Life at 27
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European Union: Lobbyists attack lobby watchdog
24 March 20101PresseuropEUobserver.com -
European Agencies: Too many, too much
24 March 2010La Tribune Paris -
European Commission: Romania drags feet in corruption fight
23 March 2010PresseuropRomânia libera -
Economy: No appetite for austerity
18 March 2010212 International Herald Tribune Paris -
European Parliament: "Westerners" remain the masters of invective
9 March 2010251 România libera Bucharest -
EU 2020 Strategy: Another well-meaning laundry list?
2 March 20103 La Stampa Turin -
Greece/Germany: The cliché Blitz
1 March 2010641 Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich -
Germany: Banks transfers now easier, and riskier
1 March 2010PresseuropSüddeutsche Zeitung -
European Union: The plot against Lady Ashton
26 February 2010272 Presseurop -
European Commission: The good, the bad, and Barroso
10 February 20101 România libera Bucharest -
European Union: Van Rompuy to lay out crisis battle plan
9 February 2010PresseuropLe Soir -
Regions: Six countries to develop the Danube
2 February 2010PresseuropRomânia libera -
Institutions: Seek them here, seek them there...
28 January 20101 Le Monde Paris -
Anniversary: Auschwitz survivors poorly treated
27 January 20101PresseuropFrankfurter Rundschau -
Economic crisis: Tough love for the Greeks
26 January 20103 La Stampa Turin -
Institutions: A million citizens can change the Union
20 January 2010583 El País Madrid -
European Commission: Jeleva, or the Bulgarian cultural exception
19 January 2010191 Dnevnik Sofia -
European Parliament: Future commissioners sit the orals
11 January 2010Presseurop -
Economy: Better days by 2020 - honest
8 January 20102 Il Sole-24 Ore Milan -
EU Presidency: Mr Bean goes to Spain
5 January 2010PresseuropABC -
European Union: Madrid faces challenges in Brussels
4 January 2010Presseurop -
Visions of Europe (3): Europe 2034
1 January 201033 Fokus Stockholm -
Visions of Europe (2): Saying “Adieu” to the continent
29 December 20091087 The Daily Telegraph London -
After COP15: Verhofstadt's bilingual moan
23 December 2009PresseuropLe Soir -
Serbia: Belgrade goes for EU membership
22 December 2009PresseuropPolitika -
European Parliament: See Strasbourg and die...
18 December 2009151 La Repubblica Rome -
European Parliament: MEP assistants quizzed about piles
16 December 2009PresseuropFrankfurter Rundschau -
Sweden: Quite an interesting presidency
15 December 2009Dagens Nyheter Stockholm -
European Council: Van Rompuy in cut to the chase shock
11 December 2009PresseuropEl País -
Institutions : The post-Lisbon paradox
1 December 2009Dziennik Gazeta Prawna Warsaw -
European Commission: Barroso II, another hand of Dieu
1 December 20091 Presseurop -
Graduates: Following the yellow brick road to Brussels
27 November 2009542 Cafebabel.com Paris -
Ethics : Is a clean parliament a happy parliament?
26 November 2009România libera Bucharest -
Brussels: EPP pushes for Commission blacklist
25 November 2009PresseuropGazeta Wyborcza -
Denmark: Connie the new climate star
25 November 2009PresseuropPolitiken -
European Council: Some life lessons from Brussels
24 November 200938 Rzeczpospolita Warsaw -
European Council: Herman who? Catherine what?
20 November 200965 Presseurop -
High Representative: The bureaucratic monster at her feet
20 November 20091 Der Spiegel Hamburg -
EU Presidency: Express exposes Van Rompuy as “clown”
19 November 2009PresseuropDaily Express -
European Council: Electing the president, behind closed doors
18 November 200913 Presseurop -
Institutions: A man's man's man's EU
17 November 200921 La Stampa Turin -
European Commission: Who will get the top jobs?
11 November 2009PresseuropWprost -
After '89: Loving Europe, despairing of the EU
10 November 2009233 The Observer London -
Nominations: Van Rompuy fades, Miliband folds
10 November 2009PresseuropLe Soir -
EU budget: A European tax in the offing
10 November 2009PresseuropDie Presse -
Lithuania: You say Waldemar, I say Valdemar
9 November 2009PresseuropRzeczpospolita -
After Lisbon (6): Calling the sovereignty bluff
6 November 2009The Guardian London -
Diplomacy : A song for Europe, but what's the tune?
5 November 2009131 El País Madrid -
After Lisbon: French wonder what’s in Britain’s pants
5 November 2009PresseuropThe Guardian -
Lisbon Treaty: Signed at last, time to move on
4 November 200920 Presseurop
Immigration, fisheries, GMOs… 28 agencies are supposed to provide support for EU member states and their citizens. But they are being criticized for their high running costs and poor management practice. La Tribune reports on the issues that Brussels is planning to set right. 
From Greece to Ireland, the EU is encouraging members states to imposing painful cuts in public spending. But a growing number of critics are criticising a “cult of austerity” that threatens to push Europe further into recession. 
We were inured to the foul mouths of populist MEPs from the new member states who took their seats in Strasbourg last June. But they can’t hold a candle to their Western European counterparts, recounts România liberă.
After the failure of the Lisbon Strategy, which was supposed to turn the EU into the world’s most competitive economy by 2010, the European Commission is now poised to present its EU 2020 strategy on 3 March: a roadmap to growth banking on innovation, education and new technologies – but which is already beset by doubts. 
Greeks are cheats who aren’t worth bailing out. Germans should pay Greece’s way out of the morass because the Nazis plundered the country. A war of words is raging between two countries that had hitherto succeeded in surmounting the hurdles of history, complains Süddeutsche Zeitung. 
