Life at 27
-
EU budget: The European Union has been paralysed
11 February 2013260 124 Les Echos Paris -
EU budget: An austerity budget cooked in German-British sauce
11 February 201349 16PresseuropDziennik Gazeta Prawna, Die Welt, El País -
European Union: ‘European budget: infrastructure projects abandoned’
11 February 201336 1PresseuropLes Echos -
EU budget: A convoluted compromise
8 February 2013329 43PresseuropTrouw, Le Monde, El País, Die Welt -
European Council: ‘Wealthy countries try to impose the most restrictive budget’
8 February 201332 10PresseuropEl País -
European Council: ‘The last such budget’
8 February 201320 9PresseuropRzeczpospolita -
European Council: The selfishness waltz
7 February 2013246 35 Le Monde Paris -
Poland: ‘Van Rompuy’s Purse’
7 February 201320 1PresseuropGazeta Wyborcza -
Portugal: ‘Passos asks Brussels for more than €900m for agriculture’
7 February 201323PresseuropPúblico -
Corruption: First you get the power, then you get the money?
6 February 2013113 10PresseuropDiário de Notícias, EUobserver.com, Expansión -
EU budget: Roads in Brussels are paved with gold
5 February 201394 4PresseuropDziennik Gazeta Prawna, Die Welt, EUobserver.com -
Structural funds: Let Brussels manage our development projects
5 February 2013136 33 Dilema Veche Bucharest -
European Union: ‘The mighty money market’
5 February 201321 7PresseuropBerlingske Tidende -
The Netherlands: Petition for a referendum on the EU
28 January 2013257 26PresseuropNRC Handelsblad, De Volkskrant -
European Union: Cameron prods Europe’s sore spot
24 January 2013228 80PresseuropLes Echos, Die Welt, Gazeta Wyborcza & 4 others -
United Kingdom-EU: ‘Cameron scandalises Europe’
24 January 201338PresseuropSüddeutsche Zeitung -
European Union: ‘EU initiative could weaken Sweden’
24 January 201328 1PresseuropDagens Nyheter -
UK-EU: ‘Cameron puts pressure on EU’
24 January 201320PresseuropGazeta Wyborcza -
European Union: ‘Europe grabs hold of the tap’
24 January 201338 4PresseuropKleine Zeitung -
UK-EU: ‘Yes, Prime Minister (Now go on and finish the job, Mr Cameron)’
24 January 201322PresseuropThe Daily Mail -
UK-EU: Cameron lights the referendum fuse
23 January 2013119 121PresseuropFinancial Times, Daily Express, The Sun & 3 others -
United Kingdom: Europe baffled by British reluctance
17 January 2013190 180 I Kathimerini Athens -
Tax Evasion: EU leads ‘determined’ but ‘largely ineffective’ fight
15 January 201356 1PresseuropEl Mundo -
European Commision: Dalligate: MEPs call for an inquest
10 January 201369 2PresseuropDe Morgen -
Separatism: Keep calm and carry on
9 January 2013284 51 EUobserver.com Brussels -
EU-funds: Spending still hard to control
8 January 2013433 7 De Standaard Brussels -
Democracy: Wooing Europe’s masses
4 January 2013537 98 Project Syndicate Prague -
Ireland: What is the point of the EU presidency?
2 January 2013182 22 La Tribune Paris -
Debt crisis: Europe survives the year
21 December 2012275 60 El País Madrid -
European Council: No federal Europe this winter
13 December 2012232 20 Libération Paris -
European Union: A budget for 2013, but still not enough money
13 December 201249 4PresseuropFinancial Times, EUobserver.com -
Nobel Peace Prize: A controversial yet deserved prize
10 December 2012115 51PresseuropGazeta Wyborcza, Trouw, Diário de Notícias & 2 others -
ECB: Eurozone leaders disregard democracy
26 November 2012319 25 La Tribune Paris -
EU Budget: Commission is nowhere to be seen
23 November 2012233 25 Coulisses de Bruxelles Brussels -
Eurozone crisis: EU set back a generation
23 November 2012485 56 Dziennik Gazeta Prawna Warsaw -
European Council: Major confusion over EU budget
22 November 2012141 45PresseuropThe Daily Telegraph, Público, El País & 4 others -
EU budget: Maximum spending, minimum gain
22 November 201266 81 Der Standard Vienna -
EU Budget: Bargaining set to go to the wire
14 November 201276 19PresseuropJyllands-Posten, El Mundo, Gazeta Wyborcza, La Stampa -
Profile: Olli Rehn, austere guardian of budgetary discipline
9 November 201288 22 Les Echos Paris -
Zone euro : Doctor Merkel and her lethargic patients
8 November 201265 31PresseuropSüddeutsche Zeitung, Le Temps -
EU Budget: Grazing away at billions of euros
7 November 201254 4PresseuropTrouw, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung -
European Institutions: Battle to put a woman on the ECB executive board
6 November 201237 5PresseuropFinancial Times, Les Echos -
European Institutions: Growing mistrust between Europeans and their Parliament
6 November 201290 22PresseuropInternational Herald Tribune -
EU Budget: The real test for Britain in the EU
2 November 2012109 69 The Daily Telegraph London -
European Parliament: Strasbourg’s EU capital status in question
29 October 201240 13PresseuropLibération -
European Commission: “Dalligate” begins to look like a crime novel
26 October 2012134 8 La Tribune Paris -
European Commission: “Dalligate” spreads like wildfire in Brussels
25 October 201237 2PresseuropThe Times of Malta, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, The Malta Independent -
Society: Power struggle over gender equality
24 October 201263 9PresseuropDie Welt, Financial Times Deutschland, Financial Times Deutschland -
European Commission: Commissioner Dalli’s resignation raises questions
22 October 201222 2PresseuropFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung -
European Council: A minimalist summit
17 October 201216 5PresseuropEl País
A EU without a vision of the future, turned in on itself, divided, deaf and blind to the world it lives in: this is the face of Europe emerging in the wake of the “impoverished” budget agreement hammered out by the 27 on February 8.
