United Kingdom

On 14th March, the UK government launched a consultation paper on same-sex marriage, with the intention of introducing civil marriage for gay and lesbian couples in England and Wales by 2015 (Scotland and Northern Ireland will legislate the issue separately; Scotland has already held a consultation process).

Homosexual couples in the UK can currently obtain a so-called “civil partnership”, which was introduced in 2005, but while this grants them the same legal rights and tax benefits as married heterosexual couples, there remain several crucial differences. For example, couples having a civil partnership are legally not permitted to describe themselves as “married”; they must use the term “civil partners”. Therefore when having to declare their marital status, for example to an employer, they must also implicitly reveal their sexual orientation. In addition, couples wishing to get married can choose between having a religious or a secular ceremony, whereas for a civil partnership only the latter is possible (although as from December 2011, civil partnerships are permitted to take place on religious premises, although the ceremony itself must remain secular). Civil partnerships also lack some of the more traditional elements of marriage: no vows are required to be spoken at a civil partnership ceremony, and adultery and non-consummation cannot be given as reasons for dissolving the union.

The paper proposes to allow same-sex couples to have civil marriage ceremonies, to say vows and to describe themselves as married. The rules for dissolution of a same-sex marriage will be the same as those for a marriage between a man and a woman. However, the ban on religious ceremonies will remain, even if the religious institution in question is happy to perform a homosexual marriage. This has been criticised by some, such as gay rights activist Peter Tatchell, who says “This is not only homophobic but also an attack on religious freedom. While no religious body should be forced to conduct same-sex marriages, those that want to conduct them should be free to do so.”

However, church leaders and Christian groups have strongly criticised the proposals to introduce even civil marriage for gay and lesbian couples with Cardinal Keith O’Brien, leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland, saying that the plans were “a grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right”.

But it is unlikely that the church, or indeed any other protesters, will prevent the proposals being implemented. The consultation paper focuses on HOW gay marriage should be introduced, rather than whether it should be. Ministers have confirmed that before the next election in 2015, gay and lesbian couples will be allowed to marry in England and Wales.

However, laws concerning homosexual marriage and partnerships vary considerably across the EU. Marriage between two individuals of the same gender is legal in Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands, with Denmark planning to legalise it in June 2012. At the other end of the spectrum, homosexual couples can gain no official recognition of their union at all in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

Read the full consultation paper here: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/public...

Image source: slowfade on flickr

6th February 2012 represented a landmark for Queen Elizabeth II - 60 years since her accession to the British throne. She is only the second British monarch to reach the milestone of a Diamond Jubilee, after her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria, who reigned for 63 years.

It is extraordinary to think what Europe’s longest serving Head of State has witnessed during her reign - Winston Churchill was the first Prime Minister to serve under her, David Cameron is the 12th. She reigned throughout the Cold War, the rise and fall of the Iron Curtain, the Falklands war and the current war on terror. The Paris Treaty, which represented the first steps of the EU coming into being, came into force a few months after her accession, she oversaw the UK joining in 1973. As regards the EU, there was controversy in April last year when it was claimed that she had stated privately that Turkey should not join the EU for a long time. Buckingham Palace declined to comment, but a source suggested the remark may well have been taken out of context.

The Queen has also experienced many ups and downs in her private life: she has seen her four children produce 8 grandchildren between them, and her grandson Peter Phillips, son of the Princess Royal, became a father in 2010, making the Queen a great-grandmother for the first time. But she also had to watch the marriages of three of her children disintegrate, with the accompanying scurrilous rumours in the press, in the same year, 1992, which she later referred to as her annus horriblis. She saw support for the Royal family hit its lowest ebb in Britain for many a year in 1997, with the grief and anger that followed the death of her former daughter-in-law Diana. But she also saw it rise again as we entered the new millennium, culminating in the thousands of people who lined the streets of London and partied up and down the UK to celebrate the wedding of her grandson, Prince William, to Kate Middleton in April of last year.

