The standard way of looking at the UK’s EU referendum in other capitals around Europe, and indeed within the EU institutions in Brussels, is that – often a bit grudgingly – people feel it would be better for the EU if the UK does not leave. In this blog entry […]
People who work in European Union politics in some way often bemoan the EU’s communications problem. Their classic diagnosis goes something like this: If only people would search out the facts about the European Union, people would better understand that the European Union does work in their interests, and that […]
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 […]
At the height of the Eurozone bailout crisis, Alexis Tsipras went to address the European Parliament. Why bother with that? was the cry of sceptical journalists who have never paid attention to the European Parliament. 887000 viewers of Guy Verhofstadt’s response show that this was a worthwhile political exercise – […]
Obergrenze. It’s the word of the moment in Germany – namely should Germany set an upper limit on the number of refugees that it can take in 2016. CSU leader Seehofer wants to set it at 200000. The Austrians have agreed one (but there are questions if it can work), […]
Ska Keller retweeted this from Spiegel Online journalist Markus Becker earlier: Polish government requested names of all accredited journalists from @EUparliament https://t.co/2ofkNXxq2k #PiS #Poland — Markus Becker (@MarkusBecker) January 21, 2016 The insinuation is that – having purged the Warsaw press, the government of Poland is about to try to […]
Charlie Hebdo has everyone up in arms with their latest cartoon. People have variously said they are enraged, that it is racist, that it is disgusting. For me it most definitely is not funny, but it encompasses such complicated contradictions in one image, in such a painful way, that I […]
Back in July I made a first compilation of Youtube films about the European Union, in German, that were actually very funny. You can see those here. Now, thanks to Publixphere, here are a few more. Enjoy! Showdown in Brüssel: Sonneborn vs. Oettinger Everyone’s favourite Digital Commissioner was subjected to […]
Earlier today I blogged about Politico Europe. My blog entry outlined some good points about it, but found failings too, and was the result of many conversations with many respected people over a couple of weeks. One of the points I raised was that Politico does not react well to […]
It is now 7 months since the US publication launched its European operation. Enough time to reflect on what does, and does not, work with it. In this blog entry I am going to try to give a fair and balanced view of the publication so far. I have canvassed […]
So apparently this morning Ségolène Royal, Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, has announced that security gates will be built to access Thalys trains: De Telegraaf interprets this as meaning bag scanners, going further than La Voix du Nord does (although their story also says the gates (portiques) will […]