It starts off like a cool movie with a decent dose of humor and an expected original ending.
But… it turns out to be a disappointing clip:

1) It’s too long. The gags get repetitive after a while and simply not funny at the end.
2) The end is bad. Couldn’t they pass the final message in a more skillful/funnier/original way…?

Judge for yourself:

PS: An ending comparable to the one in this clip would make it.

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I don’t know what is Van Rompuy’s view on this high-powered job. What I remember very well, however, is that it wasn’t all that easy to convince him to become Belgium’s prime minister. Being the only “compromise candidate”, he agreed (or rather: was forced) to take the job in the climate of a deep political crisis.

The European Council needs a president able to find a consensus among the European leaders and Van Rompuy’s political career n Belgium undoubtedly equipped him with consensus-building skills. He’s also said to be a very intelligent and friendly person…

Will this suffice to make our PM the first EU president?

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1. Go, Tony, go…? Who will be our pan-European president? If you still think it will be Tony Blair, you should read Jean Quatremer’s latest blog entry.  It’s a nicely written summary of the quest for the president of the European Council up to this day. It seems that the race, described two weeks ago by The Economist as “a contest [...]...

Günther Öttinger

I assume that Mr. Öttinger is up for an economy-related portfolio since Mr. Kauder says the candidate is knowledgeable about economics. Unfortunately, the CDU politician turned out to be a bit too precise about Öttinger’s competencies when he let us know that the commissioner in spe knows what’s important for… his country.

Thank God he knows.

PS: I already pity the Commission stuff who will be responsible for translating Mr. Öttinger’s speeches…

No related posts.

If you still think it will be Tony Blair, you should read Jean Quatremer’s latest blog entry.  It’s a nicely written summary of the quest for the president of the European Council up to this day.

It seems that the race, described two weeks ago by The Economist as “a contest between Tony Blair and everyone else”, is set to become a contest between everyone but Tony Blair… In fact, Nicolas Sarkozy, Blair’s most fervent supporter until now, recently admitted that the British opt-out from the Euro might be an obstacle on Blair’s way to EU presidency. More pronounced, however, is the criticism voiced by the Benelux countries and Germany’s CDU members… They don’t want Blair because the UK is not sufficiently anchored in European structures or/and because they didn’t like the way the British government acted in the past on certain EU initiatives and policies… Also, small member states would generally prefer a candidate from a small member state who would preserve the Commission’s pivotal role and prevent the big MS from devouring the rest in the intergovernmental institution the Council is.

So how to reconcile Europe’s willingness to be represented by a face recognizable in Beijing and Washington with the individual motivations of the member states?

The Economist  suggested that the competition is actually going on between Tony Blair and some “Euro-pygmies” (Mr. Juncker and Mr. Balkenende, for instance). We attempted a comparison between these three figures (see below). Feel free to add your own ++ and — below.

But as the NRC Handelsblad noted, as long as the EU decision making is comparable to a henhouse, it doesn’t matter that much what kind of country its president comes from…

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1. A compromise candidate (obviously) from Belgium Herman Van Rompuy, the Belgian PM, could become the EU’s first president of the European Council. Newspapers report he’s the only contender whose candidature was not rejected by any member state. I don’t know what is Van Rompuy’s view on this high-powered job. What I remember very well, however, is that it wasn’t all that easy [...]...
2. Lisbon treaty … where do we stand, where do we go? Friday 25th, Brussels: « After the parliamentary approval of the Treaty on May 23, 2008, the judgment of the Constitutional Court on June 30, 2009, and the subsequent debate and adoption of the national accompanying legislation, I would like to thank Germany for its European commitment and constant support of the treaty. » saying President Barroso after [...]...
3. Warsaw not Nice to Lisbon… Poland is one of the few countries which still haven’t ratified the Treaty of Lisbon. The document was ratified by the Polish parliament earlier this year. However, Poland’s president, Lech Kaczynski, refused to do so after the European treaty was rejected by the Irish in the referendum. The official argument goes that the ratification of [...]...

Klaus Vaclav (source: Petr Novák, Wikipedia)

The daily reports that “the (European Parliament) lawmakers are demanding that EU leaders stand up to Czech President Vaclav Klaus over his refusal to sign the bloc’s reform treaty”.

