Tag Archives: EU Reform
Kosmolinks #17
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 [...]
Posted in Kosmolinks Also tagged blogging, EU, Europe, European Union, Germany, Ireland, lisbon treaty, No, politics, referendum, SPD, WIA Leave a comment
Cameron vs. Brown
Interesting how Gordon Brown defends the EU and the Lisbon Treaty: Conviction or tactics? [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uVFkzzLkL0]
Posted in European Debate Also tagged David Cameron, EU, European Union, Gordon Brown, Ireland, lisbon treaty, politics, referendum, UK Leave a comment
Kosmolinks #16
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 [...]
Posted in Kosmolinks Also tagged EU, Europe, European Union, Ireland, lisbon treaty, No, plan b, plan c, referendum Leave a comment
The Irish 'No' – Problems and Dilemmas
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 [...]
Posted in European Debate, European Union Also tagged constitutional treaty, EU, EU politics, Europe, European Union, Ireland, lisbon treaty, No, politics, referendum 4 Comments
Welcome back!
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: [...]
Posted in Brussels, European Debate, European Union, International Politics Also tagged blogging, EU, Europa, Europe, European Politics, Kaczynski, poland, Romania, Romanian Politics, UK, US Politics 1 Comment
Ready for our EU debate?
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 [...]
EU summit conclusions
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 [...]
Posted in European Debate, European Union Also tagged EU, EU presidency, Europa, Europe, European Politics, politics 4 Comments
The logo of the Portuguese presidency
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 [...]
Ireland voted YES: But what's next?