our EU allies makes us stronger at home, not weaker.

It’s time for Badenoch to take her head out of the sand and wake up to the huge potential for growth that a proper deal with the EU could unlock.

Lib Dems move to quash sell-out law allowing foreign stakes in UK newspapers

Following the revelation that the Labour Government will legislate to allow foreign states to own up to 15% of British newspapers, the Liberal Democrats will move to dismantle the new rules via a Fatal Motion – a rare parliamentary device that would permanently halt the law’s progression.

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An alternative VE Day message – Standing with Ukraine

By Richard Kilpatrick and Michael Anderson | Sun 11th May 2025 - 10:56 am

An alternative VE day message – Standing with Ukraine. 

In 2025, the world marks 80 years since Victory in Europe (VE) Day. But the war in Ukraine rages on – a stark reminder that peace and freedom can never be taken for granted.

While we celebrate the end of an old conflict, millions of Ukrainians are still living through the devastation of an ongoing war.

On behalf of the European Movement UK we went to Ukraine, to put Ukrainian voices in front of a British audience and to ensure their voices are not forgotten.

We are presenting these stories in a new film: Flags in the Wind.

In Flags in the Wind, we hear from the voices of everyday Ukrainians forced to flee their homes in Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Kyiv, relocating to the humanitarian hubs around Lviv.

By hearing their experiences, we discover the resilience of a people, the horrors of war, and the determination to set an example to the people of Europe in the face of tyranny. 

With contributions from Ukrainian citizens, veterans, senior politicians, and rehabilitation centre clinicians, Flags in the Wind delivers a sober message at a time when Europe is remembering the end of World War II.

Since we were founded in 1949,our mission at the European Movement has always been to promote peace, democracy, and unity across Europe.

This film is a direct expression of that purpose – reminding us that standing together in the face of aggression is essential to protecting our shared, European future.

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Mark Valladares

9 May 2025 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Fri 9th May 2025 - 10:30 pm
  • Andrew Bailey right that the UK must urgently rebuild trade with Europe
  • UK-US trade deal: Starmer must rule out “massive tax breaks” for Musk
  • Rennie visits Children’s hospice helped by Scot Lib Dem budget deal

Andrew Bailey right that the UK must urgently rebuild trade with Europe

Responding to the Governor of the Bank of England’s comments that the UK now needs to “rebuild” Britain’s trade relationship with the EU, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader and Treasury Spokesperson Daisy Cooper said:

Andrew Bailey has today added his voice to what Liberal Democrats have been saying for years: that we urgently need to rebuild our trading relationship with our closest and most significant economic partners in Europe.

This isn’t about revisiting the past, it’s about boosting our economy and deepening cooperation for the future. Despite the Government’s US deal, Trump’s trade tariffs are still hitting key British industries and threatening the livelihoods of people across the UK.

The Government must embrace a pragmatic and ambitious approach to our relationship with the EU – cutting red tape and providing a vital boost for our businesses.

UK-US trade deal: Starmer must rule out “massive tax breaks” for Musk

Responding to reporting that the UK has not ruled out a tech deal as part of future trading negotiations with the US, Daisy Cooper MP, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader and Treasury Spokesperson, said:

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Phil Bennion

Europe and Africa – an Alliance for the Future?

By Phil Bennion | Mon 17th March 2025 - 10:03 am

With a Trump induced rethink of strategic alliances in throw, should Europe (including the UK) turn to Africa for a long-term economic partnership? The RENEW group in the European Parliament have been working on this idea for 2 years now through RENEWPAC, it’s engagement project with the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) allied political groups. The third such congress took place in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire last month, the second I have attended on behalf of Liberal International, and the enthusiasm for a deep economic partnership was heightened by the unstable geopolitics of the moment. It was hosted generously by the Ivorian government and in particular Fisheries minister Sidi Touré, my fellow Vice President of Liberal International.

The basic theory is that Europe has shortages of labour and natural resources alongside an inward migration challenge, largely across the Mediterranean, but is relatively rich and well placed with investment resources. Africa conversely has an excess of available labour and copious natural resources, but a severe shortage of capital for investment. The African perspective is that Europe is a far better fit for economic partnership than China, as China also has excess labour and is more interested in importing African raw materials than the possibility of adding value in Africa. Europe is also much closer geographically and culturally. The Africans all stress that they do not want to replace Chinese investment, but to more than match it with investment from Europe.

