Opinion pieces

  • Un sale coup pour Blair, by Daniel Keohane
    L'Express, 30 May 2005

    Comment réagit-on outre-Manche au non du peuple français?

  • The lure of Beijing, by Charles Grant
    The Guardian, 25 May 2005

    China's foreign policy establishment likes the idea of the EU. In Beijing, senior ministers turn up to speak at conferences with titles such as "The Future of EU-China Strategic relations".

  • There is life beyond a European constitution, by Charles Grant
    Financial Times, 23 May 2005

    A No vote in France's referendum on the European Union constitutional treaty could open up a period of confusion, uncertainty and recrimination.

  • Si le France rejette le traité, il ne se passera rien, by Charles Grant
    Liberation.fr, 21 May 2005

    Si les Français votent non le 29 mai, la Constitution europénne est morte. Ni un second référendum en France ni une renégociation du traité ne sont plausibles. Dès lors trois options sont possibles.

  • What If the British Vote No?, by Charles Grant
    Foreign Affairs, 02 May 2005

    In June 2004, the member states of the European Union concluded the negotiation of a treaty that, if ratified, would establish a European constitution that would make substantive changes to the way the union works.

  • Europe will survive a French Non, by Mark Leonard
    Foreign Policy, 20 April 2005

    It's easy to argue that the European Union (EU) has been in a state of crisis since its inception more than 50 years ago. France voted “No” to European defense cooperation in 1954 and vetoed British EU membership in the 1960s.

  • Financial headache, by Alasdair Murray
    E!Sharp, 01 April 2005

    Significant progress has been made in liberalising financial services. But Alasdair Murray argues that the EU risks losing sight of the potential economic gains to be made by going further.

  • A British No would destroy more than the treaty, by Charles Grant
    Financial Times, 16 March 2005

    If opinion polls are a fair guide, all European Union countries will ratify the new constitutional treaty - except Britain, which seems set to vote No in the referendum due in mid-2006.