Babel in Brussels (.en)

Watch your MEPs !

blog.bruxelles — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:41:00 +0200

By Miléna Cazin

Did you ever wonder what do your MEPs do in Brussels or in Strasbourg? Or whether they really vote according to their electoral promises or not? If that’s your case, VoteWatch Europe is for you! This independent organization analyzes for us all the votes in the European Parliament and in the Council, and gathers all these information in a single website. An interesting tool to watch your representatives…

Can I trust them?

We actually could spend hours in this website and find some surprises. We indeed all have some very charismatic politicians with very strong opinions on our national scenes, but they may not follow their mother party line on the European level. In this website, we can see which MEP has the highest attendance rate, who is the least loyal to his/her national party, who cares the most about Environment, employment, culture…

As we often speak about democratic crisis and mistrust against politicians, it can be a very interesting solution to restore that trust. Many citizens could realize that actually most of the MEPs do seriously work. Regarding those who don’t take seriously their mandate, this website may be a good warning. They should know that now they can be watched by anyone, so if they don’t respect their own promises there will face consequences in the next European elections…

The last session in Strasbourg

Let’s take for example the last parliamentarian session in Strasbourg (15^th-18^th April). What happened in there? One of the biggest issues was about the carbon market (the fact that companies can buy a right to pollute). There was a proposal to freeze the price of the CO2 emission quotas. A very tight majority agreed to reject that proposal and sent it back to a parliamentarian Committee. Only 19 MEPs made the difference and their name can be found in the website! Then, an amendment aiming at definitively withdrawing the proposal has been rejected. In other words, if those 19 MEPs didn’t want to vote in favor of the proposal, they didn’t want either to definitively reject it. A VoteWatch Europe analysis shows that those MEPs are some social-democrats from Romania, Bulgaria and Italy.

VoteWatch Europe deals with many topics, so we can follow those which concern us the most. As a citizen, it is an interesting tool and quite easy to access. We have to be aware though that it can also be used by lobbyists willing to influence our representatives…

The Urban Road to a Sustainable Future

blog.bruxelles — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:55:00 +0200

By Lorenzo Marchese

Many organizations and political groups share the opinion that the first step to make our life sustainable is to make our social habitat sustainable. Cities are the centre of our social life and the way they will be built and planned in the future needs to take notice of this priority. On the 10^th of April, political actors, stakeholders and experts were gathered in a seminar organized by SAAB to explore what are the core elements that a sustainable urban environment should have in the future.

Sustainability is one of the key words we often hear in the political priorities of the European Union for the next decades. It is generally agreed that our lifestyle needs to change if we want to be able to keep up with our living standards without deteriorating available resources beyond recovery. However, while often mentioned, it is rarely explained what is meant by sustainability and often we do not get to know how institutions and leaders intend to provide policies to deliver it.

This has brought us to question the reality of the political will to bring about a society funded on this value. But we should not lose hope. There are many actors out there who still campaign and fight for sustainability in our present and future life. Recently, at a seminar organized by SAAB European office – one of the most important private actors in the sector of defense and technological advancement – different speakers gathered to explain how sustainable policies can be thought and implemented in what could be considered the space for societal living: cities.

“How can a city be more attractive?” was the question asked at the seminar: the answer focused on efficiency, security and sustainability. In every speaker’s opinion the three were connected - it was said that to be secure and efficient a city has to be sustainable. It was also agreed that the key to sustainability was technological advancement.

Carl-Johan Koivisto, Head of New Business Initiatives at SAAB, argued in his introductory speech that technology was the way to sustainability and the collaboration with technology developers and providers for urban environments was the strategy to walk that way.

Jeremy Van Gorp, President of the Young European Federalist Brussels section, gave an insight in what would be required for sustainability by the young generations: it must take in account the living standards which they are used to. Young people live in a world of high speed technology, are sensitized to environmental issues and are used to a globalized world while appreciating localized services. Sustainability must be integrated in these standards and expectations.

Similarly, Henriette Van Eijl, representing the Directorate General for Transport of the European Commission, reinforced the idea that only partnerships and collaborations with different associations can create a fertile ground for the acquisition, regulation and planning of policies aiming to develop sustainable cities. These strategies must “technologically funded” to hope to deliver results.

However, technological advancement is only one side of the coin. The other key factor is collaboration with citizens in cities to maximize results and achieve transparency. A point introduced already by Mr. Koivisto, citizens participation was discussed as the second underlying requisite for sustainable cities. According to Silvio Heinze from the Federation of Young European Greens, sustainability is not achievable if citizens on the ground are not involved at every stage in the designing and implementation of policies. He gave the example of ‘crowdsourcing’ as a possible path to make grassroots ideas join the political process, while keeping an open eye for transparency and privacy.

Even while exploring the themes of technology and citizens participation as the way to practically realize sustainable development, the seminar gave also an insight in the many political choices that need to be taken.

MEP Jan Olbrycht, Chair of the European Parliament Urban Intergroup, gave an insight of the many practical challenges political will faces every day: should the principle of subsidiarity be used to delegate responsibility for sustainable urban development directly to cities or must it pass through regional governance? What is the impact of sustainability on social welfare – will permanent housing become less affordable? How should funding be prioritized: by projects or by territory? These are but few of the questions that political actors have to face every time they try to design and implement new policies in this field.

Nonetheless, this seminar has clarified that there still is a clear political will to achieve sustainability – starting with urban development. Public and private actors, as well as civil society’s organizations, gathered together in Brussels to affirm it most firmly by identifying the political priorities which can lead to a more sustainable future.

A solution to Euroscepticism: reducing bills, protecting privacy and taxing the banks?

blog.bruxelles — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:18:00 +0200

By Thomas Bignal

The EU is often viewed as some huge bureaucratic monster that has no or little appeal to the average person. It is difficult for most people to understand how important the settlement of a long-term European budget is to their own lives. Indeed, why should people care about some high-level technocratic political “hoo-ha” when the latest Quentin Tarantino movie is out on the blocks?

Truth is, these criticisms are not without reason. Why would someone care about Europe when one already has to deal with our everyday chores. As important as EU policy might be, it certainly isn’t as appealing as talking about the latest iphone application or who is the better player between Ronaldo and Messi.

Yet despite the appearances, the European institutions do take some decisions which should be of interest to all of us. They’re just not always sufficiently put forward by the press. Here are a few examples:

Au revoir holiday phone bill !

