Hollande’s EU vision. Is it genuine and realistic?

Read few comments.

Questions:

1. Do you think Hollande’s proposals about the economic government with its own budget and right to borrow are only political in the sense he needed something strong to counter the recession news or that this is really Paris’ plans?

2. Do you consider it realistic? Can he eventually win the support of the other Eurozone countries for such proposal?

Answers:

Robert Ladrech, Professor of European Politics, School of Politics, International Relations & Philosophy, Keele University

1. I think it is both; in other words, he needed to have an initiative to counter the accumulating bad news, especially economic, and second, as a French Socialists, this proposition which puts some content into notions of political union are consistent with the general line of the party. Added details of course would be due, and to assuage his left-wing, he would need to show that such an economic government was not simply an extension of the ECB. Bear in mind also that German elections are only 4 months away, so it positions France to keep this idea alive whichever side wins.

2. It is not realistic in the short term, but if all the proposed changes of the past year or two become the basis of a new treaty – that is, further development to the Fiscal compact – then a model of such a ‘deepened’ EU-core needs to be articulated. In this respect, say a few years from now, and if the economy turns around, then maybe this will not sound too far-fetched.

(Thanks to @SunWuKchung for providing this).

What can the EU do on possible Brexit amid Tory civil war?

The Conservative leadership will publish a draft Bill to guarantee that an in/out referendum on Europe will be held by 2017. From the outside it seems that PM Cameron is first of all trying to please the part of his Conservative Party. But would you say that the EU, members states should somehow react on what is going on in the UK or not, and why? Read few comments.

European Union: France versus Germany. Or not?

How would you evaluate French-German relations one year after François Hollande’s victory in the French presidential elections? Is the Franco-German engine still working? Read few comments.

Blame Germany! Blame Germany?

Spanish El Pais was just recently forced to retract Chancellor Merkel comparison to Hitler.  Frankly speaking, I find this kind of comparison totally idiotic. But on the other hand what do you think about the German leadership in the EU? Does it deserve some portion of criticism or not, and why? Read few comments.

Vaclav Klaus as Member of the European Parliament? Will he lead eurosceptic forces?

You can find lot of speculations in the Czech media on ex-President Vaclav Klaus’s future and one of the most persistent is that he may try to become MEP. Let`s say Klaus will become MEP. Do you think that he could be a real leader of eurosceptic forces in the EU or not, and why? Read few comments by Sean Hanley, Senior Lecturer in East European Politics, University College London.

PM Cameron’s speech: What it means for the EU and the UK

Read few comments. Will this speech open the Pandora’s box as perhaps we will witness  some willingness to announce the referendum on the EU also in other member states?

Germany and France are so different. And that’s why it is working

But the EU also need decisiveness. Zbigniew Brzezinski just recently said that Europe needs today much more evocative forward-looking leadership of the kind it had some decades ago and which today is lacking. We hear this argument about leadership pretty often, but what it means in your opinion? What kind of leadership does Europe need? It is hard to deny that we need some leadership but the situation it pretty different then e.g. 50 years ago, in the time of Élysée Treaty.

Cameron and the EU: What is British PM doing?

British PM David Cameron cancels long-awaited EU speech amid amid Algerian hostage crisis. But read few comments by Darren Lilleker, Head of Research, Centre for Public, Communication Research, The Media School, Bournemouth University on what might be Cameron’s approach towards Europe.

A tantric speech? What will David Cameron do on Europe?

The Guardian reports: Asked in the Commons by the Labour MP Gavin Shuker whether he could ever imagine Britain leaving the EU, David Cameron  said: “That is not a position I support, so I do not spend my time thinking about it. But he added: “Clearly all futures for Britain are imaginable. We are in charge of own destiny, we can make our own choices. I believe the choice we should make is to stay in the European Union, to be members of the single market, to maximise our impact in Europe, but where we are unhappy with parts of the relationship we shouldn’t be frightened of standing up and saying so.

European Union as “Fortress Europe”?

It seems in relation to the ‘Fortress Europe’ argument that there are contradictory signs in terms of empirical developments.