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Paul Hindley

Starmer is living in a dreamworld. Britain must choose between Europe and Trump’s America

By Paul Hindley | Sun 2nd March 2025 - 12:43 pm

What a difference a day makes. On Thursday, the Prime Minister Keir Starmer went to Washington DC to meet with President Donald Trump. There, in the White House, Starmer had a jovial and good-spirited meeting and press conference with the new US President. The press hailed the Prime Minister’s visit as a triumph referring to it as a “love-in” and a “bromance”. It appeared to vindicate Starmer’s strategy of walking a delicate diplomatic tightrope between Europe and the new American administration.

But then came Friday. President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s wartime leader, who is viewed by many to be a modern Churchill, sat in the same seat in the Oval Office as Starmer had done. However, Zelensky’s meeting with Trump could not have represented a greater contrast to that of Starmer’s a day earlier. There, Zelensky was subjected to berating and bullying from Trump and his Vice President JD Vance. Trump and Vance brought absolute shame on to the Office of the Presidency by goading and bullying Zelensky. All of which played into the hands of Vladimir Putin and his fascist attempt to conquer Ukraine.

Starmer’s dream day in the Oval Office has quickly turned into a living nightmare. Trump’s treatment of Zelensky reveals an uncomfortable truth. That in this increasingly divided and polarised world, Britain cannot continue to walk a diplomatic tightrope between Europe and Trump’s America. Britain will have to decide who it stands with. Do we stand with most other European democracies in defending what remains of the liberal rules-based order, or do we stand with Trump in forging a harsh world of realism, authoritarianism and post-truth politics?

In the EU, the likely next German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has called for greater European independence from America. There are even serious considerations about the creation of a common European army, especially as Trump’s America is no longer seen as a reliable NATO partner. Britain, along with the rest of Europe, must free itself from its dependency on America, especially on matters of defence. We Europeans must stand on our own two feet. We must embrace being the leaders of the free world, a position that Trump vacated on Friday when he sided with Putin against Zelensky. 

There are significant risks for Britain in choosing to side with Trump over Europe. A cutthroat trade deal with Trump’s America that forced us to reduce our trading standards and economic regulations would be bad for our economy. It would also kill any hopes of getting a stronger trading relationship with the EU. Britain should not allow Trump to bully us into accepting an unfavourable trade deal through the threat of increased tariffs. The Trump Administration has also taken aim at Britain’s attempts to combat hate speech and discrimination. To reduce such protections would only embolden the far-right even further. In short, if we side with Trump, then Britain risks being reduced to a vassal state of Trump’s America.

However, it is far from certain that Starmer will take Britain closer to Europe. Take for example, the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, rebutting the idea of a youth mobility scheme with the EU. Ed Davey has rightly called for Britain to join a customs union with the EU. Yet, even this proposal, one that would bring clear economic benefits, has not been supported by Labour. The fact that Labour cannot support even the most reasonable and modest proposals for strengthening our relationship with Europe is a cause for concern.

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Sun 23rd February 2025 - 8:48 am

Europe and United States

The European tag team of Starmer and Macron is off to Washington next week. The British Prime Minister and the French President will be trying to persuade Trump to save the Western Alliance by continuing to back Ukraine.

It will be a difficult if almost impossible task given the flood of anti-Zelensky, anti-European and pro-Russian rhetoric that has been pouring out of Washington. But they must but try.

Macron will be the first to arrive. He will sit down with President Trump on Monday.

The French president has taken the lead in trying to rally Europe-wide support for Ukraine with two Paris summits within a few days of each other. He has argued for years that the danger of American isolationism required Europe to increase its defences to fill the American vacuum.

At the summits he proposed that European countries despatch a peacekeeping force of up to 30,000 troops to guard key parts of Ukraine’s infrastructure. They would be supported by Western air and sea power.

Keir Starmer arrives at the White House on Thursday. The British took the lead in supporting Ukraine and continue to do so. The prime minister supports the idea of a peacekeeping force, but only as part of a ceasefire agreement and only with “an American backstop.”

