Anthony Salamone
Since our launch six months ago, European Futures has featured contributions from across the broad range of issues facing Europe today – from the UK’s EU referendum to the Eurocrisis, from the migration crisis to EU-Russia relations. Much more to come from us in the weeks and months ahead. Managing Editor Anthony Salamone presents a countdown of our top articles of 2015.
5. Reaction: The UK’s EU Renegotiation Demands
10 November 2015
Today, UK Prime Minister David Cameron sent a letter to the President of the European Council outlining his agenda for renegotiating the UK’s membership of the European Union, ahead of a referendum on the issue. He also gave a speech explaining the demands in more detail. Our experts react to the proposals in the letter and the speech, assessing the probability of success in achieving them and their potential impact on relations between the UK and the EU.
4. Sports and Film Rights in the EU: The Legacy of Murphy
3 August 2015
In this event report, Arianna Andreangeli and Rachael Craufurd Smith review a recent one-day workshop considering the implications of the EU courts’ Murphy judgement on sports broadcasting rights for the audiovisual sector, as well as the European Commission’s Digital Single Market agenda. They write that the discussions underlined that, while the creation of a single market in digital would bring opportunities for businesses and consumers, it would also present challenges for maintaining media pluralism and cultural diversity.
3. Can Britain be European?
1 July 2015
In this extended article, Emile Chabal and Stephan Malinowski reflect on the use of history in the debate on UK’s relationship with Europe and question two historical narratives put forward about Britain – that its history has been uniquely continuous and that is has been exceptional. They suggest that Britain has been marked not by the continuity of its history but by the stability of its elites. They also argue that its imperial legacy, among other factors, makes Britain more like other European countries than not.
2. The Legal Implications of EU Withdrawal for the UK and Scotland
12 October 2015
In this extended article, Tobias Lock examines the process for a Member State to leave the EU and the effects of withdrawal, in the context of the upcoming EU referendum. He suggests that, should the UK leave the EU, some form of EU-UK agreement will likely be reached, although the shape of any deal is very much open to question.
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1. The EU Referendum: Unpredictable in Scotland and the UK
1 December 2015
In Scotland, despite differences in views and parties, the 1975 EC referendum shares some similarities with the EU referendum today, writes James Mitchell. He suggests that the referendum will be an unpredictable contest with the prospect that Scotland may either vote differently than the rest of the UK or swing the overall UK vote, both of which could raise constitutional questions on the future of the UK union.
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Our thanks to our authors, readers and followers for their support this year.
All the best for 2016!
Rankings determined by pageviews from June to December 2015. List above in reverse order (#1 was the most read article of 2015).
Anthony Salamone
University of Edinburgh
Anthony Salamone is PhD Candidate in Politics at the University of Edinburgh; Co-Convenor of the Edinburgh Europa Research Group; and Managing Editor of European Futures. His research focuses on the politics of the UK’s EU membership and he comments on UK-EU affairs on his blog, Britain’s Europe.
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