100 posts
2009 - a summary
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2009 has been the year the European Year of Creativity and Innovation, and as usual almost nobody outside Brussels has noticed. What everybody noticed were the European Parliament elections 2009 that have dominated this blog for the first half of 20...
What lies ahead.
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I won’t come back on 2009. I am not a nostalgic kind of guy. I’ll just support Steve’s claim on how this particuliar year marked many breakthroughs for us, professionally and online speaking, and I kind of feel things will be differ...
That was the year that was
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One year ago. December 2008. I just remember being incredibly stressed out; and, remarkably, that Tibo was even more so. We were up against the deadline for signing the "online" contract with our agency. We maybe didn't realise it at the time, but in...
2009 in one picture
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Fred is our talented designer and a welcome Guest blogger. Before leaving the office, he sent us his own personal view of 2009. We couldn’t resist publishing it. So: this what 2009 looked like in the eyes of our beloved designer. Share/Save...
The Swedish Presidency: Effective but not Exciting
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It is too early yet to make a final assessment of the Swedish EU Presidency. Negotiating a climate treaty in Copenhagen is the most important goal for Fredrik Reinfeldt and his colleagues. At the end of the week we will know if this aim was ac...
Countdown
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The Swedish Presidency of the EU is rapidly approaching its end. We have worked intensively and made progress in a lot of important questions, but it is still to early to evaluate, sum up and relax. The climate negotiations is entering its final week...
EU Achievements in 2009
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The European Commission has issued its annual multimedia yearbook presenting some of the European Union’s most important achievements of the past year. The main achievements according to the Commission are: Paving the way towards economic recov...
EP opinion poll analyses 2009 European election turnout
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Source: EuroParliament [edited] Parliament has published a Eurobarometer survey of 26 830 people across Europe carried out in the month following the 4-7 June European elections. Citizens were asked about their reasons for choosing whether or not to...
EU elections seen as irrelevant, survey finds
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Source: EurActiv A third of voters who decided not to use their ballot in this summer’s European Parliament elections only made their decision in the final days of the election campaign, according to a European Parliament Eurobarometer survey c...
Fiachra Ó Luain is about to issue a statement on how Declan Ganley ended up being allocated 3000 of his votes in the European elections in June
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Wheelie bin gate anwsers coming soon.From his Twitter account http://twitter.com/fiachraOLuainis finally going to the media with regard to 'Wheeliebingate', the lack of a proper investigation and consequences for Lisbon 2 (0863193567)Media can contac...
European election results finally published
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I wrote on this blog at the end of June asking who had won the European elections. The figures on seats won were quickly announced, but it has taken longer for an analysis of the votes cast to be produced.In one sense, the European elections are mi...
The Hard Eurosceptics in the European Parliament
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The EP elected in June 2009 contains a new group for European Freedom and Democracy (EFD) consisting of 31 members. This group follows in the footsteps of previous hard Eurosceptics, while being larger. It is led by Nigel Farage’s UK Independen...
Germany wins opening salvo in the battle for key positions
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While the thermometer reads 37 degrees in Brussels, the political temperature in the European Parliament is set to rise with MEPs heading towards the end of the summer recess. While the rate of activity of the Parliament is still slow, The Lobby...
Rainbow Rose actions on EU elections campaign
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After the June elections Rainbow Rose (PES LGBT network) proposes an overview of the actions developed during the EU elections campaign. Access the full overview. Rainbow Rose participated in the consultation process that was the first step to writin...
Momentum lost: Will the EU democracy exist after the 2009 elections?
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The European Parliament elections 2009 were a massive communication event, involving the European Parliament, the Commission, the Europarties, national administrations, parties, and non-governmental actors - but after this summer break the democratic...
The European Parliament’s experience with social media – a post election reflection
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As the night was approaching and the last votes were counted on June 7, the final day of the European Parliament ( EP) election, you could read Twitter updates in 22 different languages from EP’s official Twitter accounts. Or debate the outcome wit...
Euroelection - Who Voted, and Why
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If you’re a Eurobarometre-trolling dork like I am, you may have noticed this fantastic set of polling numbers published this morning looking at why people did and did not vote in last month’s EU elections. A couple of news outlets today are headl...
Why a coalition of conservatives, socialists and liberals to fight eurosceptics?
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Since the European Elections a new big coalition of conservatives, socialists and liberals has been forged arguing that a strong coalition is needed to fight eurosceptics. Well, coalitions are sometimes good because they bring stability but in the EP...
About cycling and fulfilling election promises
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Fishing for public attention is the daily business of politicians; therefore it is always a pleasure to witness some original and positive ideas in this respect. One such election project was a Czech MEPs idea to cycle from...
Ganley being pursued by Libertas underlings for cash
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Today's Irish Independent reports that Libertas European satellites are still demanding to be paid and that their creditors have given up hope of receiving their money. The paper has also picked up on Ganley's return to Twitter which was reported fir...
