Commentary

Can a separation of the European Parliament be the solution?

There has been quite a public on Europe lately. Newspapers were full of it. European countries at the periphery on the attack of the financial markets. Nights meetings of the Finance Ministers and European leaders, a presented drama that serves well the journalists needs. The politicians are (...)

Thursday 20 October 2011

Global Democracy – from utopia to necessity

The US and the EU are going separate ways. And contrary to what it may seem, the room for political manoeuvre is smaller in the US than it is in the EU, despite the fact that the toolbox in the hands of the former is richer than the one in the hands of the latter. Indeed, the US has a federal (...)

Wednesday 19 October 2011

Part-time Ashton? Challenges facing the EU’s High Representative

In 2011, Catherine Ashton, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR), has attended little over 40% of the European Commission’s weekly gatherings of its commissioners. Of the 29 meetings held so far, the Labour peer was present for just 12 of them. For a politician (...)

Tuesday 18 October 2011

The European Empire, the people and the democracy

The debates on European democratization are as powerful as ever. At the Amsterdam summit, Lionel Jospin, when noted that we should try to find ways to overcome the democratic deficit, answered “ok, what if we talk about the challenge of democracy instead”. Now it’s possible to analyze the issue (...)

Monday 10 October 2011

Making or breaking the European Union - Barroso’s U-turn?

Seldom in the history of European integration have the EU’s political elites faced a crisis as complex and diverse as the current one. At critical times in the process of European integration, courageous leaders showed the way forward when they mustered the necessary audacity and vision. At the (...)

Wednesday 5 October 2011

Appeal for a Visa-free Europe

We, the undersigned members of the Coalition for the European Continent Undivided by Visa Barriers, call upon the leaders of the European Union and Eastern Partnership (EaP) states gathered at the EU-EaP summit in Warsaw on the 29th-30th of September, 2011, to reiterate their pledge to (...)

Thursday 29 September 2011

JEF campaign against visa

October 2010 was a happy day for many JEF-ers since the JEF Resolution on Visa liberalisation was adopted in Malta; but also for all the Bosnians and Albanians, due to the Visa liberalization that was finally approved by the EU Parliament. The free Visa action was organised when Bosnia and (...)

Wednesday 28 September 2011

Metric Martyrs and Bendy Bananas: When is a Euromyth, a Euromyth?

With levels of Euroscepticism in Britain unabating and daily press declarations that the EU has banned everything from the Queen on our passports to old-fashioned tea rooms, is it time to question how much of this EU reporting is actually true? It is no secret that the British public are (...)

Wednesday 21 September 2011

The EU doesn’t work in a transparent way

Many of the decisions taken by the European institutions don’t reach the ears of the pubic or, when they do so, it is only when they come into force. It is a major difference, no doubt about it, with national politics where debates are reported on a day-to-day basis. But does it mean that the (...)

Monday 12 September 2011

Europe: Between Isolation and Solidarity - A Reply

Amongst most pro-Europeans it is commonly held that criticism is more sharply dealt than by Euro-skeptics. This is simply on the basis that such criticisms do not follow populist, ʻsitting targetsʼ and generally have a deeper understanding of the interplay between the Member States, the (...)

Wednesday 7 September 2011

Europe: between isolation and solidarity

Between the Arab Spring and the waves of refugees, it is difficult to find a clear political guideline to the EU. We distinguish far more easily a huge nation-state centred selfishness that pushes countries away from the idea of a united Europe. The reasons for this are varied but can be (...)

Friday 2 September 2011

Delors’ interview from August the 18th: defeatism or wake-up call for conscience?

“The Euro as Europe is on the brink” said bluntly Jacques Delors, the former President of the European Commission (1985-1994) who initiated the single market, to the Swiss newspaper “LeTemps”. This statement caused gnashing of teeth by pro-Europeans, accusing the formula to put oil on fire. (...)

Monday 29 August 2011
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