On 30^th May 2012, the European Council adopted a regulation ensuring that mobile phone users do not pay excessive prices for Union-wide roaming services when travelling within the EU. This will ensure that we will no longer have to worry about accidently running up huge bills when surfing the web using your phone on holiday. Now, thanks to the European Union, you won’t ever receive those crazy phone bills when you come back from holiday. For one, I’m pretty damn glad as I was one of those unlucky –or stupid- people.

Protecting our right to privacy !

One of the most talked about decisions taken over the last few years by the European Parliament was their rejection of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, commonly known as ACTA. One of the most controversial aspects of ACTA was its digital chapter, which critics say left the door open for countries to force internet service providers to police their own customers. The European Parliament decided to reject the Agreement on 4^th July viewing it as “too vague, open to misinterpretation and could therefore jeopardise citizens’ liberties”. Who would want our governments and service providers having a look in to what we are looking up on the net, using the fight against internet piracy as an excuse? It’s always good to know that there are at least some people fighting to protect our right to privacy … and to stream our favourite TV shows for free. Good work MEPs, keep it up.

Taxing risky trading

And even more recently, on the 22 January 2013, 11 EU countries agreed to set up a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) which aims at making traders share the cost of the crisis that they have contributed to through what appeared to be an unsustainable trading environment. Put simply, the FTT is a small tax on financial transactions that would raise billions to tackle poverty and climate change, both in Europe and abroad.

Personally, I wouldn’t mind if the estimated 37 billion EUR that would come out of this tax went into my back pocket but I suppose that wouldn’t go down too well with my fellow 500 million-odd Europeans; even more so cause my own dear country (i.e. Britain) still refuses to take part in any of that dangerous activity that is making sure the banks pay their due part... More seriously, in addition to restraining the traders from using our cash for some of their more risky trading, this additional funding could be well-used if it were to be invested into getting some of the poorer members of our society into jobs in areas related to renewable energies, social healthcare and combating that bloody damn climate change. Whatever the cash is spent on, it’s always good to get a bit of additional investment in these austerity-led times. Anyhow, surely the FTT is a good project the EU is currently working on, if only for encouraging more responsible financial trading … and helping me to get a job?

0.2 Cent in each of our back pockets

And last but not least, I’m sure you’ve all heard that the Nobel Peace Prize has chosen the European Union as its laureate last year. People have questioned if this was the right choice, for a variety of often overly redundant, boring and condescending reasons. Frankly, all I care about is the 930 000 EUR reward. Yes, that is a little less than 0.2 Cent for each of us 502.5 million European citizens. Christmas come early, I call it!

So, to conclude, the EU might not be getting us into jobs, but at least it’s lowering our holiday phone bills. Considering nobody seems to have a miracle solution on how to end this crisis, I suppose we will have to satisfy ourselves with lower phone bills and spending our long awaited Nobel Peace Prize award money. Despite this being only a brief overview of some of the stuff the institutions have done over the past year, it does go to show that beyond all the existential debates currently going on, the European institutions do sometimes work on topics of interest to us everyday normal people. Perhaps the European institutions should take lead on this, if they wish to convince Europeans of their usefulness.

Rediscovering the Path to Europe: The Ambition for a True pan-European Democracy

blog.bruxelles — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 17:18:00 +0200

By Lorenzo Marchese

Many believe the way out of the crisis can only be found by resisting nationalist temptations and go for more Europe: the Spinelli Group is one of the main platform arguing for this point. It is time to see how, with the help of new European media, it might one day reach this goal.

Today, Europe is facing what seems to be its darkest hour. The economic crisis, started in 2008, culminated in a sovereign debt crisis and the confidence of citizens and investors in the current European model is fading away day by day. Possibly, the most worrisome aspect is not the lack of expectations for an on-coming solution, but the very loss of trust in the ability of the EU to deliver this solution. The inability to move forward, whatever the cause might be, has eroded away the hopes in a more united Europe

Nonetheless, there are many who still believe solutions can only be found at European level. They believe a stronger Europe is the only way forward: to be economically competitive on international markets, to have some influence in international diplomacy, European States must stand together. They must continue with the European project, recovering and polishing its funding values.

Multiple voices ask for a recovery of this project. They try to make themselves heard to the public to convince law-makers and rulers to deviate from the dangerous path of abandoning the sixty-years long project of the European Union. Listening to these voices is important for they offer a different perspective on a long-craved way out of a growing economic, political and social crisis.

A group of convinced Europeanists has united, having heard and seen these many scattered voices, to create a platform for the debate and promotion of European values. Called the Spinelli Group, in honour of one of the EU’s founding fathers, this association has been created to defend European integration from the nationalist drift of the last few years. Among its funding members, or Spinellists, we can see there are well-known political figures: Mario Monti, Italy’s Prime Minister, Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the liberals at the European Parliament and Belgium’s ex-PM and Jacques Delors, the most well-known President of the European Commission.

Not only the group is a megaphone for everybody who wants to see a more pro-European view represented in public discourse and in the political world, but it also organizes debated to bring together all the different ideas and positions of what that view would mean. Their most recent event “The European Federalism Explained to Children… and to Head of States” was very indicative of the multi-faceted discussions the Group promotes.

Having taken place on Monday the 25^th March in the centre of Brussels, the daylong event, though-provoking from title to conclusions, covered the many topics typical of the European federalist debate and of the wider pro-European discourse. From the idea of a European democracy to a true Europe-wide social-market economy, it was an all-encompassing experience of the side of the debate which chose “unity in diversity” as its motto.

Possibly, the debate of the first panel was the most poignant (though not the most entertaining – the ability of Guy Verhofstadt and Daniel Cohen-Benditt to discuss the most complicated aspects of European politics while keeping a light and friendly tone was unmatched during the day): it sets the scene for the underlying themes of the whole day.

The main topic was the relation between medias and citizens: can a truly pan-European democracy exist if it is not supported by pan-European media, detached from national environments? The relation between citizens and the media is fundamental in developing a more European spirit in national democracies. The recent birth of European-themed media trying to reach a larger public is a glimmer of hope for those who share the Spinelli Group’s ambition of a democracy encompassing the whole continent. The example of such success was there incarnated by Daniela Vincenti, editor-in-chief of EurActiv.

