Archive
Year: 2008
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Sarko in the Celtic Tiger’s cage
July 25, 2008
Image via Wikipedia The second in our now regular series of blog posts from our lovely French colleagues over in Paris...grrrrrrr. After the announcement of the “No” on Friday, June 13, Dublin erupted in jubilation. But the next day, Ireland found itself in a situation comparable to the habitually sober citizen who has woken up with a raging hangover after having gone on an almighty pub crawl. A weekend national newspaper referred to an “Oh...
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Serbia Commits to its European Destiny
July 24, 2008
Serbia really has chosen the path to EU membership. Last week’s arrest of Radovan Karadzic was the clearest evidence yet of the new coalition government’s commitment to a mainstream European destiny for their country. Significantly, the move followed the appointment of a new chief for the Serbian intelligence services. Commissioner Olli Rehn wanted to send a quick and positive signal to Belgrade following the arrest. He urged EU foreign ministers to speed up ratification of...
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Roadtripping for Europe
July 24, 2008
Image via Wikipedia This summer, scores of Europeans will strap their sandals on over their black socks, get some sun on those pasty shoulders of theirs and engage in the yearly southward migration ritual. While some will stay within the confines of their Member State, others will scour the farthest reaches of the Schengen area in search of Europe's greatest nude beaches. The Newropeans are not amongst the aforementioned. Nay, these selfless troubadors will donate...
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Been round the Brussels internship block one too many times?
July 23, 2008
Image via Wikipedia Clocked up some institutional experience (read internships)? Hold far too many Masters degrees in things that your mates back home can't understand? About ready for gainful employment after far too long gaining nothing but experience? Well, you are not alone. As with most of the large agencies in Brussels, we get sack fulls of CVs and covering letters - mostly spontaneous, some otherwise - looking for that first step up on the...
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This is not a Union – but Union of the Med May Have Potential
July 18, 2008
So a new Club Med is born! More than 40 presidents and/or prime ministers turned up in Paris on July 13 for the launch of the Union for the Mediterranean. It was a welcome diplomatic triumph for President Sarkozy, embattled as he is by a disillusioned and critical French public opinion. When asked many years ago what was the collective term for a gathering of political leaders, British Prime Minister Callaghan suggested it was a...
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Digital association decides to go digital
July 15, 2008
Our eagled eyed ICT team member Magnus Norman spots that EICTA, "the voice of digital technology in Europe" has decided to join the growing ranks of the Brussels trade association blogging community. Given their sector; about time some may say. Announced on the EICTA website, Digital Advocacy Europe was launched earlier today. Unlike the pesticides information blog, it appears that the blog's purpose is has an internal objective of cutting down on the large number...
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Mark keeps his eye on FDA, politics and the new media
July 14, 2008
A note drops in the inbox from Mark Senak of our D.C. office to tell us that we are not the only FHers to have churned out thinkpieces on the use of new media in public affairs. Mark is the man behind the blog "Eye on FDA", his US based blog about "trends and observations regarding the FDA regulatory environment and its impact on the marketing, communications and strategic planning of the firms producing drugs...
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The Sarko show: let the curtain rise!
July 13, 2008
Image by looking4poetry via Flickr In what we hope will be a series of regular reflections from our colleagues at FH Paris on Bld Haussman during the current EU French Presidency, a mail arrives with this guest contribution from Clemence Choutet and Quentin Vivant. Here are their thoughts as the Sarko Show gets well into the first act... President Nicolas Sarkozy has inherited a Union in disarray but he has grand ambitions at the helm...
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Read all about it: digital public affairs in print
July 11, 2008
If you're looking for an overview of our (my) world view in terms of how digital and public affairs fit together, then have a read of this article. Originally available in the "strategy and practice" (!) section of the print version of the online movers and shakers and events website (e.g. it's a bit like "Hello" magazine for Brussels). The publishers have kindly agreed to allow us to put a pdf version up on this...
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Power for the President on Turkey Vote
July 10, 2008
I see that the French National Assembly has agreed a compromise proposal on the accession referendum, which will give the President the power to opt for the people or the parliament to approve Turkish membership. The clause requiring a popular vote for any new accession increasing the EU population by 5 per cent will remain in the French constitution, but the President will now be able to choose decision by parliament instead, as long as...