Starmer has been vague about what the backstop would involve, but it is likely that he would want a guarantee of US air support.

However, the peacekeeping proposal could be dead in the water before it reaches the Oval Office. Germany is opposed to it. Chancellor Olof Scholz said such a proposal is premature and would be a serious escalation. Vladimir Putin has rejected any deal that involves European troops based in Ukraine.

Ukraine

What are the negotiating positions in Ukraine? There are four actors, only two of which have started talking: The US, Russia, Ukraine and Europe.

Donald Trump’s immediate objective is clear: Stop the fighting. And he appears ready to concede victory to Russia to achieve that aim. Longer-term, Trump clearly wants to withdraw American military support from Europe and move it into the Indo-Pacific region. The US president also appears to want rehabilitate Russia in order to gain access to that country’s natural resources.

Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine. In the short term he wants recognition for the Russian annexation of Crimea and the Donbas Region (including parts which it has not occupied). He also wants guarantees that Ukraine will be demilitarised; will not be allowed to join NATO and that no western (European or American) troops will be based in Ukraine. He also wants a pro-Russian government in Kyiv. Putin wants to win so that he can use victory in Ukraine as a springboard to exert Russian influence over Eastern Europe and beyond so that Russia is once again a Great Power.

Ukraine’s wants are simpler. It wants Russia out of its territory and guarantees that it will be protected in the future through membership of NATO. In the short-term Volodomyr Zelensky will agree to a ceasefire along the current front line if it is backed up by European/American peacekeepers.

Europe is riddled with differences. Despite what many Americans think, Europe is not one country. It is 27 members of the EU, Britain and a few small states. But with a few exceptions, Europe is united in wanting to contain a resurgent Russia and regards Ukraine as fighting a war on its behalf. Europeans regard NATO and American support as crucial in their aims. Europe—as a collection of countries—has given more aid to Ukraine than anyone else. After years of American pressure they are increasing defense spending and building up their militaries to replace American troops. But it takes time and they face an uphill task persuading Donald Trump to give them that time.

NATO

Here’s the good news: Donald Trump cannot unilaterally decide to withdraw from NATO. In December 2023 the NATO Enhancement Act was passed by Congress (co-sponsored by the current Secretary of State Marco Rubio). This bill required the president to seek a two-thirds majority of the Senate before withdrawing from the NATO Alliance.

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Chris Bowers

The speech Ed Davey should have made on the EU

By Chris Bowers | Sun 9th February 2025 - 10:30 am

This is the speech Ed should have made on the EU

Hats off to Ed Davey for calling for an EU/UK customs union. Last month’s call rightly attracted media attention, and amounts to the first step towards the Lib Dems re-establishing ourselves as Britain’s most pro-European party.

As a signatory to the Guardian letter in November 2023 which called on the party leadership to make a clearer statement about what the Lib Dems stand for, I give credit to Ed for his EU speech. But he should have gone much further, and framed our party’s position differently. That may sound like an extreme position – after all, leaders have to tread cautiously and take people with them – but let me explain why last month’s stance was too tentative.

All political parties are trying to carve out an identity for themselves against a backdrop of disenchantment that is fuelling populism. In particular, the 18-35 age cohort, which strongly voted Remain, feels no-one speaks for it. It therefore needs an inspiring message, one that is relayed in human, not technocratic, terms.

The case against Brexit is so clear that there are only one-and-a-half reasons not to call for the process of Britain to rejoining the EU to start right now. The main reason is that there was so much divisiveness around the referendum campaign (and afterwards) that everyone is understandably keen to avoid reopening old wounds. But old wounds that have not healed only fester, so the rapprochement with Europe must include an acknowledgement that people are still sore. More importantly, in pursuing that rapprochement we must try to take Leave voters with us – whether they wish they had voted differently or not, they must feel respected, not feel they have lost face.

The half-reason is the fear that going back into the single market will stoke immigration. It’s a valid reason because immigration is high on voters’ concerns, so anything that looks like increasing the number of people entering the UK has the potential to boost support for the populists. But it’s only half a reason because immigration has gone up since we left the EU, not down.

