Latvian General Election The Latvian electorate went to the polls on Saturday, 6 October to elect a new Parliament, known as the ‘Saeima’. Seven political parties secured enough votes to take seats in Parliament, with the Social Democratic Party, ‘Harmony’, topping the polls with 19.8 per cent of the vote. Coalition negotiations are expected to…
The European Council met in Salzburg, Austria for an informal meeting under the Leaders’ Agenda on 19-20 September to discuss migration, internal security, and Brexit. The informal summit was hosted by Austrian Chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, as Austria currently holds the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU). On Wednesday, 19 September, Chancellor…
State of the European Union Address President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, delivered his fourth and final annual ‘State of the European Union’ address at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 12 September 2018. The forward-looking speech, entitled ‘The Hour of European Sovereignty’, set out the priorities of the European Commission for the last…
Swedish General Election The Swedish electorate went to the polls on Sunday, 9 September to elect a new Parliament. Sweden traditionally has a high voter turnout, and this year was no different at 84.4 per cent. Preliminary results show that the electorate has returned a hung Parliament, with no outright winner. Official results will be…
UK White Paper on Legislating for the Withdrawal Agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union On Tuesday, 24 July, the UK government released a White Paper on Legislating for the Withdrawal Agreement between the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU). It sets out the UK government’s plans for the withdrawal legislation…
What is the UK White Paper? On Thursday, 12 July, the UK government published a 98-page White Paper outlining its proposals for the future relationship between the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) after the UK leaves the EU on 29 March 2019. The White Paper covers areas such as the future EU-UK economic relationship,…
The United Nations defines migrants as people who choose to move to another country mainly to improve their lives by finding work, or in some cases for education, family reunion, or other reasons. Refugees, on the other hand, are defined as fleeing armed conflict or persecution and cannot return home because it is too dangerous. …
Austrian Presidency of the Council of the European Union On 1 July, Austria took over the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union from Bulgaria, marking the third time Austria has held the Presidency since joining the EU in 1995. In 2009, the Lisbon Treaty established a system whereby a trio of Member States consecutively…
European Council Summit On Thursday, 28 June, the European Council met in Brussels to discuss a wide range of issues including migration, security and defence, jobs, growth and competitiveness. On Friday, 29 June, EU leaders met in an EU27 format to discuss the Brexit negotiations. EU27 leaders also met for a Euro Summit to discuss reform of the Economic and Monetary Union. Migration The…
What is the EU Withdrawal Bill? The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill is currently being debated in the UK Houses of Parliament. Effectively, it seeks to copy EU law into UK law, meaning that after the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, all EU legislation would remain in force as domestic legislation, unless it is amended or…