Being part of an online media covering European stories in 15 different languages with websites for 15 different Member States of the European Union, Mrs. Vincenti considers the task of reaching citizens hard but not impossible. She stated that to create a European demos, to have people think as Europeans, we need to know how to sell Europe. Even once surpassed the language barrier, it is not an easy task. The topic is complicated and the generally low-tune communication of the European institutions does not help: emblematic is the Dupond/Dupont problem of the presidents of the European institutions – citizens might know their face and names but get easily confused about their roles and functions.

The starting panel also put in the light, particularly during the Q&A session, some divisive questions: should a federal Europe give more powers to centralized bodies, be them old or new, or have the regions as the key point of reference? Should the debts of European countries be mutualised and, if they are, how can different economic cultures be integrated?

These questions are not insurmountable obstacles for those who wish for a more pro-European political debate but require space to be debated. The Spinelli Group is offering exactly this service. On the other side, it is also fighting in the institutional and political world to defend Europe from the nationalist and populist waves. Paired with successful European media, reaching citizens to inform them of what the European Union is doing, they might represent the break of day for a new, constructive attitude to the ideal of a united Europe.

Cafebabel Brussels is recruiting its new Editorial Coordinator

blog.bruxelles — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 19:57:00 +0100

Cafebabel Brussels is currently looking for its new EDITORIAL OFFICER (unpaid trainee position) from March onwards and for a period of 3 or 6 months. Preference will be given to candidates entitled to a grant (i.e. Leonardo or other).

Do you happen to be a master in writing breath-taking articles? Are you a student in Communication or Journalism, interested in everything Europe is and will be and in everything that’s happening in Europe? Then you may well be the one we are looking for!

Cafebabel Brussels office is part of cafebabel.com international – the first cross-border multilingual magazine online translated into 6 languages and based on participatory journalism. The Cafebabel Brussels team is the largest local team in the Babel family (30 local offices in 20 different countries) based on both volunteers and permanent staff.

This is a unique chance to work in a dynamic team with young professionals, who aim to provide a platform to European leaders to meet with young Europeans based in Brussels.

Cafebabel Brussels welcomes applications from different nationalities and is an equal opportunities provider.

Key responsibilities: under the guidance and in close cooperation with the executive board.

Set up the editorial calendar
Coordinate the editorial pool of 200 volunteers
Coordinate publications and translations
Write and publish articles on weekly issues
Follow the Belgian and European news
Gather information about political, economical and social/cultural events and write articles about them

Knowledge and experience:

Strong interest in European issues and in the need of European media
Excellent IT skills (web management skills, photoshop, MS Office)
Administrative skills in an office environment
Background in journalism or social sciences, or a current Communication/Journalism student

Linguistic skills:

Someone who speaks and writes fluently at least two of the following languages: French, Dutch, English

Personal skills:

Team player, reliable, with an eye for detail, not afraid to take initiative, resourceful
Ability to work in a multicultural team as well as independently

Deadline for application and selection procedure:
15 February. Interviews with short-listed candidates will be conducted in the second half of February.

To apply: Qualified candidates should submit via email a cover letter and CV (in English or French) as well as information about their availability to:
Nathalie Jusseaume bruxelles@cafebabel.com

Cafebabel Brussels is recruiting an Event Moderator

blog.bruxelles — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 19:55:00 +0100

Cafebabel Brussels office is looking for an EVENT MODERATOR (unpaid trainee) starting on ASAP and for a period of 3 months minimum .

Cafebabel Brussels is part of cafebabel.com international – the first cross-border multilingual magazine online translated into 6 languages and based on participatory journalism.

Cafebabel Brussels' team is the largest local team in the Babel family based on both volunteers and permanent staff. It is famous for its regular and interactive debates on European topics as well as for its multicultural team.

This is a unique chance to work in a dynamic team with young professionals, who aim to provide a platform to European leaders to meet with young Europeans based in Brussels.

Cafebabel Brussels welcomes applications from different nationalities and is an equal opportunities provider.

Key responsibilities: being an event moderator involves a wide variety of tasks. The event moderator will work under the guidance and in close cooperation with the executive board.

Identifying themes of debate according to European current issues
Organisation of debates and events and development of ongoing projects and partnerships
Moderation of debates
Developing communication campaigns

Knowledge and experience:

Strong interest in European affairs
Strong organizational skills, and preferably some experience in event management
Excellent IT skills (web management skills, photoshop, MS Office)
Administrative skills in an office environment
Background in journalism, linguistic studies, social sciences, such as political science, development studies or international relations, economics or law an asset

Personal skills:

Team player, reliable, with an eye for detail, not afraid to take initiative, resourceful
Ability to work in a multicultural team as well as independently
Self-starter; stress-resistant

Linguistic skills:

Fluent in French and/or English, knowledge of Dutch would be an asset!

Deadline for application and selection procedure: 15 February..

To apply:
Qualified candidates should submit via email a cover letter and CV (in English or French) as well as information about their availability to:

Mana Livardjani bruxelles@cafebabel.com

How David Cameron’s EU strategy should be of concern to all EU citizens

Pierre-Yves Leveaux — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:24:00 +0100

By Thomas Bignal

Following years of speculation that Greece may leave the European Union, the attention has recently shifted towards the United Kingdom; the term “brexit” replacing “grexit”. Why should all EU citizens, British included, be concerned about this UK-EU crisis?

Cameron’s understandable yet dangerous strategy

Ever since the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, vetoed the Fiscal Compact in December 2011, Britain’s relationship with the EU seems to have evolved from the challenging brother role, constantly complaining about what was proposed yet always coming back for more, towards leaving the European family altogether.

The greatest moment of the UK’s 40 year membership came -in part as a result of its challenging attitude- with the establishment of the single market which had as key aspects the free movement of goods, services and people. However, on a recent TV show on British television, David Cameron stated that the British government should look at arguments to make it harder for European citizens to come and live in Britain and claim benefits. Using the argument that too many non-British EU nationals, in particular from Southern Europe, are coming to the UK to claim benefits rather than to work in jobs British citizens seem to be unwilling to do, David Cameron is in fact willing to limit one of the key aspects of the single market so dear to the British; that is, the freedom of movement.

This stance seems to be part of the British coalition government’s overall aim: to negotiate new terms upon which to base the UK’s relationship with the EU. It is the British government’s belief that the UK should not have to submit itself to the additional integration driven in response to the current euro crisis. The UK sees this ambiguity as the perfect opportunity to renegotiate its relationship with the EU “competence after competence, area after area”. Reasoned simply on that basis, it would appear understandable for David Cameron to take that view; a view increasingly encouraged by a significant number of Conservative politicians, the backbone of Cameron’s premiership. Only recently, a key member of David Cameron’s cabinet, George Osborne, went a step further when he warned that the UK might be forced to leave the EU if the existing settlement is left unchanged.

