Commentary - The New Federalist

Obama’s Nobel : A Hope Not Yet An Achievement

’Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of (…)

Wednesday 21 October 2009

On Being Nobel: President Obama Hand Back Your Peace Prize!

Is there anything more ingratiating, shallow or cheap than the Nobel Prize Committee’s decision to award President Obama the Peace Prize for 2009? Today, the dignity and respect of the Prize has been plunged into further discredit, depths that this author would have thought impossible after the (…)

Wednesday 14 October 2009

Democracy at its Best

When in June 2008, the Irish voted ‘No’ in the referendum which would have basically decided whether or not the EU would ratify the Lisbon Treaty, the rest of the EU were up in arms. Rightly so? Maybe. The European Union can be easily compared to a computer... if this computer is not going to (…)

Wednesday 30 September 2009

Will Sarkozy be the president of the Eurogroupe?

Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of the European Council during the second semester of 2008, proposed to continue his mandate as President of the Eurogroupe, according to the French newspaper Le Monde. This idea came up two months before the end of the French presidency and generated many concerns (…)

Sunday 11 January 2009

Austria and the Turkish Referendum

Which country is the most likely to stand in the way of a Turkish entry into the EU? Cyprus? Greece? Not even close: Austria. Which country is the most likely to stand in the way of a Turkish entry into the EU? Cyprus? Greece? Not even close: Austria. A European Stability Initiative (…)

Tuesday 25 November 2008

On 9 November 2009, the whole of Europe must celebrate the fall of the Berlin wall

In 14 months, Germany will celebrate the fall of the Berlin wall on 9th November 1989. This event that symbolises the freedom of all of central and eastern Europe from the communist dictatorship, should actually be celebrated in the whole of Europe. On the 9th of Novembrer 1989, the (…)

Sunday 9 November 2008

The European Union in the World: Sketches from the Future

‘I promised change and that’s what we’ve got. Hope and change…’ bellowed President Obama. No-one could doubt this. The complete withdrawal of US troops from Iraq in the space of just fourteen months had been a major political coup for the ‘Peoples President’. ‘…America has broken free from the (…)

Wednesday 13 August 2008

The Creation of a European Rapid Reaction Force by an Avant-Guard Group of Countries: a Proposal (3/3)

The proposal contained in this document provides for the creation of a European Rapid Reaction Force (RRF) by an avant-guard group of European countries, as a first step towards a European policy of security controlled by a European Federal government. It is founded on the contents of the Reform (…)

Monday 11 August 2008

The Creation of a Rapid Reaction Force by an Avantguard Group of Countries: a Proposal (2/3)

The proposal contained in this document provides for the creation of a European Rapid Reaction Force (RRF) by an avant-guard group of European countries, as a first step towards a European policy of security controlled by a European Federal government. It is founded on the contents of the Reform (…)

Friday 8 August 2008

The Presidency of the EU does not exist

The majority of the newspapers, and even of the policies, speak regularly about a Presidency of the European Union, that France would hold during the second half of 2008. They also discuss – by anticipating the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty – the name of the future President. The problem (…)

Wednesday 2 July 2008

The European Union and Civil Society: Work in Progress

Every day we are obliged to face the limits of representative democracy, which involves us in the management of the res publica only once every four or five years. The distance between citizens and institutions is growing every day, confidence in those who govern us drops, daily needs seem not (…)

Monday 9 June 2008

Berlusconi’s Government: is it a Dictatorship?

The reelection of Silvio Berlusconi as Italian prime minister continues to be an anomaly in a democratic European Union. As one of the richest men in Europe, with huge industrial and media power bolstering him, there are simply too many conflicts of interests with public life. Yet, it seems (…)

Saturday 31 May 2008