For those who weren’t following the recent developments, the (latest) reason for not signing the treaty is Mr. Klaus’s fear that the Charter of Fundamental Rights will make it possible for the Sudenten Germans to… reoccupy a part of the Czech Republic. This is why the Czech president asked for a last-minute opt-out (already conceded to UK and Poland) from the charter.

This state of affairs apparently irritates the European Greens (who led the EP initiative) and most other parties in the European Parliament. Guy Verhofstadt, a Belgian liberal leader, reportedly said that there was no other option for Klaus but to sign.

I personally prefer Sarkozy’s view on the problem. The French president doesn’t deny his Czech counterpart the right to say no to Lisbon but he also makes it clear that “consequences” will follow in the case of refusal.

This attitude is more reasonable (it takes into account the alternative scenarios), more respectful (no ultimate obligation to sign) and also… more inspiring (imagine all the kinds of “consequences” the French president could have had in mind…).

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2. Warsaw not Nice to Lisbon… Poland is one of the few countries which still haven’t ratified the Treaty of Lisbon. The document was ratified by the Polish parliament earlier this year. However, Poland’s president, Lech Kaczynski, refused to do so after the European treaty was rejected by the Irish in the referendum. The official argument goes that the ratification of [...]...

irish vote results 2009

More about the results on: http://www.referendum.ie/

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2. Warsaw not Nice to Lisbon… Poland is one of the few countries which still haven’t ratified the Treaty of Lisbon. The document was ratified by the Polish parliament earlier this year. However, Poland’s president, Lech Kaczynski, refused to do so after the European treaty was rejected by the Irish in the referendum. The official argument goes that the ratification of [...]...
3. Why Barroso-bashing serves EU democracy This week, José Manuel Durão Barroso, the former and now also future President of the EU Commission, has been reelected with a narrow absolute majority vote in the European Parliament. But his reappointment has been far from uncontroversial: Not only did four major political groups in the Parliament, namely the Socialists, Liberals, the Greens and [...]...

Politically, Germany will more or less stay the same. A large Member State with a somewhat disproportionate self-perception, not realising how much other states look at what Europe’s major economy and most populated member will do. In believa that Merkel will continue its fainthearted strategy. After the German Presidency, she basically disappeared from the EU’s political scene.

Economically the new government is likely to less protectionist than the outgoing one (even if the state aid for Opel might be granted), given that the social-democrats have to quit. But one still shouldn’t forget the last months have shown that even among Merkel’s troups, a lot of people call for protectionism in troubled times. All in all, the new government will be more present at EU level, supporting the liberal stance of the European Commission.

Finally, ecology may be the field where there could be fundamental changes. The new government not only wants to prolong the time foreseen to phase out all nuclear power plants (the 1999 decision stipulates a 2020 deadline) but, it also considers using nuclear sources for still a long time to come – even though Merkel and her designated ministers don’t fully admit that yet. But earlier political statements, secret studies leaked to the press and the 5% increase in the price of the shares of Germany’s big energy suppliers give a clear indication of what will happen. This may however not cause a lot of trouble at EU level, since many Member States still or again rely on nuclear energy. Nonetheless, the German government will have to confront the vast majority of Germans who are against nuclear power plants – and will ask the same old question that still remain unanswered: How to guarantee safety? What to do with the nuclear waste? When will we switch to sustainable sources?

All in all, there is in my eyes no big potential for clashes at EU level. The second Merkel government cannot be believed to make fundamental changes, except for environmental policy. The first test will be the Copenhagen summit in December: The new elected leaders have already promised to fight for Germany’s industry – and a bit less for environmental issues. Germany will thus not be a progressive force in the next 4 years. Time to push it a bit at EU level!

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A. Merkel, J. M. Barroso, welt.de

Saturday 26^th, Dublin, The Sunday Business Post’s poll revealed that 55% of voters are in favor of the Lisbon Treaty, down seven points since the last poll two weeks ago, 27% were against the treaty, up four points, while 18% were undecided, unchanged from the previous poll. But nothing to worry about, since the “yes” voters still remain comfortably ahead of the “no” voters.

Counting on my fingers, Germany: done, Ireland: on a good way, Poland: said would ratify as soon as Ireland votes yes…

And once again Barosso repeating “I (…) stress the importance of completing the ratification process of the Lisbon Treaty in all Member States this autumn”.

Sounds like everything’s going fine in Neverland…

But, there are growing fears in the European Union. Indeed, some European Commission officials believe that Czech President Vaclav Klaus will delay the signing of the EU reform Lisbon treaty by weeks or months even if the treaty was approved by the Czech parliament and endorsed by the Czech Constitutional Court.

