80 posts
Fortress Europe, Schengen and the European Sphere
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“[H]ow can the public debate necessary to make the EU a genuine ‘land of immigration’ take place if there is no common, democratic European ‘public sphere’, and no space for genuine intra-European political debate? The d...
Daily Mail refuses to publish my letter
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Last week the Daily Mail published this article, which suggested that the European Parliament could ban certain children’s books which reinforced gender stereotypes from British schools. This is very misleading. I therefore wrote a letter for...
Egyptian opinion poll
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Pechter Middle East Polls has a new Egyptian opinion poll out, commissioned by AIPAC’s think tank, WINEP. It’s from Cairo and Alexandria rather than the whole of Egypt. 52% dispapprove, 15% approve of the Muslim Brotherhood. 27% for, 37%...
Lib Dem voters on EU membership: 31% want to stay - 42% want to leave
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Here are some results from a fresh poll from Angus Reid on the attitude of British citizens to the EU (an online survey of a representative national sample of 2,002 British adults):In the event of a referendum on the UK’s EU membership, nearly hal...
We don't want it. We don't like it and we want out
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This is the pretty clear message from today's poll on the EU by Angus Reid,Asked what they thought of the idea of joining the Euro the figures were.No - 80%Yes - 8%Not sure- 10%Not vote -3%Asked whether they thought that the EU had been good or bad f...
Young Europeans are from Mars (sort of)
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ON THE eve of this weekend’s double summit in Lisbon—the annual NATO gathering, followed by a US-EU meeting that was bolted on to it—Gallup released some interesting data on European opinion. It casts further light on transatlantic relations, a...
Unpopularity and the EU
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I was at a recent dinner in Brussels. It was a gathering of insiders: commissioners, directors, ambassadors. The 150 people brought together in a Cinquantenaire museum were a fair smattering of Europe's elite. What struck me in the speeches and...
An Occasional Guide to Irish Politics: The Amateur Opinion Poll Spinner.
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He’s the bore to beat all bores, the one who extrapolates election results down to the last seat in the Feckerstown ward even though the election is 17 years away. But it gets worse. Not only is he a moron, he’s a partisan moron. If his party is...
The mainstreaming of Europe's 'stealth far-right'
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The results from yesterday’s general election in Sweden are in – and continuing the narrative of European elections over the past five years, the results are bad news for the left. The centre-left Social Democrats lost 17 seats in the parliament...
Sweden: Reinfeldt wins but fails to gain majority
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Sveriges Radio International reports that the centre-right party of prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt gained a historic 30 per cent of the vote in the Swedish parliamentary election. However, the three other parties of the governing Alliance – Liber...
The Rise and Rise of Nationalism
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Something of a controversy was stirred two weeks ago, when Charles Kupchan declared in a Washington Post editorial that Europe was ‘dying’ of nationalism. His argument earned a surprise rebuke from Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, wh...
EU-US relations : Transatlantic Trends
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• Many fewer Poles than other EU respondents approve of Obama’s handling of international policies. • Given the choice between accepting a nuclear Iran and taking military action, 64% of Americans and 43% of Europeans favour military action.
Economic governance: a tale of two polls
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A new poll published yesterday by the German Marshall Fund of the United States makes for interesting reading.With a few exceptions, majorities in the eurozone countries said the euro has been a bad thing for their economy, including France (60%) and...
Latest polling shows even more want out
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Yougov have just released figures from their latest poll, this time the question was,If there was a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union, how would you vote?The answer is pretty conclusive,I would vote for Britain to remain a memb...
UK: In or Out? (Or just shake it all about?)
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There's a campaign for an "In or Out?" referendum in the UK. Some think it's a good idea, others think it's a bad idea. It's a question that will need to be asked in the UK at some point, since it's hard to have a clear policy on how to act in the EU...
Referendum in Turkey special posting begins. Please check back this post for the updates…
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I am off to play cards and watch the Turkey-USA final. This game is over. I am happy for my country…. 19:30 BBC already declared: Turks ‘approve’ new constitution from BBC News | Europe | World Edition Turkish voters give...
Barroso: The state of the Commission’s Work Programme
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Yesterday The European Citizen called José Manuel Barroso’s “State of the Union” address The Commissarial Speech (8 September 2010). According to Eurocentric: The speech itself actually wasn't that bad, if you dropped your preconceptions about...
