Democracy Impacts

Hungary Will Hold Referendum on EU Refugee Quotas

February 26, 2016

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has announced that his government will hold a national referendum on the "quota" system through which the EU has mandated the apportionment of refugees among countries in the bloc.
Article: UK Deal May Portend "Two-speed" Europe

February 24, 2016

Matthew Karnitschnig writes in Politico that, by granting special, separate status to a member state, the EU deal to keep Britain inside the bloc could encourage calls from other countries to slow or halt their integration into the system and create two categories of countries within the EU - those that are signed up to "ever closer union" and those that have set up limits to the concept.
Johnson: Britain Should "Seek a New Relationship" with EU

February 24, 2016

London Mayor Boris Johnson writes that he supports the campaign for the UK to leave the EU in order to form "a new relationship" with the bloc under which the country can pull back from most of the EU's "supranational elements" and reassert its sovereignty.
Gove: UK Must Regain Control from EU

February 24, 2016

UK Secretary of State for Justice Michael Gove explains why he is supporting the campaign for Britain to leave the EU in a referendum in June, arguing that his country must take back control over its law and policy from institutions that are "rooted in the past."
EU Deal Seeks to Head off "Brexit"

February 22, 2016

Describing a deal among the EU and its member states that provides assurances to the UK of new mechanisms it can use in part to slow EU migration and protect its sovereignty, an article in The Economist acknowledges that the deal does not involve the "fundamental change" for which many politicians and others have called to prevent Britain's exit from the bloc.
NGO Warns UK's EU Proposals Could Politicize Courts

February 19, 2016

The think tank Open Europe has published a report exploring options for the British Government to increase the authority of the UK judiciary to resist encroachment on national competences by Brussels and warning that such an expansion of judicial powers could lead to the politicization of the courts.
UK Seeks Increased Sovereignty within EU Structure

February 19, 2016

The BBC reports that the British Government is considering proposals to perform the balancing act of regaining UK sovereignty while remaining in the EU, including by increasing the authority of the UK judiciary to resist what the courts deem to be overreaching decisions of the Court of Justice of the EU.
Draft Document Shows UK Renegotiation Limitations

February 17, 2016

The Telegraph reports that a leaked EU document containing the draft terms of the UK's renegotiation of competences with the bloc shows "no progress" toward British Prime Minister David Cameron's calls for such terms as a guarantee against "ever closer union" and recognition that not all countries will join the euro.
UK Councillors Call on Cameron to Campaign for Brexit

February 17, 2016

Arguing that the terms of his attempted renegotiation with the EU have not matched his pledges to voters in the last election, UK Conservative Party councillors have called on Prime Minister David Cameron to campaign for the UK to exit the bloc.
Grieve: Legislation Asserting UK Sovereignty Could "Be Pointless"

February 12, 2016

Former UK Attorney General Dominic Grieve has argued that plans to reassert UK sovereignty through legislation, insofar as it conflicted with the supremacy of EU law, would "be pointless" and instead encouraged more dialogue on UK legislation between the British courts and the Court of Justice of the EU.