20 women who run the EU (blogosphere)
In the German blogosphere, we have recently seen a controversial debate (started by annalist) about the question why only men were among the so-called “alpha bloggers” in a video series about important bloggers, a debate that has led to the inclusion of female bloggers in the third part of the series (see the comment of the feminist blog Maedchenmannschaft).
Van Rompuy insulted in parliament
from EUobserver.com – Headline News
Dear Mr Farage,
from Julien Frisch
British Eurosceptic insults EU president in Parliament
To gasps from other members of the EU legislature, Nigel Farage, the enfant terrible of the United Kingdom Independence Party, launched a tirade against Herman Van Rompuy, the Belgian chosen by the 27 EU leaders to chair their regular summits.
The Greece v. Germany row gets deeper
from FP Passport by Annie Lowrey
Greece angers Germany in gold row
Greece
Dutch election to be held in June
When the European Parliament stops being polite
from FP Passport by Joshua Keating
Europe: Pursuit of purpose
Nick Griffin’s foreign fascist festival,
Fresh from agreeing to allow blacks and Asians join his party, Nick Griffin is this week embracing a group of men who have funny names and speak foreign languages. Have his regular trips to Brussels and Strasbourg finally brought out the British National Party chief?s cosmopolitan side?
Of course they haven?t. Far from sampling the diversity of Europe, Griffin is to share a platform with some of the continent?s most narrow-minded politicians in Ghent today (Wednesday).
A ‘dishonesty of the conscientious’: Gordon Brown?s tragedy,
I
In the dark days of 1940, Winston Churchill was provoked by the pious gloom of John (Lord) Reith to mutter: ?Who will rid me of this Wuthering Height?? Reith, the austere Scots former director-general of the BBC, was serving as minister of information in Neville Chamberlain?s government; he was demoted after Churchill replaced his boss as prime minister, and Britain?s second-world-war effort got serious.
It?s the economics, stupid
by Simon Tilford
There was always a risk that a one-size-fits-all monetary policy would lead to big divergences in inflation and competitiveness across the eurozone. This, in turn, would result in trade imbalances which would be difficult to reverse. Proponents of the single currency dismissed such concerns, arguing that the single currency was a political project, and that the economics would fall into place once the currency became a reality. The consequences of this line of reasoning are now clear. The eurozone faces a severe test. Greece ? the member-state in the tightest spot ? is far from unique. A number of other member-states could easily find themselves fighting to retain the confidence of the financial markets.
MAIN FOCUS: Dutch withdrawal weakens Nato | 23/02/2010
The roughly 1,500 Dutch soldiers stationed in Afghanistan are likely to be withdrawn following the collapse of the governing coalition in the Netherlands. Commentators speak of a bitter blow to Nato’s Afghanistan strategy, which already seems doomed to failure.
Greece threatens more than the euro
MAIN FOCUS: General strike in Greece | 24/02/2010
Greece‘s major trade unions are responding to the government’s drastic austerity measures with a general strike today, Wednesday. Commentators criticise the strike, and write that it could also spread to other countries of Europe.
Anglo Saxon Conservatives on the attack against EU: “Europe’s Crisis of Ideas” – by Bret Stephens
“In continental Europe the dominant mode of conservative politics is sometimes pro-business but rarely pro-market: During his 12-year presidency of France, Jacques Chirac railed against “Anglo-Saxon ultraliberalism,” a phrase that became so ubiquitous as to almost obscure its crassly xenophobic appeal. There are think tanks, but they are almost invariably funded by political parties and hew to the party line. Not a single economics faculty in Europe is remotely competitive with a Chicago or a George Mason: Since 1990, only three of the 36 winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics were then affiliated with a European university.
German power struggles in EU politics & the next Secretary General of the EU Council
Yesterday, the German business newspaper Handelsblatt titled “Chancellery snatches EU policy away from Westerwelle“, an issue that should not be regardes as just an internal affair.
The Non-Political System: A Short Comparison of the EU and the USA
The EU is in a leadership mess. So is the US.
But while the insulted non-country non-President of the European non-Union gets defended by non-institution officials or supported by bloggers of non-spoken EU languages, the non-United States of America are debating the nonsense of public healthcare and the best coverage is in a non-news show.
Too Soon To Cry ?Victory? On Latvia?
?Doom-mongers? – the Economist tells us – ?are licking their wounds?. And why exactly are they licking their wounds? Well for two years now (apparently) they have been telling us that ?the struggle to save the lat?s peg to the euro was bound to end in tears?. As you could imagine right in the very forefront of these so called doom-mongers is to be found yours very truly (and here), and of course Nobel Economist Paul Krugman (and here).
ePractice.eu : eGovernment and eInclusion in Europe
Here is a useful site for government facts and doings in Europe: ePractice.eu.
“ePractice.eu is a portal created by the European Commission which offers a new service for the professional community of eGovernment, eInclusion and eHealth practitioners. It is an interactive initiative that empowers its users to discuss and influence open government, policy-making and the way in which public administrations operate and deliver services.
Swiss thank Europe for solidarity in Libya row
Speaking before a group of 250 Socialist Party delegates gathered in the Swiss capital, Bern, Calmy-Rey said there was strength in unity and that EU-sceptics should be convinced that Switzerland is strong at Europe?s side.
Discover more from Erkan's Field Diary
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.