World Bank Land Grab Report Under Fire
The World Bank report on massive investments into developing world agriculture is causing a stir among Brussels' huge development activist community.
Insult and injury
A Danish citizen is banned from Russia for her reporting of the Caucasus...
Iceland and the EU: Fish, Finance and acquiring the real Acquis of Europe
'A moment of joy' said Belgian Foreign Minister Vanackere for the European Council of Ministers. 'A day of celebration,' said Icelandic Foreign Minister Össur Skarphéðinsson, With the meeting of the Accession Conference on 27 July 2010, Iceland ha...
Delegates want raw material export ban
Participants at a meeting of the African Union’s Trade and Industry Commission proposed that the continent adopts policies to discourage the export of raw materials to the developed world. During a media briefing at Munyonyo, Kampala, Ms Elizabet...
Africa-Europe underwater cable: West Africa to get high speed internet
France Telecom and a consortium of 20 members of the telecommunications industry, Saturday, signed an agreement to build an underwater cable between Europe and South Africa. The fiber optic cable is expected to provide broadband internet access to 19...
Highest European HIV rate Ukraine: threat of Lavra clinic closure
1.6% of Ukraine's population are infected with HIV, though people ignore or remain silent about the problem. In Kiev one of the most important treatment centres for Aids patients is to be closed - in order to make place for a luxury hotel. The decisi...
Women in UK politics
The Robert Schuman Foundation have recently published some research which compares the level of ministers and members of parliament across the EU and show how many are women. The UK comes in below the EU average on all three indicators that they use...
EU unveils multi-billion research fund to boost economy
The EU commissioner for research and innovation, Ireland's Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, announced yesterday (19 July) nearly €6.4 billion of investment in research and development to be spent by the end of 2011. The package, described as Europe's bigges...
EC launches a survey on Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs)
The European Commission has launched a survey on the protection and enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) in third countries, in order to collect feedback from EU companies and other stakeholders. This survey is linked to the Strategy fo...
Brussels’ Parakeet Population Soars
What's green, flies and thrives in Brussels? There are now 10,000 of them and they're becoming a problem.
Women Break Traditions to Show That Fishing is Not a Man's Job
A few years back, it would have been almost taboo for women to get into the waters to fish. A recent harvesting at Baraka Makongeni Conservation Group in Kenya's south Coast where a record 130 kilos of fish was netted in less than two hours has broug...
feeling sorry for CHP’s EU office
as she had to make such an irrational statement: Kader Sevinc: The CHP is the most progressive political force in Turkey working for a truly European and democratic Turkey from Blogactiv by admin Asked about the CHP letter to the S&D Group, the C...
Somalia: EC allocates €35 million for victims
The European Commission has adopted a €35 million funding decision to support humanitarian activities in Somalia. It is estimated that approximately 3,200,000 people, about 42% of the population of Somalia, would need emergency humanitarian assista...
Cameron is right about Turkey
Roland Rudd The Prime Minister was absolutely right to say that the EU needs to let Turkey make greater progress towards joining the EU. Eventual Turkish membership would give a great boost to the EU’s Economy. The Prime Minister pointed out that...
Can the EU stand a new wave of Enlargement?
Turkey, Iceland, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia... is the EU ready for a new wave of enlargement? How should we move forward to secure that the new enlargements will further EU’s strengths and not merely highlight its weaknesses?
An Occasional Guide to Irish Politics: The surprisingly cold candidate.
On paper, she’s electoral gold. She’s pretty, young and well-educated. She looks great on a poster and even better in real life, bringing that X factor to politics. Except she doesn’t. When you meet her, she smiles at you and shake...
ACP chief Chambas commends outgoing chair
The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Bureau of the Committee of Ambassadors last week farewelled its Chairman and Gabonese Ambassador, H.E Mr. Rene Makongo. Secretary-General Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas in a brief intervention spoke highly of the Amb...
EU urged to promote 'territorial vision' of farming
Meeting in Brussels, agriculture stakeholders from across Europe have called on the EU to move away from intensive farming to a more sustainable model that supports the economic renaissance of rural areas. A conference organised by the European Commi...
Old PCs - Do They Help Or Harm Africa?
COMPANIES are increasingly compelled to control their emissions and their environmental impact. Legislation specific to electronic waste (e-waste) disposal obliges companies to manage the disposal of computers and other equipment. The European Union'...
The Power of Definition: Stereotypes of Roma in Aksu v. Turkey
The European Court of Human Rights just rendered a judgment on the issue of stereotyped images of Roma in government-funded publications in Turkey. I think the majority decision (4 to 3) lacks sustained analysis and requires problematization. In t...
Morning Brief (29-7)
Nuclear talks with Iran in sight? Reuters reports: Iran and the United States sent positive signals on Wednesday about the possibility of fresh talks on the Iranian nuclear program, which Washington suspects aims to develop atomic weapons. Iran has g...
HSE apologises for appointment of Death as Patient Relations Officer.
Dr. Brendan Drumm has apologised after the Health Services Executive upset patients by appointing one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to a high level position within the organisation. The HSE has accepted that the appointment of a 15 foot skel...
Euroblogs: Bursting the Brussels Bubble?
Is the Euroblogosphere an insignificant appendix to the Brussels Bubble, or perhaps (potentially) something more? Let us offer ‘citoyen lambda (européen)’ (the average EU citizen) a complimentary tour. First, we can state that multilingual Blog...
Washed air
All asthma and allergy sufferers will know what I am talking about. It has been a tough old year. In addition, there have been several peaks in atmospheric pollution in Brussels during the hotter weather. When we have not wanted to scratch out our it...
About Europarties, and other Political Foundations at European Level
Reading Grahnlaw, I found links to: Call for proposals IX-2011/01 — ‘Grants to political parties at European level’; OJEU 24.6.2010 C 164/12 – The total sum, subject to approval by the budgetary authority, is EUR 17 400 000, in order to be el...
Castle in the Sky
I had promised to take the family to see Inception in the evening (see next post). But by the time we got to the cinema there were no places left. So the sprogs were left to choose a mutually agreed DVD. Their choice, exceptionally, was a Japanese a...
