Archive
Author: Corporate Marketing
-
The most unexpected outcome of the rise of the leftist outsiders ‘Podemos’
June 2, 2014
King Felipe VI: Called to be a Symbol In a turn of events that few would have predicted a fortnight ago, King Juan Carlos I of Spain (76) formally announced today his decision to put an end to his 39-year reign and abdicate in favour of Crown Prince Felipe (46). The decision follows three years of accelerated decline in the popularity of the Monarchy caused by family scandals and a series of major missteps by...
-
Not a moment wasted: Potocnik’s last act to ban landfill?
June 2, 2014
Environment Commissioner, Janez Potočnik, is an ambitious and tenacious man. In the dying days of this Commission, he is trying to push out perhaps his most ambitious law to date and overhaul Europe’s Waste law. One of the last acts of his fellow Commissioners will be to back a call to effectively ban the landfill of household waste by 2030. Recycling targets across the board will be ratcheted up. You would have thought that the...
-
Clowns to the Left, Jokers to the Right, Stuck in the Middle with You
May 23, 2014
The headline above refers to a Stealers Wheel song from 1972 made famous (again) by Quentin Tarantino as part of the soundtrack for his deservedly acclaimed 1992 movie, Reservoir Dogs. If you ask my teenage daughters, both of those references are “SO ancient! SO old!” But to me, they are extremely timely. In the next few days, we are likely to see “blood on the floor” from some of the mainstream parties in the European...
-
What will European elections mean for financial regulation?
May 22, 2014
You’ve all heard the story of the global financial crisis, the banks that failed, the bets that lost, and the governments that just didn’t know what to do. You’ve probably also heard about the deluge of economic initiatives and financial regulation that poured forth from the public sector in the wake of the crisis to try to make sure that ‘it will never happen again.’ What you may or may not have heard about, is...
-
Elections 2014: Business Needs to Look Beyond Borders
May 20, 2014
Martin Bresson writes in leading Danish business paper Borsen on the impact of the European elections. Writing with FleishmanHillard's Danish partner, Flemming Mieth of Rostra PR, Martin argues that Danish business needs to look beyond its national contacts if it is to succeed at European advocacy post the European elections.
-
Elections 2014: Getting Out the Youth Vote
May 20, 2014
The WSJ reports on FleishmanHillard's innovative campaign to increase the interest of young people in the European elections. Using a blend of paid, earned, shared and owned media, the Responsible Democracy online campaign sought to raise the voting age to 25 in order to gain a reaction from young people in defence of their voting rights. The campaign was conducted for the League of Young Voters, a politically neutral initiative that aims to amplify young...
-
Becoming a European Parliament committee chairperson: How to ascend the ‘Iron Throne’
May 5, 2014
Brace yourselves – the European Parliament elections are coming. Though turnover will be less dramatic than the Game of Thrones cast (no spoilers or EU-version of the Red or Purple Wedding, I promise), Brussels can expect a significant number of new movers and shakers representing the different political houses and kingdoms of Europe to ascend their Institutional thrones this summer. This is especially so for the European Parliament, where hordes of wildlings, a.k.a. MEPs, will...
-
FleishmanHillard Roundtable: The future of EU-Swiss relations
April 10, 2014
FlesihmanHillard had the honour of receiving yesterday the Ambassador of Switzerland to the European Union for a roundtable on the future of the relations between the European Union and Switzerland. In February, Switzerland voted in favour of a popular initiative restricting immigration for all foreigners, including those coming from the European Union. This raises doubts as to the compatibility of these new dispositions with the principle of free movement of people, which Switzerland shares with...
-
AN INTERESTING MONTH IN INTERNATIONAL POLITICS COMES TO AN END
March 31, 2014
March was an interesting month, and for a minute it felt like Europe was the centre of attention for the entire world: President Obama visited Belgium for the very first time, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited numerous EU countries, and Brussels was busy with the preparations for the EU-Africa Summit scheduled for early April. March also saw several extraordinary Councils on Ukraine and an extremely rare NATO Summit under Article 4. The removal of Russia...
-
THE EU AND NATO – A YEAR OF CHANGE
March 28, 2014
This year’s edition of Brussels Forum, hosted three interesting speakers: EEAS’s Lady Ashton, Council’s Mr Van Rompuy and NATO’s Rasmussen. All three of them will step down from their positions this year, which inspires for a reflection about their key challenges, successes and failures over the past years. Since Van Rompuy became a President of the Council five years ago, we have seen a transformation of the Council into one of the most important EU...