The President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, in response to the tone set by the British government, argued that “if every Member States were able to cherry-pick those parts of existing policies that they most like, and opt out of those they least like, the union in general, and the single market in particular, would soon unravel”. As such, it could be argued that David Cameron and his government are basically offering the EU institutions and Member States a choice between the end of the single market and consequently the EU or Britain leaving the EU altogether. It goes without saying what the EU would decide to do in this case.

UK leaving the EU, bad news for both parties involved.

Opinions diverge strongly on what would become of both Britain and the EU if Britain were to leave. Both would most probably survive, yet both could well struggle to compete in an increasingly competitive globalised world. Among many other negatives, Britain would lose their influence establishing the rules governing the single market, a market representing 50% of British exports, and would find it difficult to keep its place among the key actors in world politics, especially with the rise of new superpowers such as Brazil, South Africa, India, etc. In turn, the EU would also suffer from losing a key member and net contributor to the Union as well as its third biggest economy.

An average European citizen might wonder how these negotiations are problematic to them. The fact is that this situation should be of concern to all Europeans as its end-product will establish the basis of the future of the European Union for the next few decades. Either the EU rejects the British proposals to safeguard its unity and single market, consequently allowing the British to decide if they wish to stay within or not the Union and thus risking to lose one of its key economic partners.

Or the EU succumbs to the British proposals and establishes a Union where each member is allowed to pick and choose which policy it wishes to opt in or out; thus risking to put in peril the Single Market itself and hundreds and thousands of jobs throughout the Union.

The need to find an agreement, yet ensure a sustainable future to the EU

Finding an agreement allowing the UK to stay within the EU and reduce the UK’s willingness to renegotiate key areas of their relationship is an imperative to ensure long term jobs and quality of life throughout Europe, the UK included. Yet Cameron’s increasingly Eurosceptic stance seems to be doing the exact opposite, making it increasingly difficult for an agreement to be achieved. He might be doing so to satisfy his MPs which could be understandable, yet he is also putting the unity of his party over the long term interests of his country.

In fairness, Mr Cameron is in a highly unenviable position, stuck between the views of his electorate and MPs and the growing integration taking place throughout the Union. However, as citizens of Europe, we can only hope that our political leaders start to think about the interests of their citizens, rather than their own political career.

Photo Credit: European Council

Behind the scenes of Internet Freedom: when hacktivists and the EU work hand in hand

Pierre-Yves Leveaux — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 15:55:00 +0100

By Jan Nils Schubert

Have you ever wondered how in authoritarian States, people still have the Internet. Part of the answer lies in the hacktivist networks. Time to look behind the scenes and discover that a digital war is going on and that your computer is not as safe as you might think.

Do you remember ‘Anonymous’? This loose ‘hacktivist’ (contraction of ‘hacker’ and ‘activist’) group was known for their cyber attacks on targeted websites. Following up on their methods and structure, others hackers distinguish themselves by more constructive activities. Some of them were invited to speak at a conference organised by the Greens, along with four bloggers from China, Russia, Egypt and Azerbaidjan.

The first thing that hit me was this statement made by Sarrah Abdelrahman, an Egyptian blogger. “The Egyptian revolution was not a Facebook or a Twitter revolution (…) You don’t hold your smartphone against the police. It won’t protect you”. I had to admit she had a point. For sure, the upraising was rooted in a political, historical and social framework. Still, one cannot undermine the importance of the web and social networks to spread opinions. But how was it even possible for bloggers to express freely their ideas in oppressive regimes?

Providing access to Internet: a soapbox for hactivists

A part to the answer is given by Telecomix, a decentralized network of hackers. Their catchphrase is: “we come in peace”. It sounds like a reminder that you are being watched in the cyber galactic space. However, there is hope at the end of the tunnel! Some gentle souls are out there, willing to start Internet guerrillas for a good cause. One of them, the activist Martin Löwden recalls: “When the Mubarak Regime shut the Internet off last year, we worked hard to make sure Egyptians still had access to the web. So, we opened old modem pools for free and faxed their numbers into the country. People were able to dial in and access the Internet from blacked out Egypt”. Similar procedures were also adapted in Syria and Lybia.

“Free and open communication is the foundation to any good society, because you need the debate” says the Swedish activist. But what about countries such as Russia or China? As I would learn through the testimonies of present witnesses, the Internet is largely available in these countries and people use it to express their opinions. Do not get your spirits to high on these news though, the Russian journalist Oleg Kashin got recently beaten up in front of his house. An experience several other guest-speakers could relate to, having themselves been harassed or even arrested.

Catch me if you can tactics or how to minimize digital prints

The answer would be given by Linus Nordberg, another Swedish hacktivist. “Not only do you need the Internet, but you need safe access”. As a participant to the Tor Project, he explained how service providers could easily track you down. Not convinced? You might want to check your personal proxy information on noreply.org. Or, download do not track me and see how many companies are actually spying on you through Facebook or even on the event’s website. Personally, I was amazed, frightened and rather upset.

Although the tracking results mainly in annoying adverts, the consequences can be far more dramatic in other countries. Your identity and address can be easily revealed. It goes to “the extent where you can get picked up in the night or in the early hours of the morning” says Linus.

To avoid this, the key element according to Linus is “privacy by design rather than policy”. And this is what Tor provides. It’s a program connecting several computers. Linus explains: “Your traffic is going to bounce a couple of hops in this network”. In a nutshell, it is as if you were virtually changing locations all the time. So that if someone tries to hunt you through the digital world, he might end up thinking you are Harvard University. “And in order to not have to trust every single hop, we need to have diversity”. On a personal note: I think it might also help speed up a very (very) slow program.

The EU against “Lords of (Digital) War”

When asked what the European Union can do, Linus replied: “influencing the legislation”. That’s what the EU finally did, by endorsing their first Digital Freedom Strategy. Based on a report by Marietje Schaake (MEP), the vote took place only six days after the event and includes several raised issues. It also urges the EU to stop the export of “digital arms” to authoritarian countries such as Lybia and Syria. This includes the “dual use” technologies. Initially meant to fight terrorism or paedophilia, they end up being used to oppress freedom. The excuse seems to always be the same: “our product has been redirected from its original purpose” (Bruno Samtmann, Amesys). It leaves us with a bad impression of a not-so-innocent child, closing its eyes to ignore the truth.

