Today’s EUObserver has an article about how the European Commission is struggling to find enough English language mother tongue interpreters. As everyone in Brussels works in English, so the need for Brits and Irish to speak other European languages declines – or at least that’s the gist of the article. […]
I am completely and totally sick of politicians who whine that the reason the EU will not work is because there is no European demos. Vaclav Klaus was at it again today in the EP, and Bruno Waterfield is practically jumping up and down with glee about the speech. Well […]
European Elections are now very much on the horizon and I’m happy to have been able to work with one MEP to create a campaign page – Swedish Social Democrat Åsa Westlund’s site went online this week, of course powered by WordPress. The site brings together all of the different […]
I met Dave Keating, author of the excellent Gulf Stream Blues blog, for a coffee yesterday and we started to chat about UK politics. What, he asked me, were my thoughts about Gordon Brown’s prospects? It seems that as the government’s opinion poll ratings have taken hit after hit so […]
6000 working groups during the Swedish Presidency!? What do all those meetings do? That’s the question posed by Open Europe. Undoubtedly there is a cost, and a financial burden, posed by this number of meetings but – frankly – what is the alternative? Let’s take the Working Party on Olive […]
There’s nothing that manages to get my annoyed quite the way that border guards do. Especially when they are fat, pompous Austrians with a gun in a holster at their hip that greet you with ‘Grüß Gott’ and control your passport a few minutes after your train has left Brenner […]
Oh, what a day. I’ve been teaching Italian civil servants about the principles of UK government written and oral briefing – the fourth day of five days of training that has taken me from Bologna to Roma and now to Caserta. The training venue is in the heart of the […]
“The President of the European People’s Party (EPP) Party, Wilfried Martens, has just upped the pressure on David Cameron by asking for a clear decision by April from the Tory leader as to whether the United Kingdom’s Conservatives will sit in the EPP-ED group in the European Parliament after the […]
Having been shocked by the horrible living conditions of the Roma in the Italian capital while jogging earlier this week I today returned to the area, camera in hand. There were no police or military present this time. It’s far from easy to take photos when people are looking at […]
I travelled on a brand new ETR600 Pendolino between Roma and Caserta this evening. I ideally needed to get an internet connection and there was a WiFi signal in the train, called ‘Passengers’, but it was WPA Password protected. I guessed ‘trenitalia’ as the password and it proved to be […]
President of the EPP Party Wilfried Martens has just upped the pressure on David Cameron by asking for a clear decision by April from the Tory leader as to whether the UK Conservatives will sit in the EPP-ED group in the European Parliament after the elections in June. This is […]
The end of a clear January day in Roma. Time for a run before the sun set over the pines lining the hills along the Tiber north of the city, a perfect end to a long day in the office. The cycle path along the Tiber is a perfect place […]
