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April 2, 2009
Yesterday’s meeting in London between Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev was very welcome. They are to seek to agree a new arms control treaty this year. Obama has indeed ‘pressed the reset button’, as promised. The atmosphere of the meeting was good. With Barack Obama replacing George W Bush, hopefully western understanding of Russian… » read more
April 1, 2009
President Obama has done what many citizens across the world following the preparations for the Copenhagen Climate Conference had hoped for: take the lead. He has invited the heads of government of the 16 main emitter countries of green house gases and the UN Secretary General to a meeting at the White House, April 27-28th,… » read more
Immigration policy discussion is gaining speed inside EU. It has been said that harder attitude towards immigrants has guided peoples voting behaviour related e.g. to Lisbon Treaty, it is one topic while considering EU enlargement and today’s financial turmoil is heating discussion more. One aspect of immigration policy discussed in Finland is […]
March 26, 2009
Gordon Brown, in a whirlwind trip to Brussels and the Americas, is seeking to ensure that there will be broad consensus at the G20++ summit in London next month on, in particular, stimulus packages and new regulation. There is consensus as to the existence of a global economic and financial crisis, but on little else.… » read more
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Economy & Euro, Economy & Euro, English, Financial institutions, Financial meltdown, Financial Services, international, langues et culture européennes - europäische Sprachen, Us Europeans |
March 19, 2009
The Conference of European Presidents have decided that three reports on the Lisbon Treaty (Brok, Dehaene and Leinen), adopted by the Constitutional Affairs Committee, would not be put to plenary. The reason is that a major public debate on arrangements applying the Lisbon Treaty could affect adversely the second Irish referendum. Parliament has obviously caught… » read more
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English, EU, EU Elections, EU Priorities and Opinion, EU Treaty & Institutions |
March 18, 2009
An increasing number of voices are speaking out in the UK in favour of the EU, including those of hitherto eurosceptics (as reported in previous posts). The latest is Foreign Minister David Miliband in a speech in London on 9 March. He sees the economic crisis as challenging the EU’s core values and institutions, the… » read more
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Economy & Euro, English, EU, EU Priorities and Opinion, international |
The consequences of climate change can be serious, but even more dangerous is the way we may react to the strain such change can impose on society. Climate change will not affect every geographic region equally; rather some areas will be hard hit, while others might escape the consequences or even […]
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Business & Climate Change, Copenhagen Climate Conference, Copenhagen conference, English, environment |
March 13, 2009
The Conservatives will leave the EPP-ED group after the June elections. Joseph Daul, leader of the European People’s Party group was formally informed on Wednesday, in Strasbourg, by a Conservative delegation led by foreign affairs spokesman William Hague. The stated intention is to establish a new grouping in the European Parliament. There are currently 27… » read more
March 11, 2009
The Slovenian and Croatian foreign ministers, meeting yesterday with EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, failed to agree on EU mediation to overcome a border row that threatens to delay Croatia’s plans to conclude EU accession talks by the end of 2009. The dispute is over the small bay of Piran in the Adriatic Sea at… » read more
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English, Enlargement & Neighbours, Enlargement and Neighbours |
March 9, 2009
The European Competitiveness summit should look very different this year. The March 19-20 meeting will be struggling to finalise an EU position for the April 2 crisis meeting of the G20 in London on the basis of the Commission’s Communication. Negotiations will take place against a profoundly uncertain economic backdrop where there are major potential… » read more
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Economy & Euro, English, Financial Services, Public Affairs, Trade & Industry, Uncategorized |
The biggest European automobile manufacturer has announced its intention to introduce a new extra high fuel-efficiency model as of this autumn. Its consumption would be 3.3 litre/100 km, or the equivalent of 87 grammes C02 emissions per km. This news has to be on the background of aconfirms swing in the automobile market away from… » read more
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Automobile Maunfacturers, Business & Climate Change, Climate change, Emissions Reduction, energy efficiency, English, Trade & Industry |
Cohesion Policy makes up the largest chunk of the EU budget. It is of tremendous importance to put the EU on a growth and innovation trajectory and to align national and regional development policies for the knowledge society. To help the future orientation of cohesion policy towards regional R&D and innovation needs, ERRIN, the European… » read more
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English, EU, EU Priorities and Opinion, EU programmes, innovation, Innovation and Growth, Regional cooperation, regional development |
March 5, 2009
The European Commission and the city of Brussels presented today the winners of a design competiton for the Brussels EU quarter. This is how Rue de la Loi could look like:
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belgium, brussels, commission, English, EU Quarter, urban planning |
I would put a bigger stress on financial motivation than on mitigation commitments. Although China would be the bigger prize in the deal, Russia is in a worse position: its economy is almost entirely based on the sale (and consequent) burning of fossil fuels.
The following story was published on Tuesday 3rd March. At an EU informal summit on Sunday (1 March), leaders from Central and Eastern European countries strongly criticised Western media for depicting their countries as “black holes” and major threats to economic stability. “Eastern European countries need to repay short-term debts of more than $400 billion… » read more
March 2, 2009
The European Commission will present a preliminary assessment and response to the main conclusions of the de Larosière Report on 4 March. A detailed implementation plan should be produced by the end of the year. The report published on 26 February, calls for tightened financial supervision, makings 31 recommendations and calling for a European System… » read more
Today’s summit was a sing of lack of leadership and vision for the future of Europe. When the crisis will be over, Merkel and Sarkozy will be the leaders of the past, and the EU will look fundamentally different from today. The rift between the East and the West has become manifest. The Eastern member… » read more
February 24, 2009
Eastern Europe has been stealing jobs by using their people to produce French cars being sold to French people. That is going to stop with me. This is the baseline of Sarkozy’s remarks in the last couple of days. But as we have seen in the 1930s, protectionism results in retaliation after retaliation, countries keep… » read more
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car industry, Economy & Euro, English, EU Priorities and Opinion, France, Protectionism, sarkozy |
January 16, 2009
Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton did not mention the EU in her statement at her 13 January Senate Hearing from which it has been deduced by some in Europe that this is an indication that the new administration will downgrade the EU in favour of the Member States. The relevant paragraph reads: “Our traditional relationships… » read more
January 9, 2009
For the second time in three years, the EU faces a cut of its gas supplies from Russia, which provides about 25 percent of its gas needs. Millions of people in South-East Europe find themselves without proper heating after the Ukrainian transit gas pipeline has been shut off January 7th amid harsh winter temperatures. The… » read more