Exposed by journalists and activists, these “Lords of (Digital) War” are finally confronted with the EU legislation. Now the questions are: what will be the next step? Is it even possible to restrain exports on a European level? And this especially in a globalised world, where money sometimes seems to overrule human rights. “Internet is global” noted Martin Löwdin. “Every policy in the EU affects the entire world”. So while recognising the efforts of those who work in the shadows, let’s keep our fingers crossed for a global positive change.

Britishness and Euroscepticism

Pierre-Yves Leveaux — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 15:15:00 +0100

By Thomas Bignal

A survey published by ComRes only a few weeks ago pointed that 54% of the British public were willing to leave the EU, a number far higher than their other European counterparts. How come the British people are so adamantly opposed to the EU that they would rather leave the Union as a whole, rather than play an important role from within?

Labour and Conservative MPs favor a reduced EU budget

Both two main political parties in Britain seem to have a rather broad spectrum of views regarding the EU. This was demonstrated by the recent cross-party rebellion made by MPs from both Labour and Conservative parties calling for David Cameron to reject a freeze and negotiate a strongly reduced EU budget for the 2014-2020.

However, it is clear to all that the Conservative Party includes a more Eurosceptic strand. Although David Cameron and his cabinet are generally against the idea of a withdrawal of Britain from the EU, an increasingly high number of Conservative MPs –influenced by the success of UKIP- believe this is the way forward and are calling for a referendum on the matter. The outcome might well be the UK leaving the EU if one was to rely on the latest survey as mentioned above.

The usual criticisms are often heralded by British politicians and media alike as a basis for their argumentation. These include its membership costs for little return, lack of democratic legitimacy, bureaucratic nature and so on. The problem is that this does not explain why these critiques -rightly or wrongly- are more widely accepted by the British public than throughout the rest of Europe.

Europe framed as an attack on Britishness, a vicious circle

It could be explained by the highly popular and emotional term of “Britishness”, so important to British politics, yet seemingly impossible to define. The decline of what was the British Empire led British politicians to emphasise the importance of their links to the US and to the Commonwealth and cast aside the significance of Europe. The fact that they do not necessarily need to be in opposition does not appear to have been taken into account. Yet many British politicians and newspapers appear to have used populist means –reducing the EU to an aggressor against British culture- in order to secure political gain or sell more prints.

This sense of aggression on “Britishness” by Brussels has also been reproduced and strengthened by a majority of the hugely influential British press –quality and tabloids alike- which is considered as far more Eurosceptic than their counterparts throughout Europe. This could explain why dangerous distortions can also often be found in the British press such as the statement that Brussels is forcing Britain to give up on its imperial measurements, a matter ever so important to “Britishness” and consequently to its people.

As such, the idea that the EU is harming what makes Britain so “British” has now become so widely accepted among public opinion that it has created a vicious circle encouraging British politicians and media alike to use this sensitive topic to score political points or boost profit, but consequently increase euroscepticism among British people.

Withdrawal from the EU would perhaps be mistaken but nevertheless understandable if the British public were also informed of the positive effects membership to the EU has or can have on the British economy. Yet, when discussing this issue with many Brits who share different political views, the main responses received are based on the idea that Britain is culturally different to Europe rather than on the economic and social benefits membership brings or not to British society.

Positive side of EU membership often go unmentioned

Indeed, arguments regarding the actual added value of membership to the EU are never really mentioned by Eurosceptic politicians or the right-wing press and tabloids. How Europe positively contributes to the British response to modern cross-border challenges such as globalisation, climate change and terrorism is very rarely promoted. The same can be said about the importance of the single market or the costs both Switzerland and Norway have to pay to be included in it. The real impact of EU laws on British primary legislation (6,8%) is usually ignored or ill-explained.

A referendum could lead to the British people deciding that it is in Britain’s best interest to leave the EU, but a debate could also provide a voice for the pro-Europeans –a vast majority of Business and Trade Unions included- to express their opinions; a matter which is not often the case in the British Press. This could lead to a more balanced debate where British interest will no longer be simply reduced to the sentimental vision of Britishness, however important British culture is, but also to a rational debate based on how to create and protect British jobs in today’s globalised world. As such, the willingness to leave the EU as a whole as argued by UKIP and certain Conservatives, and not even try and negotiate from within, could well be the biggest loser if a referendum were to take place.

(Photo credit: European Council)

From Sweden to Brussels: The European dimension of The Hives.

Pierre-Yves Leveaux — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 19:20:00 +0100

By Marnix de Witte

The Hives! This Swedish garage rock band has, during more than fifteen years, established itself as one of the most exciting live rock acts. Their energy and stage performance are unbeatable. Cafebabel asked the band some questions; about Belgium, their experiences throughout Europe, and their Swedish roots. What is the European dimension of this band after all these touring years?

The five band members come from a small town in Sweden, Fagersta, with only 11.000 inhabitants. Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist (the leadsinger), Nicholaus Arson (guitar), Vigilante Carlstroem (guitar), Chris Dangerous (drums, percussion) and Dr. Matt Destruction (bass). They have slowly conquered Europe with an incredible confidence, an ever-changing stage performance and their characteristic black-and-white costumes. The Hives have so far released five albums, Lex Hives (2012) is their most recent.

I meet them in Brussels, Belgium. A country that loves the band and a country which the band regularly visits. After a stroll through the backstage labyrinth of the Ancienne Belgique, the venue of tonight’s gig, I find myself sitting in front of Chris Dangerous and Dr. Matt Destruction. Five minutes in the interview, Nicholaus Arson also walks in. I explain them first about Cafebabel, the multilingual European magazine. “It is not translated in Swedish…yet”, I add. They seem satisfied to be eyeoneye with a different kind of journalist for once. Matt looks, with shining eyes, suspicious at the Belgian waffle- partly covered with chocolate- he is consuming. “Tell me, why do these Belgian waffles have whole sugar bits in them. It confuses me sometimes that there are sugar cubes in there”, he asks me. I explain him that waffles are differently produced in every part of Belgium. That is the only explanation I can give him. He seems satisfied with the answer and finishes the sweet delight. I tell them that I saw the Hives performing in The Ambassador in Dublin, back in 2004. I was eighteen and the band was still unknown to me. Joining a friend, I was blown away by their performance. Afterwards I repeatedly saw them playing at the infamous Belgian festivals: Pukkelpop, Rock Werchter and de Lokerse feesten. The guys nod in acknowledgment of the festivals and seem pleased by my short introduction. Time for the ‘real work’ and a little insight in the travelling life of the band.