EU is confidently moving forward every day, says Daniel Hannan: Campaigns for EU ‘in or out’ referendum in Britain
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As nationalism rises, will the European Union fall? This was the question posed by professor Charles Kupchan, of Georgetown University and the US Council on Foreign Relations, in The Washington Post (29 August 2010).Suddenly, we are offered a contrar...
Barroso’s “State of the Union” speech: A comedy of errors (The trailer)
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Part of our common European cultural heritage is The Comedy of Errors, by the great William Shakespeare. Then we have a comedy of errors, by and for us lesser mortals, “a dramatic work in which the action usually features a series of comic instance...
Laughed out of Court
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It appears that the combined guffaws of the massed ranks of the bloggosphere, press and even some MEPs has done for the preposterous idea that MEPs be fined if they don't turn up to listen to Barroso.So we have the Bureau deposing after the Conferenc...
SOTEU: My Barroso Buzzword Bingo
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Tomorrow at 9am Brussels time, Barroso will make the first European "State of the Union" speech. Expectations on the Euroblogosphere aren't high for the speech, and there seem to be fears that the same sentiment might infect the European Parliament a...
EU: Please Come to Our State of the Union Speech
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European Parliament leaders say they will fine MEPs who don't attend Jose Manuel Barroso's "state of the union" address.
Trying to be polite
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An informative and enjoyable piece by the redoubtable Ralf Grahn on the whole business of the Barrosso Sate of the Union address to take place on Tuesday in Strasbourg.Sadly I don't seem to be able to access his comments section so I shall have to as...
European Commission: Start by publishing Reding’s ‘communication revolution’ plan!
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The information leaked to EurActiv remains the main basis for the public discussion about the communication ‘revolution’ planned by commissioner Viviane Reding for the European Commission, but the information is far from complete. The College of...
What’s in a name? Barroso’s State of the Union address
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What’s in a name? that which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet; (William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene ii) As we know, the two young lovers died, so perhaps a name is not as innocuous as they wanted to believe.
Open Europe improving its spin on Eurobarometer?
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Spin and gloss are expressions related to the very human desire to present the emitter in the best light possible. If the original communication is questioned and debated, this may lead to refined replies, which bring the discussion forward. Did Ope...
Barroso communicating Europe: National and European identities
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We do not know if the EU Commissioners gathered in Val Duchesse agreed to shred Viviane Reding’s communication plan and decided to enter the fascinating world of 21st century communication instead, but we do know that we saw both disquieting and pr...
Communicating Europe: Reding’s revolution
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How is the European Union responding to public opinion and media trends? Conducted during the triple crisis – financial sector, economy and eurozone - Eurobarometer 73, Public opinion in the European Union (First results) recorded sinking support...
Arguing with the "Facts".
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I've already written why I think opinion polls are unhelpful due to the difficulty in interpreting them for policy formulation. But I want to write down a few ideas on the Eurobarometer poll. (If you're interested in Eurobarometer analysis, Grahnlaw...
EU as a Scapegoat
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Since the first signs of crisis emerged in 2008, public opinion inside the European Union started to shift steadily, and the last report which has been recently revealed by EUROBAROMETER shows that people tend to become more and more ungrateful towar...
No National European Vision
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In the EUobserver today, there's an article on Barroso's response to the Eurobarometer results. Barroso says that the member state governments have failed to defend the European project during the crisis:""I admit that we should do more together in o...
European Commission’s Communication Revolution: New Scoop!
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Euractiv reported it first: they got their hands on a leaked letter from Commissioner Reding to President Barroso, outlining her “Communication Revolution”. But the Brussels Jungle dug further and discovered this letter was merely the tip...
Waaah Waaahh Waaah ... It's not fair
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´Jose Manual Barroso; the European Commission President is out of sorts.Faced with a plunging popularity of the EU institutions, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has blamed national capitals for not defending the European project during...
Eurobarometer: Separating the wheat from the chaff
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Since the spring 2009 Eurobarometer, EU citizens see unemployment and the economic situation as the main worries facing their country. In May 2010 rising prices (inflation) are still the principal concern at a personal level (although with great diff...
Eurobarometer: Europeans worried about unemployment and economy
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The media roundup of the EU-wide opinion poll, Eurobarometer, revealed four strands of news reporting and commentary: Stress on economic challenges, or plunging support for EU membership, scepticism towards public opinion polls like Eurobarometer, an...
