The British Conservative Party has tabled legislation that would guarantee an EU in/out referendum before the end of 2017. The bill, released on Tuesday (14 May), is expected to be sponsored as a private member's bill ...

Two senior British ministers have said they would vote to leave the EU if there was a referendum now. Speaking on BBC TV on Sunday (12 May), the ruling Conservative Party's education minister Michael Gove said: "My ...

David Cameron will come under increasing pressure to bring forward plans for an 'in/out' referendum on EU membership, after the UK Independence party made its strongest ever showing in local government elections. With ...

British tax havens in the Caribbean have agreed to provide information on offshore bank accounts (2 May), in a step which increases the prospect of an EU-wide agreement on information exchange on overseas accounts used ...

The rest of the UK should support a 'fast-tracked' application for an independent Scotland to join the EU, according to a report published Wednesday (1 May) by MPs. But the report, drafted by MPs on the House of Commons ...

A family weekend at a castle near Berlin allowed German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron to seek common ground on an EU-US trade agreement and the fight against tax evasion. The visit ...

British Prime Minister David Cameron is travelling to Germany for a family weekend at Angela Merkel's holiday retreat, where he will try to convince the Chancellor to back him on re-evaluating EU's powers. Cameron is ...

From her days in opposition to her sudden and dramatic demise, Europe was at the heart of Margaret Thatcher's 11 years as British Prime Minister. As with her domestic legacy, Thatcher's attitude towards Europe is more ...

Tributes from EU leaders have poured in for Margaret Thatcher, the UK's longest serving Prime Minister in the 20th century, who died on Monday (8 April) aged 87. Known for her uncompromising approach at home and abroad, ...

UK Prime Minister David Cameron's attempt to get other member states to participate in a general review of EU laws has suffered an embarrassing rebuff from Paris and Berlin. France and Germany have refused to take part ...

Britain and France have said the only way to get Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to talk is to threaten him with arming rebels. The foreign ministers of the EU's top military powers - William Hague and Laurent Fabius - ...

Interior minister Theresa May has said the UK should consider leaving the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg for the sake of national security and British sovereignty. Speaking at an event organised by ...

London has been left isolated in its opposition to bank bonus rules, with EU lawmakers set to agree to cap payments, ignoring last minute opposition from UK finance minister George Osborne. The new rules, set to be ...

Britain is to oppose new EU bank bonus rules when finance ministers meet in Brussels next week. The measures, which would cap the majority of bonuses at the same level as salaries, form part of EU legislation increasing ...

Rating agency Moody's stripped the UK of its coveted AAA credit rating on Friday (22 February), rounding off a day of economic gloom in the EU. In a statement released shortly before the closure of the markets, Moody's ...

A legal opinion published by the British government says that if Scotland splits from the UK it would also lose its EU membership. The 111-page paper, put out on Monday (11 February), also notes that if the EU accepted ...

EU migrants could be prevented from using Britain's National Health Service (NHS) under government measures to dissuade Romanian and Bulgarian citizens moving to the UK. Mark Harper MP, immigration minister, indicated ...

Britain has lost its place in the club of leading EU nations with France and Germany over its plan to hold a referendum on EU membership, the Polish foreign minister has said. "The Prime Minister [the UK's David Cameron ...

David Cameron’s London speech (23 January) is the culmination of a long period of in-decision over the position of the Coalition Government towards Europe. Hemmed-in by an increasingly eurosceptic Conservative party on ...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British PM David Cameron on Thursday (24 January) sought common ground on the future of the European Union, one day after he announced a referendum on Britain's EU membership four ...

Italy's outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti on Wednesday (23 January) criticised fellow EU leaders for the way they dealt with the euro crisis and said corporations are blocking reforms in order to promote "vested ...

Other leaders have reacted coolly to Prime Minister David Cameron's speech on Europe, in a reminder that much of what stands on London's EU wishlist is dependent on the goodwill of other member states. "Of course ...

Britain will hold a referendum on whether to stay in the EU by the end of 2017, David Cameron promised on Wednesday (23 January) in a long-delayed speech on Britain's status in Europe. Delivering the speech in London, ...

Downing Street has circulated parts of a speech due to warn of a British EU "exit," after cancelling it because of the Algerian hostage situation. With information trickling out on an Algerian army raid on a militant- ...

To an outsider here in Brussels, Britain’s stance towards Europe is utterly incomprehensible. Like it or not, the EU is the largest market in the world, while the unification process has ensured that, for the first time ...

