EU Politics Archives - Page 11 of 89

EU Politics

Non-legislative barriers to the EU Single Market in the UK

07.04.2014 4 comments

I was back in the UK for the first time in ages last week and was frustrated as a result of not being able to use two services I had grown to rely on – my Three Pay-as-you-go Data SIMcard, and Auto-TopUp for my Oyster Card. What’s the problem? A […]

EU Politics

From a quick post on “More Europe” to more formed ideas about EU framing

27.03.2014 8 comments

Anyone who knows me well knows I am fascinated by the use of words about the EU. Since @europasionaria first got me to read Lakoff’s “Don’t Think of an Elephant”, I’ve been wondering how to apply his ideas to the debate about the European Union. I’ve even run a couple […]

EU Politics

“More Europe” – the next term to banish from the EU framing lexicon

27.03.2014 1 comment

The words “More Europe” are essentially used a shorthand for needing EU action in an area where the EU does not currently act, like current efforts to complete the Digital Single Market for example. But take a step back and think about this for a minute. “More Europe” is actually […]

EU Politics, German Politics

Time for some policy-based evidence-making – how the Jacques Delors Institut Berlin ought to work

26.03.2014 7 comments

Back in my days as a civil servant one phrase dominated UK government-speak: evidence-based policy-making. The essential idea was to gather adequate evidence about a problem, and how various solutions could work, and determine a policy choice based on that. Now of course this was constrained by the ideology of […]

EU Politics

I’m still an idealist when it comes to the EU. Surely that’s good?

12.03.2014 2 comments

I’m sat at a conference and there in front of me sits a diplomat from the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He’s here to present the UK’s positions on the future of the European Union. His suit is sharp, his role senior, and undoubtedly his bank balance a lot healthier […]

EU Politics

Britain is absent from the EU’s Presidential Election

12.03.2014 2 comments

So the lineup for the first-ever Presidential Election in Europe, to select the Commission President 2014-2019, is complete – Martin Schulz for the Party of European Socialists (PES), Jean-Claude Juncker for the European People’s Party (EPP), Guy Verhofstadt for the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE), José Bové and Ska […]

EU Politics

BREAKING: first picture of EPP’s winning candidate in Dublin, Jean Claude Juncker

07.03.2014 0 comments

So the European People’s Party has a candidate for Commission President – Jean Claude Juncker. Tweet announcing the result is here. He’s going to be Merkel’s poodle. Image above is Creative Commons, Sharealike Licensed – can be used, for free, but must be attributed to Jon Worth, with a link […]

EU Politics

Gender balance at #EPPdublin

07.03.2014 2 comments

Europe’s Centre Right, the EPP, is holding its Congress yesterday and today in Dublin. Details about it here. Via @AnneLaumen on Twitter I was alerted to today’s speaker line up. Here’s an illustration of those speakers.

EU Politics

Crimea Crisis Response Generator – can you make Vladimir listen?

03.03.2014 0 comments

So the Ukraine crisis has taken a turn for the worst over the last couple of days. What – if anything – can the EU do to make Putin listen? See if you can do better than Ashton, Sikorski and Bildt in the new Crimea Crisis Response Generator (based on […]

EU Politics

A party invite for José Manuel Barroso

01.03.2014 3 comments

Dear José, I know you are in Berlin today, because I saw you on the livestream of the “New Narrative for Europe” conference earlier. I see you also put out a statement, saying that Europe is a State of Mind. When you say state of mind where I am from […]