Tag Archives: european people’s party

A longer read for the lockdown: Why I left the Tories and became a Lib Dem

By Blaise Baquiche | Tue 28th April 2020 - 2:10 pm

It wasn’t Brexit that made me leave, but a stark realisation that there was something deeply wrong with the Tory party.

I owe my life in Britain to a Tory MP. In 1957, newly elected Keith Joseph was instrumental in persuading the government to grant sanctuary to Jews fleeing Egypt following the Suez crisis, which included my father aged 8.

My grandfather, a 32-year-old dentist at the time, was asked by Egyptian authorities why he was leaving the country. Predicting a surge in hostility towards non-Arabs inspired by President Nasser’s populist speeches, he responded “because you’re allowing me to”.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged austerity, brexit, david cameron, european conservative and reformists, european people's party, keith joseph and margaret thatcher | 35 Comments

Antony Hook asks… Juncker nominated as next President of the European Commission – What happens next?

By Antony Hook | Fri 27th June 2014 - 8:53 pm

Today the European Council nominated Jean-Claude Juncker to be the next President of the European Commission. The heads of government of the 28 states voted overwhelmingly for Juncker. Only the UK’s David Cameron (European Conservatives and Reformists) and Hungary’s Viktor Orban (European People’s Party) voted against.

Juncker’s nomination reflects not only the European People’s Party’s status as largest group in the Parliament but also that it supplies more of the states’ heads of government than any other party. The Council’s nominee will go before the Parliament in its plenary, 14-17 …

Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged ALDE, david cameron, european commission, european people's party, featured, guy verhofstadt and Jean-Claude Juncker | 33 Comments

Opinion: What’s going on in Brussels? Nominations to the European Commission

By Matt McLaren | Tue 24th June 2014 - 3:00 pm

Following on from my post last week on post-election developments in Brussels, here’s the second of two updates. Whilst yesterday’s focused on developments concerning the formation of political groups in the Parliament itself, today’s will address issues regarding nominations to the European Commission.

It now looks likely that at its meeting later this week (from 26^th to 27^th June), the European Council (made up of the Heads of Government from all 28 EU countries) will nominate the Parliament’s preferred candidate for the …