URL: Latest posts
Happy Birthday SPD!
NEW
Wow, was für ein Tag! Das erlebt man wirklich nicht oft, dass man wohin man auch schaut Gesichter sieht, die man sonst nur aus dem Fernsehen kennt. Gabriel, Steinbrück, Steinmeier, Nahles, Schröder, Schmidt, Hollande, Merkel – al...
EUtopia Lost? Thoughts on Austerity
NEW
I am truly worried about Europe. I am currently marking essays on the effects of austerity on the eurozone. Perhaps two out of 250 students wrote that deeper integration of the EU would be a way out of the crisis. As a Europeanist, I had always place...
Cyprus: Let the Banks Go Bankrupt!
NEW
It seems like the euro crisis is entering yet another phase. Negotiations on the bail-out of the Cypriot banking sector seemed to initially go so smoothly. Cyprus appeared to be just another country making use of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM...
Unangenehme Wahrheiten: Gedanken zu "Unsere Mütter, Unsere Väter"
NEW
„Der Krieg wird das Schlechteste in uns hervorbringen“ – das war die Hauptbotschaft des ZDF-Fernsehdreiteilers über das Schicksal von fünf jungen Menschen während des zweiten Weltkrieges. Es ist auch die Botschaft von...
Inconvenient Truths: Lessons from Europe's Past
NEW
War brings out the worst in people. That was the message of the new trilogy produced by ZDF about WW2. That is also the message, that Martin Schulz, the current president of the European Parliament wrote in his analysis of the movie today in the Fran...
Cyprus and the Failed Placebo
NEW
The euro crisis is back. It’s not like Alex or I ever believed that it was gone of course. The news from Alex’s family in Greece was anything but promising, and the numbers seem to speak for themselves. At the same time Europe’s pol...
A Meaty Mess - On How to Reduce Europe's Meat Consumption
NEW
Meat is yummy. We cannot deny it. Living in Liverpool for a couple of weeks, we have found it hard to resist the British ‘delicacies’ gleaming at you in the shelves of Tesco or Sainsbury’s. Bacon, Cumberland sausages, burgers &ndash...
Vom Zauberlehrling David Cameron
NEW
Wir haben nun beide ziemlich lange auf diese Rede gewartet. Der britische Premier hat also versproche, dass Großbritannien bis spätestens November 2018 über dn Verbleid in der EU abstimmen wird. Das ist in mehr als fünf Jahren. W...
David Cameron as the Sorcerer's Apprentice
NEW
We have both been waiting for this speech for a while now. So, the British PM promised the UK that a referendum will be held by no later than November 2018 on British membership of the EU. This is in more than five years’ time. What does Europe...
Why the UK Should Leave the EU. Schnell!
NEW
Being in Liverpool for a couple of days brought me back into the discussions around British EU membership, which appears to be the subject of a fierce debate in this country. I’m not sure what caused it, but the cynical remarks often heard within t...
The Myth of 'Europe'
NEW
A few days ago I heard a very powerful lecture by Denis Wood, in which he talked about the social construction of regions, basically stating that regionalism is a load of “bullshit”. You could pick practically any geographical region in the world...
Selfish Individualists: Why Europe is going the way of the dinosaur
NEW
Sorry for the long silence. Alex and I have moved into a new flat in Leipzig, and we are being kept quite busy by the daily affairs of PhD students. Our new flat is located in the ‘booming’ quarter of Schleußig. The average age here was 35.2 in...
Europa und die Krise: Antwort an Schäuble
NEW
Wolfgang SchäubleEs gibt viel das mir an unserem Finanzminister Schäuble gefällt. Er ist ein wahrer Europäer, und ich glaube ihm, wenn es sein Mitgefühl gegenüber unseren südeuropäischen Nachbarn ausdrückt. Der an einen Rollstuhl gebundene 7...
Europe and the Crisis: Response to Schäuble
NEW
Wolfgang Schäuble: German Minister of FinanceThere are many things that I like about Schäuble, our Minister of Finance. He truly believes in the European idea, and I also believe that he feels for our austerity-struck South European neighbours. The...
Nobel EU: Is it deserved?
NEW
So, the EU has finally made it. After several nominations, the big sui generis has been awarded the most prestigious of international awards: the Nobel Peace Prize. Some have said that it was the right choice at the right time, while others regard it...
Steinbrück: die richtige Wahl für Europa?
NEW
Peer Steinbrück wurde letzte Woche zum Kanzlerkandidaten der SPD erklärt. Der ehemalige Bundesfinanzminister soll also Merkel ablösen, gemeinsam mit den Grünen eine Regierung bilden, Europa führen, die Eurokrise beenden, den Banken Ketten anlege...
Mondragón: There is an alternative
NEW
“There is no alternative.” That is the motto that seems to currently dominate the political discourse in Europe. The other day I read a story on the Guardian that got me thinking… Ed Miliband, head of the British Labour Party, said that “capi...
Mondragón: Es geht auch anders
NEW
Alternativlosigkeit. Dies ist der Tenor, der derzeit im politischen Alltag Europas den Ton angibt. Letzte Woche habe ich im Guardian eine Meldung gelesen, die mir zu Denken gab. Ed Miliband, der Vorsitzende der britischen Labour-Partei, sag...
Klimawandel? Da war doch was...
NEW
Anscheinend erwärmt sich der Erde nicht mehr, und die CO2-Emissionen haben aufgehört, denn während die Nachrichten sich reichlich ums Geld und politisches Geplänkel drehen, ist der Begriff ‚Klimawandel‘ quasi nicht mehr zu hören. Wir sind al...
Whatever Happened to Climate Change?
NEW
I guess the earth must no longer be warming, and that CO2emissions have stopped, because while we hear much about money and political bickering on the news, one topic that used to fill the headlines has practically disappeared. We are back in the era...
