Tag Archives: european union

Prateek Buch

Opinion: Lynne Featherstone’s defence of evidence-based translational medicine is welcome

By Prateek Buch | Fri 9th December 2011 - 4:00 pm

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The sparsely-attended adjournment debate on Wednesday secured by Conservative MP David Amess, saw a rare thing – a genuine discussion based around the merits of peer-reviewed scientific research and a robust defence of an evidence-based approach to translational medicine from Lib Dem Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone. For a biology nerd interested in the application of scientific knowledge to public policy it had all the ingredients of a pre-Christmas gift – I can fully recommend the Hansard transcript for a full picture (yes, I am that sad…).

Mr. Amess has some track record of Parliamentary campaigning against animal cruelty, …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged , , , and | 1 Comment
Paul Walter

PMQs: Penguin in the menage à trois

By Paul Walter | Fri 9th December 2011 - 10:45 am

The first big subject at Prime Minister’s Questions this week was Europe. Tory MP Andrew Rosindell asked if David Cameron would show “bulldog spirit” at the forthcoming summit. Later, similar points came from various Tory Eurosceptic MPs, including the Father of the House, Sir Peter Tapsell. He is always heard with great respect, despite his long-winded, rather pompous and, in this case, halting mini-speeches which have barely inquisitive constructions stuck on the end of them.

Ed Miliband started on Europe as well, asking if Cameron would fulfil his promise that treaty change might give the opportunity to “repatriate powers”. The Prime …

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Posted in PMQs | Also tagged , , , , and | 4 Comments
Mark Pack

What are Lib Dem MEPs up to when it comes to money?

By Mark Pack | Mon 5th December 2011 - 11:55 am

I’ve been wondering for a little time what the Liberal Democrat MEPs are pushing for when it comes to the European Union’s budget, which makes London MEP Sarah Ludford’s latest email update particularly timely:

No pro-European LibDem can be other than fully committed to reform of the EU. Any flaws in the way it is run overshadow its good work on everything from research to roaming charges, not to speak of the area I am passionate about, justice and civil liberties. I’m pleased therefore that a deal has been reached for the EU’s 2012  budget which overall represents no real terms

…

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Posted in Europe / International | Also tagged and | 2 Comments
Nick T

LDVideo: David Laws interviewed by Mark Littlewood

By Nick T | Thu 1st December 2011 - 5:57 pm

Last week, the Director General of the Institute of Economic Affairs, Mark Littlewood, spent an hour talking to David Laws at the IEA’s Westminster headquarters. Before a packed room, Mark and David touched on a whole range of issues – taxation, Europe, the formation of the coalition, just exactly how liberal the Liberal Democrats are, and many more.

The hour-long exchange, which you can see below, is well worth a watch:

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Posted in News and YouTube | Also tagged , , , and | 2 Comments
Jasper Gerard

Opinion: The modern Conservative party – how very Reckless

By Jasper Gerard | Wed 2nd November 2011 - 10:05 am

If Dickens had invented a character called “Mark Reckless”, it might have looked a little contrived. The Conservative MP for Strood and Rochester has argued that Britain should withdraw from the EU, and claims that over half his Conservative colleagues support him.

And not since such Dickensian figures as Sir Leicester Dedlock or Artful Dodger has a character lived up to his name with such enthusiasm. For think how reckless it would be if Britain were to withdraw from the EU, a scenario which even Margaret Thatcher considered suicidal and which was once the lonely position of the lunatic, Bennite left.

Amid …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged and | 10 Comments
Paul Walter

PMQs: Nadine Dorries asks question. No-one dies.

By Paul Walter | Wed 26th October 2011 - 6:54 pm

Today was the fiftieth anniversary of Prime Minister’s Questions. And it was a fairly typical session. As always, it was in two parts.

Part one: Lots of jeering, cheering, knockabout, winding-up and prepared lines exchanged between the PM and opposition leader.

Part Two: Generally hum-drum but important questions from various back-benchers, largely heard in earnest silence.

