Europe: Thank you and goodbye?
I currently work at the European parliament for a Finnish MEP. With the economic situation being what it is and every day bringing us more bad news and stories of high-level meetings in Brussels, people often think I’m in the centre of power and know what’s happening.
But it’s the member states, the Council, calling the shots now. Not the European parliament.
My two cents on the crisis is not based on some omniscient behind-the-scenes confidential information. But the situation got bad enough to draw me from my EU-blogging retirement for this post.
There have been two trends with the European financial crisis. First one is spiralling of the crisis – it keeps getting worse. Second trend emerged most visibly yesterday: intergovernmentalism.
Spiralling
The whole year there have been talks of containment and people have been explained that we need to pour in more money, create more mechanisms because if we don’t, it’s all going to collapse.
Well, the shit hasn’t hit the fan quite yet but it’s not looking rosy either. After each meeting there’s a sigh of relief that some decision was made but then a few days later it turns out to be inadequate. Markets are in total control; stock markets and credit rating agencies are telling us daily how they think Europe is doing. And nobody quite understands how it all works and affects us.
The air of uncertainty is the worst part.
It seems impossible to predict how will each bail-out measure affect the markets. The member states saved Greece from bankruptcy because letting them go under would have meant a dive into the abyss – the possibility for dire implications was great but at the same time there’s no knowing we’re heading to any better direction as it is.
The uncertainty is affecting us, the consumers, and of course it’s taking its toll on businesses as well. Nobody is going to make a decision to invest into Europe right now.
We’re living in dark times and it’ll take years to recover.
Intergovernmentalism
Merkel and Sarkozy. The two most powerful factors in the whole equation. It’s them deciding now and the rest of us following. Countries like the UK and Finland aren’t really taking it – they’ve both recently had elections with eurosceptic outcomes and can’t reason to their people why something Germany and France decided amongst themselves is something the rest of us should blindly obey.
Therefore UK’s decision to stay out of the new … treaty, agreement? (nobody even properly knows what was it or who’s in it) is not surprising. It’s been a long time coming. Finland is in on the new agreement but with odd clauses that essentially imply that the Finnish parliament can block all decisions. It’s the start of a two-speed Europe, where countries opt-in and -out as they see fit.
I’m not going to say more Europe is the answer. I’m not even saying what the UK did was wrong. Because who are we to judge? Majority of Brits essentially hate the EU even at the best of times and I doubt there’s any love left now.
The hype about UK’s decision is odd, it draws the attention to the one country that in all honesty was quite likely to stay out anyways, and takes the focus away from the fact that once again the countries did reach an agreement and are willing to commit to solving the crisis.
EU is in damage control mode and it needs to make quick decisions and only those countries who are willing to commit to those decisions should be on board. Otherwise it’s all really going to come crashing down.
What will it mean for countries opting out? Chances are they might be better off for a while. But assuming EU ever gets back on track, how likely do you think it will be that they’ll be welcomed with open arms? I foresee another “non, non, non” on its way.
Filed under: UK & the EU | 1 Comment
Tags: crisis, EU, europe, eurozone, two-speed Europe, UK
Bloggingportal
On 10 December Bloggingportal is organising a UK/EU blogging event in London. The panelists we have lined up are rather fabulous.
EVENT PROGRAMME
WHEN: 10th December 2010 – 13:00 – 18:00
WHERE: Europe House, 32 Smith Square, London, SW1P 3EU
13:00 – EVENT START / REGISTRATION / SANDWICH LUNCH
13:45 to 15:15 – FIRST PANEL – “The EU in the British Media”
We’ll be asking our panelists about the coverage of the EU in the British press. Do the media generally do a good job of “keeping tabs” on the EU? Is it true that British euroscepticism is driven by the media, or are the media just following public opinion?
