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Why the Commission President is wrong to go wide but not deep 0
- EU Governance and Politics, Op-ed
- 19/11/2017
In his annual address to the European Parliament, European Commission’s President Jean-Claude Juncker set out a blueprint for his final two years in office, covering a wide range of policy areas. On his call for deeper and more inclusive integration for all Member States, I say we are rolling the ball back to the starting point: the avant-garde option remains the only plausible route to closer political unity in the continent.
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Carbon Capture and Storage – another British blunder?0
- Environment and Energy, Op-ed
- 05/11/2017
In 2012, the British Government opened Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Commercialisation competition with a budget of £1billion to support the UK’s first commercial scale CCS projects. However, with the unexpected withdrawal of the funding in 2015, Norway has since developed a strategy aimed at realising a full-scale CCS chain by 2022. Is this yet another British blunder?
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Brexit and the single market: Norway or No way 0
- EU Governance and Politics, International Trade, Op-ed
- 24/10/2017
After recent declarations by Theresa May and David Davis, the UK’s conservative government seems to be convinced that a “hard” Brexit is the best option for the country. Discussions with the EU over the UK’s participation in the single market seem to have been halted and the Norwegian European model rejected. This is terrible news for UK trade and especially for the services sector which is the UK’s most important trading sector, with a trade surplus equating to 5% of the national income (about $138 billion).
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EU’s Sustainable Finance scheme should go beyond greening the financial system 0
- Environment and Energy, Op-ed, Social and Economic Policy
- 24/10/2017
Combating climate change is expensive. Trillions of Euros need to be invested in the transition to a low-carbon and resource-efficient economy and these funds should come from the financial sector. But make no mistake, a sustainable financial system is not just about “greening” investments, it entails the halt of the increasing financialization of the economy.
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“Gasoline Trees”: A matter of forest management, or is it time to cut them all?1
- Environment and Energy, Op-ed
- 21/10/2017
The eucalyptus – one of the most extended species in warm climate areas – is recently under the spotlight after a tough summer -and autumn- for firefighters in Southern Europe, especially in Portugal, since the tree species is considered to be more fire-prone. Is it time to replace them with local species, or to improve forest management in keeping the current plant masses?
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ISDS: a new dispute to settle?2
- International Trade, Op-ed
- 11/10/2017
Following widespread criticism towards the ISDS mechanisms, the search for alternatives is on and different court systems are being considered. On the 10th of July 2017, the UN started discussions on investment dispute settlement and the establishment of an MIC (Multilateral Investment Court). The opportunity to correct the shortcomings of the previous dispute settlement systems, notably, corporate bias and the unfairness that results from it is NOW.
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