100 posts
Danish Presidency priorities: presented in EP Committees
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The priorities of Denmark's Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers has been presented to European Parliament committees by Danish ministers this week. According to Trade and Investment Minister Pia Olsen Dyhr, the EU's international trade policy...
A striking coincidence for Monday’s EU summit
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Monday’s meeting of EU leaders is meant to focus on growth and jobs, which makes it all the more ironic that it will likely be heavily disrupted by a general strike called by Belgian unions on the same day. The …Continue reading: "A striking...
EU Council: Evaluating the Danish presidency programme
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For friends of melodrama we suggest Public Service Europe's take on the Council of the European Union, but let us return to bumbling through the primary sources about the Danish presidency. Our roadmap is the programme presented by the government of...
EU Council presidency of Denmark in the media 1/2
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After a look at media reporting about the Danish presidency of the Council of the European Union, the euroblogger Jon Worth pronounced ”perhaps not stellar, but at least there is some online discussion about the Press Trip and the launch of the Pre...
The launch of the Danish EU presidency: "a very, very sad day for Denmark"
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“This is a very, very sad day for Denmark”. Those were the most memorable words by Danish PM Helle Thorning Schmidt when she together with EU Commission president José Barroso yesterday launched the country´s EU presidency in Copenha...
Thorny questions for Denmark and EU Council
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Each EU Council presidency has to confront a number of difficult issues. Denmark is no exception. Here I am going to name but two thorny issues, both relating to the area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ), or justice and home affairs (JHA). Sch...
Work to do for the EU. The plans of the Danish Presidency for the first half of 2012
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It’s the start of a new year, and with the beginning of 2012 we also enter into a new Presidency for the EU. For the next six months it is up to Denmark to set the course for European policies. Last Friday, 6 January, the Danish Presidency presente...
An awkward start to Denmark’s EU presidency
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A good chunk of the Brussels press corps has been in Copenhagen this week for the formal kick-off of Denmark’s turn at the EU’s 6-month rotating presidency. Days of back-to-back ministerial briefings and ceremonial events have focused intensively...
What is danish “rugbrød”?
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In Denmark there is an expression called “et stykke rugbrødsarbejde” – translated directly into english “a piece of rye breads work”. This might not make sense for many foreigners, but for danes this means a solid and s...
How much does a Presidency cost?
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The only point of genuine contention in the first session of the Danish Presidency press trip with Europe Minister Nicolai Wammen was a debate about the cost of running a Presidency. What – a Polish journalist asked – is the … Continue read...
Growth and jobs: Denmark's EU Council presidency
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Prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and the rest of the Danish government presented the presidency programme Friday: Europe at work: Programme of the Danish Presidency of the European Union 2012, 1 January to 30 June 2012 (61 pages) The programme...
So who attends a Presidency press trip?
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One of my questions before arriving in Copenhagen was: who are the others who are attending the Danish Presidency press trip? Now I have the answer – albeit only on paper. This is a picture of the pages from the … Continue reading →...
Priorities of the Danish EU Presidency
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Denmark has recently presented the official programme of the Danish EU Presidency for the next 6 months. The programme, which has been unveiled to the Danish and international press along with the diplomatic corps in Copenhagen, notably presents 4...
Leading by example...
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Danish daily Politiken today informs us that the ongoing Danish Presidency of the EU - the Danes took over the rotating six-month EU chair on January 1 - will aim to be "one of the cheapest yet", with a budget of around €35 million.In comparison:Th...
European democracy or euro crash?
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Prime minister David Cameron did not get off the Titanic. He blocked the Euro ambulance. The Titanic metaphor catches the imagination, but it is wrong because the United Kingdom was not aboard the Euro vessel, so it is logically impossible to get off...
Defiant UK Parliament praises Cameron and rebalances EU relationship
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Yesterday the UK Parliament (House of Commons) adopted, by 278 votes to 200 (all Liberal Democrat MPs abstaining), the following motion: That this House commends the Prime Minister on his refusal at the European Council to sign up to a Treaty without...
EU Summit: our last slow dance together?
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By Dominique Strzyz Photo: Davide Martinotti Waiting for the dancing queen The Merkozy duet proposes to open the music box of the Lisbon Treaty whether we dance with 27 or with 17. But what can we dance together to persuade the maestros o...
European Council: competing agendas
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The heads of state or government meet in the European Council today in a weird atmosphere. The two largest ”shareholders”, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy (Merkozy) have ganged up to sort out their internal differences and to impose their solut...
A short guide to the European Council
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1) This is it. The summit to beat all summits. This is D-day for the eurozone crisis. You may think you have heard this before. You have. But now Standard & Poor’s have said so, too. So it must be true. 2) “Bazooka”. First coined by...
EU Ecofin set European Semester in motion
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Ronny Patz has recently blogged about how EU institutions can helpfully interact with human beings, or continue to operate like a permanent diplomatic congress where solidarity between governments is paramount. From a slightly different angle we can...
Year in Review: Awarding the European Political Elite
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Reflecting on 2011: where to start? 2011 has been another busy year for writers, analysts and students of foreign policy: from the Arab revolutions, to the nuclear disaster of Fukushima, to the war in Libya, to the Euro crisis, to the domestic turmoi...
EU: Ecofin followed up G20 Cannes summit
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When I waded through the documents published by the G20 summit in Cannes 3 to 4 November 2011, I wondered if the Ecofin Council of the EU would find anything intelligent to say, something to highlight for posterity. Now we have the Ecofin conclusions...
