Two EU summits plus third county summits are the norm for an EU presidency.  So far, there have been two additional summits during the French presidency addressing the financial turmoil and one is scheduled for 7 November to prepare for the Washington G20 summit on 15 November..  These are in addition to the regular summits [...]

Waiting to see  Robert Madelin, Director-General SANCO, I looked at the Annual Report of Better Training for safer Food, a SANCO initiative.  European consumers need to be protected against unsafe food.  Effective food safety controls are vital to ensure the highest standards of consumer protection.  It is vital that control personnel responsible for ensuring the [...]

 According to Oscar Wilde, wisdom comes with winters.  I believe it essential that the Lisbon Treaty ratification process be decided before the June Parliamentary elections and not wait until next October.  Winter begins some 10 days after the December summit on 11-12 and that’s where and when a decision must be taken.The Irish government and [...]

I commend the Insitute for Strategic Studies’ Chaillot Paper 111, written ny Marcin Zaborowski.  This publication of 126 pages gives a clear and readable account of George W Bush’s legacy and provides an indication of where American foreign policy may next be heading.  I’ve encapsulated below the key elements.     America’s grand strategy changed during [...]

‘Weapons of mass destruction” usually refer to nuclear, chemical and biological arms. Such WMDs have claimed comparatively few lives. The real WMDs are small arms, particularly in Africa, have resulted in millions of deaths. Europe and China are both huge exporters of small arms. Control and monitoring is ineffective. People are killed, injured, raped, and [...]

Next Thursday, 30 October, there will be an EU-China meeting to continue the negotiation of the Partnership & Cooperation Agreement (PCA).  The aim is to agree an ‘early harvest’ of clauses ahead of the 1 December bilateral summit in Lyons. I have detected a worrying development in EU-China relations.  More and more  Chinese officials and scholars [...]

The European Parliament has decided to award its prestigious Sakharov Prize to Hu Jia, a Chinese human rights activist held since December 2007 for posting articles online and giving interviews to foreign journalists.  I do not question the breach of human rights by Beijing but do question whether this will help obtain Hu Jia’s release. [...]

We all knew that when trying to second guess the French President, we would be dealing with a “known unknown”.  Which Sarkozy would we meet on any issue: the dynamic, highly intelligent and focused one or the egotistical, overbearing impetuous one? So far, so very good.  His leadership on the financial meltdown has been excellent; inevitably [...]

I was amazed to read about hours-long queues outside polling booths set up for early voting in 46 of the 50 American states ahead of the 4 November election day.  Voter’s intentions could normally be influenced by what happens between now and 4 November.   Substantial numbers of early voters are predicted.  This could be a [...]

This post will no doubt attract adverse comment, and not for the first time will I be called a China apologist.    It is time that Europe takes stock of the work it has done to promote human rights and its effectiveness.    My approach is predicated on two deeply held beliefs.  First, human rights [...]