The bit that most people will see will be the short bit on the telly, which will be a few seconds of ya-boo politics. In itself, that is a good piece of democracy in that it highlights the weaknesses of the government and the opposition. The longer …

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Posted in Europe / International and PMQs | Also tagged , , , , and | 5 Comments
Nick T

LibLink: Paddy Ashdown – To be stronger, Europe must give away power

By Nick T | Tue 25th October 2011 - 5:28 pm

Former Liberal Democrat leader Lord (Paddy) Ashdown has a piece in today’s Times arguing that the European Union must reform if it is to regain public support and fulfil its original objectives.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

The reasons for European integration are not weaker today than they were when this all started; they are stronger. The EU’s founding fathers saw European integration as a means to avoid repeating our past and as the right response to postward turmoil. We should see it as the best means to assure our future and the right reaction to the global turmoil that we

…

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Posted in Europe / International and LibLink | Also tagged | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem members’ views on the European Union (more divided than you might expect)

By Stephen Tall | Mon 3rd October 2011 - 7:55 am

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

85% back EU membership… but 51% reject move to ever closer union

LDV asked: Which of the following options would be your ideal future for the UK and the European Union?

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Posted in Europe / International and LDV Members poll | 10 Comments
Mark Pack

Sarah Ludford opposed plans to refurbish MEP offices

By Mark Pack | Thu 29th September 2011 - 8:45 am

Good to see a Liberal Democrat MEP taking up this cause in a press release:

Liberal Democrat London MEP Sarah Ludford has called for the blocking of plans by European Parliament bosses known as the ‘bureau’ to spend £26 million (€30 million) on improving MEP offices in the Parliament’s Strasbourg building.

The Parliament is currently obliged under the EU treaties – fixed by the 27 national governments – to sit in both Brussels and Strasbourg in a ‘travelling circus’. But in June a majority of MEPs voted in favour of maintaining a single seat in Brussels, which would save 19,000 tonnes of CO2 …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged and | 5 Comments
Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP

Sarah Ludford MEP writes: Passengers should be able to opt out of body scanning

By Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP | Wed 4th May 2011 - 9:38 am

The EU is considering whether to enlarge the list of techniques approved under its aviation security regulations beyond physical searches or metal detectors, and if so with what safeguard provisions.
 
In the meantime, individual Member States can trial security scanners known as ‘whole body’ scanners – or more popularly as ‘naked’ bodyscanners – and apply their own rules. They are currently in use at many European as well as American airports.
 
In the UK, they are being trialled at Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester airports, governed by the 1982 Aviation Security Act and an interim Code of Practice issued last year. A permanent …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | 6 Comments
Stephen Tall

Flight cancelled or delayed? Reasons to be thankful for EU Regulation 261/2004

By Stephen Tall | Wed 22nd December 2010 - 10:15 am

While the Westminster Village is fixated by the Telegraph-hyped furore that Lib Dem ministers don’t always agree with every aspect of Coalition policy (shock, horror etc), the rest of the country is focused on a British obsession bigger even than the media’s predeliction for attaching the suffix ‘-gate’ to a noun: the weather.

Newspaper and TV pictures have been dominated by images of those hoping for a holiday getaway having their hopes dashed and their tempers frayed by the endless queues and chaos at Heathrow and for the Eurostar. …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged , and | 7 Comments
Andrew Duff

Opinion: EU Bill is bad Tory policy

By Andrew Duff | Wed 15th December 2010 - 9:55 am

The European Union Bill is a Tory policy. The Liberal Democrats went into the last election arguing for a referendum on whether the UK should stay in or leave the EU. Thankfully, having lost the election, we were not in a position to test public opinion on that one.

The Conservative party wanted a referendum on the Lisbon treaty in order to repatriate powers and to entrench national sovereignty. On losing the election they discovered that Lisbon was already in force and could not be undone. So their new tactic was to undermine the Lisbon settlement whenever opportunity arose, and it …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged , and | 26 Comments
Jeremy Browne MP

Jeremy Browne writes… Given citizens control over future proposals to give the EU more powers

By Jeremy Browne MP | Tue 7th December 2010 - 3:25 pm

Today the Coalition will bring forward legislation to allow every British citizen to have a say on future changes to the EU Treaties where those changes transfer power or competence from Britain to the European Union.

