Many commentators and political actors have only recently begun to take seriously the possibility that the “transition period” for the UK’s exit from the European Union will end on 31st December 2020 without an agreement on the future EU/UK trading relationship. There was, however, always good reason to expect such [...]
A Royal Norwegian Air Force F-35 Lightning II takes off from Keflavík Airport in Iceland as part of NATO’s Air policing mission. Photo copyright: NATO by Dr Andrew BlackSenior Research Fellow at Global Policy Institute; Senior Research Fellow, Brunel Business School 27th May 2020 How horrible, fantastic, incredible it is that [...]
by Dr Andrew BlickReader in Politics and Contemporary History at King’s College London; Senior Research Fellow at the Federal Trust 20th May 2020 Prior to the referendum of 23 June 2016, little attention was given at UK level to its possible implications for Northern Ireland. But in the wake of the [...]
by Brendan DonnellyDirector, The Federal Trust 6th May 2020 Eight months before the end of the transition period the British government seems intent upon two courses of action which will exacerbate the inevitable political and economic damage to the United Kingdom when it finally withdraws from the European treaties. The [...]
by John StevensChairman of the Federal Trust; Former Member of the European Parliament (1989 – 1999) 4th May 2020 In the latest iteration of the unempathetic essence of their cause a debate is emerging amongst the supporters of Brexit over whether the crisis created by the COVID-19 virus will prove [...]
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (centre), Minister Rudolf Anschober (r.) and Minister Karl Nehammer (l.) on 26th February 2020. Image copyright: BKA/Andy Wenzel by Richard BassettBye-Fellow of Christ’s College Cambridge and the author of “For God and Kaiser”, the first history of the Habsburg Army to be published in English (Yale 2015). [...]
by Dr Andrew BlickReader in Politics and Contemporary History at King’s College London; Senior Research Fellow at the Federal Trust 27th April 2020 In the space of a few weeks, many central assumptions of UK politics have shifted. This movement of plates is in large part attributable to the Coronavirus episode, [...]
by Roger CasaleFounder, Secretary General & CEO, New Europeans 21st April 2020 “The plague was posting sentries at the gates and turning away ships bound for Oran.” Albert Camus, (1913-1960) “Human it is to have compassion on the unhappy” Giovanni Boccaccio (1313 – 1375) Plague has been with us since ancient times. [...]
Eurogroup President Mario Centeno at the Eurogroup video conference on 9th April. Photo credit: European Union by Dr Andrew BlackSenior Research Fellow at Global Policy Institute; Senior Research Fellow, Brunel Business School 17th April 2020 What I see is European construction drifting towards a free-trade zone, that is to say an [...]
by Brendan DonnellyDirector, The Federal Trust 15th April 2020 Michel Barnier and David Frost are due to resume today (15th April) their negotiations interrupted by the Coronavirus. If Brexit were a project built on rational economic or political foundations, the British government would by now have sought an extension of [...]
