"Will the Irish guillotine Lisbon?
Will the Irish guillotine Lisbon?
Securing a 'yes' in the referendum on the EU's Lisbon Treaty to be held in Ireland on 12 June 2008 is vital for the bloc's governments and political establishment, according to Hugo Brady of the Centre for European Reform. What's more, "there is a real risk that the traditionally pro-European Irish could vote 'no'," thus "blocking reforms", says the June paper.MAIN FOCUS: The endangered Treaty of Lisbon | 09/06/2008
Opinion polls put the Eurosceptics ahead in Ireland's upcoming referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon. Europe's press looks at the reasons and consequences of a possible victory for the No vote.
Mardell's Europe
Irish No vote could leave key EU treaty dead in the waterA guide to the pre-referendum debate in Ireland
YouTube meets the Lisbon treaty
HEATED debate over the Lisbon treaty has spawned a series of online videos in Ireland, from those both pro and con. We've sampled several, and refer you to a couple of the more coherent examples.Shakespeare is curbing Molière and Goethe in Brussels
"French and German are unlikely to survive in Brussels" unless both countries "unite to better assert the importance of their languages," argues Marc Foglia, the chief editor of the Groupe des Belles Feuilles, a reflection group, in a post on Blogactiv.2008 'the year to restart social Europe', says French minister
Social policy will feature highly among the priorities of the upcoming French EU Presidency, Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand told members of the French Parliament's EU affairs committee on 4 June, stressing the need to clarify the legal status of social services of general interest (SSIG). EurActiv France reports.Bush eyes economy on Europe trip
The US leader arrives in Slovenia on what is expected to be his last European tour, with economic issues to the fore.Canada and the EU: From Transatlantic Economic Dialogue to Monologue
Christian Deblock & Michele Rioux: Canadians want to develop closer economic ties with Europe in order to reduce their dependence on the United States. However this new "European" policy is motivated by the wrong reasons and political and structural differences could prove insurmountable.MAIN FOCUS: France prior to its EU Council Presidency | 10/06/2008
In just a few weeks France will take over as President of the Council of the European Union. This is a crucial time: the EU Reform Treaty - and thus the future of the European Union - seems threatened by referendums and court actions in several member states. What does Europe expect of France?
The four faces of Dmitry Medvedev
It has now been more than a month since Dmitry Medvedev took office as Russia's president. While it was never in doubt that Vladimir Putin would retain a great deal of power in his new post as prime minister, it was less certain what role President Medvedev would play in this unprecedented tandem leadership structure. One month later, it's still hard to get a good read on him, but here are a few possible historical (and fictional) archetypes for Russia's president.
