European Commission
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Literature: Brussels subsidises cut-price Kafka
4 November 201188PresseuropFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung -
Eurozone crisis: They forget about growth
28 October 20111324 Les Echos Paris -
EUROPEAN OF THE WEEK: Guido Strack - the downfall of a whistleblower
6 October 201122810 Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich -
Press review: Barroso goes for bravado
29 September 2011647Presseurop -
Debt crisis: Family ties
6 September 201128 Het Parool Amsterdam -
Editorial: In defence of Eurocrats
2 September 2011484Presseurop -
Environment: Changing light bulbs: not the brightest idea
31 August 201116713 Dagens Nyheter Stockholm -
Rethinking Europe (2): No more working behind closed doors
21 July 2011813 Spiked London -
Editorial: Greek myths and EU budgets
1 July 2011441Presseurop -
EU budget: Tug of war between EU27 and Commission
30 June 2011PresseuropPresseurop -
European budget: Crisis to change rules for structural funds
28 June 2011331PresseuropPúblico -
Ideas: Towards a sovereign union
27 June 20111239 Dziennik Gazeta Prawna Warsaw -
Debt crisis: Euro – what Brussels will do next
23 June 2011622 Le Monde Paris -
Economy: Commission: austerity to create "growth"
8 June 2011381PresseuropPresseurop -
Croatia: Barroso opens door to EU
8 June 20113PresseuropJutarnji List -
Interview: “Culture is part of Europeans’ life”
18 May 2011PresseuropBlog -
Single Market: Mario Monti — "States must take responsibility"
16 May 2011PresseuropBlog -
Interview: Antonio Tajani: “Citizens of Europe need responses that the member states cannot give on their own.”
10 May 2011PresseuropBlog -
Schengen Area: Walking the border tightrope
5 May 201157 Dagens Nyheter Stockholm -
Portugal: A 3 billion bill for families
5 May 2011Presseuropi -
Portugal: Austere New Year
4 May 2011302 Jornal de Negócios Lisbon -
Economic crisis: Portuguese will learn to live with IMF
29 April 20111PresseuropJornal de Negócios -
European Union: Reforming Schengen, an absurd gesture
28 April 2011814 Berliner Zeitung Berlin -
Institutions: Brussels/London clash over EU budget
21 April 20111PresseuropThe Daily Telegraph -
Privacy: The dubious blessings of the EU Commission
20 April 201117513 Der Standard Vienna -
Food: Europe “in a state of nuclear emergency”
31 March 20111152PresseuropSüddeutsche Zeitung -
Debate: Leviathan is here, in Brussels
25 March 20117606 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Frankfurt -
Europe 2020: A neo-liberal takeover
1 March 2011119 Libération Paris -
EU-Russia: Barroso and Putin spar over gas deal
25 February 201114PresseuropEUobserver.com -
North Africa: Libya's revolution, Europe's shame
23 February 201111822 El País Madrid -
Arab revolutions: Lady Ashton misses the boat
17 February 201158 Libération Paris -
European Commission: Barroso lays hold of EU budget
10 February 2011PresseuropRzeczpospolita -
Hungary: A country divided
1 February 2011781 Respekt Prague -
EU-Uzbekistan: Our man in Tashkent
24 January 201176 De Standaard Brussels -
European Commission: Hungary media law not “satisfactory”
18 January 201117PresseuropPravda -
Institutions: Dutch auditor spills beans on EU fraud
11 January 20111PresseuropDe Volkskrant -
Portugal : Scandal splatters Barroso
21 December 20101961Presseuropi -
European council: All a blur at the Euro-summit
16 December 2010672 Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich -
Social issues: The counterproductive war on smokers
6 December 20103029 Revue Politika Brno -
Austerity: Brussels awards itself a pay-rise
25 November 2010221PresseuropLe Figaro -
Irish Crisis: The bitter taste of bailout
22 November 2010741 Presseurop -
Portugal: Brussels down on national labour law
5 November 2010PresseuropDiário de Notícias -
Integration: What happens to all the Roma funds?
13 October 201028PresseuropEvenimentul zilei -
Generic medicine: EC accused of doing Big Pharma’s bidding
11 October 2010441PresseuropThe Guardian -
European Commission: Questions over ex-commissioners in clover
24 September 2010PresseuropDe Volkskrant -
Editorial: Self-interest runs amok
17 September 201017Presseurop -
Roma: Just how far will France go?
16 September 201053 Libération Paris -
Roma: Brussels finally takes France to task
15 September 2010655 Presseurop -
European Commission: Barroso, the Union's in a state
8 September 2010361 Presseurop -
Editorial: Duplex State of the Union
3 September 201015Presseurop
The agreement reached by the seventeen states of the eurozone is leaving out one crucial issue: growth. Two problems therefore remain unresolved: the lack of a common macroeconomic policy and the divisions between the member countries. 