Although she is now nearly 86, the Queen shows no signs of slowing down - in her Diamond Jubilee speech, she dedicated herself anew to the service of the British people. The speech can be found on this website, along with information about the many parties and events to be held this year, in the UK and throughout its Commonwealth, to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee, along with facts about the Queen and the history of her reign.

Image Source: Martin Deutsch on Flickr

On 25th January 2012, First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond presented the Scottish parliament’s consultation document for a referendum on Scottish independence. The document, called Your Scotland Your Referendum, describes itself as “an important first step in the process which will lead to the referendum. It sets out proposals for the question to be asked and the rules governing the campaign and the vote”. It proposes that the referendum will take place in Autumn 2014, that it will be voted on by the residents of Scotland (meaning that “ex-pat” Scots living in England or elsewhere will not be allowed to vote) and that voters will be asked: do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?

It also seeks to find out if voters would be interested in having the option to vote for “devolution max” instead of full independence. This would see Scotland remain in the United Kingdom, but would give the Scottish government full fiscal autonomy, while leaving issues such as defence and foreign affairs as the responsibility of the UK government. Unionists are against this option being included, and are calling instead for a simple “yes or no” ballot.

The document also asks if 16 and 17-year-olds should be allowed to vote in the referendum. This is another point on which the SNP and Unionists disagree: the former say yes, believing that youngsters are more likely to back independence, the latter believe that voting should be restricted to 18-year-olds and over, as in a general election.

The paper can be read in full at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publicat...

Image: Flickr/SNP

In the UK the New Year was greeted by a further wave of angry protests by students responding to the Government’s cuts to the education budget. The latest announcement was that Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) would be scrapped, meaning that 16-18 year olds from lower income families will no longer be able to receive a weekly payment to enable them to stay in post-16 education. The announcement follows the controversial vote by the House of Commons to raise the university tuition fee limit from its current £3290 to £9000 (€10,500) as of 2012. The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government has claimed that its new plans for tuition fees are progressive and fair, despite criticism that debt-averse students from lower income backgrounds will be deterred from applying to university. The main target of the students’ anger is Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, who signed a personal pledge pre-election to vote against any further rise in tuition fees. His Liberal Democrat party claims to want “to help people from poorer backgrounds go on to higher education” but their recent actions have called this commitment into doubt.

Photo:Flickr, Seb.Kom

The Daily Telegraph gained obtained records of MPs’ expenses, and have been revealing new details of these records in their newspaper everyday for the past week. Extravagant, exaggerated and incorrect claims made by many MPs from all parties have been exposed. Second home allowances in particular have been abused. This scandal comes at a crucial time for British political parties, as they rally behind MEP candidates on the campaign trail. Labour’s opinion poll ratings reflect a dramatic drop in public confidence – falling to their lowest level ever. This will undoubtedly make it even more difficult for politicians to convince the largely Euroskeptic public in Britain of the importance and validity of voting in the upcoming EP elections.

Image: www.flickr.com/ andrewpaulcarr

All eyes were on London as the midweek saw the UK’s and France’s top political figures give the political show of the week. Newly wed Carla Bruni-Sarkozy was the cream of the crop as the British press and public for a moment forgot about UK-French discrepancies. Instead, they indulged into worshipping the French first lady in a way that brought memories of a certain late British Princess. Politically, beautiful words were spoken, smiles were exchanged and strong promises were made about turning the Franco-British cooperation into a “entente formidable”.The summit could usher in a fresh start between two countries who’s relationship has been soared by controversies over Iraq, the common agricultural policy and free trade. Or it could be just another way of distracting attention from the domestic problems that both leaders are experiencing these days. We will know soon enough what the “entente formidable” is made of when EU-negotiations on a revision of the common agricultural policy and WTO-bis begin on trade liberalisation.