PANELISTS:
David Rennie – Political Editor and Bagehot Columnist, The Economist
Paul Staines – Blogger, Guido Fawkes
Mats Persson – Director, Open Europe
J Clive Matthews – Blogger, Nosemonkey’s EUtopia
15:15 – COFFEE BREAK
15:45 to 17:45 – SECOND PANEL – “The EU in the British Blogosphere”
In this panel, we’ll be turning a critical eye on the British blogosphere. Do bloggers have any advantages over mainstream journalists when writing about the EU? Are bloggers better informed and freer to say what everybody is really thinking? Unconstrained by deadlines and editorial oversight, can they delve deeper into a story? Or are they just under less pressure to maintain levels of accuracy and ethical behaviour?
PANELISTS:
Bruno Waterfield – Brussels Correspondent, The Daily Telegraph, Europe Not EU blog
Gawain Towler – UKIP / Europe of Freedom and Democracy Press Officer and Blogger, England Expects
Antonia Mochan – Head of Media, EU Commission Representative in the UK, Talking about the EU
Jon Worth – Blogger, Jon Worth’s Euroblog
Both panels will be moderated discussions, including time for questions from the audience. There will be wifi provision and a charging station for laptops/mobile phones etc. Please let us know by e-mail at info [at] bloggingportal.eu to reserve a place.
And in case you missed what happened in the European blogosphere, check out The Week in Bloggingportal.
Filed under: UK & the EU | Leave a Comment
Tags: Bloggingportal, EU, UK
The EU? Yawn.
Has anyone else noticed how few EU-related stories there are in the UK?
On thinking about what to write, I browse through the main papers and Google news but there’s not much out there these days. There’s only so much I can write about the economic crisis and the eurozone.
I went on BBC’s Inside Europe section which once upon a time was a decent enough source for EU news.
Not so anymore.
All that's missing is a guide to the EU guides
These days they’re all about guiding people about the EU.
The news section itself would just be a massive blank space if it wasn’t for the Irish – the website editor must have thanked his lucky stars for being able to slip it into EU news as well.
The arrow scribblings on the picture are to point out the fact that the guides appear to be rather similar to each others.
Who does what? What does an MEP do? EU groups explained
Eurozone in crisis – how has the debt crisis affected the eurozone? Guide to budget cuts country by country. EU budget.
All from a different angle, sure, but isn’t it a bit much for a news section?
There are altogether four links to news, all about the same story. There are seven links to guides about the EU.
Even I’m bored – I can’t imagine anyone who stumbles into this page wanting to ever come back again.
Filed under: UK & the EU | Leave a Comment
Tags: BBC, EU, no news, UK
Daily Mail – Fair & Balanced
Mail Online published this little gem: “March of the Euro police: The shocking powers of prosecution the EU has over all of us“
The article includes wonderful insights such as:
“The European Arrest Warrant, which now allows British citizens to be seized in the UK and sent without appeal to foreign jails for months or years without bail while awaiting trial.”
So just that you know, the EU could send you to a foreign jail for no reason for months. Horrible.
The whole article is of course utter crap. I laughed out loud when I read the beginning of the article:
“A Mail on Sunday investigation has uncovered an alarming array of new EU controls over justice and home affairs for which no one has voted, and most are unknown to the public.“
The amount of investigation they have done must indeed be massive; they probably spent a good hour or so surfing the web to find a few statistics. But I appreciate them highlighting the fact they’re ignorant fools.
The comments are equally golden: “I’d like to see a eruo[sic] copper try to arrest a Brit!“
Anyhoo, there’s a lot more of similar hilarity in the article. Knock yourself out.
Filed under: UK & the EU | Leave a Comment
Tags: EU, euroscepticism, media, UK
The Irish bailout
Whispers in Brussels and London are all saying Ireland will soon approach the European Financial Stability Fund for a loan. Irish denials are as expected as they are overlooked – increased buzz over the issue seems to imply that a bailout might be on its way very soon.
Ireland can still keep up with its payments which is why the denials have some credibility in them but they only have the money to last until next year.
