100 posts
The failure of European centrism: Towards a hypothesis of historical recurrence
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Likely the first of many posts on this – as a fairly hardcore centrist (arguably a stupid concept in itself, that, if you ask most people today) with a dogmatic refusal to align myself to any one political party this … Continue reading &#...
"Nominations Open – Who are the Thinkers with the biggest influence on the European left-of-centre Agenda?" by SEJ
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As last year’s Social Europe Journal poll about the most influential European left-of-centre thinkers was very successful, we decided to run it again this year. We are therefore now accepting...
SOS : Europe looks for men of exception
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“I tried to do things seriously without ever taking myself seriously" told me Jean Monnet just before his death in 1979. It was a shadow man, haunted by the will to have new ideas and guided by the certainty that nations always have, without knowin...
Quo vadis Europa
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From the mass media we here, that there is no Europe. From the politics we here that there needs to be more Europe, while the next steps are taken to oppose a exactly this request. From what happens both is wrong.We see in all parts of the continent...
Citizens will have to drag Europe closer to them
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There's an interesting article in the New York Times (hat-tip Grahnlaw), "E.U. Elites keep the Power from the People", reporting on criticism from Habermas and others on the EU's democratic deficit: "“The process of European integration, which has...
Universal exceptionalism
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Exceptionalism is the new word of order in European migration policy. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi met on 26 April to propose a fundamental reform of the Schengen border-free area: a national exceptio...
Time of EUropean political and opinion leaders to speak out! Some are!
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Some have started to do so.Eg. Michel Barnier (Berlin, May 9)Another voice, yesterday, 13 May, in an interview with EurActiv, of Josep Borrell:"EU leaders played poker with euro and lost, says Borrell"A truly must read interview, kudos to Mr. Borrell...
What’s Going on in Mittleuropa?
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Dear Hinnerk and Alexis When you live in London the continent looks slow, lazy and just its Western part seems worth a comparison. Eastern Europe doesn’t come to your mind besides former Soviet bloc and source of immigration. What’s going...
To win again, Europe’s centre-left must break with the past
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This week over 200 political leaders and thinkers from across the world will gather in Oslo for the Progressive Governance Conference, the annual jamboree of the global centre-left launched by Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Gerhard Schröder in 1999. S...
Barnier: “There can only be one” (EU president)
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Michel Barnier, French Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services, suggested in a speech given on “Europe Day” (9 May of course..) that the offices of President of the European Council and President of the European Commission shoul...
The elusive European public
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The Schengen Agreement guaranteeing freedom of movement is at risk of being watered down. Any such move would be a lot more controversial if the EU ever found its constituency. From my perch here in Ireland it is interesting to watch anger at the Eu...
It’s way up from now on
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It seems that the lowest point in EU history was when this blog was founded. Legend has it that while McCartney sang “I’ve got to admit it’s getting better”, Lennon kept responding “it can’t get much worse”.
by the way, it was the Europe Day nobody cared about around here… A Euro round…
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EU has reached its ‘lowest point in history’ from EurActiv.com Despite having achieved peace and prosperity, the European project has reached its “lowest point in history,” according to policymakers gathered in Flor...
Survival guide for spokespeople III. – on lessons learned in presidency communications
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Following our post on gaffes by spokespeople (see here) and part two on communication dilemmas in Brussels (see here), we present our first take on lessons learned with only two months left to go in the presidency. This is a rather theoretical piece,...
Herman Van Rompuy: Great Expectations
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Herman Van Rompuy initiated a channel to EU citizen (bloggers) by launching 'Ask your question!' on Facebook. However, a few days after Europe Day 9 May 2011 most of the questions are still unanswered and the few recorded replies can hardly be descri...
So much going on in the world... it made me silent...
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Dear readers,I have been silent for a while, almost 9 months. This is a suicide for a blogger. In the world of twitter, on-line news, Arab spring and euro zone fighting for credibility this is an inexcusable absence. But what means 9 months in our li...
Refusing to Fly the E.U. Flag: European Skeptics Show Their Stripes
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In 1863, President Jefferson Davis of the C.S.A. declared March 27th as a day of prayer in the confederacy. Governor Joseph Brown of Georgia considered the declaration to be an imposition, so he declared that the day of prayer be on another day...
The T-word and the eurozone
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Even the most dogged optimists have to admit by now that the eurozone is in very serious trouble. Rescue funds, bail out packages, austerity measures: nothing seems to be able to stem the tide. Ratings keep falling, deficits and debts … Continu...
