Euroblogging journalist Prune Antoine wins two European young journalist awards

Sometimes people who actually deserve it win prizes, and this time it is fellow Euroblogger and Berlin-based French journalist Prune Antoine for her article "Pologne - Quand les parents sont partis" (English translation on page 28 of this booklet).

I was really amazed when I read in her private blog this morning that she has won two prizes at once for her article, the European Young Journalist Award 2010 for France and also the Louise Weiss Award for European Journalism 2009 (category "Junior").


Here is the reasoning of the jury of the European Young Journalist Award:

"In France, it is the ”euro orphans” phenomenon, tackled by Prune Antoine, that held the attention of the jury. The article entitled ”Poland: children of no-one” distances itself by the originality of its subject. The migratory wave from Eastern Europe countries and its consequences on family are analysed through an in-depth analysis and a wide range of points of views. In Prune Antoine’s uncluttered style, sociologists, politicians, headteachers, ”orphans” and ”orphans’” parents lead the reader behind the scenes of this massive emigration “resembling an economic miracle”. The journalist’s well-structured argument is a true field investigation that offers a relevant debate with proper context and careful illustration."

I had just met Prune - who writes the beautiful Euroblog "L'Europe en Blogs" and was part of my "20 women who run the EU (blogosphere)" - in Berlin in March and we ended up talking about Europe, blogging, journalism and life between the East and the West which we both share.

She is a true European, combining French culture with the easy-going-ness of Berlin and a deep understanding of "the East", and she is brilliant because she can write incredibly serious articles like the one you read above as well as killingly funny blog posts commenting on life in Berlin, EU politics and discussions in other euroblogs.

I've just spoken with her on the phone to congratulate and she was still surprised and enthusiastic - but if there is anybody who deserved to win the prizes it was Prune! Congratulations!

PS: Prune is a freelance, so if you ever need good reporting (e.g. from Berlin or Central and Eastern Europe), you should really get in contact with her!

The lost MEPs: France and the European Parliament after Lisbon

According to an article in Le Monde, the French parliament will not choose the two additional Members of European Parliament that the country will get under the Lisbon Treaty rules before summer.

The vote foreseen in the Assemblée nationale has been postponed from 13 January 2010 without setting a new date.

In the newspaper article, the Spanish EU Council Presidency is blamed for not pushing quick enough for the the reform of the of Protocol 36 on transitional provisions to the Treaties. A ratification of this reform by the member states would be necessary to enlarge the European Parliament to the Lisbon Treaty size of 754; so far just 736 deputies sit in the Parliament according to the Nice Treaty rules under which the EP was elected last year.

For more details on the proposed reform see the respective Council document from 04 Decembery 2009 which I found via the German Bundesrat, the second chamber, there the document is dated 7 January 2010. The fact that one month has passed before this reached the German second chamber maybe is an indication of the speed with which the reform has been pushed...

However, it is also pointed out in Le Monde that France is the only country that hasn't set out internal provisions to chose the addition MEPs according to the rule of direct universal suffrage, and the decision to select the two additional MEPs, due to the complex French general election system, through a national parliament vote has been judged problematic in December already (e.g. here and here).

It needs to be noted that the term "direct universal suffrage" is also included in the Council document linked above, on page 6 (first paragraph).

This matter is yet another proof that the European and national institutions aren't yet prepared for the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty and that they take way too much time to find acceptable solutions - and as so often, it is the member states and the Council causing the trouble.

French finance minister praises EU co-operation in Jon Stewart's Daily Show

In an excellent English, and with true conviction, the French finance minister Christine Lagarde yesterday praised EU work and co-operation in the times of the economic crisis in the US-American comedy news "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart".

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Christine Lagarde
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

This is excellent ambassadorship for the European Union, not like some of her UMP colleagues!

