EU Politics

07.12.2006 EU Politics

I wish it wouldnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t rain down

It’s 9.30 on the first day of the congress. Only I’m not there yet. I’m sat in cafe beside the River Douro, escaping the driving rain. However the cafe has a whole Phil Collins CD playing, and the track that’s

05.12.2006 EU Politics

John Reid, Monty Python, and the European Constitution

“The constitutional treaty is no more Ã¢â‚¬â€œ it is a diseased dead parrot.” So said Home Secretary John Reid after the 4th December JHA Council in Brussels (article from EUObserver). Now, I’m not the greatest fan on John Reid –

04.12.2006 EU Politics

Delving into Pär Nuder’s visions of political leadership

I went along to a round table discussion this evening, organised by Policy Network and CER. Former Swedish Finance Minister Pär Nuder and UK Minister for the Third Sector Ed Miliband were speaking. The debate was interesting enough, but more

03.12.2006 EU Politics

Blogging the PES Congress in Porto

I have the great privilege of having been chosen as one of the PES Activists to write a blog on the Party of European Socialists Website about the PES Congress taking place 7-8 December in Porto. The blog can be

17.11.2006 EU Politics

Get ready for a Royal good fight

Excellent news – Segolene Royal has won the vote in the French Socialist Party to become their candidate for the Presidential elections in the spring of 2007. Stories from EUObserver and BBC. She won a resounding 60.62% of the vote

13.11.2006 EU Politics

So maybe the Commission accounts are not so bad after all

The Court of Auditors did not agree to sign off the EU’s accounts for the 12th year running. Oh no, everyone screams, the EU is as corrupt as ever. Well, probably not actually. The House of Lords (who take a

06.11.2006 EU Politics

E.On messes up – good!

It’s never pleasant to be without electricity, and especially not if it is as a result of systemic failings or incompetence. This is what seems to have been the cause of yesterday’s blackout in parts of Germany and France –

04.11.2006 EU Politics

The Polish Voter – the UK’s hidden electorate

More than 400,000 people from the new member states have moved to live and work in the UK since 2004. As EU citizens they are eligible to vote in the local, regional and European elections. Yet with the London Mayor

03.11.2006 EU Politics

Geoff Hoon taking on Margaret Beckett on EU matters

Odds and ends have been leaking out about Margaret Beckett preventing Geoff Hoon answering Parliamentary Questions on Europe on Tuesday this week – it even ended up at PMQs yesterday (see this amusing account from The Guardian). Hoon has also

31.10.2006 EU Politics

An ageing population is good, according to the Commission

Euractiv reports on speeches made at a forum on demography, including one from Social Affairs Commissioner VladimÃƒÂr Ã…Â pidla, who claimed that demographic change was an opportunity just as much as it was a challenge. It would strike me that demographic

30.10.2006 EU Politics

Midsommar på Betsö – my first Swedish literary masterpiece

I’m half way through my first term of Swedish courses, and that means the first homework assignment to complete – 150 words about something you’ve done in your life. So I decided to write a little account of Midsommar in

30.10.2006 EU Politics

What it takes to be a leader

It’s damned hard to describe what qualities you need to be a leader – it depends on the person, it depends on the circumstances. Yet you always tend to know very well when people in an organisation you work in