Tag: UK

The European Union needs reform, and the best way to achieve it is with Britain's participation, argues British MEP Graham Watson. 

The proposal to introduce a tax on financial transactions (FTT) – or Tobin tax – across a number of EU countries by January 2014 is under pressure as Italy wants fundamental changes to the plan and the UK has launched a legal challenge in the European Court of Justice.

The European Commission should try to find extra savings to bridge a budget shortfall this year rather than turn to member states for new cash, Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem told MPs yesterday (2 April), as quoted by the Dutch press. 

British Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday (6 March) he wanted to ensure EU plans to limit bankers' bonuses did not threaten the national interest, but it later became clear that Britain is only seeking minor changes to what is almost a done deal.

Plans by British authorities to require EU citizens to carry a "European residence document" would violate EU law, Commission sources told EurActiv.

The British and the Americans used the press to attack the euro , but the strategy failed and it's now the dollar that is in trouble, contends Marc Luyckx Ghisi, a researcher close to former European Commission President Jacques Delors. 

Please don't come to Britain – it rains and the jobs are scarce and low-paid. This is the message conveyed in a campaign intended at trashing the UK's own image and persuading immigrants from Bulgaria and Romania to stay at home.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron promised today (23 January) to offer Britons a simple ‘in/out’ referendum choice on whether to stay in the European Union if he wins the next election, scheduled for 2015. EurActiv brings you the highlights and the main reactions.

Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn on Friday (11 January) joined a transatlantic chorus of warnings against the UK leaving the European Union, using footballers' terms to urge Prime Minister David Cameron to keep Britain in the European league.

Ireland vowed to be honest broker and do whatever it can to avoid a British exit from EU membership, which is now at the top of the EU political agenda after Prime Minister David Cameron said that Britain must use the upheaval created by the eurozone crisis to forge a new relationship with the European Union.

Latvia and Italy could veto Union's seven-year budget deal that was not in their country's interest, respective leaders said yesterday (21 November). Up to now, Austria, Britain, Denmark, Romania and Sweden have threatened to sink the long-term EU budget if the agreement would harm their national interests.

UK Liberal-Democrat MEP Sharon Bowles and high-ranking Commission official Jonathan Faull have topped EurActiv's list of the 40 Britons with the greatest influence on EU policy, compiled by a panel of 15 European affairs specialists from London and Brussels.

Over the past few days, the anti-European rhetoric coming from the British government has been increasing. But what effect does such talk have on Britain's standing in the EU?

While the UK goes one way, the rest of the EU goes another. Europe’s ongoing financial crisis exposes systemic weakness in the way the political economy is run. Executive authority is dispersed amongst different and fairly obscure institutions, and democratic accountability is thin, writes Andrew Duff in a BlogActiv post.

The UK government is trapped between eurosceptics and anti-Europeans and is in danger of being ignored, dismissed and then forgotten by other member states, former Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has told EurActiv.cz in an exclusive interview.

Britain's banks have been told to test how they would cope if several eurozone countries exited the single currency, the UK's Financial Services Authority watchdog said.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch sought to influence UK policy on Europe – and wanted a referendum on EU membership – former Prime Minister John Major told an inquiry into the relationship between the press and British politicians yesterday (12 June).

Former cabinet minister Chris Huhne has issued a stark warning that the UK's economic growth strategy will not work unless the government pursues "green growth" by investing in industries such as energy efficiency and clean energy.

British Prime Minister David Cameron pledged yesterday (25 March) to investigate why a senior Conservative party fundraiser offered exclusive access to him in return for donations of £250,000 (€300,000) a year.