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Mark Valladares

20 January 2025 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Mon 20th January 2025 - 10:30 pm
  • 40 new hospitals: Shoddy attempt to bury bad news on day of Trump’s inauguration
  • Farm incomes in Wales fall by 34% – Liberal Democrats call for Government reset
  • Trump inauguration shows importance of close ties with Europe

40 new hospitals: Shoddy attempt to bury bad news on day of Trump’s inauguration

Responding to the Health Secretary’s announcement that there will be significant delays to the completion of the New Hospital Programme, Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson Helen Morgan MP said:

This is a double betrayal. The Conservatives shamelessly made promises they never intended to keep to countless communities served by crumbling hospitals.

Now this government uses the day of Trump’s inauguration in a shoddy attempt to bury bad news, showing an outrageous disregard for patients.

Instead of ducking scrutiny, the Health Secretary needs to publish the full impact assessment of these delays.

Patients have a right to know just how at risk they are, and how many more delays they will have to suffer as a result of the government’s decision.

Farm incomes in Wales fall by 34% – Liberal Democrats call for Government reset

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have called on Labour to reset their relationship with farming and the countryside following the release of statistics showing farming incomes in Wales have fallen by 34% for the period April 2023 to March 2024.

David Chadwick MP, the Liberal Democrats Wales spokesperson in Westminster has said that recent policy failures by both the Welsh Labour Government in Cardiff Bay and the UK Government are damaging agriculture and the wider rural economy in Wales and risk making the situation even worse.

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Mark Valladares

18-19 January 2025 – the weekend’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Sun 19th January 2025 - 10:30 pm
  • Patel on Trump: “naive and dangerous”, say Lib Dems
  • Davey: Trump presidency “deeply worrying for millions”
  • Pressure rises on Govt as two in three Labour voters back closer ties with Europe given Trump presidency
  • More than 11,000 malicious calls to ambulance service in past decade
  • 2024 the worst year on record at A&E

Patel on Trump: “naive and dangerous”, say Lib Dems

Responding to Priti Patel’s comments about the Trump presidency on Laura Kuenssberg’s programme this morning, Calum Miller MP, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, said:

Priti Patel’s comments on her ‘trust’ in Trump are naive and dangerous. The incoming US administration will be one to watch carefully, to deal with critically – not one in which we should put blind faith.

Her desire to rush into a free trade deal between the UK and US – one that could sell British farmers and food standards down the river – reminds us of where her and her party’s true alliances lie: with the Mar-a-Lago clan, not with constituents here in Britain.

The Conservatives are competing with Reform to be most submissive toward Trump, but we should be approaching the new President from a position of strength.

The Liberal Democrats will continue to push for a fair deal for British people – beginning with a new UK-EU customs union that boosts UK growth.

Davey: Trump presidency “deeply worrying for millions”

Commenting as Trump’s inauguration takes place today , Ed Davey, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, said:

Donald Trump returning to the White House will be deeply worrying for millions of people in the UK and around the world. With a President who promises trade wars, undermines NATO and praises Vladimir Putin, the threats to our national security and our economy are clear.

The UK must lead on the world stage again, standing up for our interests by working closely with other countries – above all our European neighbours.

While Nigel Farage toadies up to Donald Trump and Elon Musk in Washington, Liberal Democrats are working hard for our communities here in the UK. We will press the Government to be far more ambitious and positive in fixing our relationship with Europe, to strengthen Britain’s hand when it comes to dealing with Trump.

Pressure rises on Govt as two in three Labour voters back closer ties with Europe given Trump presidency

A two-thirds majority (64%) of 2024 Labour voters agree that the UK should build closer “economic and security ties with Europe” given Trump’s incoming presidency, polling commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has revealed – piling pressure on the Government to accelerate talks on UK-EU relations as the new presidency gets under way.

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Mark Valladares

Ed Davey speech: Negotiate a UK-EU Customs Union to “turbocharge economy” and strengthen hand against Trump

By Mark Valladares | Thu 16th January 2025 - 9:02 am

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey will today call on the Government to negotiate a new UK-EU Customs Union, to boost Britain’s economy and ability to deal with the incoming Trump Presidency from a position of strength.