Europe’s Elections Seen By Google
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Source: Google European Public Policy blog [edited] As voters began to go to the polls to elect a new European Parliament, we thought it would be interesting to use some of advanced tools to capture the vote’s trends. By deploying our public to...
Who’s Who? A look at the personalities in the new EP
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From Commissioners and ministers to models and television presenters, the new European Parliament features a range of personalities. You can find short profiles of a selection of the new (and returning) MEPs on the ‘Who’s Who - the new ME...
Will Jerzy Buzek be a good European Parliament president? - A look at his Votewatch profile [supplemented]
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After yesterday's withdrawal of the candidacy of the Italian EPP member Mario Mauro (EPP press release), it looks like Jerzy Buzek (also EPP) could become the next president of the European Parliament.There is an excellent article in the European Voi...
Where Libertas failed others attempt Nazi-lite
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Ukip, Lega Nord form hard-right bloc in EU Parliament LEIGH PHILLIPS 30.06.2009 @ 17:37 CET EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A mosaic of right-wing eurosceptics and hard-right anti-immigrant parties have cobbled together en...
New list of MEPs by Group now online
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Our list of MEPs has been updated to take account of the new ‘Europe of Freedom and Democracy’ Group. You can find the list here. As the Groups consolidate, we have now produced another list, with MEPs arranged Group-by-Group. That list...
Who won the European elections?
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I have being trying to find out how the votes were cast in the European elections earlier this month. There is a provisional list of how the seats have been allocated (it can only be provisional until the new MEPs formally reconvene on 14 July) –...
Former MEP: UK far-right success ‘won’t last’
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Source: EurActiv.com [edited] The election success of the far-right British National Party (BNP) does not signal a major shift to the right in British politics, according to former British Labour MEP Richard Corbett, who lost his seat to the BNP in l...
Election of party leaders a fait accompli
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Yesterday’s election of party leaders marked another important staging post in the build-up to next month’s first session of the new Parliament. Unfortunately, plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. Frenchman Joseph Daul of the EPP...
Is Ganley Gone for Good?
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I have been in touch with Declan Ganley after the EU elections. We exchanged cordial and civilised exchanges re our future intentions. Both of us have had our fill of politics or so it seemed.However, as the days pass I am inundated with emails from...
The EP elections in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
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Click here to read Donath-Burson-Marsteller’s analysis of the impact of the European elections on politics in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
MEPs list updated
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Our provisional MEP list has been updated again, principally on the basis of the formation of the new European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group. It can be found here, along with analysis of the balance between ‘new’ and ‘old...
Irish Times' Colm Keena recaps Libertas funding: Criminal charges may yet emerge
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Standards inquiry turns spotlight on Ganley loanANALYSIS: Questions over funding may yet see Libertas founder Declan Ganley before the courts, writes COLM KEENA .LIBERTAS AND Declan Ganley may be on the way out in the wake of their poor performance i...
The European Elections in Austria : blame it on the media or is Brussels just too far away?
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By: Daniel Nagel Austria is not only known for its great food, its uncountable skiing resorts, the beautiful landscape and its friendly inhabitants but also for its sound democratic culture. The second part of this beautiful picture is blurred when t...
The European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECRG) - corrected and updated
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The "European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECRG)", isn't that the most ridiculous combination one could imagine? Mixing those who want to conserve and those who want to reform?But it has become a truth:The British Tories, the Polish PiS and th...
Becoming an EU-sceptic
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I am a convinced European citizen and glad to be a citizen of the European Union - but now that I am approaching the first birthday of this blog, I think I am becoming an absolute EU-sceptic.The European elections are over, and the lack of European a...
All new MEPs... - updated -
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... can be found here (PDF). (Link updated on 26 June 2009)(Credit to Burson-Marsteller Brussels)...
Libertas close main office but decide to keep four going.
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Libertas close main office but decide to keep four going.POLITICAL PARTIES Libertas Libertas closes its Brussels headquarters By Judith Crosbie 18.06.2009 / 05:15 CET The political party Libertas has closed its office in Brussels, but will keep br...
European turnout 43.24 % – Voters steer Europe to the right
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Source: BBC [edited] and European Parliament Centre-right parties have done well in elections to the European Parliament at the expense of the left. Far-right and anti-immigration parties also made gains, as turnout figures plunged to 43% – the...
Something of a déjà-vu: from the 2002 presidential election to the 2009 European elections
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The European elections left me with a bitter taste of déjà-vu. After reading the terms some commentators are using to describe the disappointing scores of the European socialists –debacle, collapse, rout, disarray- another expression comes back t...
SEI on EU
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Sussex European Institute's roundtable on the euro-elections tries to inject some early academic analysis into interpretation of last week's election. The debate offers more than the sum of its parts. The underlying issue is not who's up and who's do...
Why I am a Pirate
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By: Daniel Östlund, MEP, Pirate Party member, Sweden I am a member of the Pirate Party and I am proud of it. I joined early this year and would consider myself a grass roots supporter. I have been following their development from day one. For a lon...