The leaders of the European Union have managed to save face thanks to the Byzantine wording of the compromise agreement they have found for the 2014-2020 EU budget. The austerity measures adopted, however, could be difficult to implement, notes the European press. 
The EU's 27 leaders are now meeting to discuss the European Union's 2014-2020 budget and will probably reach an agreement. But they will do so by making the usual petty deals that compromise the future, warns Le Monde. 
Structural funds for 2014-2020 are at the top of the agenda of the European Council meeting on February 7-8. Management of these development projects is left to member states but Romanian journalist Ovidiu Nahoi suggests it may be time to hand over responsibility to the EU Commission. 
The British Prime Minister's speech on January 23 on the future of relations between his country and the EU has made the front pages of most European newspapers. The idea of a UK exit provokes reactions ranging from outrage to - more frequently - understanding. 
After weeks of speculation, the UK prime minister finally delivered his crucial speech on Britain’s EU future. He pledged to renegotiate a new deal with the EU before putting it to a referendum before the end of 2017. For the UK press, the speech left much doubt for the future. 
On the eve of the British PM’s much-anticipated speech on Britain’s EU membership, the Brussels correspondent of Greek daily I Kathimerini says that, no matter what David Cameron may say in Amsterdam, Britain has already cut itself loose. 
From Scotland’s membership of the EU should it split from the UK, to handling requests for military help to put down pro-independence movements, the recent rise in European secessionist spirit poses tricky questions for the Union. EU leaders should keep their cool, argues a Greek journalist. 
Despite all the promises of transparency, European funds are still being used improperly by companies and member states, while fraud and misuse remain difficult to detect and rarely punished. 
Ahead of the 2014 European Parliament elections, the EU could learn much from the recent US presidential vote regarding how to engage with its citizens, gain legitimacy and achieve a louder voice on the international stage. 
On January 1, the Dublin government took over the rotating presidency of the European Union. However, French daily La Tribune argues that economic crisis and a shift in the balance of power in the EU have turned this institution into an empty shell. 
The year 2012 seemed pretty dangerous for the eurozone and the whole of the EU. But the worst did not come to pass, especially since Angela Merkel made concessions, which allowed Mario Draghi, President of the ECB to intervene. However, in 2013, Europeans will still have to remain vigilant. 
The last EU summit of the year will not take the path of economic and monetary union closer. The fault lies with Berlin and Paris, who have agreed to bury the roadmap which was presented to them by Herman Van Rompuy. The debate on the future of the Union has been kicked into the long grass to return in 2014, after the German and European elections. 
On December 10, as the Nobel Peace Prize was officially handed over to the EU, the European press celebrates both gratitude for what the Union has already achieved and encouragement for the future, while acknowledging that there are good reasons for a dose of scepticism. 
On the sidelines of the Brussels budget summit on November 22 and 23, Eurozone leaders approved the appointment of Luxembourgian Yves Mersch to the board of the European Central Bank. But he was elected despite the European parliament voting against him, a move which highlights the EU's dysfunctional nature. 
Everyone has forgotten that the European executive prepared the budget which is currently being negotiated by European leaders. And there is a simple reason for this: Commission President José Manuel Barroso has become invisible. Libération’s Brussels correspondent deplores what he describes as a political “suicide”. 
It will be decades before the most economically stricken countries recover their pre-crisis standard of living. And the gulf between with these states and those doing well is widening all the time, threatening the unity and stability of the EU. 
Meeting in Brussels for an extraordinary European Council summit, Europe’s leaders are to about to outline the EU’s budget for years to come in an atmosphere that has already been marked by threats of a veto from various countries. The European press examines the bargaining process and attempts to identify the probable winners and losers. 
The EU spends a third of its budget to try to narrow the gap between rich and poor in Europe. Despite the billions from Brussels, though, the poorer countries have not caught up. Could the 27 please rethink that when they discuss the EU budget? 
How is the EU to be funded from 2014 to 2020? This is the issue to be settled at the European Council summit on 22 and 23 November. The European press reports that EU member states, which seem to be mainly concerned with their national interests, are far from agreement. 
Popular in his home country of Finland and much feared elsewhere in Europe, the European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs maintains a low profile. However, with the introduction of new supervisory rules for budgets, his emerging role as a key player in Europe’s economic governance will make it difficult for him to avoid the limelight. 
On October 31, Eurosceptic conservatives and Labour joined forces to push through an amendment calling for a cut in the EU budget. The vote marked a major defeat for PM David Cameron who could be cornered in a intransigent position that will be difficult to maintain in the coming negotiations. But it is a risk worth taking, argues the conservative Daily Telegraph. 
A week after the resignation of Commissioner John Dalli, who was about to table a directive that comes down hard on tobacco products, suspicions of a plot against him have continued to grow. A strange case of burglary at the Brussels offices of anti-tobacco activists adds yet more drama to the allegations of influence peddling.