Gary Titley
Gary Titley is the former Leader of the British Labour Party in the European Parliament.
A Year of Missed Opportunities for the EU
In politics it is August rather than January when people look back at the last year and take stock of what has or has not been achieved. Hence, as I have been soaking up the Spanish sun, my mind has been replaying events from the last twelve months. Last summer, I had great optimism for [...]
Economic Crisis Provides Opportunity for Greater ‘Europeanisation’ of Defence Spending
As governments outdo each other to cut their budgets, one area that ought to be ripe for pruning is defence. After all, the combined EU member states defence spending is 200 billion euros, the second largest in the world after the USA. Room then, one would think, for big savings. Naturally, defence is a very [...]
Tough Challenges Ahead as Austerity Measures Hit Europe
As Europe struggles to get to grips with the global financial crisis, we are seeing governments apparently determined to outdo each other in the severity of their austerity packages. Next in line will be the new British government, which later this month will set out what promises to be very harsh measures for cutting the [...]
Isolationism on the Rise Among Disgruntled Electorates as Europe’s Rightward Shift Continues
The swing of Europe’s electorate to the right during the last couple of years was continued in last week’s British general election. Admittedly, unlike elsewhere, no far-right party was actually elected. This though was probably no more than a consequence of the UK’s unique electoral system. The mood of the electorate was undoubtedly towards the [...]
The New European Challenge – The Comeback of National-Interest Politics
Compared to the sound and fury of the House of Commons, the European Parliament is really quite a boring place. Rarely is there any sense of theatre, which makes the exception all the more dramatic. Such was the case early in my parliamentary career when both Helmut Kohl and François Mitterrand addressed the Parliament on [...]
An EU Budget for the 21st Century
The publication last week of the European Commission’s 2020 paper marks a return to normal service for the EU. We can now get back to proper political debate about Europe’s future rather than be distracted by institutional navel gazing. Welcome as the Commission’s proposals are though, they reveal a worrying faith in and reliance on [...]
Why Obama snubbed the EU/US Summit
My mother was fond of telling me that ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’. I was reminded of her words when I read about Obama’s ‘snub’ of the EU in declining to attend the EU/USA summit in May. It is alleged that Obama declined because he could not face having to go down the wedding [...]
2010 will be the Year of Parliaments
2010 will be the year when democratic accountability takes a front seat in the European Union. That is because the Lisbon Treaty gives bigger roles to the European Parliament, national parliaments and to civil society. The big winner from the Lisbon Treaty is undoubtedly the European Parliament. It has fully become an equal lawmaker with [...]
The very real Powers of the European Parliament
As 2009 draws to a close, a new European order is taking shape, although admittedly with a whimper rather than a bang. The Lisbon Treaty has finally staggered into life. The member state governments have chosen the first ever full time Council President and a new and more powerful High Representative for Foreign and Security [...]
The Tories’ European Policy Mess
When will we Brits ever learn? The EU is made up of 27 member states, the majority of whom and indeed, sometimes the totality have to agree on anything it does. The EU is not made up of the UK and 26 supporting acts. Most people would regard that as a statement of the obvious. [...]
Tony Blair for President of the European Council
So the Irish voted “yes” and barring any last minute grandstanding from Vaclav Klaus, we will finally get the Lisbon Treaty. The debate now is about who will get the big jobs, starting with the full-time Presidency of the Council. Tony Blair is the hot favourite and would, in my view, be excellent for the [...]
The Rollercoaster of EU Politics
It’s time to take our seats on the thrilling rollercoaster ride that is European Union politics. The next three months will be one long white knuckle ride with political careers being made, broken and in some cases smashed to smithereens. By Christmas the EU could be forging ahead with new dynamism and confidence or it [...]