At times like today, when you’re in a place like Brussels, do you have time to enjoy the city? If so, what do you like to do?

(Chris): “We actually had a day off yesterday, so me, Matt and Nicholas went back to Sweden for twenty hours or so. The other guys stayed on the bus I think. Or at the hotel, and did pretty much nothing. We are kind off…hammered after being on tour for such a long time [three weeks now]. So myself I did not do anything today. I went to the airport, got driven here, sound checked and now I am talking to you, so that what I have done today [laughs]”.

But if you have some time, what do you like doing in a foreign city, just stroll around a bit?

(Chris): “Yeah, we try to see as much as we can. You know, as long as you have energy for it. Myself I have a bicycle on tour, so I go riding my bike a lot. And the other guys like to take walks…you know, whatever there is to do in a city, and if there is time, we try to do it”.

You have been in Belgium a lot, here in the Ancienne Belgique and at our many festivals. Can you share an anecdote being in Belgium? You must surely remember the Rock Werchter festival of 2008? [Where The Hives played for an extra 15 minutes, refusing to leave the stage because they, along with the audience, were having too much fun]

(Chris): “Yeah, sometimes stuff like that happens and I guess that was one of those that we felt that we were not really quite done yet. And sometimes you get in trouble for it, but we are usually kind of spot on because we know what it is like if someone before plays and they run over…and you get less time. But sometimes, and very rarely I must say, we do erm, fuck up a bit for other bands by playing too long. But sometimes it is worth it, and you can prepare yourself for a fight” [laughs loudly].

And sometimes it is great for the audience to get unexpectedly rewarded with a longer show. Now I would like to ask some things about Europe, first with a slightly philosophical question. Through all your travelling- from when you formed The Hives almost twenty years ago until now- do you think Europe is more diverse or equal than you thought before?

(Chris): “When we began touring, in like 1998, Europe was way more diverse than it is now. Now I can even get vegetarian food in France, and I can speak to people in a way I could not before. So Europe has gotten a lot smaller in that sense, and the culture and everything gets a little more blended nowadays, you know? [Nicholaus walks in and gives me a high-five]. We were also younger and we had never been to all these countries. No, absolutely, it is way more once place now than it used to be.”

Which European countries or cities are your favourites, personally or as a band, and why?

(Chris): “We had some really, really good shows in France recently. Some really good shows in Spain, Belgium and Germany [Matt and Nicholaus continue mentioning other places]. And Norway is fucking beautiful [laughs], I mean, you can have great shows everywhere. For us it almost feels like touring the US, it is the same thing, you go from state to state, and here you go from country to country, but it is still sort of the same thing. And I can’t really put a European country in front of another.”

Fair enough. And is there a place where you have not been and which is still high on the list? In Europe, or elsewhere?

(Chris): “we have not played Russia, and we would really like to play Russia. And Hawaii [laughs out loud]. And I do not know, are there any European countries that we have not been?”

(Nicholaus): “Some Eastern European countries. We never played Romania, or Bulgaria [the guys start discussing which countries whey have and have not been, sometimes searching their memory].”

(Matt): “And Greece!”

(Nicholaus): “Yeah, Greece is actually a place where I would really like to go, because we are getting emails from fans since we got started pretty much, asking us to come to Greece…”

(Chris): “The punk scene in Athens is supposed to be huge. But we have never been, shame on us”.

So still a few countries to visit. And what has been the worst place you played, the worst experience you have had, and why?

(Matt): “My worst experience was at the Zwarte Cross festival [the biggest motocross festival in West-Europe, a festival in The Netherlands]. I almost got hit by stuff from motorbikes.”

All thrown on to the stage?

(Matt): “No, they fell off, dropped, something broke. There were motors everywhere, people jumping 12-meters high over the stage with their motors. It was wild, kind of strange.”

That is hard to imagine. Is there something typical Swedish you always bring when touring?

(All together): “Snus!”

(Chris): “And the band members [all laugh]. We cannot go anywhere without ourselves. But other than that, like I said, Europe- and the whole world basically- is getting more and more like one place, so you can always find anything you need in any country.”

(Matt): “And now when you have this [shows his Iphone], you are connected at all times.”

And is there something special that you always have on your rider [this is a list of comforts for a band at a show], something that jumps out?

(Matt): “Soap!” [laughter].

(Chris): “We used to have flowers and some candle lights, but I do not know what happened to that” [looks around in the room].

(Nicholaus): “Champagne on Friday, so we would know what day it was!”

(Chris): “Other than that it is basically beer, every night we try to have a beer that is from the region. Like a microbrewery type.”

I question which beer they received today. “It depends on what we get”, Nicholaus answers. I am invited to open the fridge and find Jupiler. I ask them if they are not drinking the special Belgian beers.

(Chris): “Like the Duvels and all of those, yeah we know them. But they are too strong for us, you know. You can not drink thirteen percent beer before going on stage, it would fuck you up” [laughing].

I explain them that I lived in Sweden for half-a-year and that I was impressed by the way Swedish people are generally dressed; always neatly, especially in Stockholm.

Is this cultural characteristic also once of the reasons you are always so well dressed on stage, with the black-and-white uniforms?

(Chris) “We always think of the Italians that way [laughing].” He takes a couple of seconds to think, and adds “I don’t know, we just like looking good when we are playing. We want to dress up for the show and we want to look and sound as good as we can, we are here to entertain people. No point for us in dressing down…that is just not our thing.”

I suggest that is typically Swedish. “Yeah, maybe it is build in somehow”, Chris confirms. I want some more anecdotes.

You have given many interviews in all the countries you played, probably often with journalists that speak only little English. Can you tell me an anecdote about an interview that comes to mind?

(Nicholaus): “I remember one we did in Norway once, with a guy who was like “yeah this is my first television interview”. We were sitting in a couch, he was on the side of us and had a ‘cheat-sheet’ where he had all the questions written down on a piece of paper. And every time he was going to ask us a question, he went like this [puts the hand vertically next to one eye, and moves his head slowly to the right and back, imitating the interviewer “so you guys have erm…”], as if the camera couldn’t see he was reading his list [everyone laughs]. And I could not really tell if he was joking or if it was sincere. And after he said “Oh well I thought that this went really well, this was my first interview”.

