The European Movement Sussex Discussion Group has been a cornerstone of our activity since at least the 1980s. The Group’s co-ordinator is Betty Rider.

Sussex is the most European of counties and we have members with deep and broad knowledge of Europe.

We meet, mostly by Zoom, around eight times a year to discuss events in Europe as a whole. Our sessions are on Saturdays starting at 10:30 am and ending around noon. Participants are welcome to drop in and out at any time.

The meetings also include a number of Europe Live events, where we broadcast live and lead the discussion from a place of interest in Europe. Past meetings have come from the Gibraltar-Spain border and Normandy.

We next meet online at 10.30am on Saturday 14 December. Contact us to receive a Zoom link.

It has been one of the most eventful years, both at home, in Europe as a whole and within the EU, and of course internationally with turmoil throughout the Middle East, and the outcome of the Presidential election in USA. We began the year with our AGM in January, including a presentation on the Trade & Cooperation agreement. The Branch established a working group under the title Rebuild With Europe, which continues to plan events to follow on from the ‘Unlock the Music’ event focused on the plight of touring musicians.

The promise of UK elections in May had us hoping for a government with a more favourable attitude to closer ties to the EU, but in victory Labour was disappointingly vague about promising initiatives such as an agreement on veterinary qualifications. Although the success of the Rejoin March in September should have made clear the public’s positive attitude for a more ambitious rapprochement to the EU, perhaps not surprisingly the government seems focused on matters of security and of course on full implementation of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement so far.

The Unionist parties in Northern Ireland are still agitating about the terms of the Windsor Framework, which must dilute the EU’s confidence in our reliability. Nevertheless positive things are happening - the establishment of the coordinating Europe Hub within government, the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Europe with its secretariat run by the European Movement, and Helen has just returned from a very interesting visit to Estonia which she will share with us.

Governmental instability in major European nations, the rise of right-wing parties everywhere, and proven Russian interference in democratic European elections may well fuel anti-EU sentiment here. How can this be countered?  Come and join us this Saturday between 10.30 and 12.00 to share your thoughts, opinions and suggestions.

Meetings in 2025

Details of our 2025 meetings will be posted here as soon as they are available.