Yesterday was a very good day. One of the most disgusting criminals of the last decades has been arrested and should be brought to justice soon. Ratko Mladic was a key operator in the ‘Balkan wars’ of the 1990s – Europe’s darkest moment after Nazi Germany. The arrest of Mladic should remind us of three [...]

„European Monetary Union“ oder „Economic and Monetary Union“? Schon lange wird die EU von vielen als Projekt wirtschaftlicher Integration wahrgenommen. Wohl nicht nur aus diesem Grund forderten linke Europapolitiker/-innen erst im vergangenen Europa-Wahlkampf als vermeintlichen Ausgleich das „Soziale Europa“. Nach den großen Vertragsänderungen zur Einführung der Einheitlichen Europäischen Akte (Mitte der 1980er) und dem Maastricht [...]

Europa in der Krise. Man mag in diesen Monaten sarkastisch antworten wollen: Schon wieder oder immer noch? Die europäische Bilanz der letzten Jahre scheint wirklich mager zu sein: Vertrag von Lissabon formerly known als Europäische Verfassung? Gerade mal mit Ach und Krach über die Ziellinie gerettet! Weltweiter Vorreiter im Klimaschutz? Das war einmal! Friedensmacht? Nationale [...]

Morgen entscheidet das tschechische Verfassungsgericht über die Klage einiger Senatoren gegen den Lissabon Vertrag. Sollte das Gericht sein OK geben, kann Vaclav Klaus schon übermorgen unterschreiben. Wenn er denn möchte. Denn der alte Fuchs hat sich einen überaus aktiven Reiseplan für den November verordnet, so dass Beobachter sich fragen, ob er die Unterzeichnung damit noch [...]

Together with fellow EU bloggers Julien Frisch, Joe Litobarski and Conor Slowey, we have started the EU politics podcast “Chasing Brussels”. We aim to release a podcast every (other) week. The format is that 2-4 of us are debating a current EU topic of our interest for 15-30 minutes. Please find our first two recordings [...]

Apparently a few PES activists have launched a good new Website “A-New-President.eu“. It has a similar message to the AnyoneButBarroso.eu initiative Jon and me started about two years ago. Its main element is the petition (I have also signed): The European Parliament will elect the next European Commission. We, the voters on June 7 do [...]

Admittedly, the PES is running a fairly good internet campaign. They have relaunched their web presence way ahead of the European elections and maybe even more importantly they have made a good effort to reach out to (EU) bloggers. They have even included me in their blogger email target list – so that I get [...]

One of the greatest benefits of studying at LSE has been to attend public lectures by world leaders and academics. So far my highlight had been the 3-day “tour de growth” with Philippe Aghion. After last night I feel that the most (academically) stimulating experience has been Andrew Moravcsik’s lecture on the “European Constitutional Settlement”. [...]

Yesterday’s speech of Andrew Moravcsik at the LSE was in many ways interesting and inspiring. I shall blog more about the substance in the forthcoming entry but thought I share his final remarks first. When the chair Damien Chalmers intended to close the debate, Moravcsik asked to make a final statement. As a regular professor [...]

The European People’s Party (EPP) is planning to nominate its candidate for the post of Commission President at an American-style “Convention” in Warsaw in April 2009 (s. Europolitique). However, the realisation of this idea depends on the future of the Lisbon Treaty EPP tells. In addition to a common candidate the EPP is also preparing [...]

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