By Niall McCrae Chief commissioner Michel Barnier wags his finger at the media conference. An uprising in a major European country has forced his hand, as attacks on police and politicians lead to...

This country’s change from consuming sugar derived from sugar cane, which Britain historically purchased from its old colonial territories, to consuming sugar extracted from sugar beets from...

  Brexit could hit UK travellers like a summer storm. But don’t fret – it’s not all bad. Although it is deemed likely that travellers will needs a visa to travel around...

  With the Brexit negotiations in full flow, Britain is looking for a way to make the transition away from the European Union run as smoothly as possible while ensuring that Brexit happens...

Barely one year after the Brexit referendum, and under four months since the triggering of Article 50, the Financial Times has published a “democratic case for stopping Brexit”, adding...

What you need to know to navigate your way throught the referendum debate.

David Cameron to adopt EU plan for second-class membership

The EU: Committing economic suicide To purchase a copy please visit:www.brugesgroup.com/shop EU energy and environmental policy is placing enormous costs onto the economy. This paper not only...

Hugo van Randwyck There are easy ways to move from EU membership to EFTA membership, in weeks and months, rather than years. In implementing changes there can be a choice between doing things the...

Robert Oulds David Cameron’s promise of a referendum on EU membership, according to his timetable, is set to take place in 2017 following the conclusion of negotiations on reforming the...

Philip Vander Elst During the 1975 Common Market Referendum campaign, the Conservative opponents of Britain’s continued membership of the European Economic Community (EEC), led by Neil...

Luke Stanley Britain has neither the influence nor the allies to prevent the passage of legislation increasing further the level of European integration. The notion that Britain can form a...

The Rt Hon. Lord Lamont of Lerwick The Prime Minister recently professed himself shocked at waste in the European Union. In particular, he was incensed by an EU-funded colouring book portraying...

Robert Oulds A majority of voters would prefer the UK to be a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) as opposed to the EU, according to a new survey published by the Bruges...

Josef Filipowicz The encouragement of diversity through autonomy (which is in no way synonymous with isolation, as some may imply) not only eliminates the current emphasis on groupthink, but also...

The Bruges Group expresses our deep and heartfelt sadness at the loss of our President, Baroness Thatcher. She was our greatest peacetime Prime Minister and a Standard Bearer for freedom,...

Luke Stanley There is presently no European identity, nor the necessary pre-conditions for a European identity to be fostered in the near future. So where does this leave the future of the...

Hugo van Randwyck During the debate about Britain leaving the European Union the pro-EU side bring forth the same hackneyed arguments about the so-called ‘Norway’ option, our...

Jeremy Stanford Hungary under its Fidesz government does not sit neatly or quietly in the collective EU mould. Hungary’s finance minister has described Brussels’ “imperial...

Robert Oulds Triggered by an enquiry from a constituent of Philip Davies MP, a series of correspondence began between Mr Davies, the Bruges Group and the Europe Minister, the Rt Hon David...

The Government, via the IMF, is using British money to bail out the problems caused by the euro. However, 32 Conservative MPs voted against this misuse of funds. The £9.3 billion can be better...

Barry Legg Thank you very much indeed Mr Chairman. My solutions for the EU, we need to get out of the EU. That is the solution, there are no other solutions. I’m glad to see my former...

Barry Legg George Osborne is right when he says that ‘I told you so is not a policy.’ Politicians should learn from the mistakes of the past and then act accordingly. But that’s...

Robert Oulds As the Irishman said when asked for directions “If I were going there, I would not start out from here.” This little parable may be un-PC but the lesson should be learnt...

David Wilkinson An opinion poll published in Estonia in November 2010 showed that only 34% support the abolition of the Kroon and adoption of the euro and 52% wish to keep the Kroon as their...

Professor Roland Vaubel Leading German economist Professor Roland Vaubel warns that the European Commission will undermine the City of London. Following the financial crisis, the French...

Robert Oulds The drive for an expanded, better funded and more centralised EU continues. So no change there: the EU is designed as a one way street to an ever closer union, it acts as one way...

Jacob Campbell Proponents of the European project never fail to scoff at Eurosceptics’ claims that the EU has become a superstate, often dismissing such observations as the product of a...

