So someone had the temerity to criticise the über-Eurocrat Barroso on the blog of the Eurocrat school! And then the blog post was removed, without explanation, as pointed out by @quarsan on Twitter, and argued on Facebook here.
Anyway, thanks to the joys of Google Cache, here is a PDF of the original blog entry.
Maybe the next blog entry should be one explaining the Streisand Effect to wannabe comms people in the Brussels corridors of power?
[UPDATE: 10.5.13, 17:20 – the blog piece has now been reinstated on the College of Europe blog]
[NOTE: I am an alumnus of the College of Europe. See, we’re not all slaves to the Commission!]
This thingy ended up, without news on the reasons / conclusion of it, on the printed version of New Europe. Spreading misinformation since 1993 😛
Well… I would just like to point out that Barroso actually did not use the F word in his speech, even though The Telegraph gives that impression. The word was not in the printed version and I have not seen it in direct quote. This could be a sign that Barroso, who in september at the State of The Union called for a federation of nation states, now is striving to have a down played rhetoric prior to the EP elections, which MEP’s wants to be about the party color of the EC president and not pro or against the EU.
I have blogged about that here (last week, though, and in Danish): http://www.filipkirkegaard.dk/archives/205
So as promised once the author is known to us the paper is online again.
I will continue this debate on another post for the college of Europe blog.
I will sign it, this time.
P.s. My first post, although equally unsigned, was not removed.
Yes, it was a mistake to assume that everyone would see it obvious to say who they are when signing a contribution we will try to improve the management of the blog. The point is that we did not want to have a very structured blog on the EU (we already have one in ARTE) but rather let the community share their thoughts. So no opinion will be censored (other than racist language and the whole rest) but we still need to have some “bonne foi” in the debate. BTW, we’d be delighted if you want to contribute thoughts on EU from time to time.
Hi John,
Just to point out that the issue is not the author’s opinion, which I think is interesting, but the contribution was not signed, and this does not seem to be a great start for an honest debate. I have asked the auhtor to sign their contribution and it will be put online as soon as they do so.
Regards,
Luis
@Luis – OK, thanks for the comment. Although if this is so then there needs to be some better procedures before things get published on the blog 🙂
On a related note: Maastricht already has aspects about social media and the EU integrated into its Masters in European Public Affairs. Maybe time the College of Europe did the same?