Archive
Year: 2009
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Pan-European politics: Can the internet connect the dots?
October 7, 2009
A new event announcement that is of interest lands in our inbox. Personal Democracy is holding a European conference in Barcelona on 20/21 November. Speakers include representatives from the US but also Europe and of course the Brussels bubble. Jon Worth and Susan Pointer of Google among them. Topics to be addressed include: Pan-European politics: Can the internet connect the dots? New possibilities for collaborative government Using the internet to open up politics outside the...
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Irish Vote Launches the Lisbon End-Game
October 5, 2009
It looks like end-game for the Lisbon Treaty at last. Ireland’s two-to-one majority in favour of ratification on October 2 was a convincing reversal of the 2007 “no” vote, especially given the increased turnout, which at 58 per cent of the electorate was six points up on last time. The convincing “yes” majority can be ascribed especially to the economic crisis and a hunger for European solidarity in the face of Ireland’s troubles, but there...
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Vote for continuity before Copenhagen
September 23, 2009
The European Parliament’s convincing vote for Jose Manuel Barroso’s second term as European Commission president puts him in a stronger position than any candidate since Jacques Delors in the 1980s. To have secured the votes of the European Conservatives and their allies and an estimated 25 Socialists in addition to his centre right supporters in a secret ballot was a considerable achievement, at 382 delivering 13 more votes than an absolute majority. Cometh the hour...
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Germany; a digital no-man’s land?
September 22, 2009
Colleagues in the US point to this article over the weekend in the Washington Post about the use of the internet in the current elections in Germany. Interesting, if somewhat depressing. German MEP staff members I have come across this week seem to largely concur with the views expressed. What do you think? James...
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Vote for Continuity Before Copenhagen
September 20, 2009
The European Parliament’s convincing vote for Jose Manuel Barroso’s second term as European Commission president puts him in a stronger position than any candidate since Jacques Delors in the 1980s. To have secured the votes of the European Conservatives and their allies and an estimated 25 Socialists in addition to his centre right supporters in a secret ballot was a considerable achievement, at 382 delivering 13 more votes than an absolute majority. Cometh the hour...
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Fun and games in Strasbourg: politics, climate and science
September 17, 2009
Image via Wikipedia The European institutions rarely do party politics well, but this week was a rare exception as the current European Commission (EU executive) President Jose Barroso fought for the approval of the European Parliament (lower house one part of our bicameral legislature) for a second five year term in office. The verbal jousting between the Green leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Barroso was a delight; proof that the Punch and Judy politics regularly seen...
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Global votes, local perspectives
September 10, 2009
Image via Wikipedia The great thing about being a bit of a political junkie is there is always an election going on somewhere. According to the all-knowing Wikipedia there are 123 democracies in the world. They may not all be perfectly formed, but as Churchill said... Happily we have people on the ground in an increasing number of them. In an effort to harness this network in one place our Public Affairs website has now...
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A rentrée of doubt and anticipation
September 8, 2009
Rarely has the Brussels rentrée occurred in such a muddle of doubt and anticipation. Doubt because the October 2 Irish referendum could kill the Lisbon Treaty for good; anticipation because approval of Lisbon should open up new capabilities for Europe and settle the constitutional uncertainty which has dogged the EU for so many years – and provide some jobs for the boys. The Irish Times reports that support for a “yes” vote slipped eight points...
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A Rentrée of Doubt and Anticipation
September 7, 2009
Rarely has the Brussels rentrée occurred in such a muddle of doubt and anticipation. Doubt because the October 2 Irish referendum could kill the Lisbon Treaty for good; anticipation because approval of Lisbon should open up new capabilities for Europe and settle the constitutional uncertainty which has dogged the EU for so many years – and provide some jobs for the boys. The Irish Times reports that support for a “yes” vote slipped eight points...
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Iceland’s path to EU membership may be a rocky one
July 28, 2009
Image via Wikipedia I see that the EU Council of Ministers has asked the European Commission to deliver an opinion on Iceland’s application to join the EU, just 10 days after Reykjavik submitted its formal request for membership. The Swedish presidency wants the report by the end of the year, and foreign minister Carl Bildt has implied that Iceland’s status as an EEA country could speed the process of the application, in contrast to the...