Editorial
Our newsletter includes a regular item, ’50 Years ago’. In recent months, 50 has been a less evocative number than 20 – as we have remembered the momentous year 1989. The thrilling events of that year seem both remote and recent – with hindsight full of ironies, some of them poignant. Continue reading
A new EU treaty - image: alibaba0
Le traité de Lisbonne apporte des changements importants dans le fonctionnement du triangle des pouvoirs européens dont les angles sont le Parlement, le Conseil et la Commission. En matière de légitimation démocratique, c’est le Parlement qui est le mieux servi. Sa composition comprendra un minimum de six députés par Etat, mais sans pouvoir dépasser un plafond fixé à 751 élus. Il faudra donc procéder à quelques corrections entre Etats pour l’attribution des sièges, en sachant qu’aucun Etat membre ne peut obtenir plus de 96 sièges. Continue reading
Global day of Action - image: Greenpeace International
As Archbishop Desmond Tutu began the concluding prayer at the ecumenical service on Sunday December the 13th, Copenhagen Cathedral bells started to ring, 350 times. Simultaneously, hundreds of Churches in Denmark joined the Cathedral bells – also ringing 350 times. 350 is a symbolic number for environment campaigners: 350 parts per million is deemed the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, so as to avoid runaway climate change. Continue reading
Irish catholicism - image: jakebouma
Some people fear the further deepening of the EU because they are Catholics. Or so they say. They raised their voices at the occasion of the first Irish referendum about the treaty of Lisbon. They are not numerous and their impact on the outcome of the referendum was marginal. But they made themselves heard with the reasons they had to reject the treaty. Continue reading
European Year 2010 - image: European Commission
Year 2010 has been designated as the “European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion” by the EU. When asked how they perceive poverty, 73 % of EU citizens consider it to be widespread in their home countries and 84% of them consider it to be on the increase over the last three years. Even in terms of popular perception, therefore, as well as of morality, poverty can therefore not be ignored in the EU. Continue reading
From Madrid to Brussels
The Spanish presidency of the European Union has not attracted much interest from ordinary Spanish citizens, nor from the media. It is not yet clear what the Presidency will mean for Spain, except that it is the occasion for hosting a multitude of meetings: the estimate is of more than a hundred high-level meetings (Heads of State and Governments, Ministers, senior officials) during the six months. Continue reading
50 years ago
“L’Europe est une grande chose, digne de nos sympathies et de nos soins. Mais il ne faut pas se faire d’illusions sur les chemins divers et cahoteux qu’elle prend pour atteindre son unité. On devrait peut-être dire: ses unités. Car il y aura à l’intérieur de ce vaste corps, des membres qui s’articuleront plus ou moins les uns sur les autres. Continue reading
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Peace
The generation which lived through the Second World War is disappearing. Post-war generations see Europe’s great achievements – liberty, peace and prosperity – as a given.
Jan Peter Balkenende
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