I think the Government is flying on a wing and a prayer with their determination not to re visit the Strategic Defence Review. It was carried out soon after the Government took office and it was done with indecent haste but the retrenchment of the western powers, the financial problems and the instability in the…
The EU and sport probably aren’t two things that are often thought of together but a Committee which I chair has spent the past few months considering just that. The Lisbon Treaty gave the EU for the first time a formal competence to act in the field of sport. It is a limited competence and…
Guest blog from Lord Harrison: The European Union has money troubles. The banking crisis in 2008 was a global disaster whose impact on the EU is still being felt. Just days ago Portugal’s government fell when its plans to cut Portugal’s enormous budget deficit were rejected. It is now paying over 8% interest (that’s compared…
Today David Cameron will be phoning the French and German leaders to try and persuade them not to change existing EU treaties or make new one. The Conservatives are committed to a referendum if the EU powers are increased. The EU is still a sensitive issue for the Conservative Party and particularly delicate given the…
Every six months chairs of foreign affairs committees from each national parliamentary chamber in the EU get together to discuss foreign affairs at a European level. It’s a small part of making the EU more accountable. The group is known as COFAC (Chairs of Foreign Affairs Committees) and as chair of the Lords’ EU foreign…
