Some reflections for the weekend: Public documents, European blogging and the near future

It's Friday, lunch time. I usually don't eat, that makes me tired. Prefer blogging or researching for blog posts during that time.

One of my favourite feeds is the one for the latest public documents of the Council. That is where I usually get the documents from, when I write about Council agendas, working parties, and other weird topics. That's where you find things that will appear on the public scene only weeks or months later.

And this is what a European blog can and should deliver: Discuss European issues from a European perspective, one that is not already turned around in the mainstream media. It can dig up topics that creep below the surface, below the crucial attention line even of those who care more for European issues than others. Sometimes it is just enough to translate information from one language into English to support a wider dissemination of interesting facts (like this one which got quite a lot of attention).

And you can be assured that I will continue in this direction.

In three weeks, I will leave my present job and this country to return to science. In fact, (international) governmental work is very interesting, because you get to hear and do things that are out of reach of the scientist, the political activist, the NGO guy, the citizen (that's all me). You understand the connections between different parts of the political system, national and international, you learn to distinguish the important from the less relevant. You have access to information and discussions that never find the surface, not even if a blogger is digging hard through public feeds. But you are not (or hardly) the one to put things on the agenda, especially on your own. That is why I don't continue for the moment, but return to the life of a scientist, a blogging scientist obviously.

Still, the last weeks before leaving will be intensive and interesting, the present tasks demand full attention. But everything is already arranged for the time that comes afterwards.

I think I will spend some time in and around Berlin from April, so anyone interested in meeting me there (e.g. those passing by the re:publica'09) is most welcome contact me. And I am also eager to contact and meet some of you who are writing and blogging about Europe and the European Union.

This weekend, you won't hear from me anymore. I have meetings after lunch today, and tomorrow I'll use the last opportunity to go to a neighbouring country that I only know from transit to visit a large European city I haven't been to yet.

So have a nice weekend, wherever you are reading these lines - see you next week(s)!