Britain has been a member of the European Union since the 1970s and we have benefited from closer cooperation. We should also remember that the union is one of the greatest successful demonstrations of the expansion of democracy and liberal values in history. From the post-war stabilisation of western Europe to the removal of the Iron Curtain, the European Union has provided its members with …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged | 18 Comments
David Thorpe

Opinion: Ireland has many economic problems…..but it isn’t an argument against the Euro

By David Thorpe | Sun 21st November 2010 - 1:50 pm

As my native Ireland teeters on the edge of bankruptcy and bailout, sections of the British press have taken the opportunity to view Ireland’s difficulty as the Europsceptic’s opportunity.

Some of the comment has centred around the idea that British taxpayers will be asked to ‘bail out’ their feckless neighbours, as, apparently they were with Greece last year.

This article aims not to explore that argument further, as it is a debate too reliant on uncertain future events, and is framed within a Britsih nationalist context which it is not appropriate for me to explore.

Instead I want to focus on another aspect …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 55 Comments
Iain Roberts

Lib Dem MEP calls for EU budget cuts

By Iain Roberts | Sat 23rd October 2010 - 7:05 pm

Writing on 18th October, Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies called for the European Union to cut its spending, just as national governments across Europe are having to do.

While George Osborne is proposing his cuts package to the House of Commons, Euro-MPs are likely to be voting on the first round of the annual EU budget debate. It seems certain that the European Parliament will end up supporting an increase above the rate of inflation, with our own institution seeking 5.5% more spending “to meet the additional costs of implementing the Lisbon Treaty.”

It is bound to prompt the question of

…

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Posted in Europe / International | 4 Comments
Antony Hook

Opinion: why we need a European Public Prosecutor

By Antony Hook | Thu 21st October 2010 - 4:21 pm

There are serious cross-border criminals at large in Europe damaging the lives of innocent people. A certain numbers of them are more likely to be dealt with when a European Public Prosecutor is created. The British Government needs to escape the defensive dug-out epitomised by Blair’s “red lines” and fight for the good that co-operation in Europe can bring for all our people. This is a time for leadership.

A federal public prosecutor is provided for in the Treaty of Lisbon with a distinct emphasis on financial crime. I use the f-word, federal, because while it has …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | 4 Comments
Laurie Eggleston

Opinion: Let’s talk about Europe

By Laurie Eggleston | Fri 1st October 2010 - 4:40 pm

I’ve been surprised how little trouble Europe has caused the coalition so far. For all that we were vilified as ardent Europhiles during the election, it’s not really been mentioned since. In allowing it to drop off the radar, I think we’re now missing an opportunity.

Labour were always too scared of mention the E-word; so paralysed by their terror of the Mail’s wrath were they. Cameron too seems content to let the issue lie. The Coalition agreement makes it clear in no uncertain terms that this government won’t go anywhere near changing our current relationship with the EU – both …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged | 14 Comments
Stephen Tall

The Saturday Debate: Should Turkey be admitted to the EU?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 7th August 2010 - 8:45 am

Here’s your starter for ten in our Saturday slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate:

In all the recent controversy surrounding David Cameron’s recent foreign policy pronouncements some of the substance has perhaps been lost: here was the leader of a major European country unequivocally urging that Turkey be admitted as a member of the European Union.

This has tended to be an uncontroversial view among the British political classes, who regard Turkey as a vital fulcrum in reconciling the West and the Islamic world. It is far less popular among the voters of Europe, as a …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 33 Comments
Mark Pack

Lib Dem pressure succeeds as European countries push for tougher action on global warming

By Mark Pack | Thu 15th July 2010 - 8:15 pm

Britain, France and Germany have joined forces this week to call for a major toughening of the EU’s target for greenhouse gasses. They have called for the current target of a 20% cut by 2020 to be increased to 30%.

