I?m sorry, we could have stopped catastrophic climate change #COP15
Next monday, dec 7, the COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference finally start in Copenhagen. All visitors who came by aeroplane (…) will see these billboards at the Copenhagen Airport. They campaign from Greenpeace shows our world leaders in 2020.
The leaders: Sarkozy (FR), Merkel (Ger), Obama (USA), Tusk (PO), Lula (Br), Zapatero (Es), Brown (UK) and Harper (Can). See them all after the break.
Copenhagen sees pros and cons of host role
Copenhagen prostitutes offer freebies to climate change delegates
Der Spiegel reports that Copenhagen’s mayor has sent postcards to local hotels asking delegates to the upcoming climate conference not to patronize prostitues during their stay in the city. But the city’s sex workers are not taking this…er…lying down, and have made it known that they will offer free sex to any conference delegate who can produce one of the postcards:
Copenhagen climate summit to borrow Dylan’s voice
Tens of thousands protest in London before Copenhagen climate change summit
from Wikinews
AP sets up collaborative Facebook page to cover Copenhagen climate conference
While covering the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, the Associated Press will join forces with 10 other papers worldwide through Facebook. The AP announced a planned joint Facebook page today in a press release. The page, called The Climate Pool, will feature a blog with contributions form all participating members.
The Telegraph: Copenhagen climate summit: glossary of the organisations involved – by Matthew Moore
For the complete report from the Telegraph click on this linkThe Copenhagen climate change summit brings together countries and scientists represented by a mind-boggling range of organizations. Among the key players:
After Copenhagen,
The climate-change conference at Copenhagen on 7-18 December 2009 has long been surrounded by high (if perhaps unrealistic) hopes that a successor deal to the Kyoto protocol could be reached that would reflect the world?s firm commitment to address a planetary emergency. But as it nears, the expectations have begun to dissolve in a welter of disenchantment and pessimism.
Climate protests ahead of summit
France: The Day Without Immigrants
Many observers and actors of the French political scene suspect a hidden agenda behind the ?national identity? debate launched by President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Minister of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Solidary development [Fr], Eric Besson. The tightly defined government initiative was entrusted to the prefects, the state’s local representatives.
Guardian.co.uk: Nicolas Sarkozy drops British visit after ‘losers’ comment over EU jobs – by Nicolas Watt
For the complete report from The Guardian click on this linkNicolas Sarkozy has abandoned plans to visit London tomorrow to make amends after describing Britain as the “losers” in the distribution of new jobs in the European Commission. A planned bilateral meeting in No 10 has been downgraded to a meeting in the margins of next weeks’s European Council, but Downing Street played down speculation about a rift and blamed a “diary clash”.
Flip-flopping Ashton
New EU Foreign Minister Catherine Ashton has faced MEPs today for an informal grilling. It is not her official European Parliament confirmation hearing – that will come later in January.
EU-USA SWIFT & TFTP agreement materials
The home affairs part of the Justice and EU Home Affairs Council 30 November 2009 contains the following conclusions on the approved EU-US agreement on financial messaging data for counterterrorism investigations (document 16883/09; page 11):
Villagers resist Sarkozy’s hijack of Camus
EU plans judicial exchange programmes
EU Law Blog: Lisbon Treaty and Changes to the Court of Justice
Europe in blogs – Euroblogs (12): Pan-European blog reactions on the Lisbon Treaty
This Europe in blogs – Euroblogs edition is a little bit special because it’s core content is to be found in yesterday’s article on the Lisbon Treaty that I have now updated with Euroean and national blog reactions in 18 official EU languages.
EU Lisbon Treaty: Convoy principle strikes again (QMV)
?Warum einfach, wenn es auch kompliziert geht?? The European Union is legendary for its ability to complicate matters when it acts or fails to act, especially in the fields of intergovernmental cooperation. The EU advances according to the convoy principle, at the speed of the slowest member.
Margot Wallström and the future of European Communication
Since still-EU Commissioner Margot Wallström, responsible for Communication, has mentioned me personally in her latest blog post, reacting to a comment I made to her previous post, I’d like to use the opportunity to re-react openly to her full post to show that we can actually have open dialogues between the European level and European citizens.
The European Telecommunications Law Blog : New report on the “Options for the Ubiquitous Internet Society”
MAIN FOCUS: Europe at odds with US strategy | 03/12/2009
The US’s demands that its allies should send more troops to Afghanistan have fallen on deaf ears in several Nato states. The press, for its part, writes that what is needed is a strong showing of commitment.
The very real Powers of the European Parliament
As 2009 draws to a close, a new European order is taking shape, although admittedly with a whimper rather than a bang. The Lisbon Treaty has finally staggered into life. The member state governments have chosen the first ever full time Council President and a new and more powerful High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, although only after a very unedifying process. Jose Manuel Barroso has announced his new Commission, confirming in the process the European decline of the Socialists and the rise of the Liberals.
Bloggers of Europe, unite!
I, Resolved to add a few thoughts to the Euroblog Meet-up initiated by Joe Litobarski,
Drawing inspiration from the historic rallying call of the Communist Manifesto,
Recalling the amusement provided by the creation and propagation of the EUSSR myth,
Confirming my attachment to the vision of a vibrant Eurosphere,……….
Eurosphere, Euroblog Meet-up and Bloggingportal.eu
Here are some thoughts about the Eurosphere (European public space) after the Euroblog Meet-up initiated by Joe Litobarski, leading to some suggestions concerning limited, but concrete action to improve Bloggingportal.eu by attracting new blogs with a European perspective.
Glad to see our MEPs are focussed on what really matters
This won’t be news to most people, but Members of the European Parliament get up to a great deal of stuff that goes pretty much completely unnoticed.
Today the slightly underground French news service Agence Europe reports that the European Parliament’s political families are negotiating the membership and creation of 24 to 26 so-called “intergroups” for the Parliament’s new term of office. These strange groups are made up of MEPs from the different political groupings and apparently focus on single issues, such as Tibet or anti-racism. The groups are set up if they receive the backing of three or more groupings in the Parliament.
Barroso II: Questions to the new Commissioners
When I blogged the list of new Commissioners designate, I said that we and MEPs now have to look at “who is not qualified for [the] portfolio, who has conflicts of interest and who has shown in the past that there should be doubts on whether s/he is the right person” to work in the new Commission or in the particular portfolio.
EU public procurement thresholds outside the eurozone 2010
According to the Lisbon Treaty, the European Union shall establish an economic and monetary union whose currency is the euro (Article 3(4) TEU).
In practice, among the 27 EU member states sixteen form the eurozone, so eleven national currencies still complicate the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital in the internal market.
Europe in the World Cup Draw: Zzzzzz
All the major European sides are in groups where they are likely to advance. England has an interesting match against the US, but does anyone really think the English are going to fall to Algeria or Slovenia? The Netherlands, to Denmark or Japan? Italy, to Slovakia or New Zealand?
Chasing Brussels Podcast Episode 009: Language & The Euroblogosphere
Right after our recent Eurobloggers’ meet-up – see the report by Joe Litobarski – we recorded the next episode of the Chasing Brussels Podcast.
Are the Germans taking over Romania?
Not quite those Germans.
What?s happening in Romania, then? Handelsblatt reports. It?s time to pick a president, and the Social Democratic candidate looks in a strong position – although he finished second by a few points in the first round of the French-style presidential election, he?s got promises of support from several other parties, notably the Liberals and the Hungarian minority.