And you still remember it, so it was quite a success.

Nicholaus laughs, “I indeed remember, it was one of the funniest interviews”.

(Chris): “Sometimes you get weird people that sort of already answer their own question while they ask you, and if you do not agree, they get irritated. They are like, “So you have been a band for twelve years and you have made three albums, right?”. We answer “not really”, after he says “yes, you have”. He just wants you to sit there and listen to him...but all we think is, “what the fuck is wrong with this guy?”

(Nicholaus): “Some people interview you by just talking to you and you do not even have to answer any questions, and then they go “oh thanks, that was it”.

Coming back to Matt’s stage story, I imagine that a lot of stuff gets thrown on stage- what has been the weirdest?

(Chris): “The weirdest thing in sort of a, this guy has to be fucking stupid-perspective, is probably beer bottles, thrown from 50 meters, this close to your head. And you think, what is wrong with people, do they want you to play the song, or, you know, do they want to kill you? So that is pretty weird in one way, and then there is really weird stuff that comes up, the typical rock stuff like bras…”.

(Nicholaus): “…panties, underwear, demo’s, bottles, glasses”.

(Matt): “Something like three shows ago, I got a pair of sneakers in front of me. And I thought they were thrown on or something, so I threw them back, so someone could get them back. After the show, outside, there was this young kid, probably 10, this tall [points to his waist, imitating him] “Oh, I got your shoe”, and he had taken one shoe and wanted me to sign it. I did and then he left” [laughs].

Well, it is a great way for the kid to meet you, a funny story. Thinking back of the beer bottles now, if something like this happens, how do you react? What happens at that moment, it might have an effect on you?

(Chris): “We always continue, and I don’t think any of us have been hit that bad by a bottle. But we have been so close that you can feel it. But I do not know what would happen if it would hit. I would probably pass out and then it would take you a little bit before you can continue. But I just think it is so stupid. Once we got a bunch of keys thrown and that could also hurt you a lot. But we never stop playing.”

(Matt): “One bottle is okay, it would be different if they would throw ten of fifteen bottles. Then we would maybe get concerned if we could continue playing.“

(Nicholaus): “Usually their aim is pretty bad, so they never hit you” [laughter].

Finally, what will you guys do for Christmas; will you go back to your families in Fagersta?

(Chris): “Yeah, Nicholaus and Matt still live there, while the rest of us are pretty spread out. But it is family time, before we go to Australia.”

(Matt): “I will go up the mountains and spend Christmas on the ski slopes in a cabin, skies, snow mobile...”.

And Christmas in Sweden, is it a traditional Christmas like we know it in general from the movies? [They ask me which movies I mean, I answer the classic Hollywood movies that are always on the television at this time of the year]

(Matt, laughing loud): “They do not all have big tits and are blond, you know?”

(Chris): “Santa Clause comes at night and gives all the children gifts, and I guess it is all pretty traditional, meet up with the families and have nice food.”

(Matt): “We have cooked ham and herring, pickled herring, schnapps,”

Is that the haring that smells so bad?

(All excited): “No, no, that is not the one. You mean surströmming!” [This is fermented Baltic herring, usually bought in a can. When opened, an incredible stench fills the area].

(Nicholaus): “No, we eat all kind of haring. The surströmmingis mostly from the sea-side and some might eat it at Christmas.”

(Matt): “It is more of a midsummer tradition.”

You never take the surströmmingwhen touring?

(all): “Noooo”.

(Nicholaus): “We do not even eat that to begin with. Not everyone likes it, not even in Sweden…”

(Matt): “…and not even within a family”.

(Chris): “I am vegetarian, so I would not know.”

(Matt): “The can you buy it like this [pretends to hold a small can with his two hands], and when the can gets likes this [doubles the size between his hands], it is time to eat it. It is so fucking weird. And you should open it under water, otherwise boom” [laughs].

I explain them that surströmmingwas one of my Swedish ‘discoveries’. Some friends I met, who already knew it, told me to open the can at home and of course I did. All of them laugh loud as they can perfectly imagine this first-time experience.

(Nicholaus): “There were these two Spanish guys to visit some relatives of mine and on the last day they wanted to cook for them, something typically Swedish [they all start laughing already]. So what is typical Swedish? Of course they came home with a can with that stuff [now all laughing loudly]. They said they would never going to open that, while we answered that you can actually eat it. And there was another Canadian guy who did a year at school where I was. The host family that he lived with asked him to come out in the garden to have some food. So he went out in the garden and he was so shocked”.

Surely this must have triggered your interest to try surströmmingnext time that you visit Sweden. My time was up, the entertaining chat flew by quickly. I thank them for the interesting interview and their friendliness. Of course, I also wish them a great show ahead. They ask me if I was also going to see them, after which I explain that the concert was already sold out when I moved back to Brussels a couple of months before. “Nooo”, they answer, and a minute later I am on the guest list. We take a picture and I leave the backstage of the Ancienne Belgique with a big smile on my face.

A couple of hours later- together with the lucky +1 who was very happy to accept my last minute invitation- we are ready for ninety minutes of catching energy. The crowd goes mad from the start, youngsters express this through a hormone-driven mosh pits during every song. Lead singer Pelle interacts perfectly with the energetic crowd. The three band members I spoke with a couple of hours ago perform solid and convincing. The Hives are great, still and forever. Tick, Tick…Boom!

From left to right: Dr. Matt Destruction, Chris Dangerous, Marnix de Witte, Nicholaus Arson.

A Swedish band- singing in English- enchanting an international crowd on a Sunday night in Brussels. The friendly persons behind the black-and-white costumes make the picture complete. The Hives took me on a small journey from Belgium back to their Swedish roots, while giving me an impression of their life on the road. Cafebabel style? Definitely Cafebabel style! Tack så mycket!

Photo credits: Tim Troncko

2nd European Grid Conference: an innovative way to promote infrastructures

Pierre-Yves Leveaux — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 18:14:00 +0100

By Carlo Peano

On the 5th December 2012 the Renewables Grid Initiative (RGI) organized the Second European Grid Conference in order to explain the lessons learned by its members during the last few years.

