By KAVALJIT SINGH As India grapples with the Vodafone and 2G fallout, the Bilateral Investment Treaties it signed a few years ago are coming back to haunt it. On April 17, British telecom giant Vodafone issued a notice of dispute to the Indian government, as a first step towards launching investment arbitration proceedings under the [...]

I’m living in Belgium for 15 years already and to be more precise – in Brussels, the capital of Europe. I’m amazed how this ‘small’ city managed to adapt and to ‘open’ itself to fit in the European structure. To host the main offices of the EU institutions and the ‘army’ of the EU lobby, [...]

Guest post by Senka Neuman Stanivukovi?, researcher at the University of Groningen. As a part of novelized Enlargement strategy, the Commission has released a set of short videos to communicate the EU’s widening eastwards to the citizens. I suggest that the campaign not only prejudices against the Eastern members and to-be-members by portraying these as [...]

Guest post by Elena Gerebizza, energy and climate finance officer at the ‘Campaign for the Reform of the World Bank’, an advocacy and campaigning group based in Rome, member of the Counter Balance coalition. She is co-author of the policy briefing “Beyond our Borders. A critique of the external dimension of the EU energy policy and [...]

Guest post by Andy Langenkamp, political analyst for ECR Research and Interest & Currency Consultants. Unemployment in the eurozone is at historic highs. Economic growth data are equally depressing while confidence is low among producers and consumers. In short, the stock market rallies of recent months are premature. The European “patient” will not get better [...]

Guest Post by Dan Luca When it comes to involve and engage citizens in the decision-making process on a European level, there is confusion about terminology. Some see “asking the interested citizens what they prefer” as active public participation. It is not: “asking the interested citizen” falls under consultation. Consultation is a top-down professional or [...]

Guest post by Hristiana Grozdanova and Anna Maria Barcikowska. Since the autumn of 2008, the financial crisis and its implications has dictated the EU policies. The pressures on EU governments to control expenditure continue to be enormous. Defence has not remain immune raising important questions how Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) of the EU can [...]

Guest post by Dmitry Chernyshenko, President and CEO of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Sports ministers and stakeholders from across the EU met last week at the SportsVision2012 conference in Copenhagen, organised by the Danish Presidency of the EU, to discuss vibrant and healthy sport for all, with a focus on increasing participation in sports [...]

Guest post from Benedetta Berti, Gonca Noyan, Hristiana Grozdanova, Jelena Petrovic, members of the Atlantic Council’s Young Atlanticist NATO Working Group. Since the end of the hostilities that led to the ousting of Muammar Qaddafi, Libya has been undergoing a post-authoritarian political transition. Although the internal drive for reforms is present, it remains unclear whether this [...]

Un article envoyé par Hakima Fassi-Fihri, en charge de la Direction des Affaires Juridiques et des Ressources Humaines de l’Université Internationale de Rabat, et membre de son Directoire, et enseigne le droit des Affaires des Pays Arabes à l’Université d’Assas Paris II. Un vent de polémique se ressent actuellement au Maroc, depuis le triste fait [...]

Guest Post by Yannis Kechagiaras, Msc graduate in international relations, LSE. The Greek nation sends out a distress signal: we cannot bear the burden of new cuts on salaries, wages, pensions, allowances; we cannot pay out more special contributions and irregular taxes; we cannot afford saving the state. Greek people are literally cash-strapped: around thirty [...]

Guest Post by Dan Luca Introduced by the new Treaty of Lisbon, the Council has a president for 2.5 years – extendable for another 2.5 years. As the first ever president of the Council, Herman van Rompuy is almost at the end of his first term and is likely to be reappointed for a second [...]

Guest Post by Paul Whaley, Editor, Health & Environment Last week, EFSA delayed publication of its opinion on the use of thresholds of toxicological concern (TTCs) in risk assessment. And it was right to do so: TTCs are not only unlikely to be sufficiently protective of human health, their deployment would fly in the face [...]

Guest post by Dan Luca & Nienke van Leeuwaarden. An interesting approach is taken by Stefan Lehne, visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, about the European External Action Service (EEAS). The big paradox seems to be that since the EEAS has become active – European foreign policy is less visible and effective than before its existence. [...]

Guest post by Giuseppe Lenzo, university of Durham Today it is opposing the austerity measures promoted by Mario Monti’s government, accusing him of stealing money out of Italians’ pockets. However, yesterday it acted as protagonist as a key ally of Berlusconi’s coalition which was about to bring the country into the mire, with an alarmingly [...]