In his first major speech of the year, Ed Davey will criticise the Labour Government for ruling out a Customs Union with the EU, saying it would be the best way to tear down trade barriers and “turbocharge our economy in the medium and long term.”

He will call on ministers to negotiate a new deal with the EU this year, with the goal of forming a Customs Union by 2030 at the latest, arguing this will allow the UK to “deal with President Trump from a position of strength, not weakness.”

He will then criticise Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch for wanting to go “cap in hand” to Donald Trump and “beg for whatever trade deal he’ll give us.” And he will criticise Nigel Farage for “fawning over Trump and licking his boots”, being “more interested in advancing Trump’s agenda over here than the UK’s interests over there.”

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Robert Harrison

The Fall of the German Government: How the liberal FDP and the Debt Brake Shook the Country.

By Robert Harrison | Mon 6th January 2025 - 12:15 pm

In late 2024, Germany’s political landscape was upended by the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s “traffic light coalition”, comprising the Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens, and the market-oriented Free Democratic Party (FDP), one of our sister parties in ALDE. This coalition, which once promised a progressive agenda, fractured under mounting economic pressures, the war in Ukraine, ideological differences, and a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court. The FDP’s commitment to fiscal discipline was central to this political upheaval, particularly the controversial Schuldenbremse—Germany’s debt brake.

The crisis started in November 2023 when the Court ruled that the government’s allocation of €60 billion to the so-called “Climate and Transformation Fund” (KTF is the German acronym) was unconstitutional. The KTF was originally set out in the coalition agreement and was designed to finance Germany’s energy transition and decarbonisation efforts. It was seen as a vital part of the coalition’s strategy to address climate change and modernise the ailing German economy.

The Court determined that transferring unspent COVID-19 relief funds to the KTF violated the debt brake provision in Germany’s Basic Law (Grundgesetz). This decision essentially invalidated the fund and created a significant shortfall in the government’s budget for critical infrastructure, energy transition projects, and social programs. The ruling was a severe setback to the policy agendas of the Greens and the SPD. For the FDP, it was a validation of their fiscal stance. Finance Minister Christian Lindner, leader of the FDP, seized upon the court’s decision to affirm the party’s commitment to fiscal responsibility, as it prevents inflation and is also fairer for younger generations who would have to pay off the debt. Lindner argued that the ruling reinforced the FDP’s argument that circumventing the debt brake undermined constitutional governance. However, it also led to a stalemate in coalition negotiations. The SPD and Greens sought new funding mechanisms to replace the invalidated KTF, while the FDP remained steadfast.

The debt brake (Schuldenbremse), introduced into Germany’s Basic Law in 2009, was designed to ensure fiscal responsibility by limiting the accumulation of national and regional government debt. The rule restricts annual structural deficits to 0.35% of GDP, except during emergencies (such as the COVID-19 pandemic). The FDP views the debt brake as essential for economic stability, with memories of the interwar hyperinflation still being strong in the country. However, critics argue that the debt brake, as it is currently worded, has become a constraint, preventing necessary investments to address long-term challenges like climate change and economic competitiveness.

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Lord William Wallace

Europe or USA: do we now have to choose?

By Lord William Wallace | Fri 22nd November 2024 - 9:59 am

The UK’s image of its place in the world since the Second World War has rested on the claim to act as the ‘Atlantic bridge’, as Tony Blair used to put it.  We were the USA’s closest ally within Europe, and one of the major players, alongside France and Germany, within Europe.  The end of the Cold War weakened that claim, as American attention turned towards the Pacific.  Brexit weakened it a great deal further.  But now Trump Republicans and their British supporters are insisting that we have to choose: follow America, or slide back towards Europe.

The Times on November 16th headlined the statement by Stephen Moore, advising Trump at his Florida base, that ‘Britain must decide – do you want to go towards the European socialist model or do you want to go towards the US free market?’  If the latter, then a free trade agreement would be available to avoid the tariff war Trump is threatening to engage in with the EU and others; if not, no deal.  This wasn’t a surprise; Daniel Hannan had an Op-ed in the Mail three days before, making the case for Britain accepting a trade deal with the USA and the extra-territorial regulations (on food additives and hygiene, etc.) that would go with it rather than moving closer to the EU Single Market.  There are even reports that some in the Trump camp want to extend the North American Free Trade Area to Australia and the UK, to form an Anglo-Saxon grouping (with Mexico as an anomaly) under American leadership.

