In The Press
City A.M. - New CBI head backs UK membership of EU
20 December 2010
Richard Partington in the City A.M. - The incoming president of the CBI has said Britain would lose out if it were to quit the European Union. Roger Carr, president-elect of the CBI and chairman of Centrica, said: “Economic conditions in Europe are challenging but it remains a major UK trading partner. “Britain …
Read More
The Sunday Times - Europe or Bust
20 December 2010
By Dominic O'Connell in the Sunday Times - Brussels has strong competition enforcers but the European currency looks as stable as a custard sandwich. Last week Ireland, a straggling member of the eurozone, lost its A credit rating. The repercussions have yet to be felt, but Lloyds gave a clue on Friday, increasing provisions for …
Read More
Daily Telegraph - Britain must learn to talk the language of business
26 November 2010
By Damian Reece in the Daily Telegraph It is predicted that within a few years the nation with the most English speakers will be China. Another reason for our children to avoid learning a foreign language? I sincerely hope not. The Coalition has placed trade at the heart of its foreign policy yet it would …
Read More
Joint letter in the Telegraph and le Figaro - Anglo-French defence cooperation
2 November 2010
Letter in the Daily Telegraph As the French and British governments seek to maintain military capabilities during the toughest spending climate in living memory, it is not only right but essential that greater defence cooperation is to be on the agenda at today’s summit between Prime Minister Cameron and President Sarkozy. The trauma of Iraq …
Read More
Letter in the Times - Explain the benefits of Europe Mr Cameron
30 October 2010
Sir, Your leading article on the EU budget (Oct 28) was right to urge David Cameron to say “no” to a 6 per cent increase. At this time of Continent-wide austerity, the EU had a priceless opportunity to prove its detractors wrong by freezing the budget for 2011. Mr Cameron’s success in building a coalition …
Read More
Letter in the Daily Telegraph - Cash for scrutiny
15 July 2010
SIR – The chairman of the Commons European Scrutiny Committee is likely to be chosen this week or next. Bill Cash, an ideologically Eurosceptic Conservative MP, has been nominated. The committee sifts through documents that emanate from the EU on behalf of the Commons and is one of our most important select committees, and one …
Read More
EU finance reform (Letter in The Times)
17 June 2010
Sir, European Union finance ministers meet in Brussels today to discuss ways of improving market confidence in member states’ finances. Some have said that President Herman van Rompuy, the European Council’s increasingly active “facilitator”, is suggesting that member states should present completed budgets to the Commission before they are seen by member states’ own legislatures. …
Read More
Europe has been damaged by internal wrangling
19 May 2010
By Charles Grant in the Financial Times Despite European Union leaders agreeing on a €500bn support package, the underlying causes of the euro crisis – southern Europe’s lack of competitiveness and structural imbalances within the eurozone – remain. Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain face years of low growth, severe budget cuts and perhaps social unrest. …
Read More
Tory Euroscepticism is being sidelined
14 May 2010
The Guardian - Comment is Free Charles Grant For those of us who hope Britain will engage constructively with the EU, the formation of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition is good news. Even when Conservative leaders expected to win the election outright, they were not planning a confrontational approach to the EU. This is not because …
Read More
Europe’s future in the balance as eurozone faces its toughest test
9 May 2010
As the world waits to see whether Greece's debt crisis will spread to other European nations, eurozone experts give their views on how events will play out. The eurozone faces the biggest test since its inception in 1999, amid fears that the Greekdebt crisis could spread to other European countries and imperil the future of the euro. …
Read More
UK needs a government working strongly in the EU mainstream (Letter in the Financial Times)
22 April 2010
Dear Sir, British business needs a government at Europe’s top table. We call on all parties to campaign on the basis that the UK must play a central and positive role in the EU. Business for New Europe, a coalition of business leaders supporting reform in Europe, has published a manifesto setting out what the …
Read More
Lady Ashton’s fans (Letter in The Daily Telegraph)
8 March 2010
SIR – In November last year, Cathy Ashton landed one of the hardest jobs in Brussels. To say that a letter of support from David Miliband and Carl Bildt is intended to “prop her up” (report, March 5) before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Cordoba is wide of the mark.We need to realise …
Read More
Britain should join euro despite Greece crisis, says Mandelson (Article in The Daily Telegraph)
11 February 2010
The Business Secretary spoke of the "remarkable success" of the beleaguered euro despite the problems which have beset the single currency in recent weeks.The peer was speaking just as a group of key eurozone countries lined up to pledge “determined and co-ordinated action” over Greece.But they were accused of sparking unease and confusion by failing …
Read More
Euro could be so good for UK (Article in the Evening Standard by Roland Rudd)
5 February 2010
Eurosceptics argue that had we been in the euro during the recent crisis, the effect on the UK's economy would have been catastrophic. Yesterday, David Davis, a senior Conservative MP, added his voice to that chorus in an article for the Evening Standard. It is a truism to say that had we joined in 2007 …
Read More
Achieve defence goals through Europe (Letter in The Times)
2 February 2010
Sir, Malcolm Rifkind (Opinion, Feb 1) says that defence co-operation with France is essential to maintain the UK’s position as a global military player. He is absolutely right. In an era of public austerity, European defence co-operation is an obvious way of achieving our strategic objectives for less. The UK can and should take the …
Read More
UK anxiety over influence in Europe after crisis (Article on the BBC News website)
15 January 2010
"The zeitgeist has changed." Indeed it has. Before late 2008, the UK's economy - the third-largest in the European Union (EU) - was the envy of most of its neighbours. The financial sector was booming, fuelling a decade of growth. Proud British officials in Brussels would push other countries to open their economies and curb …
Read More