As U.S. awaits DOMA decision, Germany’s constitutional court weighs in on gay rights

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Kevin Lees

By the end of June, the U.S. Supreme Court will render decisions in two of the most important legal cases to affect same-sex marriage in the United States: Hollingsworth v. Perry, which could result in the repeal of California’s Proposition 8, a ballot measure that overturned the state legislature’s enactment of same-sex marriage, and United States v. [...]

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A tale of two referenda: How the EU debate could poison the Scotland debate

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Kevin Lees

In a static world, it’s easy to believe that UK prime minister David Cameron’s call in January 2013 for a referendum on the United Kingdom’s continued membership in the European Union will never come to pass — it depends upon the reelection of a Conservative-led in the 2015 general election, Cameron’s continued Tory leadership and [...]

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What Iceland’s election tells us about post-crisis European politics

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Kevin Lees

Iceland was supposed to be different. In allowing its banks to fail, neo-Keynesian economists have argued, Iceland avoided the fate of Ireland, which nationalized its banks and now faces a future with a very large public debt.  By devaluing its currency, the krónur, Iceland avoided the fate of countries like Estonia and others in southern Europe [...]

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Why is the opposition to same-sex marriage so strong in France?

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Kevin Lees

To the rest of the world, France is a virtual billboard for sexual freedom and sophistication. Sex, of course, made an entire generation or two of French and European cinema — from Les enfants terribles to Jules et Jim to Last Tango in Paris.  Paris, for nearly a century, has been the world’s premier city of romance, and its [...]

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A bad day for Boris — London’s mayor called ‘nasty piece of work’ in interview

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Kevin Lees

Boris Johnson, reelected last year as London’s major and often discussed as a potential Tory successor to prime minister David Cameron, had a very bad weekend. In an interview with the BBC’s Eddie Mair, Johnson hemmed and hawed over whether he once invented a quote 30 years ago as a young news reporter, lied to [...]

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Scotland sets a referendum date: September 18, 2014

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Kevin Lees

Scotland’s first minister, Alex Salmond, has set September 18, 2014 as the date for the referendum on potential Scottish independence. Polls have been relatively consistent, with support for independence at around 30% to 35% and with support for continued union with England at around 50% to 55%. But the up-or-down vote will come in 18 [...]

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Does Argentina have a case in its fight for the Falklands/Malvinas?

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Kevin Lees

On Sunday and Monday, 1,517 eligible voters in the Falkland Islands (or, if you like, las Islas Malvinas) turned out to vote in the referendum on its status as an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. Fully 1,513 voters supported the current status, and three voters disagreed. That should be an open-and-shut-case, right?  Certainly under [...]

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Should David Cameron change course over the UK budget?

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Kevin Lees

The United Kingdom is closer to May 2015 than it is to May 2010, which is to say that it’s closer to the next general election than to the previous one. With the announcement of the 2013 budget coming later this month, likely to be very controversial if it features, as expected, ever more aggressive [...]

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‘La bataille des chiffres’: EU leaders agree new budget deal

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Kevin Lees

Guest post by Michael J. Geary European Union leaders reached agreement Friday on the EU budget (the multi-annual financial framework or ‘MFF’) for the period from 2014 to 2020.  After months of bickering, the 27 member states signed off on a deal totaling €908.4 billion, and the European Parliament will vote on the budget in March. [...]

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British, French governments poised to pass gay marriage into law

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Kevin Lees

Amid a flurry of parliamentary action in the United Kingdom and France, two of the largest countries in Europe and, indeed, two of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, are set to legalize gay marriage in the coming months. The joint result gives an incredibly burst of global momentum for the [...]

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Clarke’s pro-Europe tone highlights referendum risk to UK Tories from the center

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Kevin Lees

Longtime senior Conservative Party grandee — and former chancellor of the exchequer — Kenneth Clarke (pictured above) in no uncertain terms yesterday said that a British exit from the European Union would be a disaster. That Clarke is pro-Europe is certainly not a surprise. As former prime minister John Major’s chancellor from 1993 until the fall [...]

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From Heath to Wilson to Thatcher to Cameron: continuity in EU-UK relations

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Kevin Lees

My friend and colleague, Dr. Michael J. Geary, and I, are in The National Interest today with a even-further revised piece on the history of relations between the United Kingdom and the European Union (pictured above are former prime ministers Edward Heath and Margaret Thatcher). In particular, we continue to argue that British participation in the [...]

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Taking a deeper look at Cameron’s EU speech and UK relations with Europe

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Kevin Lees

Over at EurActiv, Dr. Michael J. Geary, a friend and colleague at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and I have written a piece placing UK prime minister David Cameron’s speech from Wednesday in greater context in respect of existing European Union structures and the longstanding 40-year history of the United Kingdom’s tumultuous relationship with [...]

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Cameron pledges 2017 EU referendum: ‘It is time for the British people to have their say’

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Kevin Lees

UK prime minister David Cameron, calling the democratic legitimacy of the European Union ‘wafer thin,’ has this morning pledged to renegotiate a new settlement with the European Union for the United Kingdom, and then a straight in-or-out referendum within the United Kingdom by 2017. Well, then.  Today’s address was probably the most important speech of [...]

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Three lessons from the Calatan experience for Scottish separatists

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Kevin Lees

Artur Mas, the president of Catalunya, played the sovereignty card in calling early elections on November 25 and, thereupon, campaigned hard for Catalan sovereignty and against the federal Spanish government — it felt like, at times, he was running more against Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy than against any particular regional adversary. His reward? Mas’s center-right [...]

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