The French newspaper Libération says that Klaus is waiting for the election victory of the British Conservatives whose leader David Cameron has promised to call a referendum on the Lisbon treaty if it did not take force before in the meantime. Libération points to the letter Cameron sent to Klaus and says if the treaty were rejected in a British referendum it would mean its definitive end.

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2. Irish People said “Tá” to Lisbon treaty The twenty-eighth amendment of the Constitution of Ireland was approved on Friday 2nd, October. More about the results on: http://www.referendum.ie/ ...
3. The Klaus soap opera: la suite If you had typed today at 4 p.m. “Vaclav Klaus” in the Google news search engine, you would have found an article of the… “Taiwan News” at the top of your search results. The Asiatic newspaper picked up a new episode of the EU-Klaus soap opera. The daily reports that “the (European Parliament) lawmakers are demanding [...]...

So did, at the end of the day, all the acrimonious debates on the Portuguese’s reelection in times of economic crisis and unsolved climate issues turn out to be vain? Not exactly! The lively debate, discussed not only in Brussels’

Barroso during the vote in the European Parliament (Source: http://www.presstv.ir)

more or less closed political circles but also broadely covered by the media all over Europe and numerous blogs on the net, did the EU a favour by enhancing its democratic profile. No – did Mr Barroso’s fellow-conservatives say: Quite the opposite, it paralysed the EU at a crucial moment. But this is nothing but disguised campaigning.

From an impartial point of view, the whole nomination and reelection process had two merits: First, it spoiled the Member States’ plan to discretely reappoint the weak President at the head of the Commission in order to preserve their own influence in EU decision-making. Secondly, it aroused a broad democratic debate within and outside the institutions that partly created what the EU bitterly needs: a continent-wide public sphere where citizens, media and politicians discuss key decisions. This summer, a lot of people all over Europe finally saw that the EU executive is not the stooge of the Member States, but a political leader who needs a democratic majority to be elected. That’s quite a step forward rather than an impediment for the functioning of the EU.

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1. Don’t keep calm, Mr Barroso! Keep calm – that’s what the advisors of José Manuel Durão Barroso, President of the European Commission, wrote on little papers that they discretely handed over to their boss during the torrid hearing yesterday afternoon at the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament. But actually it was precisely because he didn’t stay calm for once [...]...
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Barroso and Cohn-Bendit at yesterday's hearing (source: The Greens/EFA)

Barroso is currently conducting sort of a personal election campaign, fighting for the approval of his candidature by the European Parliament. The only problem is: A large share of the MEPs feels that his achievements do not justify his reelection at the head of the EU administration. That’s why he now tries to convince the socialists (S&D), the liberals (ALDE) and the Greens to support his candidature, appearing this week in front of all parliamentary groups to defend his recently published reelection manifesto.

What was remarkable was the temper with which the (usually dull) Commission President defended his political position (have a look at the full video) – but at the same time, his fundamental problem once more appeared clearly: A lack of new ideas and real leadership. There was not a single innovative or concrete sentence about what difference he could make at the top of the EU, always using the Member States’ resistance as an excuse for every failure or lack of ambition. The only real news: He plans to set up a Commissioner for the fight against climate change and another one in charge of Human Rights and non-discrimination.

“I believe in open markets”, he repeated constantly. That’s barely new and cannot be believed to be a renewed European narrative to capture the citizens’ interest or rebuild trust in the EU institutions (have a look at the memos to the new Commision that the think tank Bruegel presented last week).

All in all, I am sorry to say: Mr Barroso, you may have convinced us of your enthusiasm for keeping your job, but you have definitely not conquered our minds with fresh ideas or the will to overcome short-sighted interests in the Member States. That’s not enough to be our captain in disturbed waters!

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2. She’s young – but doesn’t need the money A monthly salary of 7 400 EUR, personal assistants and a nice office on the eighth floor of a big office building. Not bad at the age of only 25 years. I am not talking about a movie star or an investment banker. I am talking about Emilie Turunen, the youngest Member of the new [...]...
3. A president with balls? There is no doubt that José Manuel Durão Barroso will remain the European Commission’s president for a 2nd term. As European newspapers report, political leaders of most EU members states and the biggest political families sitting in the European Parliament are ok with Barroso keeping the job. Is Mr. Barroso the president we need? Does he [...]...