Brexit was never really about re-establishing British sovereignty.  For romantics like Hannan about the superiority of ‘the English-speaking peoples’ and the ‘special relationship’ which was thought to offer Britain continuing global status it was about following the USA and accepting its economic and social model rather than what was seen to be the European alternative – yielding sovereignty to the USA rather than sharing sovereignty with our European neighbours.  Boris Johnson’s Churchill fixation pushed him towards the idea that Britain and America were and remain ‘special’ partners.  Nigel Farage is an even stronger advocate of Anglo-Saxon solidarity – assuming that the USA will continue to be run by Republican Administrations promoting free markets and a shrunken state.

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Caron Lindsay

PMQs: Ed quizzes Starmer on Europe

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 9th October 2024 - 3:47 pm

It’s great seeing Ed getting a guaranteed two cracks of the whip at PMQs every week.

And many people in the party will be thrilled that he pushed the PM on Europe and asked him to consider a youth mobility scheme to give people in their 20s the chance to live and work in Europe for 3 years.

I did wonder before the recess if he was maybe letting Starmer off the hook on his second questions and I think he could have pressed that point a bit further today – though he did say he would leave it for another time before moving on to improving the trade deal.

I look back with fondness on Willie Rennie’s legendary and dogged persistence of one issue at a time with the SNP, whether it be college cuts, ferries, conditions in prisons, free school meals or mental health at First Minister’s Questions. He would prosecute a line pretty forensically over several weeks and that got him noticed. And sometimes it resulted in concessions from the Government when he had destroyed all their rebuttals.

I get the argument that keeping Starmer guessing about the topic also has its merits, but I would like to see a bit more follow-through. When the Prime Minister fails to answer the question the first time, I’d like to see Ed find his inner terrier.

Watch the first question here.

The text of the full exchange is below

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Mark Valladares

2 October 2024 – yesterday’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Thu 3rd October 2024 - 7:30 am
  • Conservative leadership: To call this contest scraping the bottom of the barrel would be an insult to barrels
  • Davey: New Govt must make repairing our broken relationship with Europe a priority
  • Welsh Government urged to adopt successful family court model – Substance use among parents dropped by over a quarter
  • McArthur comments on prisoner early release figures

Conservative leadership: To call this contest scraping the bottom of the barrel would be an insult to barrels

Responding to the speeches made by the four Conservative leadership candidates at their party’s conference today, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper MP said:

To call this contest scraping the bottom of the barrel would be an insult to barrels. Every day this leadership contest goes on reminds the public why they voted to kick the Conservatives out of office.

The leadership candidates are competing in an undignified race to the bottom, suggesting maternity pay should be slashed, civil servants should go to prison and insulting the armed forces. All four of them are failed former Conservative ministers, refusing to take responsibility for their appalling record in government.

Davey: New Govt must make repairing our broken relationship with Europe a priority

Responding to Keir Starmer’s meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey MP said:

After years of Conservative failure, this new Government must make repairing our broken relationship with Europe a priority. That starts with a common sense agreement on a Youth Mobility Scheme between the EU and the UK.

For years, Conservative Ministers not only ignored our closest neighbours but treated them with contempt.

The Conservatives’ shoddy deal with the EU has harmed farmers, fishers and small businesses across the country. It’s time to tear down the red tape erected by the former Conservative Government and give a boost to Britain’s economy, by working closely with our European allies once again.

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Mark Valladares

28 August 2024 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 28th August 2024 - 10:50 pm

Back from three weeks away, time to pick up the party’s press releases again…

  • Water bills: High time Ofwat were replaced
  • UK-Germany treaty: A positive step forward
  • Erasmus: Disappointing that Govt will not rejoin scheme
  • 170+ artists slam SNP culture cuts
  • Scot Lib Dems comment as FM and Chancellor meet

Water bills: High time Ofwat were replaced

Responding to comments from water firms that despite rising bills for consumers, companies claim this isn’t enough to stop sewage spills, Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesperson Tim Farron MP said:

It’s an absolute outrage that British families face sky high bills that continue to rise, whilst water firm CEOs pocket millions of pounds in bonuses, and all the while filthy sewage continues to destroy our seas and rivers.

