Elections related content 

Parliament's new president says assembly must change the way its top posts are filled. Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament, has admitted that the...

Croatians too must vote in favour in a referendum before the country's parliament ratifies accession. Croatians are expected on Sunday (22 January) to vote in favour of...

Political leaders seem to be structurally condemned to short-termism. Is democratic time too slow to respond to crises, and too short to plan for the long term?

Tighter security at the European Parliament is having a negative effect. We read with interest your article about the new security measures that prevent lobbyists from...

Party fails to win two-thirds majority needed to change constitution unilaterally. The Justice and Development Party (AKP), led by Prime Minister Recep Hayyip Erdoǧan, has...

The experience of 1989 has some happy lessons for the Middle East – and some worrying parallels. The message from the superpower was clear. You are our allies. We...

Exploring how far the mythology of kings lives on in today's politics. When Louis XVI was guillotined in 1793, the French did more than

The United Kingdom is about to change the terms of its membership of the EU forever, and for the worse. You might be forgiven for wondering, after all the red lines and...

Switzerland's relationship with the EU gets ever more complicated. The Swiss have a complicated relationship with the European Union and appear determined to make it more...

European Citizens' Initiative will not be finalised until the end of this year at the earliest. Plans to allow ordinary people to ask the European Commission to propose...

Make EU laws readily understandable, EU citizens should demand. When the European Commission held a public consultation on citizens' initiatives, I made a submission in...

If British votes have it bad, Irish voters have it worse. Your article “The muzzled British diaspora in the EU” (22-28 April) highlights the plight of British expats who...

Teething troubles for the citizens' initiative. The citizens' initiative, an innovation of the European Union's Lisbon treaty, is taking shape – much to the alarm of...

The disenfranchisement of British expatriates is a disgrace. I read with interest Romano Subiotto's article in European Voice (“The muzzled British diaspora in the EU”,...

The disenfranchisement of Britons who have lived abroad for a long time runs counter to history, logic and the EU Treaty. Britons are preparing to vote in a general election...

Initiative is supposed to give citizens a direct say, but concerns remain over red tape and the time-frames involved. Doubts are growing over the likely effectiveness of the...

57% support a ban that had been rejected by all the main political parties. In a stunning rebuke to their main political parties - all but one of which had rejected the...

Economic self-interest was not the decisive factor in Ireland's 'Yes' to the Lisbon treaty. Judith Crosbie states that, in her view, the ‘Yes' vote by the Irish people in...

Most Irish voters say they voted ‘Yes' because it was in Ireland's interests and good for the country's economy, survey finds. The majority of Irish citizens voted in...

By saying ‘Yes' to the Lisbon treaty, Irish voters have said ‘No' to the extremes. James Joyce ends “Ulysses” with Molly Bloom uttering the immortal words, “yes I...