Current Affairs

Andrew Cottey argues that the existing literature on EU foreign, security and defence strategy has paid insufficient attention to two basic prior questions: what is strategy? And what constitutes good strategy? Answers to these questions help us to understand why the EU struggles with strategy. The 2003 European Security Strategy and the 2016 EU Global […]

Yesterday saw the first public statements from Ursula von der Leyen since her nomination as Commission President. She swept around Brussels, meeting and greeting various groups in the European Parliament, generally trying to help them accept a deal that appeared – mainly because it actually did – to pull the rug from the Spitzenkandidaten model. If most of the […]

Brexit supporters have claimed that European courts are out of touch and impose their will on an unwilling British public. Michael F. Harsch, Vladislav Maksimov, and Chris Wheeler argue that European courts are more accountable than these critics contend: when these courts defy the wishes of governments, judgements tend to align with public opinion.  One […]

Foolishly, I always took Groundhog Day to be a work of fiction, rather than an instruction manual. Every morning we wake up to the same debates between the same people, who still haven’t listened to (or, more accurately, haven’t heard) those who point out obstacles in the path: we just have to become better, through force of […]

So desperate is Boris Johnson for the keys to number 10, that he has conceded all the demands of the far-right of his Tory party, who have said they will withdraw their support for him if he doesn’t do what they say. The Guardian reported today, ‘Eurosceptics in the party were increasingly turning the screws […]

So today we find out who will be the final two candidates to become the new leader of the Conservative party. It’s also the day that we find out whether the EU has made any progress on selecting individuals to fill the top jobs at the Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council. Both […]

Prime Minister, Theresa May, officially leaves office today, with many Tory candidates hoping to take her place. But a new Conservative Prime Minister doesn’t mean that their 2017 manifesto promises can be forgotten or forsaken. It was on their manifesto promises that the current Conservative party won power, regardless of who is their leader. The […]

 Click to view 2-minute video When USA President, Donald J. Trump, made a state visit to the UK this week, it wasn’t just to see the Queen, writes Jon Danzig. He also gleefully eyed all the British assets that could be available to his country in a fire-sale, free-trade “negotiation” with a country desperate to […]

When Boris Johnson became Foreign Secretary shortly after the referendum, he promised that Britain would get a great deal with the EU after Brexit, “of huge value, possibly greater value” than being a member of the EU. In an exclusive interview with The Sun published on 1 October 2016, Mr Johnson declared that he was […]

The Times and other newspapers report today that President Trump has praised Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage as two “big powers” in Britain.  Trump congratulated the Brexit Party leader for his success in the European elections. Mr Trump said: “Nigel Farage is a friend of mine, Boris is a friend of mine. They are two very […]