EU: Ecofin and Annual Growth Survey 2012
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The agenda of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council 30 November 2011 promises a presentation by the Commission of the Annual Growth Survey (AGS). Here is a recent blog post about the second European Semester and AGS, with links back to the first...
EU: Ecofin G20 Cannes summit follow-up
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It happened less than four weeks ago, but the daily developments during the global financial crisis and the crisis of the euro make it feel like an eternity: the G20 Cannes summit. According to the agenda of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council...
Denmark wants to make strides on EU budget
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The incoming Danish EU Presidency will try to get "as far as possible" on the next EU budget for 2014-2020, knowing that a deal is unlikely to be struck until the end of its term, the country's ambassador in Brussels said on 23 November. The EU's
Mr. Van Rompuy: Churchill provides the model
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At the University of Zurich, Herman Van Rompuy argued that Europeans need to pay greater attention to the Indo-Pacific zone. He is right. However, he is wrong to assume that trade will alone maintain peace, devoid of military power. Churchill realise...
EU Council communications: quick response
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The informal Euro Group did not make it to the front page Council news by Tuesday morning, but the press staff quickly published two visible items in prime place, at the top. The text leads you to a summary with useful links (although it could have l...
EU Council communications: Heard of the eurozone?
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Is it irony, or what? We are in the middle of a crisis of some proportions in the eurozone (population 332 million). There are widespread fears that the euro house of cards might crash in a near future if the assembly line of ”comprehensive solutio...
The Lisbon Treaty's ticking time bomb
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This should send alarm bells ringing in No 10: As the Sunday Telegraph noted, in a forthcoming report this week, we'll be pointing to the concerning fact that, in future, the UK and other non-eurozone members could be left in a permanent minority in...
The EU Council’s right to initiative? – Less pay for EU officials requested
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Everyone studying the European Union knows that it’s the Commission that proposes legislation. However, this doesn’t say the Commission is always at the origin of such proposals. The Lisbon Treaty for example grants the Council the right...
The 26-27 October 2011: The night of the tweeting journalists
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Let’s say this summit to save Greece and the Eurozone will have ended kind of late, late in the night. But those who were following these “events” won’t forget those brave women and men tweeting live from the European Council...
EU summit: Brussels road show | Editorial
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Muddling through is better than a heroic disasterDemocratic politics is always partly about what you actually do, and partly about how you frame what you do for public consumption. European summits embody this dual truth at every turn, dizzyingly mul...
Will Europe be saved tonight?
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I'm here at the big EU summit in Brussels, the D-day event that is being billed as the last chance to save the Euro and prevent a collapse of the European economy. Even if the leaders emerge from those fortified doors having done everything the marke...
The night before the European Council: Merkel takes some drinks
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The night before the European Council on 23 October 2011, the two French journalists Jean Quatremer and Arnaud Leparmentier have dinner in the hotel Amigo where also the French and the Germans are lodged. “Diner ce soir à l’hôtel Amigo...
Sunday, bloody Sunday
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If the eurozone’s presidents and prime ministers were hoping to get home at a reasonable hour Sunday night after their much-anticipated summit, they can pretty much forget it. The European Council, which organises such gatherings, just released the...
An idea for next year’s #SOTEU – deliver it to the EP and the European Council
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Barroso has just finished delivering his State of the European Union address to the European Parliament. While – as before – we had a bit of a chuckle in the blogosphere with buzzword bingo, this was a serious occasion and Barroso rose...
Sweden in European integration (recap)
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Sweden is fairly British in its EU politics and policies, although more pragmatic and much less abrasive. Here is a recap of some aspects of Sweden in European integration. Sweden has a long tradition of intergovernmental thinking in international re...
Sweden in Europe: Carl Bildt and Anders Borg stress EU unity
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The blog post Sweden promotes EU enlargement no end continued the discussion about Swedish EU politics as described in the Statement of Government Policy. There are also links to the earlier blog entries in the post. Alternatively, you can read more...
Sweden proactively at the heart of the European Union?
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The blog post Sweden in Europe: EU defence cooperation? started the comparison in English between the Statement of Government Policy, read by the Swedish prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt at the opening of the parliament (Riksdag) 15 September 2011, a...
The Polish Presidency - Growth, Security and Openness
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The Ambassadors of the current Trio Presidency of the Council of the EU - Poland, Denmark and Cyprus - today presented their agreed agenda to the end of 2012 to the Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs. Poland holds the current rotating Presidenc...
Les Etats-Unis d’Europe reviennent sur le devant de la scène politique.
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France et Allemagne mènent le règlement de la crise grecque un peu en solo dans ce qui n’est pas du goût de la Pologne, actuelle présidente de l’Union européenne. Le pays se considère comme écarté des discussions. Il est rejoint par les t...
Access to EU Commission documents for my research: Still waiting and hoping
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As reported one month ago, I’ve requested a meeting protocol of a meeting of the Chef de Cabinets of the European Commission, which I need for my research. Having requested the document on 30 July 2011, the Commission refused to grant me any a...
Copyright Term Extension: Defeat
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As expected and feared, the EU Council of Ministers yesterday took the decision to extend copyright for sound recordings retroactively from 50 to 70 years. This is yet another example of how the Council and Commission of the EU are completely in the...
Member states shoot across Commission's bow in budget talks
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It's unclear whether European Commission is embarrassed by yesterday's rejection, by eight member states, of its 2014-2020 budget proposal (also known as the MFF). But it was certainly sent a stiff message by the biggest net contributors.After talk...
