Oct
27
Books and articles on EU budget debate
October 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment
As a follow-up to my previous post on standard books on the EU budget, here comes an overview of some literature since the mid-19990s on the EU budget. Advisory Council on International Affairs (2007): The finances of the European Union. The AVI works on request of the Dutch parliament/government on international affairs. This report can [...]
Oct
26
EU studies conferences 2011
October 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Here comes an overview of the relevant EU studies academic conferences in 2011 (ordered by deadline). As always, please comment or inform me if relevant conferences are missing. Please also note that there is an EU conference in Taiwan for Asian scholars in February. European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) 12-17 April 2011 St. Gallen, [...]
Oct
23
Standard books on the EU budget
October 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment
For some time now I have been looking out for good standard books or articles on the politics of the EU budget process. Still, I am left a little clueless. Either there is hardly anything available or I continue to oversee it. Please help me if you know of more publications in English, German or [...]
Oct
20
German elections today: Green prime minister
October 20, 2010 | Leave a Comment
There is currently so much dynamics in German politic that I thought I put this into perspective for my international friends. Chancelor Angela Merkel is obviously known abroad and what I find interesting is that her leadership is not questioned too much in international media. However, if we had elections in Germany this Sunday, the [...]
Oct
16
The schizophrenia of some business leaders
October 16, 2010 | Leave a Comment
In my reading for a paper on voluntary environmental stewerdship I have come across this classic article by Milton Friedman “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Proft” (New York Times Magazine, 1970). The following passage reminds me of many of Germany’s industrial barons from the old dirty industries who tend to be [...]
Sep
11
Eating out and food in Singapore
September 11, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Ok. Today is a special day. I could write a comment about some Florida idiots who wanted to burn books some consider holy – or the reactions to this. But all these crazies on either side really deserve no further attention. It is time to start writing about Singapore. And what could be more important [...]
Aug
26
France and German tax systems, EU cooperation
August 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment
After visiting German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble, French budget minister Francois Baroin comes up with some weird comments on Franco-German tax cooperation and the EU budget according to the EUobserver. Firstly, he recognises a broad consensus for deficit reduction in Germany. Apparently the impression most people have of France is that they like to run [...]
Jul
29
Buying a light PC notebook is not that easy
July 29, 2010 | 6 Comments
Here we go. After probably around 4 years of good service my Acer Travelmate 3300 (3302 WXMi) is getting slower and slower. I have a weird blue-green vertical line through my screen and the typical Acer graphics problem increases its frequency: random shutdown of the screen. Time to buy a new notebook but which one? [...]
Jul
4
Poland now under PO control
July 4, 2010 | 4 Comments
The second round of the Polish presidential elections are over. The moderate candidate Bronislaw Komorowski from the governing PO has won over the last Kaczynski brother. This will hopefully set the end of the PiS/Kaczynski era in Polish politics. Probably no other political figure/family as the Kaczynskis has attracted so much attention in Germany over [...]
Mar
23
A low-carbon budget for the EU budget
March 23, 2010 | 1 Comment
The Green Alliance, a leading environmental think tank in the UK has recently published “unlocking a low-carbon Europe“, an excellent collection of articles about a climate-friendly budget for the EU. I had the chance to contribute with my article “Winning the Budget Battles” lining out (institutional) strategies to achieve a more friendly outcome for our [...]