The widespread belief is that to avoid another Greece it’s better to hand them the money sooner than later; the money alongside with some tough love from the EU and the IMF could save Ireland from essentially going bankrupt and losing any credit rating it still has.
But on reading articles about the topic, it is amusing to compare the coverage to the Greek crisis. Whereas with Greece the blame was all on the Greeks, there doesn’t appear to be a similar blame-game going on with Ireland.
The EU and its member states were accused of throwing money away to an undeserving country when the Greek crisis was its peak – with Ireland even the Daily Mail seems to get its facts straight about the EFSF.
If the Irish do indeed get money from the EU, it will be interesting to see the reactions from across the EU.
Obviously Britain is not in the Eurozone but I wonder whether they will be trying to leverage the terms of the loan and perhaps even chip in a few pounds. With Greece the sentiment in the UK was a general sigh of relief they weren’t part of the Eurozone…
It seems the Irish will indeed get a bailout – a rhetorical one as well as a financial one.
Filed under: UK & the EU | Leave a Comment
Tags: bailout, ECB, EFSF, eurozone, financial crisis, Ireland, UK
Inconvenient answer
Living in the UK, I was often considered a freak for liking the EU. It was always a question of for or against the EU.
In Brussels nobody asks you whether or not you’re pro-EU – of course everyone is.
I started thinking about this basic assumption after a discussion I had with a friend of mine. She works at the European Parliament and so we started talking about MEPs. I remarked how I actually quite like Nigel Farage. She thought I was joking.
But I really do.
There’s no such thing as an opposition in the European Parliament because there’s also no such thing as a government. So everything tends to be consensus-based, decisions made in committee rooms without drama.
But no drama means no publicity. Without press coverage people can’t read about what’s going on in Brussels so there’s little transparency.
Nigel Farage may say things that aren’t to everyone’s liking. He does, however, make things more exciting. If there would be an opposition in the Parliament, Nigel Farage would definitely be in it.
He may not be like the typical MEP but British politics in general is different from German and French for example. And if people wanted polite, proper eurocrats in the Parliament, they would have voted for them.
Now I’m not a UKIP spokesperson, that’s Gawain’s job. I’m just saying if we’re saying the EU is democratic we should respect the election results. Not everyone likes the EU but they still have every right to be heard in the EU.
Instead of pretending to be above criticism, everyone should thank those who criticise the EU. Just imagine how boring and dangerous it would be if everyone agreed on everything all the time.
And, you know, things could be worse.
Filed under: UK & the EU | 2 Comments
Tags: democracy, EU, European Parliament, Nigel Farage, opposition, transparency
EU literature
Browsing the shelves of the English bookshop in Brussels, I drift towards the politics section.
And there you have it, a table displaying all the best reads and most talked about books of the year. You have the typical historical accounts along with American bestseller types on display, inviting you to browse through them.
Then I come across the EU section. It’s a sad little shelf, full of books that look like study guides – which most of them are. The definitive guide to EU’s decision-making or Governance Theories – The age of the technocrat do not make for very entertaining bedtime reading (and yes, I made those up).
Perhaps I’m just not looking in the right places, maybe there exists an entire world of thrilling accounts of the EU both by historians, academics and politicians alike and I have merely missed this. In that case, let me have an earful in the comments section.
I have in my time read very fascinating books about the EU but mainly from a British perspective. Chris Patten’s Not Quite the Diplomat was as entertaining as it was enlightening. And I think this blog would have never come about if I hadn’t read Hugo Young’s This Blessed Plot. And I suppose there’s a paragraph or two about Europe in most political autobiographies.
What I’m looking for a is a good read that doesn’t preach or teach.
Maybe I’ll just write some myself: The EU: A midsummer night’s dream or much ado about nothing?, followed by Not everyone finishes at 5 – The Brussels Pecking Order.
Filed under: UK & the EU | 10 Comments
Tags: EU, literature
There’s a lot of moaning in Brussels on how the EU doesn’t get good coverage. Or how people don’t know enough about it (watch this interview).
The Solution
What the EU really needs is just country-specific PR.
