BRUSSELS | In front of a small tree, just a stone’s throw from the magnificent European Parliament building is Martin Pigeon adjusting the sound on his early model portable microphone. His French accent shines through when he starts speaking to his audience; “this tree was planted a couple of years ago by SEAP, the...
Read more »
Edition 2011
It’s just another day for lobbyists in paradise
Getting the EU news right
By Jesper Ernlund Lassen: The EU-Commissions handling of faulty articles meets different opinions from experts, professionals and a European Parliamentarian. The EU-Commission daily has all European news monitored by an external company in Paris. News about the EU is then being forwarded to Brussels where it is being assessed, if there are direct...
Read more »
Into Europe through Greece
Greece does not only have to worry about its failing economy, every day hundreds of illegal immigrants come into the country. But is it Greece or the European Union who has the responsibility to stop this immigration? In 2010 more than 128.000 illegal immigrants came into Greece. That was more than 80 percent of...
Read more »
Turkish enlargement: current and future events
Turkey’s EU-admission case is one of the most controversial, as well as one of the most exciting and interesting ones. Even though the country is trying to meet the criteria that the EU requires for admission, there are still some points that need to be improved, polished, or worked forward. Due to the complexity...
Read more »
The EU is in a lonely climate fight
Right now the EU is pushing for a viable successor to the Kyoto Protocol at the COP17 conference in Durban. But a new deal on climate action is highly unlikely, says commissioner, and the EU cannot save the climate alone. “The EU is ready. The world is not waiting for the European Union to...
Read more »
The Powers That Be
Brussels, what about Brussels? What is so special about it, isn’t it just the capital of Belgium, a small country in Europe about to get a government to end 535 days without one. An un-informed person may talk that way. However, beyond being the capital of Belgium, Brussels is also the seat of power...
Read more »
Child pornography should be tracked down – not hidden away
It is rare that the European Parliament is unanimous. But when the Parliament voted on a legal proposal on child pornography it was exceptionally concordant. Over five hundred MEP’s voted in favour for a new directive. Two voted against. Europe in the Worlds-editorial office wanted to know why. One of the two MEP’s who...
Read more »
EU Keeping Quiet About Occupy
Brussels remains untouched by the Occupy movement, as protestors are absent, and the EU is turning a blind eye to demonstrations across the continent. It’s been almost two months since the occupy movement took to European streets, and two months of silence from the European Union. Tim Noonan, Director of Communications at the International...
Read more »
Video: A priest and a pirates day in the European parliament
In the corridors of power works a former priest and a former political activist that today is a pirate. Follow two Swedish members of the parliament at a normal day in Brussels.
Read more »
Belgian Crisis: The EU has its head in the sand!
After a year and a half of debate and negotiations between the Flemish and the Walloons, Belgium will finally have a government with full executive powers in the coming days. Still, Belgium is not out of crisis. The country which houses the heart of the EU may explode at any time, sowing discord in...
Read more »
Euro-orphans: What about us?
The 6th annual European Forum on the Rights of the Child was held in Brussels last week, on the 23rdof November. The key actors from European Institutions, EU Member States, and Ombudspersons for children, international organisations and NGOs were sharing their experiences and ideas, exchanging views and providing examples of the best practices of...
Read more »
Holding the world’s climate hostage
Business and industry has a strangle-hold on the world’s climate efforts. To avert a humanitarian catastrophe we need ambitous climate policy, but the veto of business stand in the way.
Read more »
Europe from behind the glass
BRUSSELS – The EU is running out of Dutch interpreters. If nothing is done, many Dutch interpreting booths might by 2020 remain silent.
Read more »
Old Allies Take Traditional Steps into Cyber-Unknown
Brussels Dec. 4–It’s hard but humorous to imagine world leaders getting together to play computer games. Yet that’s what EU and US leaders were doing in early November, when they decided to simulate their cyber-defense capabilities and test their skills. Unfortunately, neither side saw it necessary to use computers when training for a...
Read more »
Difficult Times for Non EU Students.
Last month, the European commission on home affairs released a report assessing the implementation of the laid down rules in the 2004 Directive on the conditions of admission of non EU nationals for purposes of studies, exchange, unremunerated training or voluntary service. In the report, the commission noted that foreign students still experience...
Read more »
Leaving for prosperity
Things are not going really good nowadays in Spain. Recession, economic stagnation, upcoming elections and not knowing what is going to happen in the following years are some of the main issues that worry Spanish society at this moment. The biggest one is unemployment, which is over 20% now. Almost 5,000,000 people in Spain...
Read more »
To ban “snus”or not to ban “snus”
My father has a problem. He is, as well as around 1,2 million other people in Sweden, a user of snus. The damp tobacco that you place under your lip is banned all over the EU except for Sweden, which makes it complicated when users go abroad. - It is discrimination, says the Swedish...
Read more »
The blame game
Since 2002, countries such as Montenegro have been able to use the Euro as their currency despite not officially being a member of the European Union, whereas countries such as Lithuania, an official member of the EU, hasn’t been granted Eurozone status. By Liam Gascoigne and Peter Sharples Despite Montenegro recently being given the...
Read more »
The uncertainty constrains Ukraine
On Thursday, October 20th, Ukraine and the EU finalized the technical negotiations on the creation of the deep and comprehensive free trade area, even though the EU had cancelled the visit of the president of Ukraine Victor Yanukovych, which was planned to be held on the same day. Yanukovych was not welcome in Brussels...
Read more »
Towards a cleaner sport – at the cost of privacy?
Imagine that you have to plan in which room you are going to spend the night three months ahead. You have to be reachable for at least one hour a day, 365 days a year. And if you miss out on three tests you are not allowed to practice your profession for one year....
Read more »