With everything else going on at the moment, few in the West will have noted Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan. But given the country’s strategic location in a volatile region and its role as a secure energy provider to Europe, we really ought to be paying attention. That strategic importance will be underlined later this […]
Due to the Conservative Party leadership contest, the possibility of a No Deal Brexit is being discussed more than ever before. Boris Johnson has said the UK “must prepare” for a no deal outcome in case the EU refuse to renegotiate, although he has stressed he is not keen on a “disorderly” No Deal Brexit. Leading Eurosceptic […]
The prospects of Theresa May’s Brexit deal have, for quite some time, depended on her government’s ability to amend or in some other way mitigate the so-called backstop set out in the Withdrawal Agreement. Yet, Ireland’s government may well hold firm. The arrangement, which is vociferously opposed by British Eurosceptics, involves the UK remaining under […]
Following Theresa May’s resounding failure to convince MPs of the merits of her Brexit deal, she has now opened up talks with other parties. It is yet to be seen whether Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is willing to engage. As a precondition, he has requested that the option of no deal be taken off the […]
The draft Withdrawal Agreement, negotiated between the EU and Theresa May’s government, hasn’t exactly been welcomed with great enthusiasm in the UK. It has been savaged by many Brexiteers and Remainers, deploying both serious and less-than-serious arguments. But the Prime Minister is sticking to it, at least as long as she can also reach a […]
In office since 2005, Angela Merkel is Germany’s second longest serving Chancellor since the Second World War. On Monday, she announced that she would be stepping down as CDU party leader but continuing as Chancellor until 2021. This is a u-turn on her earlier stance that the Chancellor should be the leader of the governing […]
With the Conservative Party Conference out the way, the Brexit negotiations have picked up pace. EU diplomats are reported to be more optimistic a deal can be reached, with some of them even thinking they are “very close”. This optimism is thanks to ever stronger indications of a possible fudge for the Northern Irish border, […]
Now that Brexit negotiations have restarted after the Summer break, the scramble to agree a deal by October or later is well and truly underway. Eighty per cent of the content of the withdrawal agreement has been agreed. The main remaining sticking point is the so-called “backstop” arrangement for the Northern Irish border. This will […]
On Monday, the European Parliament’s “Bureau” rejected proposals to tighten the rules around MEPs’ expenses. With the so-called General Expenditure Allowance (GEA) each MEP gets an eyewatering €4,416 a month, ostensibly to cover their running costs. The money is meant to be used to rent a constituency office as well as for “office management costs, telephone and postal charges, and […]
Mass migration has become the most important topic in Western political debate. Across the political spectrum, ideas are changing. Criticism of chaotic migration management is no longer seen as “far right”. Although most people realise that in an age of fast-moving globalisation it would be foolish to impose overly harsh restrictions on immigration, a cross-ideological […]
There really only are two different ways of implementing Brexit. The first is for the UK to simply leave. No deal, no negotiations. That this would be a costly option should be obvious. One estimate puts that cost at half a million jobs in Britain and 1.2 million in mainland Europe. Brexiteers who claim this […]
It’s hard to ignore Switzerland’s experience when looking at Brexit. Here we have another country that isn’t a member of the European Union, the single market or a customs union. It’s also a country that trades heavily with the EU. And it has an arrangement that avoids passport checks at its border. Last but not […]
Wild theories are doing the rounds about whether Britain should or should not join a permanent customs union with the EU after Brexit. Unsurprisingly, Remain supporters have leapt at the idea as a way to soften Brexit. Some even hope that it would constitute such a bad deal that it might just lead to a […]
On Monday, Britain and the EU announced a lot of progress on the terms of the British exit from the European Union, specifically when it comes to the so-called “transition stage” which will last until January 1st 2021, and during which Britain will take over EU rules in order to keep access to the EU […]
While the debate rages about the European Commission’s draft treaty setting out the terms of the Brexit divorce and transition period, we’ll soon learn more about the UK’s vision for its future relationship with the EU. On Friday, Theresa May will make yet another big speech on Brexit. She will set out in more detail […]
At the moment, Britain and the EU are negotiating the terms of the so-called transition period, which will start next March. The British are hoping to find agreement on this by the EU Summit on March 22. But, according to EU negotiator Michel Barnier, a deal is “not a given”. Given how important it is for both the […]
When the EU conceded before Christmas that enough progress had been made on the so-called “divorce issues”, the Brexit negotiations could finally move on to talks about the future EU-UK relationship and how we transition from the status quo to that new relationship. What should we expect from a new phase in the Brexit talks? […]
Over the Christmas week, CapX is republishing its favourite pieces from the past year. This was first published on August 31. As Brexit negotiations continue, a lot of energy is still being spent on procedure. The EU side is insisting on “sufficient progress” on the issues relating to Britain’s exit before there can be any […]
On Monday, the Democratic Unionist Party effectively torpedoed a draft compromise between the UK and the EU to have “continued regulatory alignment [with] those rules of the internal market and the customs union which, now or in the future, support North South cooperation and the protection of the Good Friday Agreement”. The next day, Brexit Secretary David […]
It’s hardly suprising that Brexit isn’t the top priority of the EU27 . There is the attempted Catalonian secession from Spain, Greece and Portugal have become financial protectorates of its fellow Eurozone member states, banks in Italy and elsewhere are still struggling with very high levels of bad debt, the governments of Poland and Hungary […]
