Many Belgians fear chaos will return as the stabilising influence of Herman Van Rompuy is removed Belgium is celebrating like it's already New Year's Eve. The European heads of state have reached an agreement on who will become the European Union's first permanent president . And yes, the man's from Belgium. From January onwards, the Belgian prime minister Herman Van Rompuy will serve as the first...
Keighley and Ilkley Liberal Democrat Website (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009
The above is the national motto of Belgium, and means "strength through unity". A few years ago, the then Belgian PM Guy Verhofstadt said, “Belgium is the laboratory of European unification”. I have long had great respect for Belgium, and her contributon to the European Project. As a student of the history of the EU, I well know the hard work and vision of people like Paul-Henri...
The Daily Telegraph reports on the horse-trading for the job of the EU's 'president' (technically he or she will preside over the EU's council): European leaders are heading for a fierce battle on Thursday after Germany and France were accused of plotting to bounce their favoured federalist candidate into the post of EU president. Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy were revealed to have made a pact...
Blogactiv was pleased to be able to speak to Guy Verhofstadt in the European Parliament. Mr Verhofstadt had received an award for communication at the EurActiv 10th Anniversary Awards ceremony.
Who will be EU president? Ladbrokes has Belgian premier and Gollum lookalike Herman Van Rompuy as favourite. Looking at Ladbrokes' list of 25 contenders , nearly half of them already have jobs one would have thought of as being too important to cast aside in order to become chairman of the EU Council. Three of the four favourites are currently heads of national governments. Evidently being Prime Minister...
While it's great crack if you're an anorak, the frantic speculation about the top Euro jobs doesn't show off my old colleagues in the Westminster lobby at their best. Some are helping to keep Tony Blair’s candidacy for the presidency alive , others are floating David Miliband as “ foreign minister” while the Indy in Sunday thinks it sees a dark plot in it all to make Mandy the Labour...
All you need to know about the man who would be president of the European Council Age: 56. Appearance: Two parts ambition to one part madness, wrapped in flesh. He's still alive? Yes, although he is now held together entirely by his all-consuming thirst for power. Which manifests itself how? He's got his eye on the job of president of the European Council. Got his eye on? He hasn't officially declared...
Brown assigns senior officials to help secure top Europe role for former PM Gordon Brown has asked two of his most senior civil servants to lobby discreetly within Europe for Tony Blair to become its new president amid warnings from allies in government that the former prime minister will lose his chance unless he launches a dynamic campaign. John Cunliffe, the prime minister's most senior Europe...
From William Hill: TONY BLAIR FAVOURITE TO BE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL BOOKMAKERS William Hill have installed Tony Blair as clear 6/4 favourite to become the next President of the European Council. 'Mr Blair is the clear front-runner to land the post of President of the European Council, and he has been by far the best backed contender so far' said Hill's spokesman Graham Sharpe. William...
Reacting to an op-ed in the Wall Street journal, Liberal International (to which UK Liberal Democrats are affiliated) Deputy President Hans van Baalen MEP has defended ALDE leader Guy Verhofstadt against accusations of being a “ideological European federalist who wants to impose heavy European taxes on [citizens] and who wants Europe to become a super state”. Van Baalen states that the...
Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the Liberal group in the European Parliament, has thrown his weight behind José Manuel Barroso's bid for a second term at the head of the European Commission. The Greens, meanwhile, continue to firmly oppose the former Portuguese prime minister.
European Citizen has an interesting and thoughful post about why Guy Verhofstadt’s statement that “The three largest groups in the European Parliament announced today their commitment to pro-European values” is essentially the wrong approach. European Citizen’s critique is not too far away from my own analysis of the travails of the left, that essentially some [...]
Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian prime minister, has attacked policies set out by José Manuel Barroso, who is running to keep his post as European Commission presidentGuy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian prime minister, says what Brussels needs is a young Jacques Delors, the former president who pushed the birth of the euro and the single market
From Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad, slap down o' the day : "Daniel Cohn-Bendit....Barroso, he says, is Europe's Frühstücksdirektor : someone you can trust with organising breakfast, but little more". And, from the same place, the bed that our own dear Lib Dems have climbed into: "Guy Verhofstadt, the former prime minister of Belgium and the new leader of the liberal group in...
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