Removing regulatory burdens to make the EU more user-friendly By Richard Seebohm, former Representative in Brussels of the Quaker Council for European Affairs June 2015 As Samuel Johnson once said, patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. I wonder if the term sovereignty is not tarred with the same [...]
Conference in memory of John Pinder OBE 22nd June 2015 Session 1: John Pinder – Memories and Legacy Speakers: Chris Layton Stanley Henig Peter Luff (click to read Peter's speech) Harry Cowie Session 2: A Federal Europe – Yesterday’s Dream or Tomorrow’s Reality? Speakers: Jo Shaw Richard Whitman John [...]
The Queen’s Speech and the programme of the Conservative government: a federal perspective 29th May 2015 by Dr Andrew Blick, Lecturer in Politics and Contemporary History, King's College London; and Senior Research Fellow at the Federal Trust The new government has now outlined its programme for the coming [...]
Professor John Pinder OBE, 1924 - 2015 On 25th April 2015 a Memorial Service of Thanksgiving was held for our former Chairman, John Pinder OBE. Please find the eulogies from this service below: Angus Sladen, Cousin Professor Richard Whitman, University of Kent Professor Jaap de Zwaan, TransEuropean Studies Assciation [...]
By Zach Paikin There is a perception among many politicians and commentators in the United Kingdom that federalism is an entirely prescriptive and rule-bound system, in which all contingencies are precisely described and defined in advance. This couldn’t be further from the truth. An examination of the history of federalism [...]
by Brendan Donnelly This article first appeared on euroblog, the Blog of the European Movement: http://euromove.blogactiv.eu/ During the referendum on voting reform in 2011, it was sometimes claimed by advocates of the present British electoral system, misleadingly known as “first past the post,” that it tended to produce definite [...]
By Zach Paikin In the wake of the Scottish referendum, many in the United Kingdom are beginning to discuss a federal future for their country. Constitutionally stable federalism has been a frequent legacy of Britain’s global history, from Canada to Australia to the United States. Canadians in particular, as a [...]
Contribution by Brendan Donnelly to the LSE project "Hacking the UK Constitution" https://constitutionuk.com 6th January 2015 Federalism, what federalism? It might be expected that the Federal Trust would welcome the willingness of politicians and commentators after the Scottish referendum to consider seriously what they describe as “federal” structures for the [...]
Review by Brendan Donnelly Much of this short book by Professor Jan Zielonka of Oxford University is rightly devoted to the euro. It is on the success or failure of the single European currency that the answer to the question of the book’s title “Is the EU doomed?” will essentially [...]
by Brendan Donnelly A number of lessons can be learned from the diplomatic reverse suffered by the British government in its attempts to prevent Mr. Juncker from becoming President of the European Commission. 1. British governments are prone grossly to exaggerate the extent of support they enjoy for their political [...]
