Posts Tagged ‘Europe’
 

 

Clearing the Smoke, Part II: Federalists and Europhiles

In the first article of this series, I explained how the lack of conceptual clarity surrounding today’s political discourse is thoroughly annoying. For that reason, these contributions aims to clear some smoke and clarify som...
by Gilles Pittoors
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Blinded by hate: cutting the EU budget

After a marathon overnight summit, leaders of the 27 member states agreed to an historic EU budget. But historic for the wrong reasons. For the first time, the 7 year Multiannual Financial Framework, more commonly known as the ...
by International Political Forum
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Budget Negotiations and Inter-Institutional Relations

The recent EU budget negotiations have been subject to quite some debate and media attention, mainly because of their first-time-ever smaller total capacity and the row between Northern European states urging for more cuts and ...
by Gilles Pittoors
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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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What We Can Learn From the Sneijder Situation

Wesley Sneijder has seen his reputation and value diminish spectacularly in recent times. One of the stars of the last World Cup, his steady downfall at the age of 28 is largely due to his standoff with Inter Milan; a mix of fi...
by Mustafa Sharif
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End of Year Euro Round-up

Bonne fetês et bonne chance Brussels! So where do we stand at the end of the year? The Banking Union hangs in the balance. Mr. Cameron’s new and (for some) worrying alliance with Angela Merkel has meant the Commission still ...
by International Political Forum
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Udder Refusal to Negotiate: Protesting Farmers and CAP Reform

How do you like your milk served? Frothed? Heated? Try sprayed onto the side of a wall. The other week Eurocrats were holding their espresso cups out of their windows, hoping to catch some of the hundreds of gallons of milk tha...
by International Political Forum
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Outthinking Inequality in a Distorted Financial System

There has been always inequality within human society. The level of equality in any society can reflect its level of democracy, but also the socio-economic model in which the society functions. There is no doubt that under equa...
by Lívia Magdošková
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Subsidiarity, or the Conflict between Scale and Community in the EU

A while ago, I read an article saying that we should reconsider the division of tasks in the EU. It was a good article. The author essentially proposed to apply the principle of subsidiarity, which says that each policy area sh...
by Gilles Pittoors
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