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Despite painful austerity measures in many EU member states, often for their national civil service, all EU staff have been awarded a 3.7 % pay rise. Responding to criticism of this and the general pay and perks enjoyed by EU staff, Barroso said ‘the European civil service is often attacked for its apparent privileges when this is not the case and I am always defending this’.

From the Heart of Europe …

By: N. Peter Kramer | Tuesday, March 1, 2011

A recent survey conducted by multinational lobby firm Burson-Marsteller rated the European Commission’s overall performance as average or below! Individual commissioners were rated according to their ‘overall performance’ and ‘achievement of commitments’.

New financing instruments to boost innovation and entrepreneurship will be developed to enable business to play their role with the help of both the European Investment Bank and European Investment Fund.

′Europe 2020′ towards Energy Efficiency

By: Niels Schreuder | Thursday, February 24, 2011

You remember the Lisbon Agenda 2000? Well today we have the Europe 2020 Strategy. Focusing on five ambitious objectives; employment, innovation, education, social inclusion and climate/energy, the strategy will be addressing seven flagship initiatives.

(L-R) Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic, Hungarian President Pal Schmitt, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski and Czech President Vaclav Klaus in November 2010

The Visegrad Group: Central Europe′s Bloc

By: Stratfor - Strategic Forecasting | Monday, February 7, 2011

The heads of government of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary will come together for the Visegrad Group summit Feb. 15. The German and Austrian chancellors and Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov will also attend.

DEPA is committed in fully developing the ITGI pipeline (Turkey-Greece-Italy Interconnection) and the IGB (Greece-Bulgaria) Interconnector. ITGI is sponsored by Italy’s Edison and Greece’s DEPA, while IGB is sponsored by Edison, DEPA and the Bulgaria’s BEH.

DEPA welcomes the signing of the Joint Declaration on Southern Corridor

By: EBR | Monday, January 24, 2011

DEPA welcomes the signing of the Joint Declaration on Southern Gas Corridor, between the European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso and the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev.

The existing bailout mechanism probably can handle the first four states (just barely, and assuming it works as advertised), but beyond that, the rest of the eurozone will have to come up with a multitrillion-euro fund in an environment in which private investors are likely to balk. Undoubtedly, the euro needs a new mechanism to survive.

Europe: The New Plan

By: Stratfor - Strategic Forecasting | Wednesday, December 22, 2010

An EU heads-of-state summit Dec. 16 launched a process aimed to save the common European currency. If successful, this process would be the most significant step toward creating a singular European power since the creation of the European Union — that is, if it doesn’t destroy the euro first.

EP supports permanent crisis mechanism to shore up the euro

By: EC Press Room | Thursday, December 16, 2010

The permanent "bailout" mechanism for Member States in financial difficulty must clearly detail how the private sector would be brought in to help, how non-Eurozone countries would be involved, and how the EU budget would be affected, says a resolution adopted by Parliament on Thursday.

Sure, the institutions all have their own competences and presidents but for the strategic political directions and priorities there are both the European Council conclusions decided by the leaders of the Member States and the European Commission strategy and programme decided by the Commissioners and its president.

Who’s the real boss in the EU?

By: Niels Schreuder | Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Now a year ago, Herman Van Rompuy was designated to be the European Union’s first permanent president. For decades the European Commission president had been Europe’s chief executive and the boss in town.

The ITG represents a new route of supply for the European energy system, able to enhance security and increase the competition on the EU’s gas market. The EU acknowledged the strategic relevance of the ITGI as a project of European interest and included it among the Southern Gas Corridor Projects of the announced European Recovery Plan with a proposal of 100 million euro of financing.

Gas Supply diversification corridor for Europe - ITGI a step ahead

By: Athanase Papandropoulos | Wednesday, December 8, 2010

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) accelerates the completion of the ITGI Project (Interconnection Turkey-Greece-Italy) as a first phase of the Southern Gas Corridor, a strategic infrastructure for Europe’s energy security.

By the way: the salaries of EU civil servants will increase by 0.4% next year, European Commission officials told journalists, retracting a previous announcement that EU employees were set for pay cuts. The Commission added that after the 2.4% increase in the cost of living in Brussels the new figures nevertheless represent a 2% reduction in EU officials′ purchasing power. Can you believe it?

Editor′s Column: Real life and EU bureaucracy - a tale of two worlds

By: N. Peter Kramer | Monday, November 15, 2010

It would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious. Six bewildering examples of wasteful EU spending, taken from a long list by Open Europe, an independent thinktank

The EU needs a new strategic approach that is not about preventing war between Europe’s powers but helping them live together in a world where they are more at the periphery and where a collapsing neighbor can be as scary as a powerful one.

We need new rules for a Multipolar Europe

By: The Financial Times | Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The security summit between Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel and Dmitry Medvedev was always likely to be a non-event. France wanted something spectacular, Germany something reasonable, Russia something it could trade. So, the chances of a meeting of minds were slim.

