Scotland the Brave

On 18 September 2014, Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom will experience an extremely interesting experiment: the Scottish Referendum on independence. I am intrigued by the run-up and am keen to see the result. It might have large implications on the United Kingdom and its participating countries. I regard it as the first popular democratic attempt to let people actually decide in what kind of country they wish to live. However, even without a majority vote in favour, this referendum will have consequences for the United Kingdom but also for the fellow EU-Member States and potentially outside of Europe.

Polls show that the pro-independence group holds the smallest majority though some other inquiries show differently. Immediately, Westminster seemed to be panicking: it offered more autonomy, mainly on financial matters, to Scotland in order to keep the Scots within the Union. Also, the bullying on the issues of EU membership and the currency was intensified.

#TeamJuncker tightens the lines

What initial conclusions can be drawn from the composition of the new European Commission.

Aside from being different in structure, team Juncker is also different in approach.  The President-to-be of the EC have, for a first time since this European formation exists, made it look as close as possible to the governments in the majority of the member states. Point number one on the way to cohesion of European Union with its citizens, the ordinary ones.