Beware of US elections, which may end up with the world’s most powerful nation bogged down in a constitutional crisis, writes Dick Roche. Dick Roche is a former European Affairs minister of Ireland. On 3 November US voters will elect...
Advocates of a vote-by-mail in the US presidential election have argued that it is the only safe way to conduct elections during the COVID pandemic. Opponents argue that moving to vote-by-mail elections opens the floodgates to fraud. Dick Roche looked...
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the challenge of holding elections in a time of crisis. Only the European Parliament has the expertise to advise if voting by mail would be a good idea, writes Dick Roche.
Inthe light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU should introduce a range measures including a common human health protection policy aimed at reducing the risk of future epidemics arising from poor sanitary or phytosanitary conditions that would have to be met by countries exporting product to the EU, writes Dick Roche.
The post-Brexit negotiations with the UK are particularly vital for Ireland and dealing with them requires a stable government in office, writes Dick Roche.
Sinn Féin made only one mistake: had it run multiple candidates in its strongest constituencies, it could have become the largest party in the Irish parliament by a long lead, writes Dick Roche.
It would be wise to accept that the Spitzenkandidaten system is broken and to look for a democratic replacement, writes Dick Roche, bringing up as arguments nuggets of vintage EU politics.
The Commission’s ‘strategy’ is to phase out conventional biofuels in the hope that they will miraculously be replaced by ‘advanced’ biofuels in Europe’s transport energy mix isn’t backed by science or by logic, writes Dick Roche.
‘Live horse and you’ll get grass’ is an old Irish proverb used in the context of vague promises of future benefits. This is precisely where Ireland stands with the vague promises on the Irish border issue, writes Dick Roche.
The Northern Irish DUP party, a junior coalition member to Theresa May’s government, is a stumbling block to unlocking the Brexit talks. Dick Roche gives the receipt how the problem can be solved.
A response delivered by Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete in the European Parliament last week demonstrates just how dangerously out of touch with reality the executive is on a policy that impacts on the lives of hundreds of thousands of EU citizens, writes Dick Roche.
Will the report of the EU Court of Auditors (ECA) regarding the EU system for the certification of sustainable biofuels spark an outbreak of common sense within the Commission, asks Dick Roche.
Kicking the big guy in the shins is always a popular political diversion – particularly when the big guy in question is an American multinational, writes Dick Roche.
While the contest to select the next UN Secretary-General may not be on a par with the slugging match for the White House, it is beginning to heat up - with some decidedly undiplomatic tactics evident in the campaign to replace Ban Ki-moon, writes Dick Roche.
Public policy should be built on firm foundations. Objective analysis, verifiable facts and solid science are good starting points, but that was absent in biofuels policy-making, writes Dick Roche.
The implications for Northern Ireland of the UK leaving the EU are more complex and potentially more dangerous than those facing any other region of the UK, writes Dick Roche.
Any gesturing on the side of the EU-27, or from the Union's institutions that smacks of hectoring, bullying, impatience or disrespect will make a bad situation worse, writes Dick Roche.
The European Commission's proposal to scrap the mandate for the use of biofuels and, in effect, to ‘kiss biofuels goodbye,’ is a catastrophic policy based largely on arguments that have no solid foundation, writes Dick Roche.
The decision by David Cameron to allow members of his cabinet a free choice in the upcoming EU referendum is an intriguing example of history repeating itself, writes Dick Roche.
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