"Europe's day of celebration
MAIN FOCUS: Europe's day of celebration | 09/05/2008
58 years ago today, the French Foreign Minister at the time, Robert Schuman, presented the vision of a united Europe to the world. Accordingly, each year on May 9 "Europe Day" is celebrated to mark the successful realisation of this dream. But there are also critical voices in Europe's press.
Europe Day, but not in Britain
Today is Europe Day, the anniversary of the Schuman Declaration that gave birth to the idea of the European Union. It is celebrated across Europe as a recognition of what the EU has achieved. In Poland, there is a parade through the streets of Warsaw; in Bulgaria, there are educational events around the country; and in Turkey, the foreign minister invited the ambassadors of the EU member states and candidate countries to breakfast.
Found here: French Kissing Map Over 18.000 votes have been cast in a poll to determine once and for all the answer to the burning question: Combien de bises? That’s French for ‘How many kisses’, and kissing in France is a lot more complex the French’s somewhat overstated reputation for carefree libidinosity implies. |
Europe Lacks a Risk Culture
London may be eclipsing Wall Street as the world financial capital, and the euro is trouncing the dollar, but Europe has yet to prove the equal of the United States in technological innovation.
Europeans get drunk 'to have sex'
Some teenagers and young adults get high on drink and drugs to improve their sex lives, research suggests.Free movement of labour in the EU-27
Some of the EU's strongest and wealthiest 'old' member states continue to restrict access to their labour markets by workers from Eastern Europe. Germany and Austria are the only member states, however, which have voiced their intention to block access to their labour markets until 2011.Europe's energy revolution taking shape?
As the EU's energy liberalisation drive heats up, European consumers may be wondering when and in what shape the EU's new energy policy will begin to transform the way energy is produced and consumed, and if the change will mean lower prices or higher industry profits.National parliaments prepare for bigger role in the EU
Members of parliament from across the EU, meeting in Brdo (Slovenia) on 7-8 May, have begun developing an embryonic strategy to deal with new provisions contained in the EU's Lisbon Treaty that would significantly increase their powers within the EU.EU questions its future direction on Europe Day
Today, as on every 9th of May, the European institutions will celebrate Europe Day, highlighting the successes of EU integration. But socialists and other political leaders say the celebration should also offer "a more political debate" about the EU's future direction.Parliament wants EU sport budget for 2009
MEPs have backed Commission plans for a specific EU sport policy, while urging the EU executive to provide clearer guidelines on how EU law applies in sport and calling for an EU sport budget for 2009.New EU Treaty wins approval of Baltic duo
The Lisbon Treaty yesterday (8 May) passed through the Latvian and the Lithuanian Parliaments by large majorities, increasing the number of countries having approved the text to 13 out of 27.Interview: EU did 'right thing' ahead of Serbian elections
The EU acted boldly by signing the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Serbia ahead of the early parliamentary elections on 11 May, Goran Svilanovic, the former minister of foreign affairs of Serbia and Montenegro, told EurActiv in an interview. He also welcomed the EU's recent visa facilitation initiative.Payback time for bishops in Spain?
AFTER years of testy relations with the Catholic hierarchy, Spain's government is preparing to gain some distance from the Church. As El Pais reports, the vice president Maria Fernandez de la Vega has outlined a series of steps to move the country toward more equal treatment of religions. It's about time.Lithuania in Europe, Europe in Lithuania
Cultural and political life in Lithuania is marked by what Homi K. Bhabha called an "ironic compromise", writes Rasa Balockaite. The Lithuanian is "almost a European but not quite".Nicolas Sarkozy: A new style of EU Presidency?
"Le style c'est l'homme" as the French say, yet Nicolas Sarkozy's style does not suit all European policymakers, explains Joachim Fritz-Vannahme in a February paper for the Bertelsmannstiftung.Immigration » No Melting Pot for Germany | Furman University, Spring 2008
Financial Management in the European Union
Source: UK National Audit OfficeThe Decline and Fall of Sarkozy
World Politics Review has a new article up entitled Saving Candidate Sarkozy: A Year of Disappointment and Broken Promises, suggesting that Sarkozy's fall in popularity may be because he reminds the French of what they really are:MAIN FOCUS: 60th anniversary of the founding of Israel | 08/05/2008
The state of Israel was founded 60 years ago today. Yet the region is still among the world's most crisis-torn hot spots, and a solution seems as far-off as ever. Europe's press comments on the anniversary.