Antonio Tajani: "Citizens of Europe need responses that the member states cannot give on their own."
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Antonio Tajani is Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship. Presseurop met up with him at the International Festival of Journalism in Perugia (Italy) last April. PE: The EU has been very discreet du...
Systemics: If Greece, Portugal and Ireland formed a political union
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Food for thought:If Greece, Portugal and Ireland formed a Political Union, the resulting polity would have a combined population (1/1/2009 Eurostat data) of 26.4 millionmaking it the 7th largest member of the EU (see here)the 5th in the Eurozone and...
The Barnier blueprint
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Missed this yesterday, but the New York Times didn't. Michel Barnier wandered off his normal brief to give a comprehensive view of what he feels the EU should be, and interesting reading it makes. Sounds all so good,Citizens need to be told the truth...
Place Lux goes Festival of Europe
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By Eva Donelli People sitting and tasting THAI specialties, jugglers on stilts, a quartet of “policemen” wearing blue fluorescent uniforms and yellow socks improvising clumsy choreographies, notes out of tune from a giant karaoke and a row o...
Europe’s snail syndrome
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"To my great sadness, the recent discussions on re-instating border control in Europe have been taking place without the slightest consideration on the part of certain politicians for the basic human rights of those affected, which makes me really wo...
Why we don’t love the EU anymore
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There’s a lot of this sort of talk going on at the moment. How much trouble is the EU “project” in? Certainly many eminent voices in the EP are voicing serious existential concern in this period. Here, for example, an interesting bl...
Tuesday’s morning update: Europe Day celebrated with economic crisis
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Renewed concern about the European regions debt crisis as the Euro falls even lower as a consequence of the ongoing discussion on a second bailout. One of the triggers for the low Euro was a controversial report in the german magazine Der Spiegel ann...
10 Facts About Europe
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Europe is a fascinating continent with a rich history and varied climate and culture. Thus it is no surprise that it is also an area rich with interesting facts. Here we will look at ten facts about Europe – there are many more where these come fro...
Europe, 9 May and eurozone on Bloggingportal.eu
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Without any official My Europe Week campaign to inspire eurobloggers, all the latest 100 entries tagged 'myeurope' on Bloggingportal.eu are now new ones, published during the last days. The blog posts deal with Europe Day 2011 events or thoughts abou...
Contending Leadership Approaches in the U.S. and E.U.
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The philosophy of leadership in the E.U. can be grasped by observing that while the major governmental institutions each have a president, the E.U. as a whole does not have one supreme figure-head. The EU Commission, the European Council, and t...
By statistics, europe day is a success
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How to measure the success of Europe day for a Euroblog ? Look at the statistics: Today, EU Weekly received almost four times more visits than the average, most of them directed towards the posts dedicated on May 9th. Same for the search engine terms...
Europe, Mitterrand and I
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Last year on May 9, I wrote about the origins of my passion for Europe. I originated it in the story of my family, partly through that of my grandfather -born during World War I- who fought during World War II. In his last speech to the European Parl...
Fête de l’Europe : Comment va l’Union européenne ?
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L’Union européenne (UE) est-elle en bonne santé ? Physique, morale, psychique… l’UE traverserait-elle une grosse dépression ? Serait-elle en voie d’implosion ? Ce n’est pas l’avis des Cabris de l’Europe. L’UE, mais de qui parle-...
The Castle of Love on Europe Day
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Franz Liszt wrote only one opera, Don Sanche or the Castle of Love, while aged 13. When the work had its premiere in Paris in 1825, there was a generous reception — particularly when the pint-sized composer was virtually carried on stage. But t...
The EU to last "Forever"
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Oh dear dear Herman Van Rompuy. In a flight of his famous poetic fancy he has penned a Haiku in honour of Europe day.A corona of stars / Rolling over the deep blue sea / Together foreverOK, we know that Haiku is a formal structure, we know it has lim...
Europe Day! May 9: A Marriage of Reason but not of the Heart
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As the European Union writes on its website:On the 9th of May 1950, Robert Schuman presented his proposal on the creation of an organised Europe, indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations.This proposal, known as the "Schuman declar...
One year, little change. Happy Birthday Europe
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Happy Birthday Europe. It's a sour birthday. There isn't really much to celebrate on Europe Day. The EU hasn't moved an inch closer to becoming a force to be reckoned with in the world, despite the establishment of the EEAS and the continuous decline...
