Britain & EU member-states
India tilts to the west as the world's new poles emerge
12 January 2006
The Guardian
Nothing is permanent in history, including America's domination of the global economic and political systems. Assuming China and India keep growing at their current rates, the unipolar world of recent years - topped by the US - will be replaced by a multipolar world within a few decades.
Once its "unipolar...
Once its "unipolar...
"Son problème, c'est l'Allemagne"
10 January 2006
Liberation.fr
Le Britannique Charles Grant, directeur du Centre pour la réforme européenne, à Londres, analyse les chances du président français de sortir l'Europe de sa crise institutionnelle.
Jacques Chirac est-il crédible quand il propose de relancer l'Europe ?
Si cela veut dire relancer la Constitution européenne, il n'est pas crédible. Mais personne ne...
Jacques Chirac est-il crédible quand il propose de relancer l'Europe ?
Si cela veut dire relancer la Constitution européenne, il n'est pas crédible. Mais personne ne...
The real crisis for Europe
10 October 2005
Newsweek
So, is Turkey to start membership talks with the European Union? The reception could hardly be more hostile. As the public sees it, the EU is big enough already. Political leaders from France's Nicolas Sarkozy to Germany's Angela Merkel are opposed.
Europe - Don't write the obituaries yet. A new France could put Britain on the sidelines
06 June 2005
New Statesman
The gleeful obituaries are piling up, not just for the EU constitution, but for the country that torpedoed it. France is in a mess, we read; its politics are paralysed, its economy is over-regulated and it just can't accommodate itself to globalisation with an Anglo-Saxon face.
But before we gorge on...
But before we gorge on...
Europe - Did we make the right choice?
03 June 2005
Yorkshire Post
Though often criticised as being undemocratic, popular referenda have been pivotal in the history of the European Union. Recent events in France and Netherlands aside, perhaps none more so than the 1975 poll confirming Britain's membership of the then European Economic Community.
Short Cuts: Reputations: Political song and dance
03 June 2005
The Guardian
"People have been texting saying: don't worry, it's all total politics." These words might have soothed a tearful Javine when she failed to rack up more than 18 points for the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest, but they were not much comfort to the beleaguered French and Dutch "yes"...
European democracy: Where now?
02 June 2005
Open democracy
The rejection by French and Dutch voters of the treaty establishing a European constitution has precipitated one of the deepest crises in the European Union's fifty-year history.
Europe must keep its 'soft power'
01 June 2005
Financial Times
In the aftermath of the French rejection of the European Union constitution, on the eve of the Dutch referendum and amid political uncertainty in Germany, there is a growing risk that the EU will start to backtrack on its commitment to continued enlargement.
Yet, in recent years, Europe has prided itself...
Yet, in recent years, Europe has prided itself...
Tony Blair invite les Européens à réfléchir au non français
31 May 2005
Le Monde
Il faudra attendre lundi 6 juin pour savoir officiellement si le Royaume-Uni renonce à organiser son propre référendum sur la Constitution de l'Union européenne.
Un sale coup pour Blair
30 May 2005
L'Express
Comment réagit-on outre-Manche au non du peuple français?
Beaucoup de Britanniques opposés à la Constitution s'en réjouissent! Chez les conservateurs, dans la presse de droite europhobe, même au sein du Labour, où tout un courant ne veut pas de ce traité. Pour Tony Blair et le gouvernement britannique, c'est au contraire...
Beaucoup de Britanniques opposés à la Constitution s'en réjouissent! Chez les conservateurs, dans la presse de droite europhobe, même au sein du Labour, où tout un courant ne veut pas de ce traité. Pour Tony Blair et le gouvernement britannique, c'est au contraire...
There is life beyond a European constitution
23 May 2005
Financial Times
A No vote in France's referendum on the European Union constitutional treaty could open up a period of confusion, uncertainty and recrimination.
Si le France rejette le traité, il ne se passera rien
21 May 2005
Liberation.fr
Si les Français votent non le 29 mai, la Constitution europénne est morte. Ni un second référendum en France ni une renégociation du traité ne sont plausibles. Dès lors trois options sont possibles.
La première est qu'il ne se passera rien. Les chefs de gouvernement vont se rencontrer, enterrer le traité...
La première est qu'il ne se passera rien. Les chefs de gouvernement vont se rencontrer, enterrer le traité...
What If the British Vote No?
02 May 2005
Foreign Affairs
In June 2004, the member states of the European Union concluded the negotiation of a treaty that, if ratified, would establish a European constitution that would make substantive changes to the way the union works. For the first time, an individual would be appointed president of the European Council, overseeing...
Europe will survive a French Non
20 April 2005
Foreign Policy
It's easy to argue that the European Union (EU) has been in a state of crisis since its inception more than 50 years ago. France voted “No” to European defense cooperation in 1954 and vetoed British EU membership in the 1960s.
A British No would destroy more than the treaty
16 March 2005
Financial Times
If opinion polls are a fair guide, all European Union countries will ratify the new constitutional treaty - except Britain, which seems set to vote No in the referendum due in mid-2006.
Europe: the new superpower
18 February 2005
The Irish Times
The world that emerges in this century will not be centred on the US or the UN, but will comprise a community of regional clubs led by the Europeans, writes Mark Leonard in London.
In the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC, a middle-aged woman with a weather-beaten face and...
In the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC, a middle-aged woman with a weather-beaten face and...
Get your coat Mr Blair – you've just been asked to leave the EU
17 February 2005
European Voice
There are a host of ifs and buts. But the UK might, just might, be asked to leave the European Union if British voters reject the constitution, warns Charles Grant What if current opinion polls are a good guide to voting intentions in the ten member states that will hold...
Why Tony needs help from a Tory
09 September 2004
New Statesman
Each man kills the thing he loves - and so it could be with Tony Blair and Europe. For ten years the Prime Minister has promised to "settle" Britain's ambivalent relationship with the EU.
It's time to do your homework
17 June 2004
The Guardian
For the past seven years Britain has been led by the most pro-European prime minister since Ted Heath, yet the mood of the country has never been more Europhobic.
Mighty Europe
05 February 2004
The Wall Street Journal
London, Paris and Berlin are working hard to put the past behind them. After a year that began with bitter rancor over Iraq and ended with the collapse of negotiations over the European constitution, the desire of pro-Europeans to face the future is understandable.
Beneath the rows and gesture politics, Europe's...
Beneath the rows and gesture politics, Europe's...