In a statement they also played up the potential economic benefits of the move, “If we stick to a 20 per cent cut, Europe is likely to lose the race to compete in a low-carbon world to countries such as China, Japan or the US, all of which are looking to create a more attractive environment for low-carbon investment.”

As the

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged | 3 Comments
Helen Duffett

Nick Clegg’s budget trip to Spain

By Helen Duffett | Wed 16th June 2010 - 7:20 pm

Nick Clegg in Madrid
Giles Paxman, British ambassador to Spain, has blogged about Nick Clegg’s visit to Spain last week.

While emphasising Britain’s interest in the Eurozone’s economic success, the Deputy Prime Minister showed he’s economising too:

The top priority, obviously, is tackling the problems with our public finances. Nick Clegg made the point strongly, in his long meeting with Prime Minister Zapatero and his speech to a packed audience of top Spanish movers and shakers, that this was a duty that we owe to future generations and that

…

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged , , , and | 9 Comments
Mike Guillaume

Opinion: Deutschland über Europa? And why the UK should care

By Mike Guillaume | Sun 11th April 2010 - 12:20 pm

Since the World Cup of 1966 there has been a number of occasions for the British to hear the first lines of the former German national anthem: “Deutschland über alles. Über alles in der Welt” (“Germany above all, above all in the world”). Should a new line been added in the wake of the recent Greek crisis, and in the wait for the next one? Then it would go as “German above Europe”.

As the third major country in the EU, with France and Germany, the UK opinion and leaders should pay heed, even if this distracts a bit from home …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged | 18 Comments
Iain Roberts

How Euro-sceptic journalism works

By Iain Roberts | Mon 5th April 2010 - 5:50 pm

A relatively inexpensive (£1.1 million) project kicked off in 2007.  The idea was for local authorities on each side of the English Channel to work together for mutual benefit in some specific and limited areas.

As the Espace Manche Development Initiative website explains:

Identification of the challenges in the Channel area and publication of a document defining the strategic orientations for the horizon 2007 – 2013;

Deployment of tangible initiatives structured around five themes:

* Tourism: creation of a common database on target tourist populations.
* Fishing and fish resources: constitution of a consultative regional council for fishing in the Channel area.
* Integrated coastal

…

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 2 Comments
Mike Guillaume

Opinion: Another Greek tragedy? Time for Europhiles to admit the dream is over

By Mike Guillaume | Tue 9th March 2010 - 11:50 am

In case you wouldn’t have noticed, another crisis has come on top of the big one.

For those who understand French, read carefully this article in the March 5 edition of French daily “Le Monde” . A former German finance vice-minister buries the euro as it is now and advises all Southern-Europe economies (including France) to get out of the Eurozone if they don’t clean up their act, behave more like Germany and adopt many unacceptable social measures. Some German backbenchers have suggested these might include selling off some islands (who would buy these? You guess).

That doesn’t yet …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , , and | 56 Comments
Mark Pack

Book review: Saving the European Union

By Mark Pack | Sun 14th February 2010 - 4:50 pm

Andrew Duff’s book Saving the European Union: The logic of the Lisbon Treaty, written early in 2009, has an endearingly open comment about his own political views compared with those of his colleagues:

My party, the UK Liberal Democrats, and group, the Alliance for Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), have been amazingly tolerant of finding a militant federalist in their midst.

Although an enthusiast for a closer European Union, Andrew Duff recognises the need for pro-Europeans to make their case and starts with the roots of the EU in the ruins of post-1945 Europe. He quotes Winston Churchill saying:

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Posted in Books and Europe / International | Also tagged , and | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem members say ‘No’ (just) to holding in/out EU referendum in next Parliament

By Stephen Tall | Sun 14th February 2010 - 12:25 pm

At the start of the week, Lib Dem Voice invited the members of our private discussion forum (open to all Lib Dem members) inviting them to take part in a survey, conducted via Liberty Research, asking a number of questions about the party and the current state of British politics. Many thanks to the 200 of you who completed it; we’ve been publishing the results on LDV over the last few days.

