About (general) interest and other necessary demythisations Yesterday I was sitting in the bus 21, the most European one here in Bruxelles, as it rumbles around the EU Quartier and wise guys bearing appropriate access passes to these Institutions are allowed also to take this bus for free. It is never too crowded and [...]

The UK is not the only country where opinions on medicines can be challenged in court. In France, Astellas Pharma, a Japanese multinational pharmaceutical company has filed a lawsuit in Paris against the independent French medical journal, Prescrire, for publishing unfavorable comments about their anti-eczema ointment, tacrolimus (brand name – Protopic). The case arises from [...]

European Commission President weighs into Irish election by helping EPP pals Barroso’s meeting with Irish opposition leader Enda Kenny adds weight to Kenny’s efforts to portray himself as a political heavyweight. But is it right for the Commission President to offer such publicity to Kenny in the midst of a general election campaign? Certainly, the [...]

The EU has in recent months demonstrated that it is stuck between  rhetoric on climate change and conflicting industrial interests. While the European Commission’s climate department maintains that the EU’s priority is to lead in climate change measures and take over global green tech markets, its trade people have been busy watering down South Korean environmental standards for [...]

At the start of his presidency, Barack Obama spoke about his administration’s intentions to mend fences with the Islamic world. In hindsight, we might be forgiven to think that he meant Kenya’s Islamic community and not the Arab one. The plight of Arabs living in US-backed authoritarian states does not seem to get the same [...]

To the casual observer, Kazakhstan can be a tricky country to get to grips with. In 2010 they scored a major diplomatic coup by becoming the first post-Soviet country to chair the OSCE, where they hosted the stagnant organisation’s first summit in 11 years. While its neighbour Kyrgyzstan descended in chaos, Kazakhstan seemeed an oasis [...]

Respect de la laïcité dans l’espace scolaire, école obligatoire dès trois ans, accueil des parents : un rapport remis vendredi au Premier ministre lance 50 idées pour mieux intégrer les enfants issus de l’immigration dans l’école de la République. François Fillon a demandé aux ministres concernés de lui faire des propositions au vu de ce [...]

Le concept Startup Weekend, soutenu depuis trois ans par l’excellente Kauffman Foundation, propose d’accompagner l’émergence d’idées business et de les transformer entreprise en à peine 54 heures. Le Lean Startup, les événements type Startup Weekend ou encore les méthodes de gestion dites agiles sont aujourd’hui des voies à explorer pour permettre de tester et de [...]

The biggest leak of confidential documents in the history of the Middle East conflict began on Sunday, 23th January 2011 by the Al-Jazeera website with Britain’s Guardian newspaper. A cache of thousands of pages of confidential Palestinian records covering more than a decade of negotiations with Israel and the US has been [...]

Se nos llena la boca con demasiada frecuencia cuando alardeamos como europeos de constituir el espacio común más democrático y que más y mejor respeta los derechos humanos. Porque más allá de declaraciones grandilocuentes, las realidades se cultivan con hechos. La globalización y la extensión del acceso universal a la información que ha supuesto Internet [...]

As mentioned in my previous post (The Innovation Union Will Require Public And Private Money), I had the role of Moderator this week at an event about Venture Capital held in Brussels by Eureka. The overall aim was to help bring together some members of the Eureka network, EU policy makers and some involved in [...]

On Monday, January 24th the Moroccan Energy federation celebrated its 10th anniversary with the publication of its founder’s new book “10 years of reflecting on energy choices”. The book is organised chronologically from 2011 to 2010, which allows readers to follow the evolution of energy policies in Morocco in the last decade. The country saw [...]

I started a discussion here, and I want to introduce as a new article my answer to our friends who posted a comment. I also added several lines. Well, when a new country becomes an EU member, the EU long-term budget had long before to foresee some funds for that country. That was and still [...]

Ein Leitartikel der GLOBAL TIMES vom Montag brachte das Konzept der “nationalen Integration” auf, ein Prozess, durch den regionale Wirtschaften, Gesellschaften und Kulturen in ein überregionales Netzwerk integriert werden. Globalisierung ist in China zu einem Schlagwort geworden, aber die nationale Integration wurde nicht gründlich analysiert, obwohl sie rasch voranschreitet. Es ist an der Zeit, dass [...]

During the last 12 months oil prices have risen by 15 percent, much less than either wheat or maize. At the London market they vacillate presently close to € 100 per barrel, about two thirds of the peak price registered in June 2008. There is a priori no reason for concern, the more so as [...]