Presidential elections took place in France over the course of two rounds in as many weeks, with the first round of voting taking place on Sunday, 23 April 2017. Outgoing President, François Hollande, had held the Presidency since May 2012, but chose not to stand for re-election. Voters went to the polls once again in the run-off on Sunday, 7 May,…
On Saturday 29 April 2017, the EU27 leaders met in Brussels for a Special European Council where they adopted guidelines for the Article 50 negotiations on the withdrawal of the UK from the EU. The guidelines outline the framework for the negotiations, setting out the broad EU principles for the talks, which will be conducted…
On Saturday 25 March 2017, the leaders of 27 EU Member States met in Rome, Italy, to mark the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. At the ceremony, EU leaders adopted the Rome Declaration on the future of Europe in which they pledged to make the EU “stronger and more resilient, through even greater…
60 years ago this Saturday, the leaders of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, West Germany, the Netherlands and Italy gathered in the Palazzo dei Conservatori to sign the Treaty of Rome; it was the Treaty which created the European Economic Community (EEC), which itself paved the way for the European Union (EU). As they sat in this grandest of locations, surrounded by 16th century frescoes atop the…
What is Article 50? Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (EU) gives any EU Member State the right to leave the Union. Simply put, triggering Article 50 is the EU’s equivalent of starting divorce proceedings. It’s a little like the leader of a country saying that it no longer sees a future together…
Elections took place in the European Parliament on Tuesday, 17 January 2017 to replace the outgoing President, Martin Schulz. President Schulz, a member of the Socialists and Democrats group, had held the position since January 2012. Antonio Tajani of the European People’s Party group was elected as the 30th President of the European Parliament and…
At the Paris climate conference in December 2015, 197 Parties, including Ireland and the EU, agreed the first universal, legally binding climate deal. The Agreement sets out a global action plan to avoid the adverse effects of climate change by limiting global warming to below 2˚C. The EU ratified the Agreement on 5 October 2016…
On 30 August 2016, the European Commission “concluded that Ireland granted undue tax benefits of up to €13 billion to Apple”, the multinational technology company. This is considered by the Commission to be illegal under EU state aid rules as it allowed Apple to pay significantly less tax than other businesses. The Commission has instructed…
Just 10 days after what is fair to say, has been the single biggest political shock of my lifetime at and I find myself still with a sense of both profound personal and professional shock and sadness. In a role reversal of the traditional break-up, this feels like, ‘it’s you, not us’, but yet we…
On Thursday 23 June 2016, the UK will hold a referendum on its membership of the European Union. In this Just the Facts, which is part of a series European Movement Ireland is producing on the forthcoming referendum, we examine the shifting attitudes in opinion polls since the UK-EU negotiations in February, and the key role that turnout is likely…