“Just as une hirondelle ne fait pas le printemps (one swallow does not make a summer), une primaire ne refait pas un parti politique (one primary does not remake a party). But looking back at yesterday’s first ever US-style primary
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Category: EU Politics
LabourList | Barroso’s State of the European Union: a challenge for Labour
“Few in Labour would have noticed it taking place, but President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso delivered his annual ‘State of the European Union’ address (highlights here) on Wednesday this week, at the moment when Labour politicians and
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The idiot in Brussels
(Thanks for @spignal for pointing out the film) Extraordinary ‘debate’ on Newsnight last night between Amadeu Altafaj Tardio (Ollie Rehn’s spokesperson) and Peter Oborne. Oborne repeatedly calls Altafaj Tardio ‘the idiot in Brussels’, a phrase that Paxman also uses, and Oborne
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Barroso is not just ‘A senior EU official’ – he’s President of the European Commission
Have a read of this piece (see comments – link changed – a version is available here) on AP’s website about Barroso’s State of the European Union speech. It’s entitled “Top EU official seeks closer policy union” and then starts “A
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An idea for next year’s #SOTEU – deliver it to the EP and the European Council
Barroso has just finished delivering his State of the European Union address to the European Parliament. While – as before – we had a bit of a chuckle in the blogosphere with buzzword bingo, this was a serious occasion and Barroso rose
Continue reading LabourList | Ahoy the Berlin Pirates (and what it means for the left in Europe)
“As last week’s column appeared on LabourList, voters in Berlin were going to the polls to choose the 149 members of the Abgeordnetenhaus, the parliament for the state of Berlin and one of the 16 states of Germany. Full election
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Barroso Bullshit Bingo is back (economic crisis edition)
Last year a bunch of EU blog nerds had a laugh when José Manuel Barroso made a State of the European Union address (more here). The very notion that Barroso would do this made us smile, and knowing he’s not a great
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Eurozone crisis shows it’s time for a Commission reshuffle – Rehn should go
In a regular government, when a Minister is struggling he or she is removed by the Prime Minister. I don’t think anyone has any doubt that the European Union is struggling to get to grips with the Eurozone / debt
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Nordic bloc politics – the solution for a fractured left?
A Twitter exchange this afternoon with @olafcramme and @anthonypainter (shown in the screenshot to the right) in light of both Thursday’s election in Denmark and today’s Berlin state election got me thinking: is Nordic bloc politics the solution to the
Continue reading LabourList | A political system in good health – the main lesson from Denmark’s general election
“Denmark’s general election took place on Thursday. My column here on August 30th covered the lay of the land as the campaign started. So what actually happened? And what does it tell us? The headline result – a narrow victory
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Boris denies snorting particulates off London’s roads
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE FILM ON YOUTUBE This video of Green AM Jenny Jones having a go at Boris Johnson is worth watching, not least because of Boris losing his rag and refusing to answer the AM’s questions (and
Continue reading LabourList | eCanvassing – an idea for Labour from Norway’s Arbeiderpartiet
“Back at the 2010 general election I was always the one given the odd direct mails to deliver in the constituency where I was volunteering. Why? Because, armed with an iPhone with GPS and Google Maps, I could find the
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