After Jose Manuel Baroso and Herman Van Rompuy, Catherine Ashton is now the European figure that everyone loves to hate. Only a few months into her much criticised mandate as the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, can she hang on? The press laments a rudderless Europe. 
Having received a green light from the European Parliament on 09 February, the new European Commission is now about to take office. However, România libera complains its functioning may be hampered by a lack of transparency, which surrounded the selection of future commissioners, and the overlapping roles they have been assigned. 
Catherine Ashton off the radar, Herman Van Rompuy vanished from view, and José Manuel Barroso defending his prerogatives as European Commissioner : the new institutions established by the Lisbon Treaty, which were supposed to simplify the action of the European Union, are clearly undergoing some teething problems, says Le Monde. 
Teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, Greece is proving to be a major headache for the European Union. Writing in La Stampa, economic analyst Franco Bruni argues that to save the credibility of the single currency, the Union needs to centralise policy, even to the point of over-riding national autonomy on economic issues. 
The new Lisbon Treaty authorises popular initiatives backed by at least a million signatures. But that figure will not suffice to provide a regulatory framework for this new tool of participatory democracy. 
Impugned for her fishy financial connections, the Bulgarian commissioner-designate for humanitarian aid finally stood down on 19 January. But her government’s obstinacy in backing her candidacy points up the enduring cultural abyss between Sofia and Brussels. 
On Monday, the European Parliament embarks on eight days of hearings for the 26 European commissioners designate of the Barroso II team. The European press reports that the evaluation exercise, which is an opportunity for parliament to demonstrate and reinforce its authority, is none too popular with candidates for commission posts.
To be the world’s leading economic powerhouse by 2010: the Lisbon strategy objective is clearly unattainable. So the 27 have decided to give themselves another ten years to develop a new growth model. But the setting is even less auspicious than it was last time around. 
Spain is steering the ship of the Union for a six-month stint, with its sights set on two goals: finding a remedy for the recession and putting the Lisbon Treaty into effect. But the dailies El País and EL Mundo are divided over the weakened Spanish government’s odds of success in Brussels. 
Swedish essayist Kjell Albin Abrahamsson imagines that in 25 years every European country will be in the EU – except Turkey. Armed with a common energy policy and, at long last, a single voice – the EU will take the helm in international diplomacy. 
Furious with a £14 billion contribution to the bureaucrats of far-off Brussels, lagging behind Norway in GDP, some Englanders have had enough with the European project. Dreaming of the day when Britain becomes an offshore paradise for global investors, Tory MEP Daniel Hannan gives 10 reasons to leave the EU. 
Overheard moaning about her stint in the European Parliament, Rachida Dati, ex-French justice minister, has unwittingly raised that nagging question once again: What exactly do MEPs do and how much do they get done? 
Sweden's EU Presidency will mainly be remembered for the final ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, but Fredrik Reinfeldt and his team also made progress on more low-profile technical issues. Dagens Nyheter presents an inventory of the achievements of what it deems to be a globally positive six-month term in office. 
Now that the Lisbon Treaty has come into force, the EU must rise to the occasion if it is to be a global player. But the choice of its new helmsmen runs counter to that objective, regrets Polish political scientist Aleksander Smolar. 
After a long bout of wheeling and dealing, José Manuel Barroso’s new team of commissioners has been appointed. In this tricky game of tactical manoeuvres, it would seem that France has come out on top, according to the European press.
Attracted by the siren call of permanent employment in a high profile institution, young graduates from all over Europe flock to Brussels with their sights set on jobs in the European Commission. But making the move to the Belgian capital is not always an easy transition. Café Babel reports on the trials and tribulations of those who seek entry to the corridors of power. 
In recent months a series of scoops in the European press have unearthed widespread abuse of taxpayers’ money by MPs and ministers in several member countries. As UK and Italian politicos continue to be pilloried, the European Parliament has started putting its own house in order. 
What do the recent appointments of Herman Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton at the top of Commission have to teach us about the European Union? About five things, according to Paweł Lisicki, editor in chief of Warsaw daily Rzeczpospolita, and not one of them easy to digest. 
The appointment of Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy to the post of President of the European council and British Commissioner for Trade Catherine Ashton as High Representative for Foreign Affairs has not been well received by the European press, which was hoping for more charismatic European representatives. 
With her appointment as the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Catherine Ashton has become overnight one of the world’s most powerful women. But her role, considered even more prestigious than that of EU President, is not without pitfalls, reports Der Spiegel. 
On 19 November, leaders of Europe's 27 member states will settle the question of who is to head the European Council and the EU's diplomatic service. However, for the European press, a process which should have marked a milestone on the road to European integration has been marred by a lack of transparency. 
Though women make up the majority of the European population, they are underrepresented in key institutional posts. As the 27 convene to pick the personages to hold the highest offices in the Union, women are demanding action on the parity principle. 
Twenty years after the fall of Berlin Wall, the hope the event inspired is being thwarted by a European Union that seeks “to standardise behaviour and attitudes”, argues Henry Porter in the Observer. 
Opponents of Lisbon have long claimed that the treaty sounds the death knell of national government. But when it comes to issues like finance, banking and public services, sovereignty doesn’t get much of a look-in from the apparently euroreluctant Tories, argues Seumas Milne in the Guardian. 
The Lisbon Treaty provides for the establishment of a common diplomatic service for the EU 27 presided over by a “High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy”. But the EU’s member states and various institutions have yet to figure out who’s to call the tune. 
With the Czech President's signature on Tuesday, it is now certain the the Lisbon Treaty will come into force on 1st of December. The EU has been given the tools for a new reign of more efficient governance, however, the European press warns that the treaty will bring about progress only if European leaders change their ways.