EU legitimacySingle market Britain & the EU
  • Can national parliaments make the EU more legitimate?
    Insight by Charles Grant, 10 June 2013
    Can national parliaments make the EU more legitimate?
  • The CER commission on the UK and the single market
    Insight by John Springford, 07 June 2013
    The CER commission on the UK and the single market
  • Tilting at European windmills
    Insight by Katinka Barysch, 29 May 2013
    Tilting at European windmills
  • If Nixon could go to China, Brown can go to Brussels
    Insight by Hugo Brady, 17 May 2007

    W.B. Yeats lamented a Europe where, in politics at least, “the best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity”. As Tony Blair bows out as UK prime minister, British pro-Europeans will identify with his sentiments.
  • What future? France's Socialist party needs a rethink
    Opinion piece by Charles Grant
    The Guardian, 07 May 2007

    France's Socialist party needs to rethink its identity and its strategy. Having lost three presidential elections in a row, the party needs to learn from centre-left parties not only in Britain, but also in Italy, the Netherlands, the Nordic countries and Spain.
  • Britain would be unwise to thwart Europe's treaty
    Opinion piece by Charles Grant
    Financial Times, 03 April 2007

    Germany's ambition to salvage large parts of the European Union constitutional treaty may provoke a serious rift between Britain and its partners. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown may be heading for a collision over what to do about the German plan. But the general view in Britain seems to be that EU treaty change is irrelevant.
  • Britain and the EU: a crisis looms
    Bulletin article by Charles Grant, 02 April 2007

    British politicians are too complacent about Germany’s plan to salvage large parts of the EU constitutional treaty. They assume that other countries will reject the German presidency’s scheme, so sparing Britain from isolation.
  • The view from 2027
    Briefing note by Charles Grant, 22 March 2007

    Given how much respect and esteem most Europeans feel for the EU today, one can easily forget that when it celebrated its 50th birthday, in 2007, it was widely disliked and mistrusted.

  • Ségolène’s speech at Villepinte
    Opinion piece by Aurore Wanlin
    Policy Network, 21 February 2007

    For some time, Ségolène Royal, the French Socialist presidential candidate, benefited from a good degree of sympathy in the UK. Her charm, her praise of Tony Blair’s policies and criticism of some French policies like the 35-hour week had gained her support in British media and political circles.
  • The Tories and human trafficking: Don’t play politics
    Insight by Hugo Brady, 09 January 2007

    The British Conservative party kicked off the New Year saying they wanted to sign Britain up to a 2005 European convention that grants rights to the victims of human trafficking.
  • The bulletin at fifty
    Bulletin article by Charles Grant, 02 October 2006

    The CER opened its office in January 1998. Soon afterwards we established the bulletin as a forum for debate on European reform – both for our staff, and for external contributors.