debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
Since last week, a sizeable number of commentators have been arguing that UKIP’s surge just made Britain a more European place. The reasoning? Farage and Co are part of a phenomenon that exists EU-wide, apparently. You can almost hear the thought-process of the euro-enthusiasts writing this stuff. What better way to discredit the anti-EU party [...]
It would surely have been a cracker of a speech. He was all set to stroll onto the stage, wryly cite some of the more excitable commentary about his visit, and then carefully explain why, in his view, the closer integration of the eurozone makes it necessary for the EU to create a new relationship [...]
The British call it taking French leave. The Germans call it a Polish exit. The Poles, tellingly, call it “wyj?? po angielsku” – quitting like an Englishman. It is the social sin of leaving the party without properly saying goodbye. Recently the Polish foreign minister, Radek Sikorski, came over to the UK in a bid [...]
There has been much criticism in Britain of Germany’s domination of the EU — of the country’s exporting its domestic rules to other member countries, and of its heavy-handed treatment of the UK over the Euro-zone crisis. Berlin is sensitive to such developments. And it gives a large portion of the blame to the UK. [...]
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