URL: Latest posts
Europa site
There's a great new site on The Guardian: Europa. It's a joint project with a few other European newspapers to tackle European affairs. Hopefully it will generate some good analysis and debate on what's going on - and help us to debate a bit more acr...
The Fiscal Stability Treaty
We've got our new Fiscal Stability Treaty (which you can read here). Frankly, it's hard to know how to approach it, given the fact that I've posted about it when it came out and on the problem it poses for the European left. Not much has changed in t...
Happy Birthday Bloggingportal.eu!
The EU blog aggregating website Bloggingportal.eu is 3 tomorrow. Since it was launched the number of blogs being aggregated has ballooned to 904, with over 250 posts being generated over the past week. The Euroblogosphere is definitely more vibrant t...
A stronger, more active European Parliament?
Martin Schulz, the former leader of the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament has been elected the President of the Parliament for 2.5 years.* He's set out his stall for parliamentarianism: that he'll stick up for the EP within th...
Debate on Hungary in the European Parliament
Hungary's Prime Minister addressed the European Parliament today in the debate on Hungary's new constitution and Fidesz's actions in power. Earlier, in the debate on the Danish presidency, Danish PM Thorning-Schmidt signaled her support for the Commi...
What legal action is the Commission taking against Hungary?
The Commission has announced that it will be taking legal action against Hungary, but only so much can be done under EU law. While people point out that:"Viktor Orbán's regime combines the extreme centralisation of economic assets (including the exp...
Ireland's Euro-diplomacy (and Debate)
Last night's Tonight with Vincent Browne debated the Irish government's (and Taoiseach Enda Kenny's) ability to negotiate in the EU. Key to this was an exchange in the Dáil where Michael Martin (the Leader of the Opposition) questioned Kenny's appro...
Brussels v Brussels: Belgium and the EU clash over the budget
The Commission’s scrutiny of Belgium’s draft budget has caused a political backlash from PS (PES) government minister Paul Magnette:““Wie kent Olli Rehn? Wie heeft ooit het gezicht van Olli Rehn gezien? Wie weet waar hij vandaan komt en wat h...
Shifts on the New Fiscal Compact
The EU Observer has reported some changes in the drafts on the new fiscal compact:"The role of the EU commission in taking debt sinners to court for not properly transposing the golden rule into national law, an idea introduced in the second draft at...
The Orbarony of Hungary
This weekend saw, rightly, a wave of stories about Hungary (see yesterday's Week in Bloggingportal for some blog articles). The new constitution came in for a strong attack by the Party of European Socialists president Sergei Stanishev:"Hungarian dem...
"The European Citizen" - Three Today!
The European Citizen has now been going for three years! This year has been the quietest so far on the blog, even if it's been packed full of crises in the real world. Still, some of 2011 in the EU has been reflected here.First, there was the long-aw...
Send in the Junior Ministers
Given the talk about the UK and the infamous veto and what it means for British diplomacy, it might be worth puzzling over the French use of its Junior Ministers.French EU Affairs minister Jean Leonetti made a strong prediction for the Financial Tran...
Hungary for change
Last year when Hungary was taking over the rotating Council presidency, the Fidesz government was bringing in a controversial media law which we launched a blogging action over. Though the law was revised after discussions with the EU, EU law in the...
The Troubles of the New Fiscal Compact
Yesterday I wrote about the left and the new fiscal compact, and I've noted that the centre-left PES seems to be hoping that the French and German elections will help replace our current Merkozy with a PES version. EUObserver has reported that a majo...
A new EU history. For China
China has its first textbook on the history and development of the EU: an Austrian book that was unveilled by the Austrian ambassador in China, Sajdik, who also revised and updated the book for translation. As Der Standard reports, it's apparently on...
The Left and the New Fiscal Compact
The new fiscal compact is all about discipline. Eurozone states will need to keep their debt and deficits under control and this will be supervised by the Commission. The compact has come in for a lot of criticism already for two reasons - it's too a...
Unreasonableness and the Rebate
While political battles are being waged over Cameron's veto, there seems to be at least one point of consensus within Britain: that the demands on the protection for financial services were reasonable. The Labour party hasn't set out exactly what it...
Nirj Deva and the European Parliament Presidency Campaign
The British European Conservative and Reformist candidate for the Presidency of the European Parliament, Nirj Deva, has gained support from far-right MEPs despite not seeking it:"A nomination paper leaked to Hope Not Hate, a UK anti-fascist watchdog...
Post-Veto Politics
Britain has lost influence and friends in the EU due to the veto, but it doesn't mean that the UK won't get another chance to sit around the negotiating table because the new fiscal compact is far from a done deal.Isolated BritainFirst of all, how Br...
The new fiscal compact
Yesterday's neotiations have produced an agreement on a new "fiscal compact" (i.e. they hope the ECB will start playing the role of a normal central bank as much as it can now, even though it's too politically difficult for Germany to agree to it yet...