Robert Oulds Bulletin #14 The UK has to be obey judgments made in Brussels which override decisions made by our own democratic institutions. What is more the British taxpayer has to pay Brussels...

Dr Lee Rotherham The proposed treaty will give the EU power for the first time over the whole field of energy and Britain’s oil and gas reserves.The UK’s oil industry produces...

Professor Roland Vaubel The European Emperor wears new clothes: he has thrown off the insignia of statehood. But he has not abandoned the substance of the old constitutional treaty. Nor will...

Robert Oulds The European Parliament approves the mandate for the Reform Treaty and exposes the fact that it is a guise for reviving the EU Constitution.The European Parliament has recently...

Robert Oulds The British Government is conspiring with the EU to force through further integration using Article 308 of Britain’s membership of the European Union. This article reads:"If...

The European Union Court of Auditors key assessment on how our money is spent. In a damning indictment of the Brussels institutions, the clear message of the EU’s very own Court of Auditors...

Dr Helen Szamuely It is with great sadness that the Bruges Group announces the death of its founding chairman Lord Harris of High Cross, which occurred early this morning. There are few people in...

Professor Christie Davies In the latter days of June Britain celebrated the two hundredth anniversary of Trafalgar with fleets reviewed, the battle re-enacted with the British and French fleets...

John Midgley  Contents IntroductionThe ProblemEuropean Union Contribution – So FarThe European Contribution - The Next StageThe Solution Introduction Political correctness is like a...

Sally McNamara Contents     The Founding of the EU    A Political Monster    The Common Agricultural Project    The Common Fisheries...

Damon Lambert Contents     Introduction    Background    Critique of the Opinion    Conclusion Introduction Thursday, 7th April 2005...

Chris Heaton-Harris MEP Contents     Introduction    Transfers    TV Rights    Doping    The EU...

Sally McNamara Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the democratisation of Central & Eastern Europe, American foreign policy has celebrated European "integration" as a potent symbol of what...

Dr Anthony Coughlan Contents     An EU state constitution that is superior to national constitutions    No longer "Pooling Sovereignty", but accepting and giving...

Robert Oulds Dr Lee Rotherham with a foreword by The Rt. Hon Lord Tebbit, CH Contents     Foreword by The Rt. Hon Lord Tebbit, CH    Introduction   ...

  The table below lists the total number of articles either introduced with Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) or articles that were moved from unanimity in previous European treaties. The...

Bernard Connolly Contents     Introduction    State of the Nation    A Most Peculiar Ethos    Out of Order    An...

Robert Oulds Rumour has it that following on from his attacks on President Bush Michael Moore will soon start filming what will be a fact-based blockbuster documentary exposing the corrupt...

Lord Pearson Contents     Our democracy betrayed    How bad is it now and how does it work?    History; how did we get into this...

Dr Richard North The choice of a European supplier for British Army trucks - announced by the MoD - has such profound implications for UK defence policy that it cannot just be dismissed as a...

Dr Lee Rotherham Brussels' first foray into running Sports Policy happened back in 1988. It was after the Seoul Olympics; the athletes were returning home to national acclaim; and there, on the...

Professor Christie Davies   It is pointless to show pro-Europe Continental intellectuals that the European Union has been a disaster for their countries as well as for us. You may speak to...

Dr Helen Szamuely For a long time now it has been obvious to all those yearning for the existence of one wondrous European state that there was one serious problem bedevilling the whole project....

Marcus Whatney "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." Mahatma Ghandi (1869 - 1948) Contents       ...

Dr John Hulsman Contents     Introduction: The real lesson of September 11    A real alternative    The Economic Argument    Sharing a...

Contents     Introduction    The European Economic Area    EFTA and the Swiss Option    Nafta    No...

Roger Helmer MEP     "No one wants a super-state"    "The euro will deliver stability"    "Opposition to EU integration means...

Professor Christie Davies 2004 is a year of three sad anniversaries in the unhappy relationship between Britain and France. Ninety years ago in August 1914 Britain was dragged into a war between...

Damon Lambert Despite the so-called red line that taxation is a Member-State issue, there have been several moves recently towards a fiscal straitjacket for EU governments in terms of how, or...

