Seven Theorems in Search of the European Parliament: Federal Trust Paper (European Parliamentary Democracy)
Jezebel (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009
[Brussels, November 18. Image via Getty] Member of European Parliament Emilie Turumene wearing suits, ties and a moustache drawn on her face, shows her CV in front the European Headquarters on... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
The Guardian (Free subscription) | yesterday
Roger Helmer says Anglican hierarchy has dropped the gospel in favour of 'the new religion of climate alarmism' A Tory MEP has accused the Church of England of having "abandoned religious faith entirely and taken up the new religion of climate alarmism instead". Roger Helmer, who resigned from the Tory frontbench in Europe when the Westminster leadership dumped its promised referendum on...
Dave's Part (Free subscription) | yesterday
MY SOLE brush with publicly-funded office was the three terms I spent as external affairs vice president of City of London Polytechnic in 1983-84. But even experience that gives me one more democratic mandate than Baroness Ashton of Upholland has ever enjoyed. Several newspapers this morning make much of the fact that the EU’s new high representative for foreign and security policy has never...
Shamik Das - the voice of sport (Free subscription) | yesterday
Surprise, bloody surprise! The Taxpayers’ Alliance have been at it again, peddling lies about the European Union - this time in a cinema ad. We’ve torn it to shreds over on Left Foot Forward , everything from their 13,333 per cent mark-up on the cost of membership and their fabrications about the costs of the Common Agricultural and Fisheries Policies to their implausible assertions on...
Bloggers4UKIP (Free subscription) | yesterday
The chairman of the UK Independence Party has said the party will consider an alliance with Jim Allister's TUV in future elections. Paul Nuttall, UKIP MEP for the North West of England, was speaking to the News Letter yesterday after a low-key exploratory visit to the Province.UKIP has only one politician in Northern Ireland at present — Kilkeel councillor Henry Reilly, who defected from the...
Peter Black AM (Free subscription) | yesterday
I consider myself to be fairly pro-European. I have argued that the Lisbon Treaty did not require a confirmatory referendum, in fact calls for such plebiscites seem to be becoming far too common in what is still a representative democracy, being used to resolve party differences rather than give people a genuine choice. I can also see that there is a case for a permanent President of the European Council...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | yesterday
After a turbulent 500 years it is understandable – I sometimes feel like putting my feet up too – but it is a mistake It's not true that last night's appointments at the EU's Brussels conclave are without historic precedence. When the Italian politician Signor Caligula was president of the European commission during one of the continent's more dynamic phases he appointed his horse to negotiate...
David Peter (Free subscription) | yesterday
The appointments of Herman van Rompuy as the first President of the European Council and Baroness Ashton as the Council’s High Representative are the outcome of a blatantly flawed process. It is quite clear from that once the stitch up between the dominant blocs in European politics had been agreed whereby a candidate from the Right would get the President’s job and a candidate from the...
The anger of a Quiet Man (Free subscription) | yesterday
Well if you're Catherine Margaret Ashton, Baroness Ashton of Upholland the answers simple, never put yourself in a position where you might possibly face an election. That's right, the first High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in the EU has never faced an election by the voting public* in her life. As the Times puts it , Lady Ashton, 52, a former leader of the Lords,...
People Daily (Free subscription) | yesterday
European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek called here on Thursday for EU leaders to reach a decision on the candidates for the bloc's new top jobs. "We have had enough internal reflection. I call on the heads of state and government to take on the challenge and show leadership and reach a decision on the names for these important positions, said Buzek ahead of an informal EU summit to decide on...
Maggie's Notebook (Free subscription) | yesterday
Britain's Lady Catherine Margaret Ashton will become the new European Union's (EU) foreign policy minister to serve under new EU President Herman van Rompuy of Belgium. She replaces Javier Solana. Lady Catherine Ashton Lady Ashton (52), or formally Baroness Ashton of Upholland, is married to Peter Kellner, the President of YouGov, a pollster, commentator and journalist. Ashton is a member of Labour,...
Switched (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009
For over a year, France has been considering plans to ban illegal downloaders from the Web. In the U.S., the FCC may actually begin regulating the Web by forcing providers to charge various fees. But neither of those disturbing developments compare at all to the rumors gathering momentum in England. Various outlets are reporting that the U.K. Secretary of State Peter Mandelson, referred to as the...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009
The main foreign policy job is titled high representative for foreign and security policy because, when negotiating the Lisbon treaty, Britain balked at calling it European foreign minister. The post, while formally the junior of the two, is potentially the more powerful. It comes with a large budget, a large machine, a more detailed job description, and 10 years of practice behind it. It is also...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009
• Brown seals deal to give Ashton foreign portfolio • Blair's fears realised as Van Rompuy lands top job With its nondescript glass front, decorated with the red and white of the national flag, the Austrian mission to the European Union looks like just another unremarkable diplomatic building in Brussels. But this afternoon a key moment in British Labour history took place inside the building...
The Cornish Democrat (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009
Following the Cornish Zetetics call for a coalition of Mebyon Kernow , the Cornish Greens and any other progressive democrats from the Duchy in time for the next general election here's an idea. OK the French Republic is quite different from the United Kingdom, and the problems faced by Brittany and its Celtic sister, Cornwall, are far from identical, but perhaps some ideas can cross the water. To...
Videos