UK Politics « Business for New Europe Blog

Anglo-Dutch Initiative to Boost European Services Sector

By Phillip Souta

By Phillip Souta

BNE welcomes the Anglo-Dutch initiative on liberalising the European market in services. This initiative was announced on Monday and is what the UK’s policy in the European Union should look like.

We need to show leadership in the European Union if we are ever going to achieve our objectives on issues such as the working time directive or making sure the EU’s budget is focused on European competitiveness, not subsidising agricultural production in Europe.

Such leadership has three crucial ingredients: coalition building, a savvy use of EU structures and a focus on the truly practical. This initiative contains all three. The Netherlands is a natural free-market minded partner. The mechanism is enhanced cooperation, which allows nine or more EU member states to cooperate more deeply on areas where others do not (in this case France, which has not been a leading voice for services liberalisation). Finally, the issue of liberalising services is of vital importance.

The services sector represents around 75% of EU GDP and 70% of total employment. Many barriers however still remain. UK economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2010, announced on Tuesday, showed an unexpected contraction of 0.5% (forecasts were of a rise of 0.4%.) UK business needs the government to do everything in its power to push for growth and job creation, and this is an area where the UK should lead from the front.

The EU is fighting hard for the survival of the euro – but it must do better, and the UK can help

By Phillip Souta

By Phillip Souta

Euro Binoculars - European Commission

2011 is going to be a hard year. For the EU, 2010 was a triumph of doing the bare minimum, spending an awful lot of time and energy trying to work out what it was, and hoping the markets would swallow it. If the aim was to prevent the eurozone from collapsing, it just about got away with it – but it’s a dangerous strategy that needs to change. Read full article »

Money and power – the argument for Anglo-French defence cooperation

By Phillip Souta

By Phillip Souta

A talk was regularly given to new officials starting at the French foreign ministry, the Quai d’Orsay, in the 1970s. No question marks or exclamation marks were to be used in official documents. The Quai asked itself no questions and was never officially surprised. That guidance can’t have survived the changes of the last 30 years.

Vanguard Class Royal Navy SSBN. Photograph: Royal Navy

President Sarkozy and Prime Minister Cameron met in London today to discuss a level of military cooperation that has never been attempted or achieved before. Details of the results can be found here. Why now? Money and power – we are running critically short on both.

Our shared interests have been thrown into sharp relief by the prolonged financial crisis and our ebbing global power. We are fortunate enough to live in a world governed by rules on trade and the general conduct of international affairs that are largely of our own making. They benefit us hugely, but there is no guarantee that these rules will continue to exist. Read full article »

Analysis – What the coalition means for Europe

By Phillip Souta

Phillip Souta

The new Europe Minster is David Lidington. He is from the moderate section of the Conservative party, and takes a job that was originally tipped to go to Mark Francois, holder of the shadow position before the election and member of the more Eurosceptic wing of the party. This realignment towards the mainstream is further evidence of the fact that Cameron is not an ideologue. When he says that he will govern in the interests of stability, it sounds less and less like a cliché and more like his overriding political objective. Read full article »

David Lidington – New Europe Minister

By Phillip Souta

Paul O’Hagan

The dust is beginning to settle after one of the most exciting and eventful elections in living memory. Britons are now discovering, in this new age of coalition co-operation, the new faces of their government.

Of the many issues facing this new Conservative/Liberal Democrat government, none could be as divisive as Britain’s relationship with the rest of Europe. During the election campaign, it seemed that the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats could not have been further apart on the political spectrum when questions were asked on the subject. Read full article »

Are we a country of pro-Europeans?

By Phillip Souta

Phillip Souta

As the UK goes to the polls today, we can reflect on a landscape that has shifted considerably over the course of the campaign. The game-changing nature of the debates has been well documented in a seemingly endless stream of “things will never be the same again” commentary, and the media has been taken aback by the prominence of “issues”. On the other side of Europe, Greece is going through its own, very different, catharsis.

The ties that bind what is happening in Greece and Britain also bind the rest of the European Union. It’s our economy, and it dominates everything. The UK budget deficit looks to hit 12% in 2010, larger than that of Greece, which is set to weigh in at a slightly less disastrous 9.3%. Read full article »

Business for New Europe Blog

Putting Britain at the centre of an open and competitive Europe

BNE Blog

Anglo-Dutch Initiative to Boost European Services Sector

The EU is fighting hard for the survival of the euro – but it must do better, and the UK can help

Money and power – the argument for Anglo-French defence cooperation

Analysis – What the coalition means for Europe

David Lidington – New Europe Minister

Are we a country of pro-Europeans?

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives

Popular Tags