It’s clear to see that the current regulator Ofwat is not fit for purpose, and it’s high time they were replaced. That is why the Liberal Democrats have been calling for a new regulator to crack down on water companies and hold them accountable to end this sewage scandal once and for all.

UK-Germany treaty: A positive step forward

Responding to UK-Germany treaty talks, Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Layla Moran MP said:

This is a positive step forward after years of the Conservatives trashing the UK’s relationship with Europe.

But the new Government needs to be more ambitious about rebuilding stronger ties with our European allies.

That should start with agreeing a Youth Mobility Scheme giving young people the opportunity to easily live and work across the continent.

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Tom Arms

Observations of an Expat: Defense Cooperation – Back Door to Europe

By Tom Arms | Sat 24th August 2024 - 11:42 am

If Britain’s Labour government is looking for it, there is a gaping door back into a new relationship with Europe – defense cooperation.

And this door has the added advantage that increased defense cooperation between Britain and its European NATO allies is becoming essential to counter growing American disillusionment with Europe.

Whether it is a MAGA-fied isolationism or a pivot to Asia, it is clear that foreign policymakers in both the Democratic and Republican parties are questioning America’s commitment to Europe.

For those on both sides of the English Channel this creates an opportunity to start to repair the damage of eight years of Conservative Party Brexiteering. It could also strengthen European defences and, ironically, help to retain the American nuclear umbrella.

Europe faced the problem of American isolationism and problems with Asia before—in the run-up to the creation NATO and within a year of its founding. When the idea of linking America to the defense of post-war Europe was first mooted, Senator Arthur Vandenberg, leader of the Republican-controlled Senate, insisted on proof that the Europeans were jointly committed to their own defense.

This was proven by British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin with a 50-year Anglo-French Treaty of Alliance and Mutual Assistance in 1947 and then a year later with an extension of the mutual defense pact to include Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Vandenberg and the Republicans were impressed, and on April 4, 1949 the North Atlantic Treaty was signed.

A year later Europe panicked when North Korea invaded South Korea. What if the Soviet Union took advantage of Korea to attack Europe? Could America afford to fight on two fronts? Which was the more important to Washington—Europe or Asia? The result was the Pleven Plan (named after French Prime Minister Renee Pleven). It proposed strengthening the European arm of NATO with a European Army headed up by a European defense minister.

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Sun 21st April 2024 - 9:23 am

United States of America

Self-inflicted cracks are starting to appear in the MAGA edifice. The two Republicans wielding the sledgehammers are Alabama’s conspiracy theorist Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and, of course, Donald Trump himself.

The former president, has time and again, demonstrated a total disregard for the rule of law, or at least its application to his affairs. Next week the judge in his New York trial, Juan Merchan, will decide whether Trump is guilty of contempt of court for repeatedly breaching a gag order against his making comments about witnesses, jurors, the judge, the judge’s family or any court officials.

It is a legal courtesy for opposing legal teams to give a day or two’s advance notice of witnesses to give the lawyers time to prepare. The prosecution has asked the judge that they be allowed to withhold the information on the grounds that Trump is likely to issue intimidatory comments on his Truth Social platform. The judge has agreed.

Marjorie Taylor Greene – who has been dubbed “Vladimir Putin’s Envoy Extraordinaire to the US Congress” by Democrats and moderate Republicans – appears determined to totally destroy Republican credibility. Her main target is the $60 billion aid package for Ukraine which has been held up for months by far-right MAGA Republicans in the House of Representatives.

The package is expected to be approved this weekend. But Ms Greene is determined to make a last ditch effort to kill the aid bill with a series of outrageous amendments, including: No humanitarian aid for Gaza, withdrawal from NATO, no support for a two-state solution, and – best of all – a demand that any member of Congress who votes in favour of aid for Ukraine be conscripted into the Ukrainian army.

