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
Continue reading
Tag: Herman Van Rompuy
Open Letter to Herman Van Rompuy
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
Continue reading
Why Federica Mogherini should not be appointed Rector of the College of Europe, and if she is appointed, Herman Van Rompuy has questions to answer
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
Continue reading
Candidates for President of the European Commission – where we stand in January 2014
Back in the early summer of 2013 I wrote a detailed series of blog posts about the future President of the European Commission. There were posts about EPP, PES and other candidates. Overall those posts have stood up well over
Continue reading
Tony Blair isn’t going to get any EU top job. Face it. Move on.
So the old master is back, working his rhetorical magic at a Business for New Europe / Chatham House event in London yesterday. The full text of his speech is here. At one level I welcome Blair’s intervention in the
Continue reading
Take, take, take, and a scant grasp of the facts – this week’s UK-EU hulabaloo
Anyone would think – from reading the stories today on The Guardian’s website – that the UK is shaping up for some major fight with the European Union over treaty reform prior to this week’s summit. There are two problems
Continue reading
The complicated balance between listening and leading, and how it applies to politics in Europe
Look across Europe, and think of the calibre of its leaders. Merkel, Sarkozy, Cameron. Zapatero, Berlusconi, Tusk. Reinfeldt, Løkke, Pahor. Brussels with Barroso and Van Rompuy. This is not a quality lineup, not what one would classically call a statesman
Continue reading
The need for a credible bargain – what the EU should learn from today’s #EUCO Twitter wall experience
There’s a legendary story for those of us that look at political activity on the web that concerns change.gov, Obama’s platform to allow the public to put forward their political ideas that went live the day after he was inaugurated.
Continue reading
I’m like a fish out of water at Lift Off Towards Open Government
I applied to attend a large tech and politics conference happening today in Brussels entitled Lift Off Towards Open Government, organised by the Belgian Presidency of the Council with support from the European Commission. I applied to attend as a
Continue reading
Spanish Presidency web failure (and Van Rompuy isn’t much better)
Inspired by this post on the European Citizen blog I decided to take a look at the website of the 2010 Spanish Presidency of the EU. OK, they have put some money into it, but it’s miles behind the website
Continue reading
Where we could have been this evening – Lamy/Freiberga/Miliband
I try to see the positives where I can, but I am really struggling this evening. Who actually wanted Barroso, Van Rompuy and Ashton to be running the European Union? It all strikes me as the lowest common denominator of
Continue reading
Baroness Ashton for High Rep – really?
Rumours are reaching me via Twitter that Baroness Ashton, UK Labour politician and outgoing Commissioner for Trade is the individual the socialists are now backing to be the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Policy. I must say I am astounded.
Continue reading