UK News
Insights from the UK and beyond
from Hugo Dixon:
UK should get on front foot with City
It is perhaps too much to expect Britain’s Conservative-led government to lead any initiatives on Europe, such is the orgy of self-destruction in the party over whether the UK should stay in the European Union. But, insofar as David Cameron manages to get some respite from the madness, he should launch a strategy to enhance the City of London as Europe’s financial centre.
Britain has in recent years been playing a defensive game in response to the barrage of misguided financial rules from Brussels. It now needs to get on the front foot and sell the City as part of the solution to Europe’s problems. The opportunity is huge both for Britain and the rest of Europe.
The chance of getting the EU to swing behind a pro-City strategy may, on the face of it, seem pie in the sky. Many people blame financiers for the financial crisis. So how could they be part of the solution? What’s more, Continental Europeans have long tended to be suspicious of financial markets.
Hence, the plan by 11 EU countries (not including the UK) to apply a tax on all financial transactions. Hence, too, the recent decision to cap bankers’ bonuses thoughout the EU (against London’s objections) and a scheme, so far not agreed, to do the same for fund managers.
from Breakingviews:
Boris Johnson intervention reduces Brexit chances
By Hugo Dixon
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own
Boris Johnson's intervention in the European debate reduces the chance of a British exit from the European Union - or Brexit. The Mayor of London, a popular Conservative politician, says he will campaign to keep Britain in the EU provided it can negotiate a pared-down relationship based on the single market.
from John Lloyd:
No Union, please, we’re English
The opinions expressed are his own.
In France, it is les Anglais. In Germany, die Engländer. In Italy, gli Inglesi. In Russia, Anglichane.
The peoples of the United Kingdom, for most other peoples, are habitually “English.”
from Global News Journal:
EU delivers its own “State of the Union” address
The European Union talks frequently about wanting to be a bigger player in the world, about making its political influence match its economic weight and the need to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the United States.
And at least in one respect it can now say it's America's equal -- both have a State of the Union address.
from Global News Journal:
Cometh the hour, cometh Van Rompuy?
Three months ago, Herman van Rompuy might have struggled to be recognised on the streets of his native Belgium, let alone Paris or London. The bookish former prime minister, a fan of camping holidays and Haiku poetry, was nothing if not low-key; a studious consensus builder in the world of Belgian politics.
Three months on and Van Rompuy, 62, may not outwardly have changed much, but his title and the expectations surrounding him certainly have. In November he was chosen to be the first permanent president of the European Council, the body that represents the EU's 27 leaders, and on Thursday he will host those heads of state and government at an economic summit in Brussels -- the first such gathering he has chaired.
from Global News Journal:
Does Washington care about the EU?
Try as it might, the European Union's efforts to act like a bigger player in world affairs keep running into obstacles.
The latest setback is a report that President Barack Obama won't be able to make it to the annual EU-U.S. summit this year, pencilled in for Madrid in May. A hectic domestic agenda and the fact the U.S. president made 10 foreign trips last year -- more than any other president in his first year in office -- means staying at home is the priority and the Europe Union will have to wait.
from Global News Journal:
EU’s Ashton seeks stronger ties with U.S.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton
Catherine Ashton has signalled her intention of giving the European Union's relationship with the United States more prominence in her new role as the EU's high representative for foreign affairs.
How productive that relationship proves to be depends largely on how much Washington believes it needs the EU and how much it deals with the European Union as a whole, rather than with its member states one-to-one.
from Global News Journal:
EU catches up in race to help Haiti
In the six days since a powerful earthquake struck Haiti, the world has responded with vast amounts of aid and promises of long-term reconstruction, something the Caribbean country's creaking infrastructure desperately needs.
The World Bank and the United States pledged $100 million each, the United Nations promised $10 million and announced a "flash" appeal for $500 million more, and dozens of companies including Google, Microsoft and Bank of America committed $1 million a piece. Hollywood stars, rap singers and tennis champions all immediately raised money themselves or lent their support to encourage donations to the relief effort.
from Commentaries:
If not Blair, who for EU Council president?
Within a couple of weeks, European Union leaders are going to choose the first president of the European Council now the Lisbon Treaty has finally been ratified.
It won't be Tony Blair, given the opposition of his European Socialist comrades to the former British prime minister and the hostility of several west European governments. So it's time to subject some of the other contenders to the same scrutiny that Blair has faced as the undeclared front-runner in this surreal race. Most of the 27 EU leaders appear to want a low-key, consensus-building chairman of their quarterly summit meetings rather than a high-profile globe-trotting statesman.
from AxisMundi Jerusalem:
Tony Blair assailed at a Palestinian mosque
Tony Blair, the Middle East envoy for the "Quartet" of powers - the European Union, the United States, Russia and the United Nations, was assailed by a Palestinian man during a visit to a mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron on Tuesday.
"You are terrorism," the man shouted as guards tried to cover his mouth. "He is not welcome in the land of Palestine."
-
The Wall
