(Note the predominance of UK flags in the picture. See also our background article.) DECISION OF THE HEADS OF STATE OR GOVERNMENT, MEETING WITHIN THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL, CONCERNING A NEW SETTLEMENT FOR THE UNITED KINGDOM WITHIN THE EUROPEAN UNION The Heads of State or Government of the 28 Member States of the European Union,…
A referendum on whether the United Kingdom should remain in the European Union is due to take place before the end of 2017. If there is agreement at the European Union Council on 18-19 February 2016 the referendum can take place as soon as June 2016.
By David Yarrow and Sean McDaniel
Jeremy Corbyn, a rebellious left-wing MP who remained on the fringes of the UK’s Labour Party for over thirty years, has stormed onto the political scene and won the party’s recent election by a landslide. Winning an enormous 59.5% of the vote in a four-way contest, Corbyn’s victory gives him an unprecedented mandate from the Labour Party’s members and affiliated supporters.
The last in a long row of illegal-migrant-related incidents plaguing Europe for the better part of this year, the Calais crisis set out to dominate not only this week’s headlines but also the debate about the UK’s relationship with the European Union.
By Publio Manuel Isaldi
Everyone knew this year´s 20th anniversary of the first genocide committed on European soil since World War II was going to be special. There was of course the symbolic twenty-year mark, which prompted a flurry of articles from left and right on everything from the infamous UN Dutch peacekeepers who stood aside while the Bosnian Serbs separated women from men to the labours of International Criminal Court for the Former Yugoslavia
The Brits and the Poles have voted last week in parliamentary and presidential elections, respectively. But if anything unites these two European elections, it is the way they illustrate the hollowing of the democratic process. While conservatives tout more of the same, the Left… Well, what Left?
By Sean McDaniel
In less than a week, the UK will go to the polls in an election that has been billed as ‘the most important in a generation,’ and certainly the most unpredictable. In addition to choices over cuts in public expenditures to be determined by the party that forms the next government, there could be significant constitutional implications as well.
Talks between the “six powers” (US, Russia, China, UK, France, Germany plus the EU) and Iran successfully concluded in Lausanne, Switzerland with agreement on key parameters to draft a of a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to be drafted by 30 June 2015. Joint Statement by EU High Representative Federica Mogherini and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad…
As the Saudi-led air strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen were starting on 26 March 2015, Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign policy chief, issued a statement saying that she was convinced that military action was not a solution. Did anybody listen? Apparently not the UK and France, who along with the US are providing support to the Saudi-led coalition. In view, though, of the risks and inconsistencies involved, Europe should be taking the lead in bringing armed hostilities to a halt and convening the international community and the Yemeni parties for immediate negotiations within fair parameters.
On 16 March 2015 the Iranian Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, was in Brussels for talks with High Representative Mogherini and the Foreign Ministers of France, Germany and the UK. This was part of the six-power talks (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) with Iran on the latter’s uranium enrichment programme. 16 March was also the day of the EU Foreign Affairs Council (EU Foreign Ministers) in Brussels, chaired by Ms. Mogherini.