Eurobarometer media roundup reveals four readings
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From a summary of the Eurobarometer controversy we set course for our following harbour: a roundup of how the latest EU-wide poll of public opinion has been received. In Roundup haven we bunker facts and arguments for the next leg of our voyage. We f...
Eurobarometer controversy
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The UK based anti-EU lobby group Open Europe managed, perhaps unintentionally, to stir up a debate at European level when they accused the European Commission of spinning the results of the Eurobarometer poll of public opinion in the European Union.
US and EU citizenry share common priority about economic woes
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The sentiment, “It’s the economy, stupid,” apparently also holds prime position in the hearts of Europeans when money troubles hit, according to the results of a European Union survey just released this week (“Spring 2010 Euro...
Eurobarometer findings on EU public opinion: Open Europe blew it
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In God We Trust is the official motto of the United States of America, surprisingly for a country where the first amendment enshrines the separation of church and state. What do citizens of the European Union trust in? The UK based anti-EU lobby grou...
From Paint It Black to Moses? UK public opinion on EU
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Yesterday’s blog post, UK Eurobarometer score: Euromyths 68 - Trust 20, discussed the media climate and public opinion in the United Kingdom with regard to the European Union. The Eurobarometer findings are in line with what we have reported many t...
Spin, Damn Spin, and Statistics*
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The latest Eurobarometer is out (PDF), charting the changes in public opinion in the EU (plus a few non-member states) over the last six months. (For some reason I imagine it delivered phone-directory-like, in a plastic coated bundle across Brussels...
Europeans want Economic Governance
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There we have it: Europeans want economic governance mechanisms for Europe the new Eurobarometer found out. 75% of Europeans think that stronger coordination of economic and financial policies among EU Member States would be effective in fighting the...
An exceptionally poor attempt at spinning unfavourable poll results
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The European Commission yesterday announced the results from the latest Eurobarometer poll – carried out in May during the height of the crisis – with a press release carrying the headline, “EU citizens favour stronger European econ...
Summer of euro-scares
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What do eggs, flags, cornish pasties and nurses have in common? They are all stories we have been dealing with this summer that have to a greater or lesser extent been misrepresented in some quarters of the British press. At the same time we are clea...
Europeans ♥ EU2020
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Great news: European citizens think the Europe 2020 strategy is brilliant. Only joking. But sitting in the Commission press room yesterday it seemed there was no end to the good news. Europeans are enthusiastic about economic governance and give the...
UK Eurobarometer score: Euromyths 68 - Trust 20
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About three months from the conclusion of the fieldwork, the first results of the regular Eurobarometer poll are out. Yesterday, many Twitter comments about the findings were like shells fired in an artillery battle between entrenched frontlines, but...
Eurobarometer poll shows widening gap
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The Eurobarometer poll published today is not a pretty read. We can only hope that it might help make some people in Brussels and around Europe’s capital cities sit up and take notice of the political reality that our continent faces today. The...
A classic example of EU spin
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Here's an example of some good old EU spin for you:The European Commission today announced the results from the latest Eurobarometer poll - carried out in May during the height of the crisis - with a press release carrying the headline,"EU citizens f...
This sceptred isle or Sallust? The British are Europeans – but unaware for how long?
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In an earlier post we discussed the absence of a (modern) codified Constitution and the notion of citizenship (instead, subjects of the Crown) in the United Kingdom. Many of the sources, features and procedures of the British constitutional and polit...
Western democracy in crisis
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The credibility gap between the political class and the people is widening in most Member States, but there is no consensus as to what to do. The economic and financial challenges facing Europe require decisive leadership, but most national elector...
Communicating Europe
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There is an interesting op ed article in today’s Financial Times about the Afghanistan conflict by Alastair Campbell. He’s a controversial figure, and some would surely accuse him of being daring or even worse for publishing such an artic...
Recession tests the EU’s positive public image
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The European Commission’s spring 2009 Eurobarometer poll on public attitudes towards the European Union should be the most interesting in a long while. No such survey has been conducted with Europe’s financial system in such precario...
Google ads for politicians
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Image via CrunchBase Expanding our reading beyond our traditional EN sources, we note that the use of Google Adwords for political campaigns has caught the attention of our Italian friends at left leaning daily la Repubblica. Surely our MEPs, Italia...
More EU “web streaming services”
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In our excitement about Europarl TV, we missed the re-launch of the EPP-ED internet video station at www.epp-ed.tv. It is a slick new platform. As the EPP-ED points out in its press release, “EPP-ED TV first broadcast via the internet in June 2007...
