This is one of the oddest EU-related things I’ve come across recently. A colleague was looking for pictures of ‘Eurocrat’ in Google Images. That search drags up – among other things – a picture of Gerhard Schroeder, one of Daniel Hannan, and a few of a wire fox terrier. It […]
I happened to be doing some research into the composition of the European Parliament’s Committees and came across the somewhat strange composition of the Development Committee (DEVE). It turns out that there are only 2 UK MEPs that are full members of the committee – Glenys Kinnock (PES / Labour) […]
I’ve been a bit slow on the EU blogging front recently – it’s been hard to remove myself from the mire of HTML and website work. But this morning – via Nosemonkey – I have come across this essay by Timothy Garton Ash about the 6 themes Europe needs to […]
Gérard Onesta, Vice President of the European Parliament from the French Greens, has released his ideas about how to restart the ratification process of the European Constitution. His ‘Plan A+‘ suggests leaving the text of the Constitution intact, but dividing up the text for the sake of ratification – making […]
There’s been yet another effort to change Britain’s time zone – i.e. putting the UK on Central European Time. This effort has been tabled as a Private Member’s Bill in the House of Commons by Tory MP Tim Yeo, although he calls the new timezone SDST (see Yeo’s ePolitix blog). […]
The European Parliament’s special committee to look into CIA rendition flights has now reported its findings and the MEPs don’t mince their words (see news from EUObserver, and comments from Human Rights Watch) – the report is hard hitting, accuses Javier Solana of not telling the whole truth, and contains […]
He’s had a rant at Commission officials, and then been caught naked on a beach with his chef de cabinet, and yesterday European Commission Vice President Guenter Verheugen was at it again – this time stating that: “A small member state would benefit more from providing a deputy commissioner in […]
In a few hours Romania and Bulgaria will become member states of the European Union, and I am very proud and happy about that. I can still remember so clearly being stuck on a train at the border between Lokoshaza and Arad (Hungary to Romania) in 1999 and realising how […]
There are plenty of rivalries that you could argue have some sort of justification, yet the ongoing disputes over the name Macedonia strike me as totally ludicrous. I’ve come across few issues in EU politics that contain such fire as when you tell a Greek that ‘Macedonia’ wants to join […]
The blogging world is a complex and interesting place. Thanks to Technorati, I have today discovered that my blog has been syndicated by the Danish multi-blog site Progressivt.dk EU Section. Quite a privilege as my posts are there together with syndicated feeds from Dan Jørgensen, Margot Wallström and Ã…sa Westlund. […]
Step by step people are waking up to the potential of expat voters in elections, or at least realising that the formalities of organising elections need to be improved. According to EUObserver, the European Commission is looking at the issues around getting nationals of other EU states to run, and […]
I’m now back in the UK after 4 days away in Portugal. I spent yesterday afternoon watching the sunset over the waves of the Atlantic and this morning I was drenched on the way to my office – a dire 1950s building. Feels like a hangover, only without any alcohol […]
