Opinion pieces

  • Germany's military future is vital for Europe, by Tomas Valasek
    Defence Management Journal, 19 January 2012

    Tomas Valasek, Director of Foreign Policy and Defence at the Centre for European Reform, argues that Germany's next step following its refusal to participate in Libya may be crucial for European defence…

  • End of an affair? City of London and EU in bitter acrimony, by Philip Whyte
    Yale Global, 12 January 2012

    The global financial crisis has had a seemingly odd impact on relations between the City of London, the United Kingdom and the European Union. Before the crisis, the dominant assumption in Britain was that what was good for the City, Europe's largest financial center, was good for the UK and the rest of Europe.

  • Nothing to celebrate, by Charles Grant
    Foreign Policy, 04 January 2012

    Think 2011 was a bad year for Europe? 2012 could be a whole lot worse - if EU leaders don't get serious and deal with these 6 problems.

  • Making EU allies, by Charles Grant
    The Times, 20 December 2011

    The Government should seek to protect the City, but went about it the wrong way at the Brussels summit.

    Sir, Camilla Cavendish's article on the City and the EU (“France defends farmers: we must save the City”, Dec 15) contains much common sense.

  • Schengen's 'black swan' moment?, by Hugo Brady
    E!Sharp, 19 December 2011

    Europe's leaders are - understandably - focused on the euro crisis, pretty much to the exclusion of all else. But policy-makers should beware another calamity in 2012: a possible breakdown of the EU's Schengen zone of passport-free travel. Undoubtedly, these two troubled flagships of European integration share parallels.

  • Why Ireland should ratify any eurozone treaty early, by Hugo Brady
    The Sunday Business Post, 18 December 2011

    EU officials are putting the final touches to the first draft of a 'fiscal stability' treaty to be ratified by eurozone countries by the end of 2012. The treaty - which commits each euro government to run balanced budgets in perpetuity -  will be one of the oddest ever signed up to by an Irish government.

  • EU foreign policy must not become a casualty of the euro crisis, by Charles Grant
    EU Observer, 16 December 2011

    Dear EU leaders,

    We are seriously concerned about the impact that the current eurozone debt crisis is having on the external relations of the Union.

  • David Cameron has left the City more, not less, vulnerable to EU law, by Philip Whyte
    The Guardian, 14 December 2011

    There are many puzzles about the British government's tactics at last week's EU summit. One is why it chose to identify the City of London as the "vital national interest" that needed special protection. The City, after all, is the most unpopular "national champion" that the UK possesses.