Archive for April, 2011
Shackled by Schengen – time for a policy rethink?
Posted by Natalie Hamill in European Union on 28/04/2011
The civil strife in North Africa is having a dramatic effect on one of the EU’s most ambitious, yet controversial, policies – the Schengen agreement. With unprecedented numbers of migrants arriving at its southern borders, the EU must revamp its Schengen policy or risk fuelling tensions between member states.
“Should I Stay or Should I Go”
Posted by Stephen Clarke in Politics on 26/04/2011
This weekend Chris Huhne voiced serious criticisms of the Chancellor and the Conservative party in light of the ‘No to AV’ campaign’s recent claims about the cost and benefit for radical parties of the AV electoral system. Perhaps most significant could be the fact that he ‘refused to rule out resigning as energy secretary over the tensions’. Huhne’s outburst came on the same day that the Independent on Sunday ran an interview with Nick Clegg where the Deputy Prime Minister in effect described the Tories, as opponents of AV, as a ‘nasty right wing clique’. Although political rhetoric can be misleading, the coalition government seems to be on the verge of splitting at the seams.
Strasbourg Court flouting democratic self-government
Posted by Nick Cowen in Civil Liberty, Human Rights, Press Release on 21/04/2011
Following Parliament’s rejection of votes for prisoners, a new Civitas report calls for urgent reform of human rights legislation to keep European judges from deciding British law.
Strasbourg in the Dock, by international lawyer and Conservative MP Dominic Raab, argues that judges have gone beyond their legitimate powers of interpretation in their now infamous Hirst ruling. He finds some of the European judges are ‘woefully lacking in experience’ and, as a consequence, ‘are undermining the credibility and value of the Court’.
See full press release.
Buy the report on Amazon and on Amazon kindle.
Arrested Development
Posted by Carolina Bracken in Civil Liberty, Crime, European Union, Human Rights, Security on 20/04/2011
The European Commission has published its third report on the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), and has catalogued a series of failures. During the course of its research, the Commission received complaints about the EAW not only from dedicated NGOs and lawyers, but also from national legislatures and even the European Parliament itself. Yet, while the report is the most critical to date, many of the criticisms should come as no surprise.
Markets: still a pretty good idea
Posted by Stephen Clarke in Economics, Politics on 19/04/2011
The financial crisis and ensuing recession has produced a wealth of different economic predictions and advice. Some critics of free market capitalism have used the crisis to suggest that free markets are fatally flawed and need restraint. Other proponents of state involvement in the economy have, worryingly, talked up the benefits of the ‘Chinese model’ of state-led capitalism. In contrast some governments, including our own, have pledged to remove barriers to growth, implicitly or explicitly earmarking some aspects of state. Wading into this debate is Brink Lindsey, Senior Scholar in research and policy at the Ewin Marion Kauffman Foundation in his new paper: ‘Frontier Economics: Why Entrepreneurial Capitalism Is Needed Now More Than Ever’. His hypothesis is unsurprising given the Kauffman Foundation’s commitment to entrepreneurship, yet it finds a degree of support in another paper, recently released by Barry Eichengreen, Donghyun Park and Kwanho Shin: ‘When Fast Growing Economies Slow Down: International Evidence and Implications for China’.
Court Reports
Posted by Carolina Bracken in European Union on 13/04/2011
