From the desk of The Brussels Journal on Thu, 2008-01-24 15:24
A quote from Der Spiegel, 23 January 2008
The European Union has announced plans to increase the use of gas and diesel produced from plants. But the critique against biofuels is mounting. Many say they are even more harmful than conventional fossil fuels. […]
From the desk of The Brussels Journal on Thu, 2008-01-24 10:22
A quote from Simon Jenkins in The Guardian, 24 January 2008
[E]veryone but a fool (or a minister) knows that the [Lisbon] treaty is the rejected 2005 [EU] constitution in all but name. Its architect, the former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, says so. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who negotiated its passage, says so explicitly. […]
From the desk of John Laughland on Wed, 2008-01-23 19:47
The introduction of the Lisbon treaty this week for ratification by the House of Commons reminds us that the European Union has been in a state of permanent revolution now for more than two decades.
Ever since the Single European Act was passed in 1986, there has been a new treaty every three or four years: Maastricht (1992), Amsterdam (1997), Nice (2000), the European Constitution (2004) and now Lisbon. In addition to this, three new member states joined in 1995, ten more in 2004, fifteen national currencies were abolished in 1999, and the Schengen agreement abolishing border controls was signed in 1985, amended in 1990, and extended to nine new states at Christmas.
From the desk of The Brussels Journal on Wed, 2008-01-23 19:01
A quote from Islam and the West, the 2008 annual report of the Davos World Economic Forum [pdf]:
Clear majorities in all European countries surveyed see greater interaction between the West and Muslim worlds as a threat. This is true of 79% of the population in Denmark, 67% in Italy, 67% in the Netherlands, 68% in Spain, 65% in Sweden and 59% in Belgium. This corresponds to a growing fear among Europeans of a perceived “Islamic threat” to their cultural identities, driven in part by rising immigration from predominantly Muslim regions. [...]
Although some might expect the United States, Israel and the Middle East to be more likely than Europe to feel threatened by the “other,” the opposite is the case. In the United States (70%), Canada (72%) and Israel (56%) majorities say that greater interaction is a benefit.
From the desk of The Brussels Journal on Tue, 2008-01-22 19:26
A quote from Agence France Press, 22 January 2008
The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday that France had discriminated against a lesbian nursery school teacher by refusing to allow her to adopt a child. […] In 1998, her adoption application was turned down by authorities on the grounds the child would suffer from the absence of a paternal figure and that the role of her partner was unclear. [...]
From the desk of The Brussels Journal on Tue, 2008-01-22 11:59
The fact that The Brussels Journal posts this appalling video does not imply that we or our collaborators agree with its distasteful content.
From the desk of Thomas Landen on Tue, 2008-01-22 11:15
Politicians who aren’t loyal to their wives, aren’t loyal to their voters either.
From the desk of Elaib Harvey on Tue, 2008-01-22 10:47
Who said this in May 2004?
I belong to the Gaullist family which, wrongly or rightly, has always regarded the popular referendum as one of the most important expressions, indeed the most important expression, of Democracy.
From the desk of The Brussels Journal on Tue, 2008-01-22 10:32
A quote from Lord William Rees-Mogg in The Times, 21 January 2008
I'm in favour of a referendum [about the Lisbon Treaty], not only because it was promised by Labour, Tories and Liberal Democrats at the last general election, but also because it would be the best way to ratify - or reject - a big constitutional change. The people should be consulted when their powers of self-government are being given away. […] The Government's handling of the referendum issue has been shameful, because that, too, has been anti-democratic. The advantage of a referendum process is that it imposes a regard for public opinion on European politicians. […]
From the desk of The Brussels Journal on Tue, 2008-01-22 10:29
A quote from a comment at the Gates of Vienna blog, 20 January 2008
I am reminded me of a conversation I had with a Finnish academic a few years ago, who drew a similar comparison between how Europe is currently behaving now, and how Jews in Europe behaved to the coming Nazi danger in the 30's. The academic stated that a people who are publicly targeted for violence have extreme difficulty in believing that the words of violence being directed against them, could possibly reflect the true intentions of those who are working towards their inevitable destruction.