Founded by the European Climate Foundation in 2010, RGI is a platform promoting the effective integration of all the electricity produced from renewables to guarantee energy and climate security in Europe.

RGI focuses on the idea that through the use of smart and green technologies, consumers have at same time the possibility to become producers and sellers of electricity. This change in the energy market creates the opportunity to build a really sustainable electricity system. For this a new grid infrastructure, which enables the diffusion of electricity from production to consumption and storage, is necessary.

To achieve such a new grid structure, it is necessary to integrate all stakeholders: transmission system operators (TSOs) such as RTE, Elia, National Grid, TenneT, Swissgrid and Statnett and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as WWF, German Watch, BirdLife Europe and RSPB and local and regional authorities. Business and NGOs usually have conflicting positions. This kind of partnership has important consequences for the design of projects, providing a lower environmental impact and a higher level of local acceptance

During this 2nd European Grid Conference, a series of best practice projects were presented. They all emphasised the importance of local and public support and the involvement of the local authorities before planning their projects. This is a practice completely different to those usually followed by business and governments, which have provoked demonstrations all over Europe. It is also a good example for other sectors such as transport. For instance, in Italy the protest against the Corridor 5 coordinated by NO TAV (the protest started in 1995 and is still going on at the present moment) is notorious and has its origins in an imposed project with not enough consultation.

The presence of the Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger and the Environmental Commissioner Janez Potočnik confirmed EU interest in this initiative. Oettinger underlined the need for increased grid investments, the importance of stakeholders' involvement and the EU support in the exchange of best practices. Potočnik highlighted that this way of putting companies and NGOs together is an innovative way to face the sustainable development problem of a European electricity grid. He also emphasised the importance of transparency and basic environmental rules for all the projects.

We believe that the EU needs investments in electricity grid and other infrastructure but not at the expense of environmental and social conditions. The existence of an initiative like RGI is a sign for a better future, in which infrastructure projects will not be imposed, but they will be designed together with the local authorities, NGOs and business.

2013, Odd Numbers and High Stakes

Pierre-Yves Leveaux — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 19:18:00 +0100

By Aris Kokkinos (live from the European Summit), translated by Danica Jorden

Even if the European Union paid any attention to the Mayan calendar, it seems the 13^th year of the 21^st century is as frightening as the online apocalypse. In 2013, the legislative framework for the banking union will be put in place, but 2014 is the year European leaders have chosen for its launch -- in the hope that the present financial morass will have cleared up between now and then, and that German electors will have confirmed Angela Merkel to lead the EU.

As a prelude to the meeting of the Council, the group of 27 arrived at an agreement at the end of the night of 12/12/12 concerning supervision of the EU’s (larger) banks, aka the banking union, which hopefully will be able to resolve the banking crisis. The banking union will be launched on 1 March 2014, close to the election of the European Parliament.

Big Banks (under the scope) and Black Holes (in the books)

François Hollande will get his wish, as the legislative framework of the banking union will be in place by 1 January 2013. But Angela Merkel will be the big winner as the union’s implementation will be stretched out over the entire year. At the Ecofin meeting on 12 December, German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble specified: “I think we can find a common solution, but the ECB will need a year to put the legislation into place.” Time will tell, because in 2013, the European Central Bank forecasts a 0.3% decrease in the eurozone’s gross domestic product, and inflation to be at 1.6%. A return to better days is expected for 2014, with a double forecast of 1.2% growth with 1.4% inflation. When the banking union goes into effect, it will oversee, in the following order, banks having more than 30 billion euros in assets, banks worth more than 20% of their respective country’s GDP, so long as their assets are less than 5 billion euros, and finally banks that are recipients of European aide programmes. In other words, we’re set to see more quarrels about disowned figures, recalling the Maastricht criteria disagreements. In any case, the ECB will oversee the three principal banks of each concerned State. The number of overseen banks will vary between 150 and 200. That’s the compromise reached between Paris, who demanded that the ECB oversee the banking union, and Berlin, who did not want its 420 some-odd regional banks supervised by anyone other than the Bundesbank.

New Year brings Councils

The banking union already has a theoretical conception: a Supervisory Council of the banking union will be integrated into the ECB, to be made up of a president, a vice-president, four ECB members and representatives of 17 national supervisors. The ECB Governor’s Council, for its part, will ratify the Supervisory Council’s major decisions on countries outside the eurozone. Not easy. In order to guarantee the separation of power between banking supervision and monetary policy, States will establish an independent committee that will have final say in case of disagreement. It remains to be seen how this will work out in 2014, taking into account as well the European Banking Authority. Inaugurated in 2011 and headquartered in London, this regulatory body will not likely forget to express the British exception, as it should be pointed out that the United Kingdom prefers to abstain from the banking union. In order to have everyone’s agreement, European Parliament president Martin Schultz declared at the European Council’s press conference today 13 December that the eurozone’s budget should be under the control of the entire EU. Perhaps one day Europe will unite politically as well as economically.

Excessive Councils Harming Health of EU?

Pierre-Yves Leveaux — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 17:42:00 +0100

By Pierre-Yves Leveaux (live from the European Summit), translated by Danica Jorden

Following the 17-18 October and 22-23 November Summits on the European Union’s budget, 2012’s last meeting of the European Council opened today in Brussels. Not bad for an event that was supposed to be quarterly.

Three meetings in three months for the European Council: A sign of intensifying European politics? Hard to say, because even if these meetings are multiplying, the resolutions adopted do not always, in fact, never translate into major political decisions. Proof could be found at the October summit dedicated to the EU budget, where the prickly questions were put off to next year. The question has to be asked: Will this Council be an umpteenth shot in the dark?

An unencumbered starter

In the wings of the working sessions of the 27 Heads of State and Government and representatives of European institutions, meetings of the “Economic and Financial Affairs” Council and the Eurogroup were also held. The ECOFIN meeting, bringing together the finance ministers of the different Members States, came up with an agreement on banking surveillance mechanisms. Berlin and Paris were on the same page, according the role of “European banking watchdog” to the ECB, but only under certain conditions.

As for the Eurogroup, it officially approved the second economic adjustment programme for Greece, after that country was successful in its debt buyback, the condition it had to meet in order to unblock a 34.4 billion euro loan fund. This sum will be used notably to recapitalise the Greek banking system, as well as reimburse 9.3 billion euros that the State owes its citizens.

Filled up on the main dish

The main subject to be served at the Council will be the creation of the economic and monetary union. