It’s the first rule of EU negotiations: present a united front in Brussels and then, even if things don’t go your way, you can retreat to your national capital and say “OK, at least we fought for X, Y or Z”. Not so for Poland at this week’s European Council […]
Gawain at England Expects has an interesting article this evening that alleges that the contract for MyParl.eu has been cancelled. Lest we forget, this is the EU-funded project being run by Euractiv and Mostra that aimed to create a sort of social network of national parliamentarians and MEPs, and drew […]
I would like to welcome another T Harris to the British political blogosphere. Yes, everyone knows about Tom Harris MP, but from today Lord Toby Harris’s blog is live. Toby was Labour leader on Haringey Borough Council for more than 20 years, a member of the London Assembly for one […]
I don’t know enough about economics to comment on practicalities of the current economic turmoil, but I want to instead reflect on the way the media – especially in the UK and USA – needs to change its vocabulary when reporting on what is going on. Take today’s BBC News […]
European Parliament elections are scheduled for June 2009 and the party lists for Labour have been set for some time now. It was known that Glenys Kinnock would not seek re-election, and it was announced yesterday that Eluned Morgan MEP will not be standing in the 2009 either. Gary Titley, […]
What a change. Gordon Brown, the politician known for seldom showing face at ECOFIN in Brussels when Chancellor (and for reading his papers rather that listening when he did), is now suddenly taking the EU seriously. No more lecturing other European capitals that the UK has the only financial system […]
From time to time up pops ex-German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer to demoan some aspect of how the EU conducts its business. Last week was no exception, with a short interview with Euractiv that contains this passge: I think we need an avant-garde to deepen integration. We are unable to move together because […]
Baroness Ashton has been nominated as the British member of the European Commission to replace Peter Mandelson, but she’ll be in post only until the summer of 2009 as a new Commission takes office in autumn 2009 (presuming she can take even up the position). She would of course be […]
Gordon Brown nominated Baroness Ashton to be European Commissioner after Peter Mandelson returned to UK government. The reason is clear enough – Brown did not want a by-election that Labour might loose after the Crewe and Glasgow East debacles. After the first reaction (who is Baroness Ashton), thoughts turned to […]
Has Brown made a monumental error in putting forward Baroness Ashton to replace Peter Mandelson as the UK’s European Commissioner? That’s the interesting issue raised in a comment by Giacomo Benedetto (more on his blog) on my previous post about the UK’s new nominee. The issue has also been covered […]
I was very wide of the mark with my previous post so now, with some more time to write and a couple of hours mulling over the implications of the reshuffle, here are my thoughts. First of all Mandelson from the UK point of view. He’s probably respected and loathed […]
Shock news: Peter Mandelson is back in ther UK Cabinet today in Gordon Brown’s reshuffle. So he’ll be resigning as a member of the European Commission. Geoff Hoon is to be Transport Secretary. So who will go to Brussels as European Commissioner? Patricia Hewitt is my bet, as I’ve previously […]