Dr Helen Szamuely Yes, it's football again. Anyone would think I was obsessed with it. (Though I have noted that the English season started last week. You can't miss these events if you live...

Dr Richard North A Crisis in the making Contents     A Crisis in the making    So what is FRES?    So where does this leave us?   ...

Dr Richard North Contents     Introduction    The European Commission    The President of the European Commission    Qualified...

Dr Helen Szamuely Across the European Union the people have spoken, if mostly in silence. And the politicians, the establishment, the euro-elite do not like what they are saying. Nor do they like...

Leolin Price QC Contents Our electorate's constitutional authorityLaw-making and government transferredA new "Constitution" for EuropeOur Westminster government's attitude to this...

Dr Richard North Dr Helen Szamuely A political EuropeContradictionsBudgetary federalismManaging the mediaWorth a look On Tuesday of last week (25 May), The Times published a story headed...

Dr Helen Szamuely Of all the many disagreements about the text of the EU Constitution, discussed last week and yesterday (Monday, May 24) by the Foreign Ministers and to be presented to the...

Robert Oulds Do we in Britain want to be a truly productive player in the development of the European Union? Should we care, perhaps we should not, after all only 9% of our economy trades with the...

Dr Richard North It is truly a measure of the inadequacy of our media that they seem to have opted out of reporting on the EU constitution, just as EUObserver, with its base in Brussels at the...

Dr Helen Szamuely The weekly European Voice describes itself as "an independent view of the EU" without specifying who it is independent of. It is certainly not independent enough to suggest that...

EU Constitution referendums to tear the EU apartThe EU Constitution: Threat or Opportunity? Introduction The First Steps Political and trading considerations European 'myopia' Non-trade...

Robert Oulds The Police in Britain have been hamstrung and now it is the turn of our armed forces. Britain's armed forces face an unseen danger. A danger that threatens lives, a danger that...

Dr Richard North Contrary to EU spin the substantive issues of concern surrounding the Galileo satellite project have not been resolved. Over the past eight years, there has been a profound...

Robert Oulds It has been argued that the European Union will go the way of the Ottoman Empire. It is widely believed that the Ottoman Empire - that other top-heavy, pan-national institution -...

Dr Helen Szamuely Not long ago I heard a well-known expert on security and international relations remind his audience of Churchill's dictum that successful foreign policy depended on civic virtue...

Robert Oulds Soon our EU-sceptic dreams may become reality. Fault lines are emerging, cracks in the foundations of the House of Europe, divisions that could well result in a real split. Even...

Robert Oulds TONY BLAIR has announced that the EU Constitution will not mean a single tax rate for the European Union and that the Charter of Fundamental Rights will not affect Britain's trade...

Dr Helen Szamuely A large number of words has been expanded on the Transatlantic Rift, which seems to have acquired almost a constitutional existence of its own and should, therefore, be written...

Martin Ball Robert Oulds     The EPP wants to establish a federal budget for the EU and the harmonisation of income tax    The EPP-ED Group welcomes the Charter on...

Roger Helmer MEP Lord Pearson of Rannoch, a doughty euro-realist in the House of Lords, has been trying for some time to get the government to publish a white paper on the benefits of EU...

Roger Helmer MEP Ten new countries are expected to join the EU in 2004. Eight have had referendums and voted YES. Only Estonia and Latvia have yet to vote. It seems that the so-called "accession...

Roger Helmer MEP Cheyenne (pronounced "Shy-Anne") - a name redolent of the myths and legends of the old West, of cowboys and Indians, of Saturday matinees at the Odeon Cinema. I was delighted to...

The Rt Hon. Lord Lamont of Lerwick Given the agitation in Britain (with which I sympathize) over the plight of British terrorist suspects in Guantanamo Bay, it is surprising that the same people...

Dr Helen Szamuely We may not have a European demos and, consequently, find it hard to create a European democracy, but we do seem to have something called a European intellectual. Foremost among...

Robert Oulds Over the summer and autumn representatives of Europe's governments, even the different branches of the European Union, will be in frenetic negotiations over Valéry Giscard...

