The column by Ana Palacio (former Senior Vice-President of the World Bank) ‘Fresh narrative needed for Europe’s stalled security strategy’ in the Irish Examiner on Friday, February 11 has all the hallmarks of another opening salvo by ‘the powers that be’ towards the militarisation of Europe.

Gerard Howlin on a book that looks at the synergy of history, politics and the ideas that has brought the European Union to life and sustained it through succeeding crises.

United States of Europe exhibition explores notions of citizenship and the freedom of expression, says Tina Darb O’Sullivan

Ireland will not get a deal on its bank debt by simply demanding it, the secretary general of the Department of Finance, John Moran, told a conference this week.

Spain’s ailing banks are unlikely to need all of the €100bn which was made available by the country’s euro partners, Spanish economy minister Luis de Guindos said.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has today proposed a federal response by Europe to any future banking crisis.

Enda Kenny has taken a thinly veiled swipe at the European Central Bank and suggested it is time Europe “federalise” the response to the banking crisis.

TO SAY that Greece lobbed a hand grenade into the heart of the teetering eurozone would be a gross understatement — by announcing a referendum on the €130 billion EU bailout deal, the Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou, has dropped a bombshell on Brussels.

FORMER German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder yesterday called for the creation of a “United States of Europe”, saying the bloc needed a common government to avoid future economic crises.

THE finest economic minds in the world believe the eurozone will survive its crippling debt crisis, but think that if the bloc splinters it would make more sense for powerhouse Germany and not stricken Greece to break away.

In the real world, there is no way the Conservatives would spend their first months in power expending political capital on a referendum on Europe if Lisbon had already been ratified. As a political priority, Britain’s debt crisis puts Europe in the shade. But can they just hack the treaty? That seems unlikely too

LIBERTAS founder Declan Ganley is to launch his European political movement in Brussels tomorrow.

RUSSIA would “run rings” around Ireland if this country had to negotiate on its own with the superpower on energy prices, Justice Minister Dermot Ahern has said.

PJ McELHONE (Letters, April 7) rightly points out the historical benefits of the EU to this country.

FRANCE and the Netherlands have rejected the EU constitution and the British prime minister, Tony Blair, is getting cold feet.

The proposal for a European Union Rapid Reaction Force is another way of creating the conditions for a United States of Europe with its own army, it was claimed today.

THE draft constitution of the European Union, temporarily sidelined and awaiting a Bertie-stroke to resurrect it, proposes ‘unity in diversity’ as the motto of the new 25-member EU.

Plans for a new constitution for Europe were being published today with references to a federal Europe dropped.

IF anything was learned from the Irish Government’s inept handling of its first Nice Treaty referendum, it was the crucial importance of involving people in debate about issues that profoundly change their lives.

THE basic outline of a constitution that will shape and govern the future of the European Union was broadly welcomed by Ireland’s representatives on the convention yesterday.

Today is the last official day of campaigning ahead of the re-run of the Nice Treaty referendum this Saturday. From midnight tonight, a media moratorium will be imposed to give voters the opportunity to consider their choices before casting their votes.

HAVE you checked your post yet? By now the first Referendum Commission booklet on the Nice Referendum, The EU and How It Works, will have arrived.

Calls for the creation of a European Government from German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder were today sending shockwaves through Britain.