Finally, a YES for the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland. At least the second attempt was successful. So , what’s next? Now it is up to the Polish and Czech presidents to sign the treaty as well. Lech Kaczinski, the Polish president, promised to sign the text after the Irish voted ”yes’. So this leaves an [...]
The referendum: populism vs democracy The idea of the referendum as an instrument of the people’s will rests on pre-democratic foundations, says George Schöpflin. I certainly agree! A better way with referendums Interesting idea: Is it possible to introduce a more deliberative approach when holding a referendum? Does “deliberative polling” make citizens more knowledgeable? Instead [...]
Interesting how Gordon Brown defends the EU and the Lisbon Treaty: Conviction or tactics? Interesting how Gordon Brown defends the EU and the Lisbon Treaty: Conviction or tactics? [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uVFkzzLkL0]
The Irish ‘no’ and the EU’s “nuclear”option Daniel Gros (CEPS) argues for “a radical solution – the other EU members should propose to leave the old EU and create a new one with the Lisbon Treaty as its founding document.” So much for bringing Europe closer to the people Everyone is right and wrong at [...]
The problems with the Irish referendum: In any representative democracy a document with 271 pages (479 pages in the consolidated version!) of legal text should never be put to a referendum. The method of EU treaty ratification should be the same in every member state. A very weak YES campaign and a quite strong NO [...]
The summer break is over. Slowly, the Brussels xpat crowd is coming back from holiday. I just started deleting blog spam….it is incredible what kind of spam you get these days! It used to be only the obvious things about different medications and various operations, as well as dating opportunities…but now they started making compliments: [...]
Two years and three months after our legendary EU debate in a car between Münster and Louvain-la-Neuve, we are delighted to announce the next round of the fight. This time as an explosive online debate between kosmopolit (in the white corner) and FloNet (in the black corner). The first fight of two rounds will be [...]
In case you have nothing better to do this weekend, here is a wonderful exercise to make sense out of the EU summit conclusions: Empty your desk, put all former EC/EU treaties on the table, also the constitutional treaty! Now, have a look at the draft IGC mandate (the presidency proposal before the summit) and [...]
Fair enough, but certainly not this week! Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) These conferences are convened, at the initiative of a Member State or the Commission, by the Council of Ministers acting by a simple majority (after consulting the European Parliament and, if appropriate, the Commission). So, what exactly do you want to block this week, Mr [...]
Here we go again: Every six months it is time to rant about the logo of the new EU presidency. This time it is Portugal’s turn and the following official statement gives a high-flying explanation of the logo. The “Blue flower” is a symbol of today’s Portugal: modernity, harmony, the oceans, transparency and openness to [...]
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