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Politics

What’s Next? Europe and the World in 2013

It is impossible and thus totally pointless to try and predict what the world will look like in 2013. Only a few weeks ago we were not even sure there would still be a world – luckily the Mayas rephrased their prophecy just i...
by Gilles Pittoors
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Economy

Europe: More Centralisation, More Flexibility

Recently, the Spinelli Group – a group of federalist MEPs – published a text on a new ‘Fundamental Law’ for the EU. In a recent blog, MEPs Guy Verhofstadt and Andrew Duff called for a more federal Europe, with the Commi...
by Gilles Pittoors
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Europe

Vomiting Values, or What Is European?

The European Union (EU) has expanded quickly over the last decade, with its latest enlargement welcoming Bulgaria and Romania in 2007. The EU’s enlargement process however, is not as straightforward as it would appear nor doe...
by Gilles Pittoors
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Belgium

Over-Capacity, or what does the closing of Ford Genk teach us about Europe?

On Wednesday October 24th, the employees of the Ford factory in Genk, Belgium were given the news that the factory will be closed, and all employees will have to find another job by 2014. This obviously directly affects the 4.2...
by Gilles Pittoors
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Economy

Yoga and the Quest for a European Future

On April 18th 1951, six European nations signed the Treaty of Paris establishing the European Coal and Steel Community in order to resolve the thorny German Question. By putting the European coal and steel production under a si...
by Gilles Pittoors
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Europe

Europe and the Bull, or the Failing Politics Behind the Crisis

The mythological princess Europa was recently chosen to become the new face of the euro. Fitting, after all, because it is she who gave her name to the continent. The story goes as follows. Zeus, the king of the gods, was enrap...
by Gilles Pittoors
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Europe

Clearing the Smoke, Part I: Confederwhat?

Belgian political life is currently embroiled in a debate on the concept of confederalism, which the Flemish nationalists pose as a solution to the ‘Belgian problem’ – which seems to me as as merely a badly disguised st...
by Gilles Pittoors
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Belgium

The Lion’s Claws, or Flemish Nationalism in a European Perspective

“So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause.” It is a sad time indeed. Flanders fell to the claws of populist nationalism, and if Belgian politicians continue their current strategy, so will Belgium in a ...
by Gilles Pittoors
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Economy

Disciplined Growth: a new Franco-German engine for Europe?

From the very beginning of the European integration project, France and Germany have been at the core of the whole enterprise. It was German Chancellor Willy Brandt who joined French President Georges Pompidou at the very first...
by Gilles Pittoors
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