When I worked for National School of Government I used to accompany groups of UK civil servants on study trips to Brussels. The aim was that these visits would give the civil servants a first taste of the EU environment.
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Tag: European Parliament
Louis Michel: a MEP cannot blame their assistants on amendments
When changes to EU law are going to have an impact on business, businesses lobby. That is normal. That business tries to use financial clout to increase its influence in Brussels is also normal; that’s why we need things like
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Association Européene des Jeunes Entrepreneurs – a fake entrepreneur association bashing one seat for the EP?
An association for European Young Entrepreneurs. Sounds like a fine idea, right? Well, not if you mean the Association Européene des Jeunes Entrepreneurs – AEJE (website here). The sole purpose of this organisation seems to be simply to attack all efforts to
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Vacuum cleaners in the EU: when technocratic decisions overshadow politics
I saw this tweet earlier today from UKIP MEP Derek Clark, complaining that now the “EU is coming for our vacuum cleaners”. His tweet links to this story from the Nottingham Post. So then, with “is this UKIP bullshit” warning
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No secret ballot in the European Parliament on the EU budget vote!
So it looks like the European Council has agreed a real-terms cut in the EU budget for the 2014-2020 period. This has, understandably, been labelled unacceptable by the 4 largest groups in the European Parliament. Yet, fearing coercion from Member
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De eurostriptease / The Euro striptease – a video on a Flemish MEP’s official Youtube channel
UPDATE 14.30 – the original video, as I suspected, has been pulled from Youtube (it was here). As I stated in my blog post at 10.08 this morning, I downloaded the video before it was removed, and hence can show
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Jens Rohde, Master of the univers [sic]
The European Parliament has introduced some new and essentially sensible rules, asking MEPs to declare their financial interests and business dealings prior to their time as MEPs. This is important, as the what a MEP did prior to being elected
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Martin Schulz: one step forward and one step back on Strasbourg
The good news: President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz seems to have confirmed his commitment to a single seat for the European Parliament in a Swedish radio interview (very short summary from EUObserver here). Problem: he wants the seat
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Charlemagne column in The Economist is the next to have a go at the EP – a few partial replies
It seems the European Parliament can do no right just at the moment. Following hot on the heels of Jack Straw calling for the European Parliament to be abolished, the Charlemagne column in The Economist has weighed into the debate
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Now we have proof: Richard Howitt is the most manically active MEP
When he’s not getting turfed out of Dale Farm, Labour MEP Richard Howitt seems to also be the most active of Labour’s MEPs in the European Parliament, at least thanks to one measure discovered using open data from Ron Patz. The
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Tories seem to have found someone even more barking than Roger Helmer
Today’s good news: Roger Helmer is standing down as a Member of the European Parliament. He says its because he disagrees with nine-tenths of Tory policy, and his statements have become more and more shrill and reactionary over the years.
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LabourList | Better selection and election systems would give us better MEPs
“This week I was in the audience at a Young Fabians* event about Britain and the EU with Mary Honeyball MEP as the speaker. The event was part of one of the Young Fabians Policy Commissions, with the aim of
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