Today is Europe Day
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Leigh Phillips at the EUObserver notes that Europe Day celebrated amid growing criticism of ECB, but points out that:"On 9 May 1950, one of the two main founders of the EU, Robert Schuman, presented his proposal for an organised Europe, known as the...
The pop culture that unites Europe!
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Is there a pop culture that unites Europe? Of course there is: US pop culture (movies, TV series, music, etc)! That's the europainful truth (with some notable exceptions of course)NickPthinks on business, EU policy, socio-economics and systemics in...
Europe Day: really a referendum?
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Or how I stopped worrying and learned to love representative democracy… Thumb up with EU flag Photo: Swissmacky/Shutterstock Images Today is Europe Day. While as a good EU citizen the date is of course inscribed on my heart, the other reaso...
Bailing out the bail-out
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The euro zone is being forced to rethink its approach to rescue packages...
Shock result in Finland as eurosceptic vote skyrockets
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here was a suprise result in the Finnish parliamentary election in April, with nationalist party 'True Finns' making astonishing gains. The eurosceptic party saw its number of Parliamentary seats soar from 5 to 39, a 5 fold increase from the previous...
Happening now in Strasbourg
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In the framework of the celebrations of the Europe dayJerzy BUZEKPresident of the European Parliamentkindly requests the pleasure of your company at the official ceremony of the raising of the colours of the European Flag to mark the occasion of the...
Aftermath of Rumor-Filled Weekend
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Today is Europe Day and it follows one of the most volatile and rumor-filled weekends of the economic crisis in recent months.
Europe’s Day
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Today we remember and we celebrate. World War II, which took more than 50 million lives, ravaged Europe’s economies and reversed our continent’s development by decades, ended on 9 of May 1945. Five years later, on 9 of May 1950, the French foreig...
The EU's No. 1 problem is .....
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On this Europe (or EU (or EUrope, I prefer "EUrope" actually)) day, May 9, 2011, I am re-iterating what I have for years considered as the EU's No. 1 problem. Here is my syllogism:The European Communities/Union have for some 54 years now been an on-g...
Some 50 million EU citizens, 10% of the EU population, speak a regional or minority language
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Some of my recent posts (Reindeer racing in Sápmi, Lá Fhéile Pádraig Shona Duit, etc.) have been triggered by news items I’ve spotted in the Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity’s website. The NPLD is a pan-European network which covers...
Encourage the development of the local level European journalism
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News and information holds a fundamental place in the European construction: it gives the possibility to the citizens to understand the sense of the European decisions, to estimate their legitimacy, to measure the stakes, to make their voice heard. I...
What Do We Really Want from the EU?
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European citizens should think more about their demands when talking about the EU. Here’s why. These are not the best of times for the European Union. There’s a financial crisis; an immigration crisis; a crisis of trust, and who knows ...
Europe day 2011: Robert Schuman's dream: is it yours?
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After drifting aimlessly for some time, the European union has reached crisis point. It has lost its way and with it popular legitimacy. Anti-Europeanism is now the currency of choice in many EU state...
Ukraine and Europe on 9 May 2011: tying ribbons
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On 9 May 'Europe Day' marks the 61st anniversary of the European Union, but in Ukraine we will celebrate Victory Day. This time it will be special, because our MPs bound local authorities to hang red flags (‘Victory Flags’) alongside national yel...
EU celebrates Europe Day
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On 9 May the European Institutions and people across Europe marked the anniversary of the first step in the creation of the European Union. Now known quite simply as 'Europe Day', it was on 9 May 1950 that the French foreign minister Robert Schuman a...
Victory Day, Europe Day
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How’s yours? Do you need bailing out? Prospects for membership? Would you like more forceful international intervention? Or maybe just some pooled sovereignty? Are your neighbors clamoring to move in? Or doing their best to move away? Sixty-six...
Europe Day’s three degrees of separation from Humphrey Bogart
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Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that everyone on Earth is on average approximately six connections away from any other person on Earth. The notion has been invented by a Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy and first introduced in his short...
"European Integration at the Crossroads: Deepening or Disintegration?" by Elmar Altvater and Birgit Mahnkopf
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Are the member states of the Eurozone responsible for the Euro crisis the ones having problems servicing their debt? The majority of people in Europe believe that this is the case. Therefore,...
#EUDay: Schuman Declaration
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On the 9th of May each year we mark the Anniversay of the Schuman Declaration. This declaration made by French Minister for Foreign Affairs Robert Schuman in 1950, set the basis for what would has become the European Union. 61 years later and with th...
