Latest posts
The President’s tweet
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Little slip by the European Parliament President on Twitter tonight, or by whoever writes his Twitter account. The tweet was online for 10 minutes, and then disappeared. Just before it was erased, it had 130 retweets, and so I thought I’d prese...
Righteousness and risk in building a European policy
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Another week, another car-crash of public policy. After last night’s vote on the amendment to the Queen’s speech – with more than half of all Tory backbenchers voting in favour of the motion – it is hard to see how today&rsquo...
European armaments in the French White Paper
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How is the European military-industrial base articulated in the French Defence White Paper? Is it still central to French interests, or increasingly less important?
French Defence White Paper: national interests
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What does the 2013 French Defence White Paper mean for European armaments cooperation? What is preventing the creation of a European military-industrial base?
National Consensus – the Missing Link in Bulgaria’s Elections
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Tina Schivatcheva National consensus – these words are missing from Bulgaria’s political vocabulary. In the midst of bitter political contentions, Bulgaria’s political scene is once again marred by open confrontations, and the...
It’s Europe day, so let’s talk Europe
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As you are all doubtless aware, today is Europe day, the 63rd anniversary of Robert Schuman’s declaration on the creation of a coal and steel community that was to become the precursor to the current European Union. Everyone knows that, right?
147 UKIP councillors doesn’t mean much in local politics … yet
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Last week, local elections were held across England. This election has been characterized by the media as the national ‘breakthrough moment’ for the Euro-sceptic UK Independence Party (UKIP). 147 UKIP council...
New report on European military capabilities
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The European Union Institute for Security Studies publishes a new report on the future of European armed forces. Can Europeans remain militarily powerful in the third decade of the twenty-first century?
Europe: foreign criminals and human rights
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Today The Telegraph published a story about two foreign criminals, jailed for their part in the English riots, who successfully appealed against deportation because of their ‘right to family life’ under article 8 of the European Conventio...
Improving Literacy with Football
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The National Literacy Trust has conducted research into the area of improving literacy and numeracy with football and it can act as a valuable resource for schools to promote learning to young children. Football is a national sport, l...
Self-Immolations in Bulgaria – an Intertwined Personal and Social Trauma
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Tina Schivatcheva On the 1st of May another Bulgarian victim of self-immolation passed away. Since the beginning of 2013 six people self-immolated inBulgaria, and their desperate acts further ’enflamed our sleeping society’ [1]. Tra...
Telegraph readers call me ‘a moron’
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Today I posted pro-EU arguments under a Daily Telegraph article about the number of Romanians and Bulgarians coming to the UK. Clearly, my comments were unwelcome by DT readers. They called me ‘a moron’, an ‘utter idiot&...
The 2013 French Defence White Paper
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Today, European Geostrategy publishes its fifth Long Post, which is by Luis Simón, who is a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute for European Studies (Free University of Brussels). This Long Post looks at the contents of the 2012-2013 Fre...
Ireland and the 1973 Enlargement
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As part of the Evolving Europe project, UACES asked participants at the 40 Years since the First Enlargement conference to respond to the question ‘What have been the most significant changes in the 1973 accession states as a res...
Les gens de l’information: A sociology of EU information people
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The “Eurobubble” online series (see also my recent blog post) and the last months of working in Brussels have raised again my academic interest in the sociology of the bubble. In my readings around this subject, I stum...
Should Poland join the euro zone ?
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The European Union is shrinking since 2009 due to its euro zone crisis recently followed by Cyprus. Greece, Spain, Ireland, Portugal and Italy proved failure of the euro zone during the crisis. However, there are countries in the Old Continent that a...
The EU as a power-diffuser
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Fighting my prejudices, I went to a seminar about CFSP yesterday. In my defence, I was a) tired and b) knew that both speakers would be well worth it. And indeed they were. Just to be clear, my prejudice is that the EU’s foreign and security po...
Bavarian politicians, Bulgarian politics
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Tina Schivatcheva The Political Choices of the Bulgarian Center-Right ‘We will put an end to the populism of the Left’ – with this firm promise Tsvetan Tsvetanov, former Bulgarian Minister of the Interior, and current deputy-preside...
Interview with Volker Perthes
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In the tenth of European Geostrategy’s interview series, Daniel Fiott speaks with Volker Perthes, of the Institute for Foreign and Security Policy in Berlin.
The aging Union: EU politicians and the dominance of the upper middle-aged
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German newspaper Die ZEIT yesterday published an article titled “Demografie: Die schon wieder” (Demography: Them again) about how the generation of baby boomers, those born in the early second half of the 20th century, is dominating polit...
