As I learnt during previous days, Romanian boys and girls are expected to behave in a similar way until they reach the age of 11 or 12, with the exception that the girls have earrings. Gender roles are only starting to sink in during the early teenage years. From then on, boys are raised to… » read more

Most reactions to the Us European project are quite positive. Some are not. As it has been made clear to me, the tone I have so far used in describing Romania is degrading, too harsh and too Western. Since today is my last day in Romania, I will try to make up for any emotional… » read more

L’inconcevable est arrivé en ce tout début d’avril. José Manuel Barroso, le Président de la Commission européenne, a remis sa démission hier soir. La raison apparente serait son désaccord avec le futur « pacte européen » de Nicolas Sarkozy concernant l’immigration. Dans son communiqué de presse, il s’en prend au chefs d’Etats sur la question… » read more

It is quite clear to us but not to the “old world” etymologists that the word Albion derives from or is equivalent with the hypothetical *Arbion and that this gave rise to the word European, Alba > Arba > Europa. Old Irish arbe meant “field” so that Europe in our opinion was named for the… » read more

Romanians are very social and talkative people. They like to spend time in company and they are fond of having conversations. Beside their love for philosophy and conspiracy theories, they also have a taste for humour. But beware, make sure you are not the subject of their jokes, because they are usually not very flattering.… » read more

Transylvania was neither invented by Dracula`s spiritual father Bram Stoker, nor was the region`s name born out of his creativity. Transylvania has existed for many centuries before the Dracula myth came into existence. Throughout all those years, Transylvania has almost incessantly changed ownership. Before being added to Romanian territory in the wake of WWI, it… » read more

Every country has its favourite scapegoat and for Romanians it`s the Gypsies. Romanians stealing abroad? ?Gypsies. People begging in the streets? ?Gypsies. Rapists, robbers, car thieves, abandoned children? ?All Gypsies. Fortunately, some Romanians have opinions that are a little more open-minded, especially when they are directly confronted with the question: `what do you think of… » read more

Le Monde, The Guardian, The Herald Tribune, The Times and a range of British and German boulevard papers ? most big European cities and tourist centres sell international newspapers. In Romania, they are very hard to find. I remember seeing one copy of Die Zeit in Sibiu and that`s about all. Even Romanian newspapers do… » read more

International traveling is a relatively new hobby in Romania. Escaping the country was almost impossible during the 1980s. The economic crisis of the 1990s made it quite unlikely that Romanians would leave their own country for reasons other than finding a job. After the beginning of the new millennium, conditions started getting more favourable. Now… » read more

We shall draw a bead on the Europe of the past, the present and the future, from looking in at what the Venerable Bede wrote about Europe so many yesterdays ago, to viewing Venerable Europe in its development today, to peering mightily into the coming tomorrows of the European idea. Original post by drawingabede

The Initiative for VRGH 2008 Main goal: This initiative is to conduct a survey of global health needs and challenges and the roles of the WHO through both public consultations and experts’ discussions around the globe, aiming to provide the Report in late 2008. Process: For this survey a questionnaire will be open to the… » read more

I ended my Bulgarian adventures in Varna and will continue my European mission in another `fresh` EU member state. Romania lived through many ups and downs during the 20th century is currently undergoing massive changes by its attempts to lift its economy and political system to European standards. Original post by Bruno

Another modern touch in the updated Lisbon Strategy is a reference to Open access to knowledge and Open innovation, both in the context of 5th freedom: “Member States and the EU must remove barriers to the free movement of knowledge by creating a “fifth freedom” based on enhancing the cross-border mobility of researchers, as well… » read more

The futility of using croplands for Biofuel production was clearly predicted by the team that established the Industries for Africa Foundation right from the start – and time has shown this to be so. The early months of this year 2008 have seen a spate of reports published that confirm this – along with an… » read more

Greetings from Slovakia, my name is František and let us share some thoughts together, The EU is unique in its languages as well and I think we all do support this, but let us look at it closer, is is not possible to figure out a language witch colud be used as an EU language… » read more