Ms Greene and the other members of the right-wing Freedom Caucus have managed to alienate moderate Republican congressman who are expected to cross the floor to vote with Democrats to pass the aid bill. Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden said that he and his colleagues were “sick and tired” of being “bullied” and “blackmailed.”

Europe

America’s “cancel culture” came to Europe this week–and then cancelled itself.

Cancel culture, is a term used by mainly US conservatives to decry the efforts of liberals to block (or “cancel”) public appearances by right-wing speakers. The tactic has become especially popular American university campuses where left-wing student demonstrations have forced the cancellation of speeches by right-wingers.

Conservatives – quite rightly – see this as an attack on free speech.

This week the Edmund Burke Foundation, a conservative American think tank/pressure group, was hosting a conference of right-wing European luminaries in Brussels. Or at least, it was until it encountered the cancel culture of a series of Brussels mayors.

Trouble started the weekend before the event when one of the mayors of Brussels 19 districts decided that the Euro-sceptic foundation’s National Conservatism Conference would not be welcome in his district which included the EU institutions. He feared that the speakers’ anti-EU, anti-immigration and anti-LGBT views would attract violent counter demonstrations. So the venue was shifted to a building near the European Parliament where another district mayor turfed out the organisers.

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Tom Davies

How we should be European in 2023

By Tom Davies | Mon 26th June 2023 - 1:28 pm

We have a responsibility to not just be pro-EU but pro-European. Let’s never say no to re-joining the EU but prioritise laying the groundwork for a successful pro-active membership of the community.

Manchester City seem oddly un-British. I’m not referring to the nationalities of the players involved, nor where the club’s money comes from, but rather what they’re doing: Winning. They’re not the underdogs, nor the victims of bad luck, but rather predictable winners because of their world-leading teamwork, players and organisation.

This un-Britishness is certainly reflected in the media and popular response. A mixture of disbelief and almost disappointment, some journalists point out how City are ruining football with their predictable dominance correlating with their extreme wealth. Britain, historically a nation of underdogs, has somehow produced a monster of a team reminiscent of Imperial Germany in its superpower trajectory.

Most importantly, I would say, Britain is perhaps not used to such coherence, strength and success after years of internal division and geopolitical humiliation. No-matter one’s views of Brexit as a policy, it wasn’t executed very well. Brexit has contributed to Britain’s economic troubles resulting in the insecurity of millions, while a divisive discourse paints Britain as the victims in an adversarial relationship with Europe.

Yet it wasn’t always like this. It wasn’t long ago that Britain was not just European, but a European leader in its values and foreign policy. No matter how sickening he was to some people, Tony Blair demonstrated a superstar-like energy as prime minister. Perhaps not quite like Manchester City now, Britain was definitely a European force to be taken seriously.

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Tom Arms

Observations of an expat: Adjusting the thermostat

By Tom Arms | Sat 11th March 2023 - 8:33 am

European thermometers dropped this week. But generally speaking it has been a relatively mild winter and temperatures are starting to rise. This is good news for Ukraine. Good news for Europe. Bad news for Russia and great news for America.

Twelve months ago the Western Alliance was seriously worried that Europe’s reliance on Russian gas and oil would render it powerless to stand up to Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.

The outlook is now considerably brighter. Cash-strapped consumers turned down thermostats. Russian gas supplies have been cut by two-thirds. Nordstream pipelines have shut down (thank you saboteurs whomever you  may be). New storage facilities have been built for liquefied natural gas (LNG). The US has increased its shipments of LNG and Europe is moving faster towards renewable energy sources.

Glitches remain. Landlocked countries such as Austria, Hungary and Slovakia remain heavily dependent on Russian oil and gas and some 20 billion cubic metres (BCM) of Russian gas is still being pumped by pipeline into the EU. Ironically, the pipeline runs through Ukraine. Also, Europeans have increased purchases of Russian LNG, but moves are afoot to reverse that.

The bulk of Europe’s gas is now coming from America. Exports from the US are up 137 percent from a year ago. Companies such as Chevron and Exxon have stepped up fracking operations in Texas, Appalachia, New Mexico and Louisiana. They freeze the gas in terminals and then ship it to Europe. There it is transferred to either newly built storage facilities or specially adapted ships where it is returned to its gaseous state and piped to homes, power stations and factories.

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