The next meeting of our Discussion Group will be online on Saturday 9 May at 10:30am (UK)

That date is three days after the UK local elections, when there will be clear indications whether we are following signs across Europe of the increasing influence of extremist political parties. The very significant outcome of the elections in Hungary will be in – will they have reflected the success of the Right or a moderation in its influence?

It is clear that the EU we left is not the same as the EU today, and neither are we. Global instability and economic insecurity affect us all and at last it seems this is being recognised not just by our government but also by the man in the street. Hopefully this will mean greater urgency and flexibility on both sides in the continuation of the reset negotiations due to take place very soon. But it has been suggested that the changes in the political landscape across the whole Continent and the need to rethink long-held assumptions about the UK’s place in the world and our sphere of influence mean we should be considering not simply ‘Rejoin’ but ‘Join’ a new and more robust bloc.

Join us to have your say on this and related issues.  See the link below. Contact us to receive a link.

On Thursday 5 March we presented a lunchtime webinar jointly with the UK Trade Policy Observatory at the University of Sussex. You can view a recording by clicking the image below.