The Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty is causing headaches and disagreement between institutions.  These centre on the appointment of the Commission president and the composition of the college and the number of MEPs.   The new Commission should take office on 1 November.  The European Parliament (EP) elections are between 4 and 7 June.  [...]

Climate change has at last been recognised as, arguably, the biggest problem facing mankind.  The United States is now led by a president who does not  share the reluctance of his predecessor.    However, the problems to surmount are enormous and made more complicated by:   ·              uncertainty as to cause ·              uncertainty as to [...]

Human nature being what it is, we tend to cooperate more in economically favourable times than when there is a recession.  And yet, such cooperation is needed more in the latter case.  Worse still, we tend to adopt selfish policies.   The Founding Fathers of the European Union were determined to put an end in [...]

  In a debate on French TV, President Sarkozy said the UK’s VAT cut had “absolutely not worked“.  “Britain is cutting taxes. That will bring them nothing. Consumption continues to decrease,” he said.   The British Prime Minister’s spokesperson, when asked about this, said:    “The Elysee [Palace] have been in contact this morning to [...]

The joint EU-China statement of 29 January, after the visit to the Commmission of Premier Wen Jiabao, opened by stating that, “[t]he visit has increased mutual trust, promoted bilateral cooperation, and achieved complete success.”  This is very encouraging.  Wen, who last visited Brussels in 2004 noted that mutual trust between EU and China had in [...]

A new poll for the Sunday Business Post in Ireland reveals that 58% are in favour of the Lisbon Treaty, 28% are against and 14% are undecided. In my view, the risk of a ‘No’ will be greater after the European Elections than before. The European elections are likely to return a more fragmented and Eurosceptic Parliament. The [...]