I have just finished reading an extremely pleasant and gratifying book: T. R. Reid???s ???United States of Europe??? (buy it from Amazon here). Reid was the Washington Post???s correspondent in London from 1998 until 2002 and his book details how he sees the process of European integration. The book is […]
There’s a really interesting quote buried away in Mark Mardell’s column on the BBC News website – read it here. Mardell asked Tony Blair whether an EU tax was a way out of nasty negotiations on the budget every few years. Blair’s reply was: “We’ve never been in favour of […]
Everyone has assumed that’s it: the Heads of State have agreed the Financial Perspectives at the summit at the end of last week. But Monday comes and the European Parliament is signalling its wish to push for better. MEPs – especially those from the Green/EFA and GUE/NGL groups – have […]
I was asked a tricky question today after work: if Brussels is the capital of Europe, and lots of people are moving there, why are flat rental low in comparison to other western European capitals? Here’s a wild guess of an answer… Just like anything else in Belgium, this must […]
The game Nationstates that I mentioned here a few days ago is getting more and more bizarre. The main industry in Ventotenesis, my country, is the pizza delivery industry but they were on strike. So, with the future of the country at stake, what should I do? For the hell […]
I cannot quite believe it, but we actually have a deal on the EU budget this morning. I have just read some of the analysis and – to be honest – I cannot work out why anyone but the British would have agreed to this. A bit of cash has […]
First it was the European Constitution, rejected because France could not get its act together. Now it seems like enlargement is likely to meet a similar fate, with French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy refusing to grant the Republic of Macedonia candidate status – see this article. Blazy’s reason: because the […]
Continuing their series about Sweden, BBC News Online has published a new article about Swedish public health. Read it here. This article is more detailed than the other ones they have posted on the website. It looks in depth about how the decentralised nature of Swedish healthcare might be better […]
It’s not too often that you stumble across so much useful and interesting research, but the EU seems to have managed that feat this week with its Urban Audit. It basically amounts to a vast survey of all aspects of quality of life in different European cities. The only problem […]
Facing the possibility that no budget deal will be agreed at the European Council 15-16 December, the UK Presidency has woken up to the fact that the European Parliament should also agree to any deal. The response – complaining about their democratic mandate! From this article from EUObserver: "Own resources […]
The dust has barely settled after his leadership victory and David Cameron has already walked into a storm on that old issue that has blighted the Tories for so long: Europe. Prior to his victory, Cameron had pledged to withdraw the Tory MEPs from the European People’s Party / European […]
An entry at Eric Sundstr√∂m’s blog started me thinking about the comparisons between the leaders of the UK’s two main parties now David Cameron has taken over as leader of the Tories, and the situation in Sweden where Fredrik Reinfeldt is up against Goran Persson. Other than giving the opportunity […]
