Democracy & Citizenship

This week I’m in Moldova, for a workshop of our TEMPUS project INOTLES. You’ve probably not been to Moldova, but Chisinau is a very pleasant city around which to walk, albeit one in which the local UNDP office looks like one of the more important buildings. To be here – in a country that has possibly the lowest GDP […]

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that an Estonian news agency can be held responsible for anonymous ‘hate’ comments posted on its website.   The Court decided that the agency’s ‘freedom of expression’ under the European Convention on Human Rights had not been breached as a result of an Estonian court imposing a […]

This weekend marks 30 years since the Schengen agreement was signed by European leaders marking the end of passport control across a large area of Europe. Now passports are no longer required when travelling through 21 countries of the European Union, as well as non-EU countries Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The Schengen area functions […]

The European Parliament transcended into chaos today after a key debate on the controversial US-EU trade deal (known as TTIP) was postponed at the last-minute, causing a loud and prolonged protest led by anti-EU party UKIP. President of the Parliament, Martin Schulz, announced that the debate had been postponed, “to give more time … to […]

More than 50 Conservative Members of Parliament have started a new group to campaign for Britain to leave the European Union. The Telegraph reported it as, “a move that will electrify the battle for Britain’s future place in the world.” The new group, called Conservatives for Britain (CfB), has warned that unless Prime Minister, David […]

So here we are, about a month into the new government. How’s it shaping up with the EU referendum thing? For me, four things stick out so far. Firstly, David Cameron has conformed to type in his approach to the matter. Assuming that he was a surprised as the next man (that next man being Ed […]

Irony comes in many shapes and sizes. Just as Greeks and the rest of Europe watch with bated breath whether Greece will leave the Euro zone, comes news that a designer with the Bank of Greece has won a prize for the design of a new Euro coin. The new coin is to celebrate 30 […]

Citizens from over 70 nations will be able to vote in the UK referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU. But most European Union nationalities will be excluded. A spokesman for the British Prime Minster said: “This is a big decision for our country, one that is about the future of the United Kingdom. That’s […]

On Tuesday I went to one of my alma maters, LSE’s European Institute, to listen to a panel on Britain’s EU policy. As well as storifying it, I’ve also been thinking about the discussion and particularly three of the things mentioned by Simon Hix, one of the panellists. “Never underestimate the EU’s ability to find a way to muddle through” […]

Following the Conservative party victory in the 2015 UK general election, Tobias Lock presents the key findings of a policy paper which resulted from a UACES Small Event grant funded workshop.