Dr Helen Szamuely At a certain juncture it looked like the Iraqi war would claim another victim, one that will not be mourned particularly widely: the Common Foreign and Security Policy. Alas,...

Roger Helmer MEP On Saturday I arrived in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, to find the flags flying at half mast. (It's just a short hop south of Helsinki, in case you were wondering!). I found I...

Dr Helen Szamuely They went on their travels again: President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, old uncle Tom Cobbleigh and all. First to St Petersburg to celebrate its tercentenary and, in the case of...

The Rt Hon. Lord Lamont of Lerwick The alternative to jumping out of a window from the top of a building is not jumping out of the window. To ask what are the consequences of staying out of the...

Dr Helen Szamuely Under the Acropolis they all met and signed the accession treaty – the fifteen member states and the applicant countries. The symbolism was supposed to be overwhelming: one...

Robert Oulds On 14th September 2003 Estonia will be asked to join the European Union and renounce Article 1 of its Constitution, which reads:“The independence and sovereignty of Estonia are...

Robert Oulds Shortly the Treasury will conclude its analysis of the so-called 5 economic tests on whether Britain should replace the Pound with the euro. If Tony Blair does chance his hand and call...

Dr Helen Szamuely It is fashionable at the moment to talk of apocalyptic feelings, of the end being nigh, of cosmic and other fears. We are all supposed to go around in fear of and depression. And,...

Gawain Towler The Convention on the Constitution is now entering its last phase, which must lead to the presentation of a Constitutional Treaty to the European Council of Thessalonika (June...

Dr Helen Szamuely Last week was not a good one for Chancellor Schröder. He lost a couple of länder to the Christian Democrats and with them control of the Upper House in the Parliament....

Damon Lambert States are meant to have responsibility for direct taxation, i.e. income and corporation tax.  The founding Treaty of what has become the European Union, despite its many...

Graham Eardley Like most people who attended the Bruges Group conference on the first weekend in November 2002 I was amazed and somewhat shocked to hear about a little known Group called Soul or...

Dr Helen Szamuely As the bandwagon trundles on into another Copenhagen Summit that promises to be even more cantankerous than the previous two, one thing remains certain: in some form or another...

– the questions that prospective candidates for the European Parliament must answer The 10 key questionsWhen and where the hustings take place The European Parliamentary elections are set...

Robert Oulds The true direction of European integration has been hidden from the British public, who have been led down the federalist road by stealth. The financial cost of EU membership,...

Dr Lee Rotherham The past few weeks have seen an astonishing series of volte-faces by the British Government in the Convention. The first tranche of six working groups are now drawing to a close,...

Gawain Towler On the 14th October, Peter Hain, Minister for Europe presented a Draft Constitutional Text of the European Union. This text, he claimed was an independent view, not the considered...

Robert Oulds The Government will be submitting a proposal to the Convention on the Future of Europe that is drawn from a report by an academic called Dr Dashwood. This proposal has the support of...

Robert Oulds Their paper sets out basic principles for the establishment of a European Community in which national parliaments play the key role. It is to be presented to the Convention on the...

Professor Ken Minogue Retaining British sovereignty has been a major concern of those critical of how the EU has developed. Critics sometimes dismiss this concern as if it were a clinging to...

Roger Helmer MEP At the last Strasbourg session of the European parliament, an Irish socialist MEP called De Rossa (honest - that's his name) got up on a point of order and attacked the USA for...

Roger Helmer MEP It's amazing how often the EU is faced with problems that it seems totally unable to do anything about. A tragedy is unfolding in Zimbabwe, or as I still think of it, Southern...

Dr Lee Rotherham Critics of the most recent meetings of the Convention have accused the organisers of hosting events redolent of “Brussels talking to Brussels”. They have a point. The...

Margit Gennser Lars Wohlin Prime Minister Göran Persson has heralded that a referendum on Sweden's EMU membership will be held during 2003. The referendum is likely to take place provided that...

Roger Helmer MEP One of the biggest things currently going on in the EU is the proposed enlargement from 15 to 25 members, scheduled (some would say optimistic-ally) for 2004. Yet this huge change...

