CEF is committed to strengthening political, economic, social, environmental and security cooperation between the UK and the democracies of Europe. Closer strategic cooperation, to tackle shared challenges, will make all parties safer, more prosperous and more influential on the world stage.
I just listened to Aliona on the Telegraph podcast "Ukraine: the Latest". Such an articulate , perceptive and inspiring speaker! Unfortunately her message now (Jan 24) is less upbeat because of the wavering Western support for Ukraine. But her written and spoken words are doing a lot to keep us focused.
The UN charter allows proxy wars, we are facing a species crisis, we havent got time to be umming and ahring about morals, Thats the plan it will work, simple as that. there is clearly a problem with the law inherently perhaps its time we do get a grip on the way we get things done.
43:10 - The EU already has maybe half of the attributes of a state. It has an executive, parliament, judiciary, legal system, currency, central bank, flag, and national anthem, and is talking about acquiring a unified tax system, foreign service and military. So which of the remaining attributes of a state that the EU hasn’t yet acquired do the French wish to prevent it acquiring?
After Waterloo, the UK and France have been on the same side in just about every conflict. We fought and died alongside each other in the Crimea, and the First and Second World Wars. If an evil demon wished to disturb this amity and make the two countries hate each other he would do one thing: force them to have common policies on agriculture and fish.
At 44 minutes and about the idea of an EU superstate: this is the direction of travel. An increasingly developed and integrated SM and the need to face the threats of othe big blocs naturally pull us together. No one can say whether we'll reach or not destination or even how long it will / would take to do so. But that has always been the way I had understood "ever closer union" and one needs to admit that the EU and its member states are indeed coordinating and harmonizing MORE rather than less.
The original French expression is "une union sans cesse plus étroite". It means an "ever narrower/ ever tighter union". I think that's more clearly talking about political amalgamation and the homogenisation of governance than is "ever closer". "Ever closer" can merely mean "ever friendlier".
I agree with much of what Matthew Paris says. In relation to the Conservative Party, my view is that it has been infiltrated heavily by UKIP, such that it no longer the centre ground, but has instead moved to the extreme right, which I find deeply disturbing. And the Labour Party is deeply divided, with a current leader (Starmer) who seems to have no vision and who has only one agenda - namely to destroy the left of his party, contrary to his own 10 pledges during the Labour leadership campaign. So with no effective opposition, the Tory Party seems to think it acceptable to introduce draconian laws in relation to journalism and public protests, Jerrymandering constituency borders, trying to prorogue parliament unlawfully, undermining the judiciary, cutting foreign aid, cutting benefits to the disabled, and so on.