Since the Council of Ministers is the official decision-making body of the European Union, it should receive reports and analysis from the European Union Intelligence Service. However, the problem here is that a Minister of foreign affairs might have difficulties and conflicts in dealing with the foreign affairs of his own country and that of the European Union at the same time.

EU Intelligence Cooperation: A Greek Approach

By: Dr. John M. Nomikos | Wednesday, October 20, 2010

During the 1990s, the European Union has kept a relative low profile in the world and European arena. As with the United States in the post-World War II era, the European Union has had little to no experience in dealing with these new problems.

It is the quality of the political institutions and the stability (or durability) of such institutions that strongly increases the probability of sustained financial deepening.

Can I trust the government? New evidence on democracies and financial development

By: EBR | Monday, October 11, 2010

What do countries need for sustainable financial development? This column argues that protection of property rights is necessary but not sufficient. Using a sample of 160 countries from 1960 to 2005, it finds that checks and balances on power and political stability are the vital ingredients.

The Commission is evidently not able to spend the money it has, but the mindset in the Commission is as usual: ‘more and more and more’.

Editor′s Column: Jose Mourinho for Commission President!

By: N. Peter Kramer | Monday, September 20, 2010

As President of the European Commission, Barroso has the chance to be the most famous Portuguese of the European Union. But unfortunately for him, there is always that other Portuguese, the “Special One” as he calls himself, Jose Mourinho.

The EU also needs policies that will promote standardisation, normalisation and innovation, and member governments must learn to avoid micro-managing and instead work as part of a horizontal EU-wide approach.

How to stop anti-crisis policies from becoming protectionist

By: Europe′s World | Thursday, July 29, 2010

“Industrial policy” has long been a euphemism in most parts of Europe for economic nationalism, and the problem is getting worse. Elie Cohen looks at the policy aftermath of the financial crisis and sets out a framework for EU-level industrial policymaking.

The future of Europe: Staring into the abyss

By: The Economist | Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Will the European Union make it? The question would have sounded outlandish not long ago. Now even the project’s greatest cheerleaders talk of a continent facing a 'Bermuda triangle' of debt, demographic decline and lower growth.

In the early years after democracy was restored, the countries of central and eastern Europe found themselves exposed to the stern regulatory environment of the EU’s internal market without any chance to influence the way it was shaped or implemented.

Why the EU newcomers still don′t make the best of membership

By: Europe′s World | Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Many of the EU’s newest member states are no longer the euro-enthusiasts of yesteryear, and they also complain they have less influence on policymaking than they had hoped. Pavel Telicka assesses the newcomers' track record so far.

The leaders believe that the necessary reforms of the regulation of financial services must be completed urgently. "Our priority is to have a solid and healthy banking system," said Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council.

Europe 2020 finalised

By: EC Press Room | Friday, June 18, 2010

European leaders meeting in Brussels on 17 June adopted Europe 2020, a new 10-year strategy for jobs and growth which will promote the delivery of structural reforms.

Verhofstadt was a longstanding Prime-Minister in Belgium and the last one to win confidence on both sides of the language border in his country. Twice he was a candidate himself for the Commission Presidency.

Guy Verhofstadt: the Saviour of the European Commission?

By: N. Peter Kramer | Friday, June 11, 2010

Former long standing Belgian Prime-Minister Guy Verhofstadt is using his current position as President of the Liberal Group in the European Parliament, to play patron to the EC, which has lost power since the Lisbon Treaty came into force and also due to its lack of ambition and sufficient quality

The EU must find a way of working with Turkey in areas of common interest – foreign policy, security, energy – in ways that go beyond the narrow, bureaucratic confines of the accession process.

Turkey and Europe: a shifting access

By: EBR | Thursday, June 10, 2010

Turkey’s new regional confidence appears to make the problems in its accession to the European Union less significant. But the linkage is more complicated, says Katinka Barysch, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform.

One thing is clear: Eppink is a well informed insider in the European process. He promises in the introduction of his book to describe the workings, growth and power of the European bureaucracy. He also promises not to criticise any specific person, ‘since the system has now become much stronger than any mere individual.

Bonfire of Bureaucracy in Europe

By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Derk-Jan Eppink (1958) wrote ‘Bonfire of Bureaucracy in Europe’ sitting in the plane above the Atlantic Ocean. Since he was elected as a member of the European Parliament in 2009, he has been commuting between Brussels and New York City, where he used to live and where his family is still living.

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EU Actually

Far-left and far-right gains throw French mainstream parties into a quandary

By: N. Peter Kramer

In many big towns and cities, Socialists and centre-right Republicans are tempted to make electoral pacts on their outside flanks to beat the opposition in next Sunday’s run off of the French mayoral elections.

Europe

Russia’s Imperial Retreat Is Europe’s Strategic Opportunity

The war in Ukraine is costing Russia its leverage overseas. Across the South Caucasus and Middle East, this presents an opportunity for Europe to pick up the pieces and claim its own sphere of influence.

Business

EU risks losing US soy imports under deforestation rules, Washington warns

The regulation would make the bloc less attractive for American exporters, a senior USDA official said