Ahead of the UK general election, opinion polls predicted that Britons would wake up on May 7th to a hung parliament. But for the first time since John Major’s defeat in 1997, Britain again finds itself governed by a Conservative majority government.
John Springford, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, says No
Those who believe that an embattled EU, weakened by an ongoing Greek crisis – or worse, Grexit – would give big concessions to David Cameron are misguided.
L'economista Tilford: "Sì a un asse franco-italiano per salvare Atene" E su Renzi: «Scenda in campo prima che tutto degeneri". La locomotiva tedesca si è fermata all'ingresso di Atene. E lascia il passo a quella franco-italiana. Questa volta non è infatti la Germania a potere salvare la Grecia e tutta l'Unione europea.
David Cameron, the British prime minister, left a good impression after his recent visit to Berlin. He talked politely about his hope ffor EU reform, ahead of a referendum on membership before the end of 2017. Yet senior German figures worry about the imminent British "renegotiation". They fret that Britain’s toxic domestic debate on Europe may drive Mr Cameron towards tactics that prove counter-productive and demands for change that are unachievable.
There is a growing gap between the way the Greek crisis is seen in the Eurozone and the way it is seen across the rest of the world. Everyone agrees that Greece is a poorly governed country and that Syriza has played a poor hand badly. But whereas many Eurozone policy-makers appear sanguine about the implications of a Greek exit from the euro, most outside observers suspect that Grexit would have far-reaching implications for the single currency and the reputation of the EU.
Four horsemen are stalking Europe: the Greek financial crisis; illegal migration in the Mediterranean; Russian aggression; and Britain's reform-or-Brexit threat. Any of these could dominate the EU summit agenda: each could alter the fundamental character of the Union.
The prime minister must not dance to the tune of his backbenchers at the Brussels summit.The phoney war is almost over. At the Brussels summit on Thursday and Friday, David Cameron will unveil his priorities on EU reform. He hopes to clinch a final deal in December – allowing an in/out referendum to be held in 2016, probably in the autumn. On his recent tour of European capitals, Cameron left the impression that he was serious about winning the referendum.
