Coverage of the Commission President candidates in the Spanish media shows the Spitzenkandidaten process had a wide reach across Europe
(*) Published on 4 August 2014 in the LSE’s EUROPP Blog. While European Parliament (EP) elections have traditionally been conceived of as second-order elections in which national campaigns focus mostly on domestic affairs rather than on European issues, the recent 2014 EP elections were slightly different. For the first time, the main pro-European EP families […]
For a European Republic
(*) This article was published on 24/6/2014 in Open Democracy. The original version in Spanish: Construir Europa como República. The European Union, and more particularly the Eurozone, does not know what it is. This is not only a matter of nominalism, but also of the meaning of the project. To still consider this Europe as […]
Felipe VI: the reign in Spain
(*) This article was published on 18/6/2014 in BBC News – Europe. Prince Felipe will face a daunting array of challenges when he becomes king of Spain at midnight on Wednesday 18th June. Some are the consequence of the severe economic crisis endured over the past six years, which has resulted in extreme social hardship […]
Alexis Tsipras’ support for Juncker shows the extent to which the UK’s position is out of sync with public opinion across the EU
(*) This article was published on 5 June 2014 in the LSE – EUROPP Blog. David Cameron and the British press – both tabloid and broadsheet – are up in arms against the candidacy of Juncker for European Commission president. In their view, with the German-inspired Spitzenkandidaten campaign, the European Parliament is attempting a power grab. […]
Abdication is the king’s final gift to a grateful Spain
(*) This article was published in the Financial Times on 5 June 2014. King Juan Carlos was a remarkable monarch, indispensable to Spain’s transition to democracy. The king – who has abdicated this week – skilfully navigated the turbulent waters of post-Franco politics, consolidating the country’s fledgling democratic institutions and defending them from an attempted […]
Country’s fall from grace is greatly exaggerated
(Guest Column. This article was originally published on 12 June 2012 in Financial Times Special Report). ‘Exporters could do with more official help’ – William Chislett Richard Boucher, deputy secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-peration and Development (OECD), hit a raw nerve in April when he told a conference in Marseille of the Nato […]
A bail-out that leaves questions unanswered
* The Spanish version of this article was originally published on 11 June 2012 in Expansión. Good strategists know that it is risky to have to fronts open at the same time while in a state of internal weakness. That is why the Euro Zone, which is at its darkest hour, has decided to close […]
Saving the Euro requires a great leap forward in political integration
* The Spanish version of this article was originally published on 5 June 2012 in Expansión. Ever since the Greek crisis broke out, Germany has been mulling over a plan for the Euro Zone. It saw the chance to build the strong and federal Europe it had always yearned for by making use of its […]