Daniel had posted several times about the effect of the Russian-Ukrainian gas crisis. This thought were formulated in our discussion following his post which drew attention to Gazprom deputy-chairman Mr Medvedev’s op-ed in the WSJ Online. That is the Russian side of the story. I wanted to flip the coin and defend the Ukrainian position. [...]

As the England Expects have picked out correctly: the fact that the EU has started to collect CVs from Croatia is good sign that their accession is near. The wheels of the beaurocracy are turning slowly. Link: Epsoforum Croatia.

Chinese Permier Wen Jiabao met the European Commission in Brussels on 30 January, as part of a tour taking in Davos, Berlin, London and Madrid.  Paris was excluded because President Sarkozy recently met the Dalai Lama.  Germany was previously punished and relations have been reasonably restored. Timing “This visit is intended to have a lot [...]

Tony Barber writes about the latest round of the great Balkans naming game: Macedonia (a country that could not enter NATO and is not allowed to use its name in the United States because of a Greek veto over it) decided to rename an EU-funded cross-Balkans infrastructure project after its great conquering ruler, Alexander the [...]

Donc, c’est Harlem Désir qui devrait mener la liste IDF pour les européennes. Perso, c’est une super nouvelle. En effet, j’avais peur que les hordes réactionnaires menées par Benoît Hamon parviennent à prendre le contrôle de la campagne comme l’ambitionnait Hamon (”ce serait naturel que je sois tête de liste”). Le pu-putsch d’Hamon a fait plouf, Martine [...]

La crise financière, économique, environnementale qui s’abat sur le Monde et l’Europe doit remettre sur le devant de la scène l’idée des réseaux transeuropéens. Bilan et Perspectives. 3H du matin sur une autoroute allemande en direction de Berlin, nous n’avançons pas. Je vois défiler lentement les poussiéreux camions crachant une fumée épaisse et essaye [...]

The small, and newish independent state has applied for EU-membership and is heading towards an early election. The opposition claims that the long-time prime minister and president, wants to head the polls before the world economic crisis hits the country more severly. However, Mr Djukanoivic can claim that after the declaration of independence, in which [...]

Six months of the French Presidency drew to a close at the end of December, and with it a very hectic period of meetings and conferences for ESU staff.  But what was the outcome of all this frenetic activity in terms of higher education policy at the European level?  Were there some real achievements, or [...]

The European Union spent €2.4bn last year on “biased information campaigns” to “promote itself and its central aim of ‘ever closer union’,” alleges a new study by Open Europe, a UK-based think tank. But the report’s findings were denied by the European Commission, which said it “makes no apologies” for supporting schemes such as the [...]

After fierce demonstrations against the government the prime minister had resigned on Monday. The new government may apply for EU-membership, which will be viewed very favorable by the European Union. The head of the new caretaker government is lead by Johanna Sigurdardottir, who is also the first openly gay female premiere in the world. Iceland [...]

Enfin, c’est Luc Chatel la voix de son maître le porte parole du gouvernement qui le dit: “le président de la République a été très clair là-dessus (…) quand on se présente à une élection, c’est pour siéger dans l’assemblée pour laquelle on a été candidat” via J4M. Bon, du coup c’est rigolo de lire [...]

The UN General Assembly chose January 27 as the official day for the commemoration, as it was on this day in 1945 that Soviet troops liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp. Throughout Europe, tributes will be paid to the 53 million people who died during World War II, of whom 31 million were civilians. Commemoration has [...]

Les relations entre le SPD (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands) et son nouveau concurrent de gauche, die Linke (la Gauche), sont pour le moins difficiles. A l’heure du passage aux urnes, le traditionnel parti social-démocrate allemand a du souci à se faire. Née en juin 2007 de la fusion de l’Alternative électorale travail et justice sociale, mouvement [...]

The Obama €825 economic stimulus package, as approved by the House of Representatives, contains a “Buy America” steel provision. Public works projects funded by the bill may only iron and steel made in the US. This is most unfortunate as it could influence the stimulus plans of other countries.  A widespread protectionist, beggar-thy-neighbour approach would [...]

Childcare is a 21st century public service – it gives children a great start to their education and learning to live and play with other children, and it frees to look for paid work, it creates work, it brings together the community. In 2007 the Party of European Socialists ran a campaign to encourage governments [...]