Northern Ireland will mark 100 years of its existence on the 3rd of May 2021. Meantime the Government of the Republic has launched a radical new policy calling for “A Shared Island”. This new emphasis on SHARING points to a United Ireland as an aspiration rather than a policy. In [...]
With the deadline for a deal being reached now centring around the 15th October European Council meeting, there are some signs of greater willingness to compromise on the two major issues of fishing rights and state aid. If that is so it may also pave the way to making progress [...]
Photo credit: European Investment Bank Authors: Sir Brian Unwin, former President of the European Investment Bank (1993 – 2000) Professor Iain Begg, Academic co-Director of the Dahrendorf Forum at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Professor at the LSE’s European Institute [...]
Mr Johnson’s decision last week to bring in a bill which will contravene a critical portion of the Withdrawal Agreement has at least had the merit of clarifying the real nature of Brexit and thus of the proper path by which it must be opposed. Former Prime Ministers John Major, [...]
One of the more optimistic interpretations placed by some commentators on Boris Johnson’s crushing victory in the General Election last year was that his new large majority would make it easier for him to negotiate rapidly and effectively with the European Union in 2020. His large majority, it was hoped, [...]
When the United Kingdom (UK) finally left the European Union (EU) earlier this year, it did so on the basis of a Withdrawal Agreement, attached to which was a Political Declaration. This latter text included within it a shared goal of establishing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The two parties [...]
The Abbot(t)’s tale The Prime Minister, demonstrating an extraordinary vote of no confidence in Britain’s reserves of domestic talent, and perhaps an even more extraordinary insouciance towards the extremely technical nature of contemporary international commercial accords, reportedly intends to appoint the former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to lead Britain’s [...]
“NO DEAL” BREXIT: AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN In an interesting article in this weekend’s Sunday Times, its political correspondent Tim Shipman warns that the chances of a “no deal” Brexit are higher than usually assumed. He attributes this risk largely to misunderstandings by the EU and UK of each [...]
MPs pass Second Reading of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill on 19th December 2019 (parliamentary copyright images are reproduced with the permission of Parliament) A recent incident illuminates, as few events have since 2016, the moral and intellectual chaos into which Brexit has (predictably) fallen over the past [...]
by Professor Richard Rose FBA University of Strathclyde; Visiting Fellow, European University Institute Florence; Fellow, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin; Author of How Referendums Challenge European Democracy: Brexit & Beyond (Palgrave, 2020) In taking back all controls from the EU, Boris Johnson’s government has also taken full responsibility for what happens [...]
