• Opinion piece by Hugo Brady
    E!Sharp, 03 February 2012

    Critics of the EU's External Action Service (EEAS) agree that its creation will hardly be remembered as a high point in the annals of European foreign policy. Some say that the EU's quasi-diplomatic corps does not yet work well because its leadership, under Baroness Cathy Ashton, suffers from inexperience and a poverty of ambition.

  • Insight by Charles Grant, 09 December 2011
    The Brussels agreement on December 9th will weaken British influence in the EU and could damage the single market.
  • Bulletin article by Charles Grant, 28 November 2011

    The euro crisis is transforming the balance of power in Europe. Germany is emerging, for the first time in the EU’s history, as the unquestioned leader. France is having to adjust to a subordinate role. The euro countries are likely to integrate more closely, leading to a two-speed Europe. Britain is moving to the margins.

  • Bulletin article by Hugo Brady, 01 August 2011

    Many people have quietly given up on the European Union. Not too long ago, Europe struggled long and hard to ratify the Lisbon treaty – now barely mentioned.

  • Insight by Stephen Tindale, 11 July 2011
    The Commission's proposals for the EU's 2014-2020 budgets are a missed opportunity, representing no substantial change. Spending on agriculture should be greatly reduced, that on cohesion re-focused and that on climate greatly increased.
  • Bulletin article by Hugo Brady, 01 June 2011

    The EU's least understood institution is its Court of Justice, which is seated in a stockade-like building in Luxembourg. For over half a century, judges there have quietly adjudicated, mainly between European governments, institutions and businesses.

  • Essay by Denis MacShane, 04 April 2011

    National MPs feel less and less in control of decisions taken in Europe. Yet they are expected to defend these decisions with the same vigour as the national laws they vote for themselves.

  • Bulletin article by Stephen Tindale, 01 April 2011

    In an age of fiscal austerity, the focus of the forthcoming EU budget talks will be even more strongly on net balances: how much a country pays in and how much it gets back.