Back in December, it became clear that the party had yet to decide whether the Lib Dem general election manifesto would promise to hold …

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Posted in Europe / International and LDV Members poll | Also tagged | 7 Comments
Helen Duffett

Daily View 2×2: 1 January 2010

By Helen Duffett | Fri 1st January 2010 - 1:40 pm

Happy New (General Election) Year!

On this day in 1973, the UK joined the European Community, along with Denmark and the Republic of Ireland. On January 1, 2002, Euro coins and banknotes became legal tender in twelve of the European Union’s member states.

It’s a quarter of a century since Britain’s first mobile phone call was made. In a seemingly random intersection of the Fates, comedian Ernie Wise was calling from St Katherine’s Dock to a room above a Newbury curry house – the then office of a little company called Vodafone.

2 Interesting Stories

Is a Labour-Tory coalition unthinkable? Only until you think about it
Martin Kettle muses in the Guardian on a hung Parliament:

It seems innocent to assume that either Labour or the Tories would automatically turn first to the Liberal Democrats in those circumstances – or that the Lib Dems would necessarily deliver. The big parties could calculate that they would be better off in a marriage of convenience with a historic enemy they respected, from which they could withdraw with dignity when the moment was right, rather than to embark on a more permanent entanglement with a Lib Dem party which at bottom they each despise.

The more one looks at the evolutionary dynamics of British politics, the more serious the grand coalition option may one day become. Is a Labour-Conservative deal really unthinkable? Only until you start thinking about it.

At least the next government won’t be decided on the toss of a coin… or will it?

Coin tossing through the ages

The Telegraph has an interesting history, including this:

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Posted in Daily View and Europe / International | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , and | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

Referendum: what’s going on?

By Mark Pack | Fri 4th December 2009 - 10:45 am

As The Voice and others have covered this week, the Liberal Democrat policy on a Euro-referendum – or not – has been in the news. Understandably the media reports have caused some confusion over what the party’s current policy is – and on this occasion I don’t think the media is to blame.

The party’s policy has been that if there is to be a European referendum, it should be an in/out referendum. However, lurking behind the word “if” were two different points of view earlier this year. One group of people believed that an in/out referendum was a good …

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Posted in Europe / International and Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged and | 13 Comments
The Voice

Is the Lib Dem Euro-referendum pledge being dropped?

By The Voice | Tue 1st December 2009 - 4:00 pm

Cast your mind back a few months.  Speaking on Radio 4’s You and Yours on 16th June 2009, Nick Clegg said the only way to sort out the debate about EU membership was to

have a referendum in this country as to whether we stay in or stay out. What we can’t do is to be a member of a club and complain about it from the sidelines.

That Lib Dem policy may have started out as a quick fix to get the party out of a tight spot, but as it’s been stuck to, it’s become seen by many as …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged | 25 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDV readers say: overwhelming NO to idea of EU President Blair

By Stephen Tall | Wed 18th November 2009 - 7:45 pm

A couple of weeks back, LDV posed the question, Do you support or oppose Tony Blair becoming the first President of the European Union?

There’s no room for doubt about the overwhelming view of readers of this site (who may or may not be representative of Lib Dem supporters more generally) – here’s what you told us:

>> 27% (144 votes): Yes – no matter what you think of Blair, Europe needs his leadership abilities
>> 73% (389): No – he is the wrong person for the job
Total Votes: 533 Poll ran: 28th October – 17th November 2009

I agree with …

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Posted in Europe / International and Voice polls | Also tagged , and | 5 Comments
Chris Davies

Opinion: Pull out our troops

By Chris Davies | Thu 12th November 2009 - 4:25 pm

It’s time that Liberal Democrats called for British troops to be pulled off the front line in Afghanistan. The justifications for their continuing presence vary with the day of the week and the desperation of the advocate.  I am not convinced by any of them.  I don’t know how we would recognise ‘success’ if it were to be claimed, and I don’t believe that our involvement is making the streets of Britain any safer.

Alone amongst the three party leaders Nick Clegg has voiced concerns not simply about shortages of helicopters (in the Great War the call was always for more …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged , , , and | 8 Comments
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