NHS patients are being put at risk because profiteering pharmacists are selling prescription drugs to Europe. The fall in the pound re the euro has made things worse but: Richard Ascroft, director of corporate affairs at drug maker Lilly UK, said: ‘We are definitely concerned about this. Drug prices in the UK are among the lowest in

The European Commission will propose today (25 October) new plans to tackle the growing use of drugs in Europe, with the intent of countering the spread of new substances and the use of legal chemicals in the production of drugs such as cocaine or heroin. More »

Europe is likely to play a big role in tonight’s debate. It is probably the one issue that divides the Liberal Democrats and the Tories as much as electoral reform. Nick Clegg, a former MEP and adviser to then-EU Commissioner Leon Brittan, is a euro-enthusiast who would like Britain to join the Euro, even if it takes time. David Cameron is a euro-skeptic (though not, to the chagrin of many C...

Open Europe has today published a collection of promises that the EU elite made to their citizens from the birth of the euro up to the recent crisis entitled, “They said it: how the EU elite got it wrong on the euro”. Politicians, central bankers and opinion formers warned citizens that without the euro their countries would suffer economically, unemployment would rise and growth would...

Stung by rapid depreciation of their currencies, credit-rating downgrades and capital flight in the past few weeks, many "New Europe" politicians are waking up to the status of the euro as sanctuary in economic hard times.

Great to see that Britain can still lead the world... "The UK is the cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamine capital of Europe, according to a report into the state of the drugs problem. A report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) shows that, for the fifth year running, the UK has recorded the highest number of cocaine users in the EU. The annual figures show that 7.7...

Bureaucracy, low recruitment rates and the slow uptake of new drugs are pushing pharmaceutical companies to undertake more research in other countries in Europe, North America and low-cost developing nations

As EU leaders gear up for a series of key meetings this week, Open Europe has published a new briefing looking at the short-term options available to the eurozone for tackling the most immediate crisis. Open Europe argues that Greece should default on 60% of its debt through a managed restructuring, and that the planned second Greek bailout should be scrapped altogether, replaced by a limited tran...

So, will the Republic of Ireland be the first nation to LEAVE the Euro? "This is war: countries have to defend themselves," said David McWilliams, a former official at the Irish central bank. "It is essential that we go to Europe and say we have a serious problem. We say, either we default or we pull out of Europe," he told RTE radio. "If Ireland continues hurtling down this road, which is close t...

Wen Jibao’s comments to the BBC about the euro crisis dramatise the shift in economic power from west to east. Jibao remarked that: “Trust is more important than currency and gold and now, during the debt crisis, we again bring trust to Europe. "I have total trust in Europe's economic development”. But China’s role in the euro crisis is far less problematic than R...