Tag archive for ‘European Council’
Why Obama snubbed the EU/US Summit
My mother was fond of telling me that ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’. I was reminded of her words when I read about Obama’s ‘snub’ of the EU in declining to attend the EU/USA summit in May.
It is alleged that Obama declined because he could not face having to go down the wedding line [...]
New Priorities for the EU Institutions
The priorities must be formulated, as always, in a manner that takes into account both form and content. I shall accordingly deal with both aspects, while placing greater emphasis on the latter. A first priority will be to ensure that the new institutional balance resulting from the Lisbon Treaty can be made to work. The [...]
The Winner is: Democracy!
Habemus Presidentem. With the Lisbon Treaty ratified, the European Council appointed the Belgian Prime Minister Van Rompuy as its President, and Lady Ashton as Vice-President of the European Commission. The echo has been devastating. The Financial Times has called it ‘a colossal failure of ambition’. However, the decisions by the heads of states and governments [...]
Down, but (definitely) not out
Social democrats need to work more closely together in Europe to reassert a policy agenda reflective of their values.
Social-democratic parties are not dominating decision-making in Europe. The recent gain in Greece was matched with losses in Germany and Bulgaria, and in Portugal we retained control but lost absolute majority. This decline was reflected in June’s [...]
Woman @ EU top: let’s enter the 21st century now!
Since I wrote the blogpost “One of the 3 top EU jobs must be held by a woman” early October, I’ve been delighted to see that the idea of a woman at one of the top EU jobs has gained momentum, both in social media and mainstream media, both among women and men. Just a week [...]
Timing is NOT everything – Exit Strategies must also be credible and above all just
The battle-lines are already drawn up over when to begin withdrawing the stimulus measures that appear, for the moment, to have averted the widely feared global economic meltdown: on the one hand the inflation and deficit hawks who cannot wait for monetary policy to return to normal, and for fiscal policy to reign in the [...]
Tony Blair for President of the European Council
So the Irish voted “yes” and barring any last minute grandstanding from Vaclav Klaus, we will finally get the Lisbon Treaty. The debate now is about who will get the big jobs, starting with the full-time Presidency of the Council. Tony Blair is the hot favourite and would, in my view, be excellent for [...]
One of the 3 top EU jobs must be held by a woman
Although the Lisbon Treaty is still not fully ratified, there has already been a lot of speculation in the media about who would be suitable candidates for the 2 top EU jobs it creates along the -already taken- Commission President post: the President of the European Council and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
Annoyed by [...]
Tasks of the New European Commission
The study group Europe of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung has drawn up a list of tasks to be incorporated in the programme of the new European Commission over the next few years. Its detailed proposals should serve as a blueprint for political decision-making, as well as a set of benchmarks for the European Parliament and the European [...]