Category: Uncategorized

Ha, another good one. Slovenia was elected today as member of the UN Human Rights Council (the results of the elections here).

There are two superbly ironic elements to the story. Not many people outside Slovenia are aware of the issue of the so-called “erased” – people that have been erased from the population registries in 1992. The story is complex (more on the issue here), but the fact that it hasn’t been solved until 2007 surely says something is wrong. And of course some people suffered and are still suffering from injustice.  So getting into the HRC  is a bit ironic. Continue reading “Slovenia elected into the UN Human Rights Council – irony par excellence”

The conclusion of a funny period in Slovenian EU politics was in the news today. The government coalition parties, the Social Democrats (in the opposition) and the non-aligned MPs signed a so-called “Pact of non-aggression” or “Agreement of cooperation” for the period of the Slovenian EU Presidency. As I argued before I find the whole story odd, although politically smart for all those involved. Continue reading “Slovenia: the “Pact of non-aggression” signed”

Get ready for a long post.

I know, citizens are at the core of politics. Or at least this is how it should be. And yes, I think referendums are appropriate means to answer certain political questions. But when I browse EU’s statements, publications, websites…the obsession with tying everything to “citizensâ€? annoys me a bit (google “EU citizensâ€?..11 million hits and counting). Of course, I also see the frustration of not really getting the right response from someone’s political constituency. But… Continue reading “EU: The obsession with citizens and consultations”

A funny sarcastic make-over of the official EU logo of the 50th Anniversary.

The news emerged this week that SDS, the governing Democrats of Slovenia, support Peterle as candidate for the President of the Republic. Although the decision is not yet final, this brings new elements into the debate. Let’s take a look at few.

An interesting article from Jani Sever, former Editor of Mladina now running vest.si, explores why the support of SDS is problematic for Peterle. He claims that SDS’ support comes at a cost – full cooperation during the mandate. As we have seen in the second half of Drnovšek’s mandate, he ran into troubles when fully confronting Janša. Nothing says that Peterle would not receive the same treatment. Continue reading “Slovenian: Peterle gathering the support on the right, how should Pahor react?”

There are many interesting confrontations happening in Slovenian politics at this stage. The independent parliamentarians (mostly from the newly founded association Zares) obstructed the work of the Parliament for few days, the scandal over the mishandling of SOVA (intelligence agency) funds, the supposedly unknown planning of gas-terminals in the port of Koper… Almost as something would be cooking , before we enter the lazy summer months. Anyway, my interest stays with the relation Pahor – Janša i.e. Social Democrats – governing coalition. Continue reading “Slovenia: We like them, but we don’t like them”

Sarkozy won, life goes on. One of the most interesting issues in the run up to the June parliamentary elections in France was supposed to be the positioning of Bayrou, the centrist candidate that got 18% of the vote in the first round. He launched a new party called “Modem” (Mouvement Démocrate) this week and appealed on “reformist” forces. But he was left alone even by “his” guys. Continue reading “France: honest wish to reform :)”

Just finished watching the TV debate between Ségolène and Nicolas on France 2 (nice webstream). I was quite surprised by the aggressive style of Mrs Royal, putting Mr Sarkozy in a slightly favourable position of defending his positions and achievements. Personally, she didn’t impress, while he gave a show of self-confidence and presidentialsm. Sorry Ségolène, the performance had its good moments, but you should have played softer to my mind. Continue reading “France: voting for the least harmful”

I have seen that Charles Grant from the Centre for European Reform wrote something similar, but took 2027 as a reference year. This time the Young European Federalists (JEF) took the same path and produced an entertaining Daily European with two scenarios for EU’s development towards 2057. I wrote a piece on the negative side.

So, how would the EU look like in 2057? Continue reading “EU in 2057 – young federalists develop scenarios”

I’ve had a feeling since the start that this event will have a strange flavour. It’s the launch of the European Commission‘s new programme for civil society, entitled “Europe for citizens” (they changed the name from the initial “Citizens for Europe” – common sense you would say). I’m not too picky about the way companies invite people in the name of the Commission, but this story is funny and sad at the same time. Interesting enough to write about it. Continue reading “European Commission – Afterwork receptions made binding:)”