I attended a roundtable dinner at the European Parliament hosted by Danuta Huebner, MEP and Chair of the Regional Development Committee and Laszlo Surjan, MEP on the topic of EU Regional Policy. The discussion was timely not only as we transition from the Hungarian to the Polish Presidencies but also in the context of the… » read more
Archives for EU Priorities
‘The time has come to start re-aligning EU financing with the principles of autonomy, transparency and fairness and equipping the EU to reach its agreed policy objectives.‘ These are the words of European Commission’s ‘A Budget for 2020‘ — its proposals for a multi-annual financial framework (MFF) 2013-2020. The proposal was presented by Commission President… » read more
Human Rights and Polish Presidency
June 28, 2011
In just a few days, Poland will take over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. How will the Presidency tackle the issue of human rights? On 31 May 2011, the Council of Ministers adopted the “Six-Month Programme of the Polish Presidency”. One of the main tasks of the Polish Presidency will be… » read more
EPP pre-summit meeting: where is the meat?
June 23, 2011
I’m back from the EPP summit meeting, which takes place just before the start of the EU summit. I didn’t find what I was searching for. TV journalists could take some footage of leaders coming and going, or sitting around the lunch table, but the other journalists basically had little to do. To make sure… » read more
Europe’s Digital Agenda
June 3, 2011
President of DIGITALEUROPE, Dr Erkki Ormala, writes about the European Digital Agenda for neurope: Europe is at a cross road. In the climate of a continuing fiscal crisis most of our energy is focused on short-term fiscal consolidation. This issue must be resolved in an appropriate way to restore macroeconomic stability which ultimately is a… » read more
WTO trade negotiations are not brisk endeavors. However even by the WTO’s own lethargic standards, the progress of the current Doha round has been disappointingly slow. As a new paper by Aaditya Mattoo, Francis Ng, and Arvind Subramani explains, the main reason for this is the “elephant in the green room” – China. According to… » read more
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China, Conor Griffin, English, EU Priorities, EU WTO, External Relations |
Solutions from Slovakia on the Eurozone Crisis Directed utilization of a mix of instruments 1.) Restructuring parts of debt forgiveness (15-20%) 2.) Internal devaluation (20-25%) 3.) Measures by the Greek government for more effective tax collection and elimination of unproductive expenditures. 4.) Bridging loans from Eurozone mechanisms and the IMF. Together the above form a… » read more
Research1: FP8. Is the EU too proud, too atheistic, to scientifically investigate its origin and Europe’s future?
May 10, 2011
What is the scientific topic that is of most vital interest to the entirety of European research? What is the European scientific discovery that countries around the world look for with green envy and wish they had it? It is a scientific achievement that has the world gazing in open-mouthed wonder. Clue: it is the… » read more
Mr Barroso: Where is EUROPE’s celebration of the first real PEACE and DEMOCRACY in 2000 years?
April 19, 2011
Dear President Barroso and Presidents of European institutions, Today 18 April 2011 marks the sixtieth Anniversary of the foundation of European Democracy. It is also the Birthday of the Commission although the Commission together with the other institutions that were also created that day refuse to acknowledge it. Not even a press release was published.
Ankara aiming for Influence
November 23, 2010
NATO’s Lisbon summit led to calls from Turkey for a right to consultations on the EU’s CSDP, while EU officials retorted that it is impossible for Ankara to have any say in the planning of EU military missions (EUObserver, November 21). Although there are some channels of influence for third countries participating in the CSDP,… » read more
Can the EU afford to miss a compromise on its budget?
November 17, 2010
I think that EU leaders will find a compromise over the 16-17 December summit and overcome the present deadlock on the budget for 2011. The political cost of a lack of compromise would be too high. The signal the EU would send to the world, and to markets, would cause too much harm, especially to… » read more
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48358, Economy - Finances, English, EU Institutions, EU Priorities |
Budget4 Legal Questions to European Leaders on Openness and Public Money to Prove you are Democrats not Kleptocrats
November 11, 2010
Seventy years ago Europeans fought a war about theft of property. The Nazis were kleptocrats. The gang stole from everyone they could. It became a planetary war. In Germany Hitler disenfranchised many of his honest citizens. He stripped them of their wealth and then sent them with any persistent supporters, Jews, Christians, journalists or politicians,… » read more
The Evolution of the External Representation of the EU – What has History Taught us?
November 9, 2010
The Council has decided to establish a European External Action Service (EEAS) for the EU, with an aim of creating a modern and effective EU foreign service. In this contribution, Špela Majcen argues that to know the future of the EEAS, we should now where it comes from. In her post, Špela walks us through… » read more
Budget3 Who will take the Council to Court for plotting to pinch the public’s money, violating the Treaty and bringing democratic Europe into disrepute?
November 4, 2010
Can the Council and the European Council be taken to Court for illegal action on the budget? The question was raised following my last commentary. Billions of public money are involved in a time of austerity and financial crises. The European Council, the Council of Ministers and the Parliament could all be potential offenders and… » read more
The following was written by Paddy Cassidy, alumnus of the College of Europe in Bruges. In his contribution, Paddy argues that the peoples of Europe are not hungry for a meny of “ever closer union”. The following views are his own. Federal Europe, where and who art thou? While it is a truism that there… » read more
The Lisbon Treaty was not ALL dictated by politicians who wanted more power and more money for their careers. Initially it was called the Constitutional Treaty, with which it is largely identical. (It was never a constitution but merely another treaty as Mr Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, its architect, said many times.) The drafting of that… » read more
Euro task force report leaves many issues open
October 18, 2010
This story about the Euro task force report was published by EurActiv on 18th October 2010. The EU is inching closer to new rules on vetting countries’ debt levels but is still struggling with the controversial prospect of changing the treaties, according to a draft report by a special task force on economic governance, seen… » read more
We need more… what?
September 9, 2010
President Barroso’s state of the Union was undoubtfully an unprecedented speech, but even revealed a couple of things, which may be useful to think about. The Portuguese head of Comission is the first to serve two mandates since 1995, when the doubling frenchman Jacques Delors was replaced by Jacques Santer. Does Barroso have the chance… » read more
Looking at Russia, Pakistan or China this summer, we can bet environment will come back on people radars and political agendas. Let’s face it: no viable and timely global solution exist for current population and CO2 emissions. But as population growth is part of the risk, I am curious how Europe is positioned to building… » read more
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Energy and Climate Change, English, EU Priorities, Geopolitics |
Real Risks #1: Old People
July 20, 2010
The following is the first part of a summer series of disquiet. While the Risk Monger writes this blog to ridicule the fear mongers, there are certain risks that keep him awake at night. No it is not rising sea levels or contaminated food chains, ensuing pandemics or pervasive chemicals – I’ll leave those for… » read more