European Parliament elections 2009 (91): French minister and EP candidate ridicules the European elections

In a meeting with the UMP youth (the UMP is Sarkozy's party), French Minister of Justice and number two on the UMP list for the EP elections, Rachida Dati, has shown her disrespect towards the European campaign:

Rachida Dati : L'Europe la fait rire?
Hochgeladen von LePostfr

There is an excellent article at the Taurillon titled "Red card for Rachida Dait for her sad European incompetence", and Laurent explains this absolute blackout by the fact that Dati will rather consider this campaign as a degradation than an opportunity. She has been nominated to leave office as Justice Minister rather than being chosen as a good European. So she might be frustrated.

But by coming unprepared in such a meeting, giggling like a little child and looking like a newcomer and not like a professional, she does not only ruin her own reputation, but she's also ruining the reputation of the European elections.

So although I appreciate that the campaign for the European elections in France seems much more active and lively than in many other EU countries, it is a big problem to use worn-out politicians for a job that needs openness for new perspectives - thank you Mr Sarkozy!

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Under the category "European parliament elections 2009" I am following up national and European activities on the path to the European Parliament elections 2009.

For an overview over all articles in this category have a look at the overview article.

For the five newest post see also the sidebar.

French Prime Minister Fillon to become EU Commission President?

Okay, I support the Anyone but Barroso! campaign, but this thing is also not called "Anyone like Barroso!".

Rumours that somebody like the colourless François Fillon could become candidate for the EU Commission Presidency are making me afraid that instead of Barroso we just get a clone.

Coulisses de Bruxelles formulates it like this (own translation):

Fillon, from a Brussels perspective, has many qualities: He is a jurist, discrete, free of the arrogance that is generally associated to French people, married to a British, and he is considered to be an excellent professional. His is able to absorb the Sarkozyan tempers while keeping his good-will and he is showing that he is able to lead a complex administration such as the Commission's.

In other terms: He would be somebody who could work silently with the member states' representatives in the Council without disturbing them. He keeps a low public profile because he is rather an administrator than a politician. He could continue the bad work of Mr Barroso while selling the notion of "change".

I am afraid. And concerned for the political future of the Union. I hope it's just rumours!

European Parliament elections 2009 (52): French public opinion polls

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For an all-European poll (24 February) go here.
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Fabian Cazenave has published French public opinion polls with a view for the 2009 EP elections (figures from L'Express):

Pro-Europeans (according to Fabian): 70.5%

• UMP (Sarkozy's Party; EPP): 26%
  
• Socialist Party (PES): 23%
  
• Democratic Movement (EDP; ALDE): 14.5%
  
• Greens (EGP): 7%

Anti-Europeans on the extremes (according to Fabian): 22%

• Left: New Anti-capitalist Party: 9%
  
• Right: National Front: 6%
  
• others: 7%

Undecided: 8%

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Under the category "European parliament elections 2009" I am following up national and European activities on the path to the European Parliament elections 2009.

For an overview over all articles in this category have a look at the overview article.

For the five newest post see also the sidebar.

Sarkozy does not speak English

I just learned that the ex-President of the Council of the European Union and still-President of one of the major EU countries - Nicolas Sarkozy - does not speak (enough) English to talk to the newly elected US president Obama without translator - which embarrasses the advisors of the latter.

This is maybe also why France is still putting so much weight on the usage of the French language within the EU and other international organisations...

NATO is planning war on German and French territory around Strasbourg in April - updated

In early April, NATO is celebrating its 60th anniversary in Strasbourg with a huge summit.

For Christoph Marischka, writing for the (interesting but mostly quite leftish) German online portal Telepolis, this will be the state of emergency. Police, army, secret services will join in their efforts to "protect" the international VIPs, limiting citizens' freedoms and mixing up competencies between national, transnational, and international authorities with military and non-military status.

And although the scenario Marischka is painting is rather biased towards the dark side (or better: against), it gives an idea about what the French-German border area around Strasbourg can expect in April:

We will get the usual summit war between the international military (and pseudo-military) forces and the not less militaristic anti-militaristic forces from all over the continent.

Update (11 February 2009):

Today I met somebody who lives and works in Strasbourg. She says that already now it is getting crazy, she and all her colleagues have to fill out questionnaires, and have to announce which guests they expect for the days of the Summit.

