Archive
Year: 2010
-
Countdown to the Belgian Federal Elections
June 8, 2010
On April 22, Open VLD, the Flemish Liberal Party, withdrew from the Belgian government coalition after having lost confidence in the government’s handling of the complicated dossier surrounding the electoral district of Brussel-Halle-Vilvoorde (BHV). On April 26, the Belgian King accepted Prime Minister Yves Leterme’s resignation. Elections were called for Sunday June 13, only half a month before the start of Belgium’s EU presidency. Snap elections are never easy on political parties. Election programmes have...
-
Tough Home Truths in IMF Report
June 8, 2010
It was evident from the beginning of the eurozone crisis that the only way to discipline recalcitrant member states in the face of enormous budget deficits was to involve the International Monetary Fund, an independent, external organization which was definitely not part of the family, a body which could lay down tough conditions for winning its support, and could pull the rug out if necessary. So it was little surprise to see the forthright tone...
-
First Ever Digital Election Debate
June 4, 2010
In the run up to the 9th June parliamentary elections in the Netherlands, the first ever election debates took place through Hyves and Twitter - on the same day. Hyves for breakfast and Twitter for dinner. The 30 minute debate on the Dutch social network Hyves (see earlier blog post on Dutch social media) was considered quite ‘relaxed’ and friendly, whereas its Twitter counterpart was perceived as rather stressed and direct. On Hyves the 50,000 viewers could...
-
Low profile on Europe for UK coalition
May 26, 2010
Against the backdrop of a European economic crisis of monumental proportions, the creation of the UK’s coalition government must seem like “noises off” to other European theatre-goers. But at least the deal reached between Conservative leader David Cameron and Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats could provide political stability in Britain for several years and remove a potentially destabilising element in the councils of Europe. Having said that, I don’t recall a time when Britain...
-
Low Profile on Europe for UK Coalition
May 24, 2010
Against the backdrop of a European economic crisis of monumental proportions, the creation of the UK’s coalition government must seem like “noises off” to the rest of the European audience. But at least the deal reached between Conservative leader David Cameron and Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats could provide political stability in Britain for several years and remove a potentially destabilising element in the councils of Europe. Having said that, I don’t recall a...
-
The EU’s Digital upgrade: European Digital Agenda!
May 24, 2010
The European Commission has finally published its anxiously awaited European Digital Agenda, or “EDA” to add a further official acronym to the alphabet soup of the EU. During the past few months the European Parliament, Council, consumer groups and industry have all been frantically busy drafting and presenting their recommendations and advice as to how the final document should look. Well, the framework programme is finally here and given the importance of this document, it’s...
-
You don’t ‘get’ social media? Just open your ears and listen…
May 12, 2010
It is very easy to tell how many followers we have on Twitter but have you ever wondered why people are using social media? Why people are reading your blog? What kind of information they are looking for? If the answer is “no”, you should definitely start listening to the users, their answers will give meaning to the numbers. A social media user is a treasure of information, you just have to try to understand...
-
Concerted Action Replaces Platitudes and Empty Promises
May 10, 2010
The markets have been bowled over by the scale of the eurozone bail-out package announced this morning, after agreement by G-7 finance ministers, the European Commission, the 16 eurozone governments and the International Monetary Fund. An emergency funding facility of up to €720 billion is designed to protect weaker eurozone members and save the integrity of the euro. At last the swathe of platitudes, reassurances and empty promises which have characterised the year to date...
-
Post your blog at 0900 hours, General.
May 7, 2010
Picture an enthusiastic proponent of social media in your head. Who comes to mind? I’ll tell you who I am thinking about – Admiral James Stavridis, the Supreme Allied Commander for Europe in charge of NATO military operations and planning and the highest-ranked US military official based outside of the US. Surprised? I was too. Admiral Stavridis was one of 3,800 people working in transatlantic security who participated in a 5-day online brainstorming exercise on...
-
Fleishman-Hillard named ‘Best Multinational Agency to Work For’ by the Holmes Report
May 3, 2010
Read the story at the Holmes Report.