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Some weird parallel EU communications universe

By Jon on February 8, 2010

A retweet from @belitabrux drew my attention today to a Mostra e-book called Opinion Corner. Take a look – it’s well researched, looks smartly designed… but why does it exist? It’s not that different from the (paper) Shift>Mag published by Tipik in Brussels, a publication that I’ve written for a couple of times. It’s smartly printed and [...]

Posted in EU Politics, Euroblog, Technology | Tagged EU Communications, European Commission, Gender Balanced Commission, Mostra, Shift>Mag, Tipik | 23 Responses

Political videos so bad they make you squirm

By Jon on January 25, 2010

First up, Germany’s new European Commissioner Günter Oettinger. He says in German that English is vital for German people to speak, and then he goes on to speak absolutely dire English:

This terrible, terrible song was put out by the youth of the UMP, the party of Nicolas Sarkozy, featuring dodgy appearances from (among others) Rachida Dati [...]

Posted in EU Politics, Euroblog | Tagged Christine Lagarde, English, European Commission, Günter Oettinger, Rachida Dati, UMP, Youtube | 3 Responses

A strange wave of anti-Communism in the EU’s corridors of power

By Jon on November 26, 2009

I’ve come across this little summary from PressEurop of an article from the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza which looks at comments within the EPP saying that anyone who formerly co-operated with “repressive regimes and undemocratic organizations” be denied the post of Commissioner. This is essentially a way of saying that anyone with a Communist past [...]

Posted in EU Politics, Euroblog | Tagged Communism, European Commission, Laszlo Andor, Massimo D'Alema, Rocco Buttiglione, Stefan Füle | 4 Responses

So it’s Baroness Ashton then?

By Jon on September 25, 2009

If you’re looking for news about Baroness Ashton’s nomination for High Representative click here
All of the analysis of Shriti Vadera’s move to some sort of G20 post has led to questions about what her departure means for Gordon Brown and for government. But what does it mean for the EU? For Vadera was tipped to become [...]

Posted in EU Politics, Euroblog, UK Politics | Tagged Baroness Ashton, European Commission, Shriti Vadera | 3 Responses

Fillon to be the knight in shining armour to save the Commission?

By Jon on September 7, 2009

There’s an interesting article in Le Monde today speculating once more about a role for François Fillon as a possible candidate for the Presidency of the Commission. The story goes broadly like this:

José Manuel Barroso secured the nomination of the Heads of State and Government in July
Approval of Barroso in the European Parliament next week in Strasbourg [...]

Posted in EU Politics, Euroblog | Tagged European Commission, European Parliament, François Fillon, Jose Manuel Barroso | 2 Responses

Nomination of the Commission: left backs the right, and wonders why it has no message

By Jon on September 5, 2009

The EP elections, the five year democratic interruption to the Brussels game, are long in the past. Everyone is back from their summer holidays, ready for a bout of jousting and positioning in that depressing and opaque game: how to put together a team of 27 Commissioners.
The nomination of José Manuel Barroso as President of the [...]

Posted in EU Politics, Euroblog | Tagged Alfred Gusenbauer, ECR, European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, Michal Kaminski, Werner Faymann | 3 Responses

Liveblogging Bruegel “Memos to the new Commission- Europe’s economic priorities 2010-2015″

By Jon on September 1, 2009

*** HIT REFRESH IN YOUR BROWSER TO SEE THE LATEST UPDATES ***
Panel Ratings:
-> Andre Sapir 7/10 – clearly sharp, spoke well, wish he had critiqued the politicians too
-> Elmar Brok 5/10 – sometimes clear, other times clearly torn inside, cantakerous
-> Poul Nyrup Rasmussen 8/10 – on good form today, clear, coherent and optimistic
-> Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck 4/10 – no clue what her message was really, [...]

Posted in EU Politics, Euroblog | Tagged Bruegel, Daniel Cohn Bendit, Economics, Elmar Brok, European Commission, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen | 3 Responses

Baroness Vadera, the next UK name in the frame for the Commission

By Jon on July 1, 2009

There were a few messages on Twitter and a lengthy post from ResEuropa about the prospect of Baroness Shriti Vadera being appointed as the British member of the European Commission this autumn. The story stems from this article in The Times.
Firstly, let me set the record straight from the article: “The appointment would require David Cameron [...]

Posted in EU Politics, Euroblog, UK Politics | Tagged Baroness Vadera, European Commission, UK European Commissionner 2009 | 2 Responses