Opinion: Standing by hard-won freedoms helps remind us what the EU is all about
European Commission President Barroso yesterday used uncharacteristically tough language to condemn the current political turmoil in Romania. Calling for “urgent action” by the country to win back the...
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Opinion: Brussels vs. the banksters
European Parliament building Almost no-one in the UK would these days dispute the fact that the country’s banking sector needs a serious overhaul to correct the runaway behaviour which helped nudge...
View ArticleOpinion: Europe’s moving ahead. Are we part of it or not?
In his annual State of the Union address on Wednesday, European Commission President Barroso issued a clarion call for a ‘federation of nation states’ to take on the challenges facing Europe. The only...
View ArticleOpinion: The Tories: tough on Europe, soft on crime
The news that Sussex teacher Jeremy Forrest has been arrested in Bordeaux on suspicion of abducting pupil Megan Stammers is a timely reminder of the value of EU cooperation to fight crime. The maths...
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Opinion: A storm in a jam jar – my top 5 Euromyths
Those of us familiar with the EU are used to its complicated processes, obscure acronyms and often unfathomable procedures. We sometimes forget that it is still a hybrid project that no-one has ever...
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Three cheers for the unsung heroes of Brussels
A new survey by European news portal Euractiv has ranked Sharon Bowles MEP as the most influential Brit in EU policy-making, eight places ahead of David Cameron and thirty-three above Nigel Farage. The...
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Opinion: Norway? No way! Why a life on Europe’s periphery is not an option...
In Britain’s recent EU debate, it’s clear that the anti-Europeans have been doing most of the running. When they’re not basing their arguments on wholesale lies, they fall back on a mixture of...
View ArticleThe Eurosceptic tide is turning. Lib Dems must be in the vanguard
We have become used in recent months to unrelentingly bad news about our relationship with Europe. ‘UKIP now the third party’, ‘Majority would say no to EU’ and ‘UK heads for the Brexit’ have become...
View ArticleOpinion: Cameron is wishing for an EU that already exists
The prime objective of David Cameron’s Europe speech was always to placate anti-European critics on his right flank rather than to set out a bold vision in the national interest. And in that sense, his...
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Opinion: Dead parrot bites back – again
At the Conservative Party conference in Bournemouth in 1990, Margaret Thatcher famously used Monty Python’s ‘dead parrot’ sketch to mock the Liberal Democrats’ newly-designed bird of liberty. After a...
View ArticleOpinion: Freedom to travel and work is the essence of the EU and we should...
Another week, another attack on EU citizens living and working in the UK. This time it didn’t come from that familiar old grouch Nigel Farage, but from the Prime Minister himself. In a speech which was...
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Opinion: Ironically, the rise of UKIP makes Britain a more European place
UKIP’s relative success in the English local elections and South Shields by-election this week has met with predictable reactions across the political spectrum: from copycat politics and jealousy on...
View ArticleOpinion: Referendum debate is a sideshow: the countdown to Britain’s real EU...
In or out? With or without? Will they, won’t they? The sound and fury over a referendum on Britain’s EU membership has become almost deafening over the past few days. It is a confused debate driven by...
View ArticleOpinion: Tories soft on crime, Lib Dems tough on Tories
If ever there was a fault line in the Coalition, it has been over the two parties’ attitudes to Europe. The possibility for a mass opt-out by Britain from a raft of EU measures in justice and home...
View ArticleEU birth certificates myth swallowed whole by the anti-European press
It may be the silly season, but the latest Euromyth to ruffle right-wing feathers takes silliness to a whole new level. The Express, Mail, Sun and Telegraph unanimously announced at the weekend that...
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How UKIP managed to lose 45% of their MEPs
UKIP’s farcical national conference and the subsequent forced resignation of Godfrey Bloom this week have brought cheer to the party’s opponents, across the political spectrum. Mr Bloom – the most...
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Opinion: 50 reasons #whyIamIN
Nick Clegg’s passionate call this morning for everyone who cares about Britain’s future in Europe to speak out will have been music to Lib Dem ears – and those of many more beyond. As Nick said, the...
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The palatable truth about EU migration: 5 reasons why it’s good for Britain
The Sunday Telegraph’s disingenuous claim last weekend that “600,000 unemployed EU migrants are living in Britain at a cost of £1.5 billion to the NHS” sparked a chorus of protests about so-called...
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Opinion: The Sun’s correction to “benefit tourists” claim goes viral
Last month, the Sunday Telegraph ran a scurrilous story claiming there were ‘600,000 unemployed EU migrants living in Britain’. On closer inspection, it turned out that the real number of (non-British)...
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Liberals launch new European network for LGBT rights
Last weekend, over a thousand European liberals met in London for the annual ALDE congress, hosted by the Lib Dems and opened by Nick Clegg. The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe – the...
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