Concrete Achievements

Tag: europe

  • It sounds dramatic but he’s right.

    It sounds dramatic but he’s right. Few people alive have experienced the sort of recession we’re diving into and without European solidarity the nationalist-populists will absolutely tear European unity to shreds. twitter.com/HenryJFoy/stat…

    Imagine the lines they will use if there is European solidarity – about how it was late, insufficient, etc. Now imagine the same arguments, but in the midst of a collapsing economy and with them having right on their side.

    I was at @swpberlin‘s online event on Covid and EU financial response earlier, and was struck by how much it felt like a rerun of 2012. Good event, but worrying.

  • Wolfgang Munchau and Jacobin mag both hate the new Eurozone emergency package, which is a…

    Wolfgang Munchau and Jacobin mag both hate the new Eurozone emergency package, which is a glowing commendation.

    More seriously, I’m getting weary of left wing internationalists (hi, Yanis!) spitting venom at the EU because it doesn’t do the deal they think is right. Thanks, lads, have you thought about getting a column in Lega’s newsletter?

    If you want ambitious EU solidarity, I don’t know why you’d play into the hands of nationalists and authoritarians by trashing unambitious EU solidarity, particularly when there’s a lot more to be discussed.

  • This is, once again on COVID, the EU being asked to take action and being constrained by…

    This is, once again on COVID, the EU being asked to take action and being constrained by its rules and competencies. EU level is the *obvious* level to implement this sort of research plan. twitter.com/IlvesToomas/st…

    It’s striking how few people are asking for less Europe during COVID. Its clear that public and policy expectations of the EU have grown to a scale that is beyond its current structure and powers. One of the tasks for the next period is to understand how what the EU can do can be

    brought into alignment with what the public want and need it to do – in a way that is democratic and rooted in ongoing public consent.

    (update to share ERC statement which to say the least contradicts some key elements: erc.europa.eu/news/resignati…)

  • Links from the week of 30 March 2020

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • The people who think that no-deal has been defeated are going to get a shock when the UK…

    The people who think that no-deal has been defeated are going to get a shock when the UK leaves the EU and super No-Deal looms in December 2020, with no extensions, no options, no way back to the EU in time.

    Not to get all @iandunt about it, but this is the scene in the superhero movie where you think the baddie is dead but then it turns out they weren’t and that by shooting at them you have enabled them to come back *even stronger*.

    Not that I think there’s a simple alternative: anything that gets put in the WA Bill can just be repealed by a subsequent government. It would need a change the Agreement itself, or finding a widely-acceptable democratic route to stay in the EU.

  • The people who think that no-deal has been defeated are going to get a shock when the UK…

    The people who think that no-deal has been defeated are going to get a shock when the UK leaves the EU and super No-Deal looms in December 2020, with no extensions, no options, no way back to the EU in time.

    Not to get all @iandunt about it, but this is the scene in the superhero movie where you think the baddie is dead but then it turns out they weren’t and that by shooting at them you have enabled them to come back *even stronger*.

    Not that I think there’s a simple alternative: anything that gets put in the WA Bill can just be repealed by a subsequent government. It would need a change the Agreement itself, or finding a widely-acceptable democratic route to stay in the EU.

  • If there’s one good thing about Brexit, it’s that it puts an end to this “maybe we don’t…

    If there’s one good thing about Brexit, it’s that it puts an end to this “maybe we don’t have to have ever closer union, perhaps we can have special sovereignty rules” nonsense. The U.K. can’t live with free movement and ever closer union. Ok. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

    If it really can’t, it can leave and stay as close as it wants to (taking the hit on trade, sovereignty etc). It’s not good for Europe or Britain but that’s how it is.

    But if Britain rejoins, as I suspect it will in a decade or so, then there is no more half-pregnant rubbish. In the euro, in schengen, part of the process for good or ill (and I think it would not only be good for the U.K. but an engaged UK would be great for Europe)

    The fact that all these are totally politically unachievable in the U.K. of 2019 is a shame but there we are. Things change. Politics change. I was 15 when section 28 came in and went to a same sex marriages when I was 42. You’ve just got to fight for the future you want. 🇪🇺

  • If there’s one good thing about Brexit, it’s that it puts an end to this “maybe we don’t…

    If there’s one good thing about Brexit, it’s that it puts an end to this “maybe we don’t have to have ever closer union, perhaps we can have special sovereignty rules” nonsense. The U.K. can’t live with free movement and ever closer union. Ok. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

    If it really can’t, it can leave and stay as close as it wants to (taking the hit on trade, sovereignty etc). It’s not good for Europe or Britain but that’s how it is.

    But if Britain rejoins, as I suspect it will in a decade or so, then there is no more half-pregnant rubbish. In the euro, in schengen, part of the process for good or ill (and I think it would not only be good for the U.K. but an engaged UK would be great for Europe)

    The fact that all these are totally politically unachievable in the U.K. of 2019 is a shame but there we are. Things change. Politics change. I was 15 when section 28 came in and went to a same sex marriages when I was 42. You’ve just got to fight for the future you want. 🇪🇺

  • Links from the week of 30 September 2019

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Links from the week of 30 September 2019

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.