That is the number of British members of the House of Commons, who Wednesday voted against submitting the Lisbon treaty to a popular vote. The vote was a victory for Prime Minister Gordon Brown who has been under heavy fire from the Conservatives, who insist that the Lisbon treaty is nothing but a poorly disguised Constitution, which ought to be submitted to a popular vote. The fact that 248 members of the House voted for a popular vote shows to what extent the treaty and EU-politics in general is the object of fierce criticism in the British society. In a recent poll 90 percent of the British stated that they would reject the treaty had they been asked.

Last week also saw Nick Clegg, leader of the British Liberal Democrats, call for a vote on British EU membership. Mr. Clegg, who leads the UK’s third biggest party, hopes to end a “crazy” and unproductive UK debate on the EU. It is certainly good news that somebody is starting to question the standards of a debate that only serves to draw up a greatly distorted image of the Union with the average Brit. A UK referendum on the EU obviously implies an actual risk that the Brits will take advantage of the window of opportunity offered to them and bid their European partners goodbye. The current state of affairs is, however, unsustainable. With the benevolent help of a press that is generally void of journalistic standards, the EU is widely seen as a totalitarian super state that is being forced upon the British. This only leads to a politically apathetic population and a UK government that is afraid of its own European shadow as UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has so elegantly exemplified.

The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, rather known for his euroscepticism has been caught claiming that EU membership was good for Britain. Brown is getting pumped up for the tough battle to come in Westminster when he will have to convince MPs to adopt the Lisbon treaty. The Tories demand that the approval of the treaty be put to a public vote and their leader David Cameron claims that if he reaches 10 Downing Street before the 27 member states have ratified the treaty he will hold a referendum on the issue. The prime Minister told business representatives in London that a strong European engagement was needed to secure business, jobs and trade. According to him, the Lisbon treaty allows Europe to deal with the issues that really matter to the European citizen: stability, growth, competitiveness and jobs. He argues that the UK will be much more effective in influencing EU policy by staying in the game than it would on the sidelines.

Nuclear power is making a remarkable comeback in European energy policy. On Thursday 10 January the British government approved plans to set up new nuclear plants. French EDF has already made its plans to publish four nuclear plants in the UK by 2017. The government pointed out that the new nuclear plans aim to help the UK meet its climate change objectives along with “other low-carbon technologies”. The UK-decision is another sign of the comeback of an energy technology that only a few years ago was the black sheep of the energy technology family. Concerns over security of supply and climate change and the notion that wind power and other renewables at present cannot replace carbon, has led policy makers to reincarnate nuclear technology.

Thursday the Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, presented his government’s programme for the upcoming years after winning the recently held elections. In a surprise move Mr. Rasmussen had included a reference to the four Danish opt-outs in the programme. The latter stated that a referendum should be held on the four opt-outs i.e. the euro, justice and home affairs, defence and the Union citizenship. The referendum is believed to take place next year or at the latest in 2009, however the Danish PM refused to specify whether the Danes by then would vote on all the opt-outs en bloc or only on some of them. At present Mr. Rasmussen seems to be asking himself which combination of opt-outs would stand the greatest chance of making it through what could become, as always, an unpredictable referendum. Meanwhile, there is no news on the Reform Treaty. No news is, in this case, good news for the European leaders, Gordon Brown notably, who cross their fingers that Mr. Rasmussen will not give in to demands for a referendum on the treaty.

Yes, politics is complicated. You have a supposedly left-wing Gordon Brown government stressing the importance of trade liberalisation and bringing down borders in the UK. At the same time you have a right-wing government in France led by President Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy, who does not miss out on any opportunity to advocate that good old economic protectionism vis-à-vis the world; a protectionism that Europe has historically and internally mastered to perfection. Speaking in the European Parliament Tuesday, Mr. Sarkozy took on another round of shadow-boxing with Mr. Brown, when he claimed that “if others defend their farmers, why shouldn’t Europe defend its farmers?" Two days later in Bruges, the UK Foreign Secretary punched back stating that “the case against economic protectionism is overwhelming”. One thing is for sure. The political entertainment is guaranteed for years to come.