She recommends avoiding Strasbourg for these days.

European Parliament elections 2009 (43): Michel Barnier (France, UMP) uses blog, Facebook, and Twitter for online campaign

Although, as mentioned in previous posts, the European People's Party (EPP) is not really moving when it comes to a truly European campaign, national member parties are starting to raise voters' interest in the European elections.

Take for example Michel Barnier, French minister for the agriculture, former EU Commissioner for Regional Policy, former French Foreign Minister, Vice-President of the EPP and number 1 on the list of Sarkozy's centre-right Union for a Popular Movement (UMP). He is using all major means to promote himself online, starting with a blog, continuing on Facebook, and even not ignoring Twitter, where other online activities (e.g. a chat on Le Figaro) are cross-linked.

After I added myself (yes, I have joined Twitter) as a follower to Barnier's Twitter feed, he added himself within minutes to mine (which could a sign that this is managed by somebody else...?).

Nevertheless, this tells us that the campaign for the European elections seems to be taken seriously, at least in France. It is a sign that we might witness a change in style in how the European Parliament election campaign will be organised, and that expectations about the limited role of the internet for the 2009 EP elections could be proved wrong, at least partially.

(via eToile)

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Under the category "European parliament elections 2009" I am following up national and European activities on the path to the European Parliament elections 2009.

For an overview over all articles in this category have a look at the overview article.

For the five newest post see also the sidebar.

How the reactions of the Czech Republic and France represent the 21st century (tribute to Publius)

Publius has written an amazing comment on the behaviour of the outgoing and incoming French and Czech EU-Council presidencies with regard to the present Gaza conflict.

I am sure that my English translation cannot capture the tone of the original (I am open for suggestions!), but it will allow those of you not too familiar with the French language to understand the main message:

[...] One of the best identified difficulties of social life is to prevent the worst actors among its members to act with precipitance in the hope to stand out in doing so. The will to succeed in politics is nothing but the most recent proof of the egomaniac right of the least considerate to be the first to cry wolf. Europe, at least originally, had the goal to protect the least powerful member states from the infelicitous and unreflective initiatives of their powerful neighbours. Let us thank France and the Czech Repulic, from now on the members of what will have been the last Troika in European history, to show to us that the solutions of the 50s - made for the people of the 50s -, which put up the proper respect of neighbours to satisfy their interests based on the founding principle of social life, are for sure not appropriate anymore for a 21st century that puts up individual success as the etalon [i.e. standard; JF] of moral life

[Remark JF: Publius has slightly changed the text later on. This translations is based on the first version.]

Tony Barber in the Brussels Blog of the Financial Times goes in the same direction - but far less expressive.

European Parliament elections 2009 (31): European parties and European journalism

The eToile blog has pointed to an interesting new website that takes a closer look at the European Parties:

The European elections of June 2009 advance with big steps, but nonetheless they don't seem to attract the masses! The estimations are announcing a quite low participation. There will thus be a double task for the political parties: make the citizens interested in the elections, and to profit from this interest, in order to politicise the Union.

The CUEJ (the "Centre universitaire d'enseignement du journalism" = "Centre for Higher Education in Journalism"), aware of these challenges, uses this opportunity to train the "cyberpens" of its upcoming journalists on a new website called "2009, le pari de l’Europe politique" ("2009, the bet of the political Europe"), devoted to the European political parties.

You can find there a lot of information about the 9 europarties, hardly known by the voters, thanks to info-graphics and other pedagogic animations.

(own translation)

It is a pitty that this page is only in French. For those of you able and willing to read in French, it is worth taking a look.

My personal favourite so far is the animation where you can see the distribution of power of the political parties throughout the European institutions and the member states. A beautiful little toy!

For the rest, we'll have to follow how much interesting journalistic activity (and quality) we will get from the next generation of (European?) journalists with regard to the 2009 EP elections - I will keep track, for sure!

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Under the category "Tracking: European parliament elections 2009" I am following up national and European activities on the path to the European Parliament elections 2009.