Victorious MEP slams Libertas dirty tricks by Declan Ganley
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Higgins slams Libertas leader’s ‘negative personal politics’ Mayo Advertiser, June 12, 2009. Ganley heads off into the sunset By Colm Gannon Five years and a month after Declan Ganley chaired the Libertas for...
Parliamentary Shifts and Whatnot
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A few bits of news are floating around, so I'll comment on them in one post.First, PES is changing its name to ASDE - the Alliance of Socialists and Democrats for Europe (via Stephen Spillane and Julien Frisch). The change is due to the main Italian...
Socialist Group rebrands as ASDE, not to be confused with ASDA or ALDE
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Britain has ASDA, a rather lousy supermarket chain owned by Wal-Mart. Now Brussels has ASDE, the new name for the Socialist Group in the European Parliament. The name stands for the Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. Which means the name is not to...
In the News: European Elections
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Results are now out, and the next Europarliament will be blue. The battle for the next commissioners is getting started.I would like to thank the European Voter who did not make the effort to vote on this elections. To that stupid moron, I say, you h...
Deadlock in the New Parliament?
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Image via Wikipedia The newly elected Parliament looks set to become deadlocked over the nomination of the next European Commission President. Jose Manual Barrosso has the backing of the EPP, and thats about it. The new European Conservative group...
PES Name Change?
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Image via Wikipedia So the new European Parliament is going to be a bit of an Alphabet soup. According to The Lobby blog the Party of European Socialist Grouping in the Parliament is going to change its name to the “Alliance of Socialists an...
Socialists’ re-branding puts Barroso at risk
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As expected (see Elections re-shape party alliances), the Socialist group in the European Parliament has agreed to re-brand in a move to welcome the main Italian’s opposition party, the Partito Democratico (PD). In the past legislature, the Part...
Declan Ganley's political legacy is likely to be lawsuits from the various national parties who claim that he has not handed over the cash he promised
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A sad and a grubby tale of Declan Ganley's Libertas party is beginning to emerge. one where people have lost their jobs to support Libertas and invested thousands of Euros of their own funds into the party only to find that the promised funding fro...
European elections 2009: MEPs from Sweden
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Here are the 18 elected Swedish members of the European Parliament, as presented by the EU Information Centre (EU-upplysningen): SocialdemokraternaPES 5 Marita UlvskogOlle LudvigssonÅsa WestlundGöran FärmAnna HedhModeraternaEPP 4 Gunnar Hökmark...
Will there ever be a "Gabon Coalition"?
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Jon Worth has come up with a new term for the usage in the context of European Parliament politics: "The Gabon Coalition".On Twitter, we were discussing possible options for a European Parliament majority for the next European Commission president, a...
Introducing the Gabon Coalition
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One of the great things about the Twitter is that it allows you to be rather silly and flippant about serious topics – just look what we managed with @AtheistBus. But this post is about EU politics. For today, in a discussion with @...
The Battle for the Commission Presidency
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It seems that there could be a contest for the office of President of the European Commission, whether the Swedes like it or not. It's not that Barroso is particularly loved by the Swedes or that he would be an asset to the EU as Commission President...
Eclectic mix of individuals blurs traditional party lines
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A few rather unusual new members of the new European Parliament introduced by Le Figaro newspaper reflect a new direction within EU politics. It seems that EU citizens no longer solely choose their representatives along the traditional left-right...
Latvia`s EP election observations [Marta CERAVA]
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EP elections in Latvia have passed silently. The most attention was taken by local municipal elections and especially of the intrigue who is going to be the next mayor of Riga city. We have elected eight candidates from six different parties. Latvia...
Democracy one of the main losers of the EP elections?
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After the European Parliament elections, analists talk about the problem of low voter turnout and the gain of anti-EU parties....
Political groups in European Parliament: Nationalists and others
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Here is an invitation to a virtual collaborative effort. We need the help from readers who know the various national parties, which made it into the European Parliament 2009. At least temporarily outside the mainstream groups in the European Parliame...
European Parliament: Forming political groups
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The European Parliament’s web page Election results offers an update as of yesterday (provisional 9 June 2009 18:51 CEST) If we sort the parties into rough categories, we get the following preliminary view of the balance of power in the European P...
Why voting for a parliament without voting for a European government?
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By Guido Montani, UEF Vice-President The election for the European Parliament reveals a double deficit of the European Union: a democratic deficit and a governance deficit. The citizens vote willingly for national elections because they can choose...
Europe Goes Conservative in Crisis
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If you heard a soft whimpering sound Sunday night, it was likely the sad echoes of Europe's left sobbing into their beers. All across the continent, with only the exception of Greece and Slovakia, Europe's Democratic Socialists were dealt crushing bl...
Look left and right
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EUROPEAN ELECTIONS The Guardian has an extremely interesting discussion piece in the G2 supplement today...
