So it is done. Mogherini has today been appointed as the new Rector of the College of Europe at a meeting of the Academic Council of the College, to be confirmed by the Administrative Council in June. Not that there is a formal statement about the appointment yet – that...
A fortnight ago I wrote a blog post about the possible appointment of Federica Mogherini as Rector of the College of Europe, and why Herman Van Rompuy has questions to answer about this. Since then I have dug. I have investigated. I have asked. And I have found no answers...
TRANSPARENCY NOTE: I have been teaching at the College of Europe in Bruges for 5 years. I teach the Negotiation Simulation (compulsory course, taught with 2 others) and a short optional course entitled “Online Communications in EU Policy-Making“, both courses in the Politics Department (there are also Law, Economics and...
It has been a while since I last wrote about teaching about the EU through simulation games. Now, in light of further experience, it is high time to return to this topic. I’ve now run 4 negotiation simulations at the College of Europe in Bruges (together with my colleagues Pierpaolo...
Matteo Renzi has an idea: train Eurocrats in Italy, as a way to boost Italy’s influence in the EU. Possibly a good idea. He wants that place to be Santo Stefano. That’s a really bad idea. Yes, nearby Ventotene was where Altiero Spinelli was imprisoned, and where he penned the...
For the first time in the academic year 2015-16 I am a member of the faculty of the politics department at the College of Europe in Bruges. My own MA is from the College of Europe (in 2003-04) and it is good to be back there as a teacher this...
So someone had the temerity to criticise the über-Eurocrat Barroso on the blog of the Eurocrat school! And then the blog post was removed, without explanation, as pointed out by @quarsan on Twitter, and argued on Facebook here. Anyway, thanks to the joys of Google Cache, here is a PDF...
Seems that BIS has had a re-think and reckons that the UK should still provide some scholarships to the College of Europe in Bruges, as reported in today’s FT. This is an issue that I first covered here on 29th January this year, so the change of heart has also...
It’s good to see that the story that the UK government is cutting funding for the College of Europe is starting to be seen more widely – today’s FT has a story entitled “Funding cut for places at Eurocrat college“. I first wrote about the issue on Friday last week...
It’s one of Tony Blair’s best known phrases, a promise to put Britain at the heart of Europe. Leaving the big issues (Euro, Iraq) to one side, any relationship with the European Union needs people to make the relationship work, and that’s the focus of this blog entry – where...