For an overview over all articles in this category have a look at the overview article.

For the five newest post see also the sidebar.

The Coulisses of Brussels: Three years and more than 250,000 readers per month

Those who think that a European blog cannot attract a decent readership might consider the latest article published by the Coulisses de Bruxelles:

This blog (and its famous road sweeper) is three years old now: I have posted my first two articles on 12 December 2005. On the counter, the "Coulisses de Bruxelles" now counts 1015 articles that have caused 60,700 comments. In total, 5 million page loads, and according to the counting of Libération, between 250,000 and 300,000 unique visitors every month. This makes this blog the third most read on the site of Libération, after "Secret Défense" by Jean-Dominique Merchet, also a journalist at Libération, and "Sex" (of cause...). To make a long story short: A nice success, which, as I hope, will get bigger with the European elections coming closer. But this only depends on you. Because I won't desist from this new media even though it is much more demanding than the written press. The future of journalism?

(own translation)

These figures are impressive, not least because the blog is about Europe and not less because it is written in French.

And although it possesses the important institutional background of a large and recognised newspaper, it is a substantial indicator that European topics are in the heart of interest of readers, and that with the right approach (i.e. European blogging as a journalistic activity) you can reach out to an audience that is not only passively consuming but intensively debating what is going on on this continent, and in particular within the European Union. Remarkable and enviable!

Therefore: Good luck, Coulisses de Bruxelles, for the years to come!

Montenegro wants to join EU

There we go: News services report that Montenegro wants to join the European Union.

However,

"The commission says the country is still lagging behind in many fields and EU membership is not expected to occur in the very near future."

But since the Czech EU-Council presidency seems to be interested to speed up the accession process for the Western Balkan states, Montenegro could get the candidate status during next year.

Nevertheless, when you look at the georaphic position of Montenegro, it won't get into the Union before its main neighbours, no matter how quick it pursues its reforms. An EU peninsula Montenegra (assuming that Croatia joins the EU) will not be approved by the Council, and so Montenegro will most probably have to wait for Serbia and/or Bosnia to get ready anyway.

Powerful Women: Follow-up on Rama Yade - update

Some time ago, in summer, I have written about the "Powerful woman" Rama Yade.

At the time I wrote:

If she does not make any severe mistakes, her future looks very promising to me, even if her political path might be interrupted by the typical changes in political constellations that are likely to occur one day or another.

Now, she seems to have made such a mistake, rejecting to run for office during the European Parliament Elections 2009. As a consequence, the French government will also not nominate her for the post of secretary of state for European affairs, recently freed by Jean-Pierre Jouyet.

The Jean Quatremer from the "Coulisses de Bruxelles" comments this matter:

At the castle [the Elysee-Palace; JF] they suppose that Yade has significantly underestimated the importance of the European Parliament, where this polyglot could have been "a star" and could have established a number of contacts that she lacks today. It is also remarked that she would not have needed to stay for a whole mandate, but that she just had to prove her capacity to stand for an elected position. However, and after all, Rama Yade might just simply remain true to herself: As reminds me one internet user, she has confirmed that she voted "No" for the Constitutional Treaty in May 2005... Not too serious for a secretary of state for European affairs.

(own translation)

It is quite hard to judge from the outside which reasons have led to the decision of Rama Yade, but she does not seem to have serious backing in the French government, with France's foreign minister Kouchner saying that it was a mistake to create the post of secretary of state for human rights (the position Yade occupies today).

In this sense, one could also interpret the proposal made to her to run for European Parliament as a smooth possibility to get her out of the way, to keep her somewhere where she could have become a star, but one with very limited influence, far away from the necessary political networks in Paris - something with great disadvantage for a woman who has made her way into influential circles so early in her life.

Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see what happens to Rama Yade, and whether she will be able to continue her way, or whether the club of powerful women will again lose a promising member...

