Archive
Year: 2009
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US and EU after Lisbon – Sir Christopher Meyer
November 13, 2009
Former UK Ambassador to the US and current Fleishman-Hillard's International Advisory Board member Sir Christopher Meyer talks to colleagues in our DC office about US/EU relations after Lisbon. More thoughts from Sir Christopher on the US and the EU over at our YouTube Channel. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18vfoYlKlzg] James...
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Conservative Realpolitik After Lisbon
November 6, 2009
With the final ratification of the Lisbon Treaty the British Conservatives have set out the policy which an incoming Conservative government would apply towards the European Union. There is to be no referendum, but a series of legislative measures to limit the extent of EU jurisdiction, and negotiations to take employment and social policy law back into national hands. Political expediency – or perhaps we should say realpolitik – has been the hallmark of Conservative...
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21% of MEPs use twitter – according to us and someone else
November 3, 2009
Image via Wikipedia Counting the number of MEPs that use online tools to communicate is not a bad way to start your company's blog and attract traffic. We should know as our post that claimed that 11% of MEPs blog is still one of our most visited posts to this day. E-marketing newcomers Digimahti have followed our lead and list 115 157 tweeting MEPs. Not an insignificant number I am sure you'll agree. At 21%...
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Pontificating on the Pontiff
November 2, 2009
Image by Getty Images via Daylife It's been amazing fun watching the UK media ruminate on the now seemingly receeding chances of Tony Blair being the first President of the European Council. Firstly, there is some pleasure to be had in counting the number of times some hack in London gets all mixed up over what the job is. Will he be President of Europe, President of the European Council, President of the Council or...
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Tony for President? But…but…but he’s British.
October 25, 2009
Image via Wikipedia There's a scene in the second of the Lethal Weapon series of films where Murtagh (Danny Glover) and Leo Getz (Joe Pesci) create a fracas in the apartheid era South African consulate in Los Angeles so that Riggs (Mel Gibson) can gain entrance through another door. Joe Pesci asks the South African consular official to talk his friend (Danny Glover) out of emigrating to the most beautiful country in the world. The...
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Polling and its impact on public policy
October 21, 2009
An interesting piece on the impact of polling on public policy in the US from my colleague Jeff Weintraub on our Public Affairs blog that is worth checking out here. In contrast, I am not sure we need an online poll to establish whether polling has a big impact on the outcomes of public policy decisions at an EU level. I've discussed the fact it isn't used more in previous posts. In any case, it...
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Public Affairs Action Day – 30 November
October 20, 2009
Conference season is upon us once again. And boy does our workshop at last year's Public Affairs Agenda two day extravaganza seem like an age ago. This year we're partnering with the good folks at Dods on their European Public Affairs Action Day to be held on the 30 November at the Renaissance Hotel (it is a day rather than a summit this year, but the hotel remains the same). We shall be hosting one...
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Leadership Needed for Europe’s Foreign Policy
October 19, 2009
A fundamental purpose of the Treaty of Lisbon is to make the European Union an effective force in the modern world, a global player with a power and influence far greater than the sum of its parts. The appointment of a High Representative bestriding Commission and Council, served by the European External Action Service (EEAS), is designed to provide the institutional framework to achieve this aim, in conjunction with the new Council President. But will...
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Why don’t you picket a politician today?
October 18, 2009
During our European digital ambassadors meeting in Milan last week we spent two days exchanging notes on some of the cool new trends in the online space. These included augmented reality (digital car races on a pizza box anyone?) and Google Wave (collaborative computing that could be very useful indeed for all of us) among others. However, amongst the delights of the internet future to come one new tool stuck out that could prove to...
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The Down & Dirty of Digital Government
October 14, 2009
BBC via last.fm The devil, they say, is in the detail and it is interesting how the debate on e-government is developing in the UK. This article from the BBC website talks about the move on from a starry-eyed reaction to Obama-esque digi-campaigning (or Election 2.0) to a practical, cost-driven desire to drive all access to government and government services online. It is this, they argue, more than anything which is driving Government pressure on...