REGROUP Blog-Post on the Best Practices and Key Takeaways for Liberal-Constitutional Democracies after the Covid-19 Pandemic Niels Kirst, Assistant Professor of European Law at Dublin City University, Deputy Director of the DCU Brexit Institute The Covid-19 pandemic constituted a watershed moment for liberal-constitutional democracies globally. While protecting lives comprised the primary objective of decision-makers, it ..read more

Ronan McCrea (University College London) Change is inevitable in political life. Indeed, the famous Dutch-American political scientist Arend Lijphart showed that the alternation of power between different parties is a key ingredient in the stability of a democratic system. However, unlike today, when elections such as those in France threaten to destabilise key features of ..read more

Dr Cleo Davies (University of Warwick) The fourth summit of the European Political Community (EPC) was a real success for the UK and for its new prime minister, Keir Starmer. Not only did he use the opportunity to showcase his government’s ambitions to reset the UK’s relations with the EU and Member States, but the summit appears to have restored the UK’s reputation for diplomacy, not least because of how well it was prepared and organised.  As for the EPC itself, in spite of the absence of any joint declaration or roadmap for action, it has become an inked in commitment in the diaries of ..read more

The DCU Brexit Institute and Dublin European Law Institute (DELI) are pleased to host the upcoming Horizon Europe REGROUP event on ‘Legal & Constitutional Perspectives on the Covid-19 Pandemic’ featuring a keynote speech by Judge Lars Bay Larsen (Vice President of the European Court of Justice). This event will take place in-person at Dublin City University, Albert College, Room AG01 on Tuesday, 10 September 2024, from 15:00 to 18.00. 15.00 – 16.30 – Panel Discussion Welcome: Dr Tanya Ní Mhuirthile (Head of School, School of Law and Government, DCU) Panelists: Dr Wojciech Burek (Assistant ..read more

Dr Simon Sweeney* (University of York) Following Labour’s sweeping election victory, foreign and security policy should be at the heart of the promised reset in UK-EU relations after 14 years of Conservative government. Britain’s relations with its European allies will be fundamental to how Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s administration approaches its security and defence responsibilities.  Prior to hosting the fourth summit of the European Political Community last week, the UK seemed more focused on irregular migration than on defence. The former is a Europe-wide crisis that may requir ..read more

Andrew Duff (European Policy Centre) Ursula von der Leyen was always equivocal at being marked out as the Spitzenkandidat of the European People’s Party (EPP). She refused to stand as a German CDU candidate for the European Parliamentary elections. Retaining the broad cross-party confidence of national leaders was vital to her chances of being renominated for the Commission presidency. Her supporters in the European Council included French President Macron, a Liberal, and German Chancellor Scholz, a Social Democrat. In the formal vote by qualified majority at the European Council on 27 June, s ..read more

Camille Barbe (Université de Bordeaux) On 7 July 2024, France’s election results surprised commentators as it saw the leftist union (the New Popular Front) defy the opinion polls of the preceding weeks and arrive first place, with 182 seats in the new assembly.  This unexpected defeat for the far-right National Rally party was partly made possible by the union of a “republican front” and the support of leftist activists. Among them, many feminist activists called for a leftist union. While the results of the elections were certainly something to be celebrated in feminist circles, the over ..read more

Feargal Cochrane (University of Warwick) At first glance the elections results in Northern Ireland seem relatively unremarkable. However, there are a number of significant implications for the main parties and potentially for the political future of Northern Ireland itself.  Before getting into the winners and losers, the first headline of the election was that the results confirmed the broad direction of travel in terms of Northern Ireland’s basic political geography. Nationalist parties are in the ascendency while unionist representation continues to fracture. For the first time ever, S ..read more

Dr Ian Cooper* (DCU Brexit Institute) Keir Starmer has become UK Prime Minister after his Labour Party won a landslide victory in Thursday’s general election. As of Friday afternoon, Labour had secured 412 seats which is, in the parlance of UK elections, a majority of 174. (This means that in the 650-seat House of Commons they hold 174 more than all the other parties combined.) This is a gain of 211 seats, which is a phenomenal turnaround in comparison to the 2019 election which was Labour’s worst result since 1935. It is just a few seats shy of the 418 seats won by Tony Blair in 1997, which u ..read more

John Bell, LLM (Queen Mary University of London)* Introduction One does not need to be Nostradamus to see that the UK will have a Labour Government on 5 July. Yet, what will be less clear when the King asks Sir Keir Starmer to form a Government is what this change means for UK-EU relations. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) remains the legal foundation for UK-EU relations, with an eco-system of specialised committees working in the background, and the Labour Party have taken an extremely cautious approach ruling out the Single Market, Customs Union and freedom of movement.  Despit ..read more