Read also:

- European Avenue: Quote of the Day
- Un européen jamais content on the decision of Ms Yade (update: link added)

The financial crisis: French EU-Council Presidency on the financial architecture

The French EU-Council Presidency proposes to EU countries the setting-up of a specific global financial architecture that would be proposed during the World Summit in Washington on November 15.

In its Presidency note (PDF) published on Friday, 31 October 2008, the French presidency starts with complimenting the work of the European Union:

[T]he European Union displayed decisive leadership. It should remain proactive and ambitious so as to enhance the present financial architecture, in international fora and dialogues, as well as in the prospect of the Summit called for by our Heads of states and governments.

Then, it continues with the list of principles that the international financial architecture should follow:

1. Ensure that our frameworks are not excessively biased towards the short-term
   


2. Ensure increased responsibility of all the financial actors, notably along the credit chain,
   


3. Work towards properly enforced and extended transparency on all the segments of financial markets
   
4. Ensure more consistency across standard setters and across regulatory and oversight frameworks with a common aim to promote financial stability
   


5. Better anticipate risks and appropriate risk management based on an enhanced cooperation between institutions
   

Based on these principles ("values"), France is proposing the following objectives ("orientations"):

1. Strengthening and broadening the scope of global oversight of financial markets
   


2. Promoting a global approach of risks
   


3. Reinforcing the legitimacy of the global financial architecture so as to better promote coordination and crisis prevention
   


4. Addressing global challenges of the 21st century
   

And along these "orientations", a number of possible shortcomings are mentioned - inter alia, that financial mechanism in some countries are not appropriately adapted to the needs of the 21st century, and that in some countries oversight mechanisms do not cover all sectors of the economic and financial markets.

On the last page of the document, the French EU-Council Presidency proposes 11 possible commitments EU leaders could (!) agree on during their informal meeting on 7 November.

These draft commitments would then be proposed to the G20 world financial summit in Washington on 15 November:

1. Increase transparency on financial markets and take the necessary steps not to let any financial institution, market or jurisdiction outside the scope of regulation or oversight
   


2. Submit rating agencies that provide public ratings to registration and to governance rules and to appropriate monitoring of their activities
   


3. Draw up codes of conducts to address incentives to excessive risk taking in the financial industry, including through compensation schemes
   


4. Reconsider accounting and prudential standards where necessary to improve their mutual consistency, facilitate coordinated supervision and control, raise the margins of safety of the system and mitigate pro-cyclical effects
   


5. Regarding capital adequacy standards, harmonising capital definition to ensure an homogenous quality of capital
   


6. Promote proper risk-magement incentives regarding securitization, including considering the impact and effectiveness of requiring originators to retain a share of their issuances
   


7. Reinforce cross-border cooperation between supervisors and regulatory authorities, especially to oversee activities of cross-border groups
   


8. Promote a change of culture in the governance of financial institutions towards sustainable value creation. Risk control mechanisms in financial institutions should be enhanced and placed under direct responsibility of senior management, notably to prevent significant operational incidents in market operations
   


9. Review improvements in liquidity risk management and promote a consistent approach for cross-border groups
   


10. Encourage an internationally coordinated response to the macroeconomic challenges to come
    


11. Formulate concrete solutions to improve the international economic governance
    

These conclusions are too far reaching and too general at the same time. Although most of these do not really include legally binding instruments, they reach quite far and concern a wide range of market regulation, something many countries will not agree to, while other will demand even more concrete regulatory steps.

Taking into account the results of previous European Councils, we will end up with two or three main commitments and some weaker conclusions. Additionally, a number of working groups might be proposed, leaving results open.

On 15 November at the World Summit, these will be further watered down, and instead of commitments we will get conclusions of good will, non-binding, leading to further discussions that will bring results long after the crisis or way too late to have any influence on its outcome.

But the heads of states and governments will sell it as a big success - some will say they saved the market economy, others will tell their populations they contained the ambitions of uncontrollable markets.

Standard procedure. So, I am really looking forward to the evenings of November 7 and November 15...

Nobel Prize for Literature: Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio (updated)

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Update (8 October 2009): German news report that Romanian-born German author Herta Müller wins the 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature. Yet another European...