Let’s take for example the UK. Let’s take the simplest approach and look at hot trends in Google this year. And there we have it, what the UK public really cares about: football, facebook, 4od (watching TV online) and Big Brother.
Step 1
How about having a football match will all the member states and calling it something like Euro Cup. Oh, it’s been done already? Bloody brilliant!
Step 2
Facebook is a bit tricky. Wish some European would have come up with that… Damn Zuckerberg or whoever he stole it from.
But maybe instead of having a Strasbourg plenary session, we should have a facebook week. Have the plenary session on facebook. Not only would it increase transparency, it would cut down costs and all those MEPs would finally shut up about having to go to France every month. Win-win I’d say.
Step 3
Watching TV online could easily be combined with Big Brother.
Let’s put the Commissioners into one floor of the Berlaymont for one week and cut off all connection to the outside world. They then have to come up with the next EU budget (or as we in the biz like to call “financial framework”). Then just watch the magic unfold in front of your eyes in real-time, online.
And there you have it, tools how you make the EU media-sexy. If that doesn’t have the British public frothing at the mouth, I don’t know what will.
Or we could accept the fact that it’s a massive legislation machine that rarely comes up with anything of interest to anyone who doesn’t already drool when words like acquis communautaire, sui generis and free drinks reception are thrown around.
Either way is fine by me.
Filed under: UK & the EU | 4 Comments
Tags: British public, EU, media
Inside the Evil Headquarters
So a few months have passed and I have left the tranquil forests of Finland and exchanged them for the concrete madness that is Brussels.
Now that I’m in the bubble and infiltrated enemy lines, I thought to myself that this would be the perfect opportunity for some behind the scenes, ground-breaking blogging.
Alas, I haven’t joined the Commission and I’m as much of an outsider to the decision-making process as ever. But the goings on in Brussels are a curious thing nevertheless and cosmetic uprise is too good of an anagram to waste – so I’ll just eat my words and rekindle my love-affair with this blog.
Now let me enlighten you on how I view Brussels.
Whereas rest of European politics is ridden with prolonged scandals over expenses and funding, Brussels remains almost virginally pure.
The Commission College is practically a cult – they are the Paris Hiltons and Lindsey Lohans of the EU world. Their daily movements are monitored as if there was a horde of paparazzi after them – I get a daily newsletter update from The Parliament on where each Commissioner is meant to be on that day.
You’ve hit the jackpot if you manage to organise an event where a Commissioner will be present.
Whilst the thought of Maroš Šefčovič, Commissioner for Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration, stirring up big emotions might make Brits snigger, in Brussels he’s a popular fellow. I’m sure some junior consultants would love to shake his hand and hang up a picture of that event on their bedroom walls.
The Brussels bubble is truly a world of its own. In the EU quarter you could easily forget the fact you’re in Belgium – which presumably Nigel Farage does frequently.
Maybe after a few months here I’ll also forget Britain ever meant anything more than lovely accents and soggy chips and I can forget all about silly little words like sovereignty.
Filed under: UK & the EU | 3 Comments
Tags: Brussels bubble, comeback, EU, EU Commission
Since June, I have no longer been a resident of the British Isles. And you can easily tell that from the frequency of posts
The whole raison d’être of this blog was to comment on how the EU is portrayed in the UK; it now makes little sense for this Finn to continue blogging all the way from Finland. Lets just say I lost my relative advantage by moving a thousand miles away.
As my EU-ambassadorial role in the UK has come to its end, I would like to thank everyone for reading this space and being immensely supportive. The feedback and the positive response I got for this blog made me seriously even consider taking a tattoo with the words cosmetic uprise on it. (I didn’t)
I won’t, however, turn all neo-luddite. I will blog again – only this time it’ll be about Finland and the lovely people that inhabit that remote place somewhere in the North-East, Way Up North.
In the meanwhile, take care.
- Mia -
Filed under: UK & the EU | 9 Comments
Tags: goodbye, the end
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