Dr Helen Szamuely According to an opinion poll published by FX Currency Service, a supplier of foreign exchange services, 57 per cent of Britons are against the country joining the euro. Only 21...

Roger Helmer MEP Continental MEPs are cock-a-hoop that the euro has climbed to the dizzy heights of 94 US cents — only about a 20% devaluation on its launch value in 1999, and well up on its...

Dr Helen Szamuely After the spectacular self-destruction of Jacques Santer's Commission in 1999, the newly appointed President Romano Prodi announced that he understood exactly what the problem was...

Roger Helmer MEP It's really been a rotten couple of weeks for the Euro-luvvies. One bad news story after another. The problems that I have been predicting for years are coming home to roost, while...

Roger Helmer MEP A recent poll has shown that the euro is a complete disaster for Germany. In the poll, carried out by the prestigious Allensbach Institute, 54% of Germans said they want the euro...

Dr Brian Hindley Kenneth Clarke says in his Times article of May 15 that the electorate respects "politicians who hold their views consistently and with passion". We hope that's true. Passion,...

Graham Eardley For many businesses the term Corporate Social Responsibility is somewhat of anathema. The fact that it is now muted that every business that employs above 50 employees may be forced...

Dr Lee Rotherham The grimoire of history is replete with great topics of thunderous debate: the taxation of the American colonies; the death warrant for Charles I; the maelstrom in the Roman Senate...

Dr Helen Szamuely Once again the European Union showed itself to be hysterical for the wrong reasons. The second round of the Hungarian parliamentary elections, completed on April 21, the same day...

Margit Gennser The Swedish government asked a group of Swedish economists – a group of wise men and women – to write a White Paper and answer the following two questions: Firstly, what...

Dr Helen Szamuely Enlargement remains a weak option That agricultural support would create major difficulties in the enlargement negotiations was always obvious. An interesting question, though,...

Dr Helen Szamuely The first round of Hungarian elections on April 7 caused no particular surprises and belied the hysterical warnings voiced by the European Union and some of Hungary’s...

Robert Oulds The best strategy to encourage the young to partake in politics and become Eurosceptic is simple. What we must do is learn to inspire young people. From a series of focus group studies...

Robert Oulds I wholeheartedly support the excellent and informative comments made by the Group's Honorary President, the Baroness Thatcher, regarding Britain's ill-fated relationship with the...

Robert Oulds The announcement by the European Union, on Tuesday 4th December, to once again cut back the quotas that fishermen are allowed to catch will finally kill-off what was once a thriving...

Robert Oulds The apparent decision by the leaders of the European Union to stop meddling is a mere PR response to the numerous rejections of European integration by the peoples of Ireland, Denmark...

Robert Oulds The EU are using the opportunity of the disasters in the USA to impose their long desired extradition, judicial and policing package. These proposals are of equal constitutional...

Dr Brian Hindley The Treaty of Nice schedules a “constitutional conference” for 2004, and that conference will proceed whether or not the treaty is ratified. The conference, though, is...

Jonathan Collett With this Paper Douglas Hurd begins to sound like an old gramophone record. The message is the same - just the Treaty has changed. Presumably he has been propagating the same...

Jonathan Collett DESPITE my lack of years and relative newness to the euro-sceptic cause compared to those of you who may have been fighting since the 1975 Referendum and perhaps before, I feel my...

Jonathan Collett DESPITE my lack of years and relative newness to the euro-sceptic cause compared to those of you who may have been fighting since the 1975 Referendum and perhaps before, I feel my...

Jonathan Collett As Britain watches the birth of the Euro and euro-integrationists advocate Britain joining euro-land as soon as possible it is surely time for an honest debate to begin? Many have...

John Laughland The leaked suggestion that the Government is preparing to counter European tax harmonisation by making concessions fits a depressingly familiar pattern. It only proves that relations...

Jeremy Nieboer Ladies and Gentlemen, may I just touch on what our German guest and friend said just now, namely that the inception of Economic and Monetary Union can be likened to childbirth: the...

Bernard Connolly On Wednesday September 16, 1992, with the economy on its knees, the then-president of the CBI delivered himself of the remarkable judgment that "we need 15 per cent base rates like...