Over 350 mainly young people gave  European President Hermann van Rompuy an enthusiastic reception, at an event organized today by the European Movement, and held at The Bavarian Representation to the EU. He spoke for just 15 minutes on “After the LisbonTreaty – what can citizens expect?  Moving from design to delivery”, and answered questions [...]

‘David & Nick’, prime minister and deputy prime minister leading a five year coalition.  No political commentator seems to have predicted this.  I don’t intend to go over events that have already been covered by thousands of words – just a few reflections.  • Five days to agree the principles of a coalition deal, the first [...]

These terms are frequently used and often appear interchangeable.  But what do they mean?  Is there any common understandable.  Multipolarity is a system of power distribution in which several countries have very substantial influence.  Our deepest challenge,” US national security advisor Henry Kissinger wrote in 1969, will be “to base order on political multipolarity even [...]

The UK House of Lords EU Committee published on 23 March an extremely thorough report of the state of the EU-China relationship.  The following are its key conclusions and recommendations, and some comments on them: A strategic relationship The role which China and the EU can play in shaping 21st century global affairs will be [...]

The United Kingdom is in economic and budgetary crisis.  The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have joined forces to provide a strong government, able to take the necessary unpleasant measures. David Cameron and Nick Clegg and their parties have admirably compromised to establish a much needed consensual political culture.  There of course remain major differences.  The [...]

UK banks are no longer allowed to accept €500 notes, as they are mainly used by criminals.  The European Commission should examine the extent to which such notes are legitimately used, and to consider withdrawing the €500 note altogether.

Commission President José Manuel Barroso announced on 31 March the Commission’s 2010 Programme, with 34 strategic priorities, under four main elements: 1. Tackling the economic crisis and sustaining Europe’s social market economy. 2. Building a citizens’ agenda which puts people at the heart of European action. 3. Developing an ambitious and coherent external agenda with global outreach. 4. Modernising [...]

The seventh session of the Informal European Parliament Dialogue on China took place at the European Parliament on 13c April and was organised by the Brussels Institute of China Contemporary Studies (BICCS).  The Dialogue was attended by some 60 MEPs, European and Chinese diplomats, think tank analysts, academics and others.  Elmar Brok MEP and Reinhard [...]

The Schuman Plan of 9 May 1950 heralded 60 years of peace, stability and prosperity.  One death in Sarajevo in 1914 led to millions of deaths in Europe; thousands of deaths in Sarajevo in the 1990s did not for one moment affect the stability of western Europe.  Much has changed during these 60 years in [...]

Feng Zhongping*, a politically influential scholar, gave an interesting perspective on the EU-China relationship.  He insisted that Europe was important to China.   However, it came third behind the US, and the neighbourhood countries of Russia and Japan.  The EU is China’s number 1 trade partner and a valuable supplier of technology.  But the EU’s political [...]