No sooner have the Irish ratified the Treaty of Lisbon than a campaign starts to try to get an Irish citizen nominated to be President of the European Council – Mary Robinson, former Irish President. If you back her candidacy you can join the Facebook group here – there are […]
I’m really struggling at the moment. I have a problem that every freelancer wants to have: too much work. I’m training people in EU politics every week, most of it in London. I’m running web and social media workshops for a variety of clients. And I’m trying to get websites […]
On 22nd June 2009 David Cameron announced that the UK Conservatives would form a new political group in the European Parliament, working together with reactionary and unpleasant parties such as Lijst de Decker from Belgium, Law & Justice from Poland and the Civic Democrats from the Czech Republic. The new […]
One of the arguments that my German friends like to make against the Atheist Bus Campaign (and especially it’s German equivalent) is that ‘because there is no religious advertising on public transport in Germany atheists do not need to advertise’. This is the sort of reasoning why companies such as […]
Hoping for the continuation of the grand coalition was the best the SPD could hope for before yesterday’s Bundestagswahl. In the end the result was even worse than that: 23.1% and a historic low vote for the social democrats. Guido Westerwelle’s beaming grim was everywhere, the FDP the big winners […]
If you’re looking for news about Baroness Ashton’s nomination for High Representative click here All of the analysis of Shriti Vadera’s move to some sort of G20 post has led to questions about what her departure means for Gordon Brown and for government. But what does it mean for the […]
I’m just home after having endured one of the most unpleasant experiences I can remember in an EU institution. Really remarkable. I’ve had meetings in the European Parliament on two consecutive days (yesterday and today) with two different British MEPs. When signing in for the visitor’s pass at the ASP […]
There’s an interesting article in Le Monde today speculating once more about a role for François Fillon as a possible candidate for the Presidency of the Commission. The story goes broadly like this: José Manuel Barroso secured the nomination of the Heads of State and Government in July Approval of […]
“The Taxpayers’ Alliance, the right wing pressure group, has been dealing with EU questions with a report entitled “EU Diplomats.” The report’s author, Lee Rotherham, is a well known right-leaning eurosceptic, and the report departs in a well worn vein: anything the European Union does is about creating a state, […]
The EP elections, the five year democratic interruption to the Brussels game, are long in the past. Everyone is back from their summer holidays, ready for a bout of jousting and positioning in that depressing and opaque game: how to put together a team of 27 Commissioners. The nomination of […]
Norway goes to the polls on 14th September and the election is being held at a time when Norway’s position in the world is in some question: what role for the oil rich country of 4.5 million people at the northern edge of Europe? The influence of the EU on […]
*** HIT REFRESH IN YOUR BROWSER TO SEE THE LATEST UPDATES *** Panel Ratings: -> Andre Sapir 7/10 – clearly sharp, spoke well, wish he had critiqued the politicians too -> Elmar Brok 5/10 – sometimes clear, other times clearly torn inside, cantakerous -> Poul Nyrup Rasmussen 8/10 – on […]
