Some weird parallel EU communications universe
A retweet from @belitabrux drew my attention today to a Mostra e-book called Opinion Corner. Take a look – it’s well researched, looks smartly designed… but why does it exist? It’s not that different from the (pape...
Banking data: Why MEPs must say no to SWIFT agreement
I have written before why the SWIFT agreement is bad for Europe. This post is an update based on the final agreement and the new arguments that have been brought forward. In short: the situation has not changed and MEPs should reject the SWIFT agreem...
Europe in blogs - Euroblogs (13): A month full of hearings
It has been a long time since the last Europe in blogs - Euroblogs - so I thought it's worth looking back to January, a month in which Commissioners were given a mouthful by MEPs and bloggers. But let's first start at the end of the month when Nosem...
Greece Gets The Green Light, But Will It All Work?
Well, as reported over the weekend on this blog, the EU Commission did in fact demand “more sacrifices” from the Greek people, and in the end Prime Minister Papandreou had to make a last minute TV appearance to explain to his incredulous...
How ‘Systemically Relevant’ is Greece?
‘Greek misery’, ‘Hellenic precipice’ or unwelcome comparisons with Dubai and Iceland, who both cannot repay their debts. Truly, the headlines about Greece since the start of the New Year could hardly be more telling. They are similar to a Gre...
The EU can’t have its cake and eat it when it comes to relations with the USA
How are you supposed to measure the state of US-EU relations? No easy task seen from Brussels. Earlier this week Barack Obama prompted a bout of soul-searching by stating that he would not attend a EU-US summit pencilled in for May this year. At...
Hillary Clinton, thanks for letting our MEPs decide on their own!
It is an absolute impudence that Hillary Clinton calls Jerzy Buzek, the European Parliament president, (confirmed by him on Twitter*) to pressure on him to make MEPs reject the SWIFT agreement! This follows direct pressure on MEPs by US diplomatic a...
An Idea Whose Time Has Come
In 2002 I published an article on a maximum wage in the centre-left theory journal Renewal. The idea of putting a ceiling on what people could earn was left-field, to say the least. It was more a thought experiment than a serious attempt to influence...
Twittering the hearings
Just a short post to draw attention to one of the more interesting aspects of the hearings of commissioners-designate, one which may mark an important change in the way EP political groups communicate. I was fascinated to observe during the seven d...
Obama doesn't love us anymore...
Obama won't be attending the upcoming EU-US summit in Madrid. Do you feel abandoned? Alone? Unloved?Despite the talk this will generate, there's not really that much to say. Obama is a smart man, and if there's a point to attending, he will attend. W...
Mevlüt Çavuşoglu, the first Turkish PACE president
Wikipedia site for Mr. Çavuşoğlu Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (R) shakes hands with President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Mevlut Cavusoglu before a meeting in Istanbul, January 30, 2010. REUTE...
EU2020 Buzzword Bingo
It’s getting closer to 11 February, when all the EU heads of state and government meet in one of those massive European Council gatherings people living and working in Brussels enjoy so much (ooh, the joys of closed underground stations, cops e...
Video six-pack.
It’s a tradition. Now and then we make a video, especially just before Christmas. Sure enough, at the end of last year, we made Writing for (y)EU. Basically, it’s a commercial. It’s about the stuff we do. You may know it; it’s...
Reding and Malmström: Urgent & complete redesign of EU Commission website needed
When the new Barroso II Commission finally is allowed to start working, at least two Commissioners face the urgent task to update the web pages and step up the communication effort of their services. They are Viviane Reding (Justice, Fundamental Righ...