It feels a little like Christmas with all the feverish expectations and speculations, hopes and requests: On Friday (18 January) David Cameron, the UK’s Prime Minister, is finally going to make his speech about Europe ...

British leader David Cameron has given a foretaste of his big speech in Amsterdam on Friday (18 January) by saying he does not support an in/out referendum, but wants to renegotiate EU-UK relations. Speaking during his ...

With restrictions preventing Bulgarians and Romanians from working in the UK to expire at the end of the year, the debate about new migrants arriving in the country has already begun. UK communities secretary Eric ...

David Cameron is to give his long-awaited speech on Britain's place in the EU on Friday (18 January), four days earlier than planned to avoid the anniversary of a Franco-German friendship treaty. The prime minister had ...

The Obama administration has warned Britain against sidelining itself in the EU as Prime Minister Cameron comes under increasing pressure to hold a membership referendum. "We have a growing relationship with the EU as ...

Despite claims to the contrary, the EU is essentially a union of nation states, and it will remain such until there is a radical overhaul of the acquis communautaire, which, at present at least, is not foreseen. There ...

Britain is "perfectly entitled" to demand changes to its EU membership, Prime Minister David Cameron has said as he sets the stage for the country's latest confrontation with other EU leaders. Speaking on the BBC's ...

An attempt by Britain to rewrite the EU rulebook to reflect domestic interests could make the European Union fall apart, its top official has warned. EU council president Herman Van Rompuy told the Guardian newspaper ...

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has conceded that withdrawal from the EU is "imaginable," in the latest indication that the Conservative leader is preparing the ground for a radical change in the country's EU status. ...

The mysterious death of an informant in the Sergei Magnitsky case has created suspicion of a second high-profile Russian murder in the UK. Alexander Perepilichnyy - a 44-year-old Russian businessman with no known health ...

One year on from the Olympics, the eyes of the world will again be on the United Kingdom next summer, as we host the G8 at Lough Erne in Northern Ireland. Some people ask: does the G8 still matter, when we have a G20? ...

British Prime Minister David Cameron suffered an important defeat in parliament on Wednesday (31 October) when opposition Labour party MPs sided with eurosceptics in his own Conservative party to demand a reduction in ...

Sweden has taken over from the UK as the biggest EU budget hawk after calling for cuts of over €150 billion. Its EU affairs minister, Birgitta Ohlsson, on Tuesday (29 October) lambasted the Cypriot presidency for ...

The Cypriot presidency has proposed cutting €50 billion off EU spending plans for 2014 to 2020 - a number that could trigger national vetoes and strikes by EU staff. The Cypriot paper, circulated late on Monday (29 ...

Germany has told the UK it is an important and needed member of the European Union, just days after London spelled out its deep ambivalence about its EU future. "Britain is an important partner in the European Union," ...

British foreign minister William Hague on Monday (22 October) made the case for a politically minimalist European Union, saying that to be more effective it needs neither to be more expensive or more centralised. ...

The UK sees banking union and deeper integration of the eurozone as a chance to renegotiate its own status in the Union, Prime Minister David Cameron confirmed to reporters at the EU summit in Brussels. Speaking during ...

This week's announcement by UK Home Secretary Theresa May of a block opt-out of the United Kingdom from key EU cooperation projects in justice and home Aafairs has not been well thought through. The British government ...

The EU summit kicked off on Thursday (18 October) amid a public stand off between France and Germany on what should be discussed at the meeting and how to proceed with a banking union. French President Francois Hollande ...

British defence minister Philip Hammond has confirmed reports the UK will seek to end participation in dozens of EU-level crime-fighting structures. Several British newspapers on Sunday (14 October) predicted that home ...

British conservative Prime Minister David Cameron has said he will block the upcoming EU seven-year budget cycle if it goes against UK interests. “They know I'm capable of saying No and if I don't get a good deal I'll ...

“A new state, if it wants to join the European Union, has to apply to become a member of the European Union like any state” European Commission President Barroso said mid-September. He was replying to a question on ...

Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski has called on Britain to abandon its "false consciousness" of euroscepticism and take the lead in EU decision-making. Speaking at the Global Horizons conference at Blenheim palace ...

South African leader Jacob Zuma has said he is in "full control" of the situation in South Africa after police shot dead dozens of mine workers last month. Speaking alongside EU leaders Herman Van Rompuy and Jose Manuel ...