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It looks at last that the Lisbon Treaty will come into force – even as hoped for – on 1 January 2110. Discussion so far has been mainly on whether Tony Blair should be given the first post, and to a lesser extent on what should be the determining criteria. It seems clear that Blair [...]

Everyone is waiting for President Obama’s decision on whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, and if so, how many. There is no acceptable and achievable way to ensure peace, stability, and reasonably prosperity in the whole of Afghanistan. What then does the West do, bearing in mind the huge negative contribution made to the [...]

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The EU needs Tony Blair as its first president. The former British Prime Minister is a heavy-weight politician, who, if elected, will be a tough player in forming the EU. That is exactly what the EU needs. The EU must be focused in political issues. These kind of issues are off the table [...]

The dawn of the information age will make historians obsolete I was chatting to a journalist from the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) while attending the EU Health Prize for Journalists this week and learned of an ambitious plan to digitise original Finnish TV shows dating back as far as the 1950s. Imagine the treasure trove [...]

Polen steckt in einem Dilemma, erzählte mir gestern ein polnischer Regierungsmitarbeiter. “Wir können uns einfach nicht entscheiden, ob wir ein armes oder ein großes EU-Mitglied sein wollen. Beides hat Vorteile. Große Mitgliedsstaaten haben mehr Einfluss, arme Mitgliedsstaaten bekommen mehr Geld.” Allerdings passe beides schlecht zusammen… Altes EU-Budget verteidigen Es war auch interessant zu erfahren, welche [...]

The following story was published by EurActiv.com on Thursday 29th October 2009. Leading politicians of the European left appear to have dealt a fatal blow to Tony Blair’s chances of becoming the first permanent president of the European Union, confirming to EurActiv that they want the new position of EU foreign minister instead. Spanish Prime Minister [...]

Le sujet occupe l’essentiel des conversations au Conseil européen. Blair, Juncker, Balkenende,… Gribauskaité ???? Qui d’entre ces hommes sera nommé par les 27 présidents du Conseil européen pour deux ans et demi, dès lors que le traité de Lisbonne entrera en vigueur ? Parmi cette flopé de noms, seul celui de la présidente lituanienne, d’ailleurs [...]

Note: Other than the fact that (1) George Bush is no longer US President and (2) Jean-Claude Juncker is available, if asked… other than those two facts, my post in Avuncular American of 14 March 2008 still stands: “Europe’s First President: Charisma vs. Competence?” Oh yes, and this: the idea that David Miliband [...]

L’accord en cours de négociation permettrait aux Etats-Unis d’accéder aux données bancaires intra-européennes stockées par SWIFT sur le nouveau serveur installé en Suisse. SWIFT est une société coopérative qui offre aux banques un système de messagerie sécurisé (2,4 milliards de messages depuis le début de l’année). Le Président de la CNIL, qui préside également [...]

While I prefer to focus on CCS demonstration plants, this full-chain pilot project at the Mountaineer power plant in West Virginia catches my attention, not least because two European companies Alstom and RWE are also involved.

East European leaders may be bargaining for a fairer deal on climate funding, however the impression remains that they are less interested in the subject, compared to their colleagues from ‘older Europe’. I was discussing this with my friend Jan Vitasek, a Czech journalist, yesterday night in the Council meeting, while EU leaders were having [...]

What has been most surprising about last nights dinner discussions in Brussels the role of the Presidency and Foreign representative jobs being created by the Lisbon Treaty is that the European Left have capitulated so quickly on the Presidency job.Are…