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 »
Posts Tagged ‘ Europe ’
Background Barroso Berlin Brussels budget Canada CULTure Cycling Dutch economics enlargement EU EU-Enlargement EU reputation Euro Europe European Citizens' Initiative European Commission European History European Parliament European Union Europe in the World Eurozone Financial crisis germany Iceland Integration Janusz Lewandowski Journalism Lisbon Treaty Net Contributors Postcard Profile Profiles Reporting Brussels Reporting Europe reunion 2011 Ruhr Spain State of the Union student The Netherlands Turkey Utrecht Utrecht Views
Euro-orphans: What about us?
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 »
France, an outlaw country ?
After France and Belgium, the Netherlands prohibited the wearing of the veil in September. The same month, the first criminal convictions took place in France, the first country to have passed the law. Today, Muslims sentenced to pay a fine want to turn to the European Court of Human Rights. Can France be condemned?...
Read more »
A founding member of something little understood
France has always played an important role in the European Union, since its creation. Yet, the French have an increasingly negative picture of the European Union, which is not doing enough for their tastes. An image that can be explained by the fact that they do not know much about how it functions. No...
Read more »
Economic crisis make Spaniards to increase interest on EU
Spain has been a member of the European Union since 1986, when it entered along with Portugal after some years of negotiation and preparation for the admission. By that time, that was a really good opportunity for Spain because the country could receive a lot of funds for rural and agriculture development. Former dictator...
Read more »
Spanish views in Utrecht
Utrecht is the Dutch-style city I had imagined it to be before arriving in Holland. I have previously visited Amsterdam, so I thought that Utrecht would look pretty similar and I was right. It is a small city compared to my hometown, Madrid, which is a very good thing when you want to move...
Read more »
Cross Channel Cooperation
Agreements made at this years UK-France summit herald a new age of military cooperation between Europes top military spenders. Aimed at keeping military spending costs low in a time of deep budget cuts, many see the move as one of the only options to ensure these nations’ safety, without spending beyond their means. The...
Read more »
SOS : Save Our Specie
By : Andrew Codd, Miguel Duran de Barbozza, Margot Perrier, Alexandra Tengberg FIXING EURO SINGLE CURRENCY 2010 is going to be the year when Europe realizes how much work it has to catch up. Since this past weekend, all the Euro zone, from ” in the red “countries like Greece or Portugal, to strong...
Read more »
Bigger is better in the EU
Increasing the role of the parliament may leave smaller member states in the dark by Andrew Codd, Miguel Duran de Barbozza, Margot Perrier, Alexandra Tengberg Smaller member states are becoming increasingly common within the EU through the enlargements that has marked recent political activity within the Union; However, as their numbers grow, the power...
Read more »
Work in progress
by Anna Buch, Ana Muñoz Padrós, Beatriz Paúl Naya, Anna Rydholm The grade of cooperation in the EU depends on which policy field you look at. All of them have made progress since the establishment of the Union. Nevertheless, the level of cooperation in each policy field differs considerably. The political system of the...
Read more »
Democracy with obstacles
by Anna Buch, Ana Muñoz Padrós, Beatriz Paúl Naya and Anna Rydholm From 2011 on, Europeans will live in a more democratic union. At least, that was intended by establishing the European citizens` initiative which gives Europeans the possibility to put forward legislative proposals. As democracy is supposed to be the political system in...
Read more »
Pandora’s box opened again
by Anna Buch, Ana Muñoz Padrós, Beatriz Paúl Naya, Anna Rydholm When the president of the European Comission, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, mounted the platform to hold the first speech of the State of the Union, expectations were low. Not without reason, afterwards the speech was criticized for being dull – a mere shopping...
Read more »
‘We were not alone.’
Peaceful Revolution in the GDR district of Prenzlauer Berg: Gethsemane Church. Protests, hunger strikes, Stasi-spies and a concerned and angry crowd: the Gethsemane Church was the centre of resistance in Prenzlauer Berg against the communist government of East Berlin in October 1989. The protestors were able to get in contact with sources outside of...
Read more »
Fair representation for the fairer sex
By Teresa Smith Ladies and gentlemen, presenting: Women in the European Commission are tipping the scales, but it hasn’t been an easy road. In Barroso’s new team, which began its reign on December 1, one in three Commissioners is from the fairer sex. Jon Worth, European blogger and co-founder of www.genderbalancedcommission.eu says nine out...
Read more »
Word on the street: Women in the Commission
By Roos Mulders Barroso and women’s groups lobbied hard to get more women in the Commission. But do European citizens even care?
Read more »
Ten years of politics in Berlin
History is a lesson, which tells you often a lot about the future. But for Germany, their history is a particular case. It’s not that much of a lesson, but something, which they keep on bumping up to. Chancellor Angela Merkel proved that once again to the US congress two weeks ago. Instead of...
Read more »
A Journalist between a jazz singer and a ballet dancer
It was going to be the second time we sat down and talked, but I could notice that there was already trust between Teresa and me. This Canadian girl, with some American heritage, is very open minded and has been in many different situations. She has an extraordinary capacity to adapt herself. Vancouver, Czech...
Read more »