He wanted justice, and for it risked family, work and health – to lose it all. Guido Strack was once an ambitious officer with the European Commission. But that was before he began to draw attention to abuses in his department. 
In his “Speech of the Union” to the European Parliament on September 28, the President of the Commission sought to defend his institution and put forward concrete proposals to leave the crisis behind. But the European press has no illusions about his true room for manoeuvre. 
As of 1 September, conventional light bulbs of more than 40 watts will be taken off the market. In the countries of the Arctic Circle, it’s a step into the dark that’s being badly received. Just who is it who has wrought this change in our daily life? wonders Dagens Nyheter. 
Insulated from the public and unpracticed in the art of political leadership, small wonder EU officialdom is so powerless to tackle a eurozone crisis that risks scuppering the European project itself, argues sociologist Frank Furedi.
The debt crisis has laid the foundations for an economic governance that will accelerate European integration. In future, says the Polish columnist Andrzej Talaga, member states should hand over more sovereignty to the EU. 
With the single currency at risk of collapse, the leaders of Europe’s 27 member states are set to meet for a European Council summit to finalise the details of a mechanism that is supposed to prevent a repeat of the Greek crisis. 
A more open Europe with tighter external borders: in a bid to establish a consensus on the issue of the reform of the Schengen Agreement, the EU home affairs commissioner has been forced to walk a tightrope. However, Dagens Nyhter argues that the proposals presented by Cecilia Malmström succeed in striking a delicate balance. 
The 78 billion euro bailout plan announced on May 3 to help Portugal to avoid bankruptcy will likely not be as severe as feared by the Portuguese. Nevertheless, hard times lie ahead if they want to their country enjoy a new start, warns Jornal de Negócios. 
France and Italy have called for reform of the Convention on freedom of movement — they will not have trouble getting what they want, but that does not solve the problem of accommodating immigrants, says the Berliner Zeitung. 
Yesterday the energy saving lamp, today data retention. Tomorrow: recording your frequent flyer points and what hotel you stay in. Its highly questionable and intrusive meddling is costing the EU the trust of the public. 
Brussels is the lair of a bureaucratic monster, writes the German essayist Hans Magnus Enzensberger. It’s up to the Europeans themselves now to take up their pitchforks. 
Although initially a social-democratic project, the Lisbon Strategy did not succeed in promoting innovation or social cohesion in the EU. On the contrary, when taken over by the European Commission, it was transformed into a neo-liberal programme — a trend which a French economist argues is even more pronounced in the 2020 Strategy destined to replace it. 
Faced with the massacres perpetrated by the Gaddafi regime against its own people, how can the EU content itself with calling for “restraint”, while spending more time worrying about an influx of refugees? Madrid daily El País publishes an indignant editorial. 
On 16 February, Catherine Ashton announced an aid package that will deliver a total of €258 million to Tunisia by 2013. Libération points out that the EU only gave its support for the Tunisian revolution when huge numbers of Tunisian boat people arrived on the coast of Lampedusa. 
The government of Viktor Orbán (Fidesz) has succeeded in consolidating its power, including control over the media, and is preparing to amend the Constitution. Is the sudden set-back to democracy in Hungary just a hiccup, or is it a systemic phenomenon that could spread to other central European states? Respekt reports from Budapest. 
When talking to dictators, Europe applies a double standard: quick to snap at Lukashenko of Belarus, it plays much nicer with Karimov of Uzbekistan, as it did with Ben Ali. But is it really worth the trouble? asks political analyst Bruno De Cordier. 
A naysaying chancellor from Germany, allied with a fickle president from France, up against massive but irresolute resistance at the EU's 16/17 December summit. Is this how Europe saves its currency? 
The European Commission is preparing a general ban on smoking in public areas. However, a Czech legal expert argues that the desire to legislate to improve public health could ultimately undermine civil liberties. 
Between 80 and 100 billion euros. We don’t know yet how much aid Ireland, the EU and IMF agreed on 21 November. But the question is: was it the right call? Reactions from the Corriere della Sera and Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. 
Threatened with legal action by the Commission, with precious little backing from her neighbours, France is suffering the fallout from her president’s bellicose anti-Roma rhetoric. But the other Roma-deporting countries could conceivably help her out of this fix. 
On 14 September the European Commission announced it might well initiate infringement proceedings against France for its Roma expulsion policy. The European press lauds the decision. 
With all that has recently transpired throughout Europe, observers have been awaiting the first EU state of the union speech from its chief executive in Brussels. Though the EU is indeed slowly pulling itself out of the financial crisis, the tone of the speech reveals a marked lack of ambition, according to the European press.