Sorted by Month: July 2008

Collapse of the Doha Round after seven years of negotiation must have been a major disappointment for the European Commission. As the Barroso team moves towards the twilight year of its five year term a positive result in Geneva would have somewhat alleviated the gloom following the Irish referendum, the suspension of the [...] Read Post »

Serbia really has chosen the path to EU membership. Last week’s arrest of Radovan Karadzic was the clearest evidence yet of the new coalition government’s commitment to a mainstream European destiny for their country. Significantly, the move followed the appointment of a new chief for the Serbian intelligence services.
Commissioner Olli Rehn wanted to send [...] Read Post »

So a new Club Med is born! More than 40 presidents and/or prime ministers turned up in Paris on July 13 for the launch of the Union for the Mediterranean. It was a welcome diplomatic triumph for President Sarkozy, embattled as he is by a disillusioned and critical French public opinion.
When asked many years [...] Read Post »

I see that the French National Assembly has agreed a compromise proposal on the accession referendum, which will give the President the power to opt for the people or the parliament to approve Turkish membership.
The clause requiring a popular vote for any new accession increasing the EU population by 5 per cent will remain [...] Read Post »

I may be sceptical about the timetable for EU enlargement of the European Union following Ireland’s referendum, but there has been one welcome development as France takes over the presidency: the French Senate has voted by 297 votes to seven to scrap the obligation to hold a national referendum over Turkish membership.
The issue is [...] Read Post »