And to be honest: I am German, but I have never heard of her before.
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This article is on the 2008 Nobel Prize for Literature. You can find the 2009 NP committee here.
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For the fifth time in a row, the Nobel Prize for Literature has been received by a European.

After Austria, the UK, Turkey and again the UK, this year's prize goes to France. 1940-born Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio has received the award, and the jury remarks:

"author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization"

La Grande Nation, again the Great Nation, has proven itself and the rest of the world its qualities as a centre of culture...

You ask why I am writing about this? - Because I am surprised to see yet another European in the list.

Kind of boring, isn't it?


Update:

Actually, I was quite happy that several commentators in yesterday's news and culture programmes (merci, ARTE) were mentioning that Le Clézio despite receiving the Nobel Prize is not the most well known French author, and that the world was split in two parts - one larger that never heard about him before and a small one that "knew".

Until yesterday, I belonged to the larger group...

Corruption in European Union countries

Corruption is once again on the agenda these days. And yes, there is corruption within the European Union.

That there is even corruption or related practices within the institutions of the European Union has been discussed quite recently, not for the first time.

But while for anyone working on Central and Eastern European countries it is not really surprising to hear that Romania and Bulgaria have the highest perceived corruption in the European Union, reading from the EUobserver that populations in Finland, Portugal, Italy, France, and Great Britain have the feeling that corruption is not fought appropriately in their countries is rather discouraging.

The EUobserver article is based on the Corruption Perception Index Report published by Transparency International yesterday.

Tracking: European parliament elections 2009 (XII)

French Greens are considering the French-Norwegian Eva Joly as top candidate for their European Parliament list.

German Liberals (FDP) will most probably nominate MEP and Vice-Chairwoman of the ALDE group in the European Parliament, Silvana Koch-Mehrin, as their front-runner for the next EP elections.

And French academic Jean-Philippe Roy of Tours notes a "new" devide, the pro- and contra-EU devide, "which transcents the traditional left-right gap".

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Under the category "Tracking: European parliament elections 2009" I am following up national and European activities on the path to the European Parliament elections 2009. So far: (11), (10), (9), (8), (7), (6), (5), (4), (3), (2), (1).

European police stations

Almost unrecognised by the blogosphere and general media, the French EU-Council presidency has proposed the setting up of "European policy stations".

Situated in major tourist areas, these European police stations shall bring the European Union closer to its citizens, providing an added value in situations where people are in need of someone who they can address.

The Daily Mail reports:

France had suggested 'European police stations' in major tourist zones in the bloc at which officers from other EU countries would be available to assist citizens, she [French interior minister Michele Alliot-Marie] said.

'These would not be monstrous mega-police stations, but rather offices where people from a foreign country can come and be assisted when they have something nasty happen to them - if they've been attacked or had their pockets picked - and where they will be well looked after,' she said.

The idea would be similar to what had already been done in policing of big sports events, she said.

According to a Council document published today, the first test stations will be located (or have been located) in Paris, at the Eurodisney park, in Versailles and during major events in Lourdes (pope's visit) and at the 24 hours of Le Mans (a car race).

I think that this is actually a good idea. The free movement of people also means the free movement of problems. Especially for those Europeans who are not fluent in a local language or are hesitant contacting a national police officer in another EU country in case of problems, the possibility to talk to "European" police forces, maybe even to someone able to speak one's own language, could be of great help.

Finnish OSCE presidency: Russia cannot be a mediator!

I have been asking for a tougher stand by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in a recent post, so I am glad that Alexander Stubb, Finnish foreign minister and currently the man in charge of the rotating OSCE-presidency, has said the following:

"Russia is at the moment a party in this conflict, not a mediator, and that has to be mirrored when ceasefire and peace talks begin."

"It is clear that there is no return to the status quo, to what was."

This is a clear statement towards Moscow, and I think that this more than appropriate!

Stubb has gone to Georgia together with his French colleague Kouchner, currently responsible for the French EU-Council presidency, in order to mediate in the conflict.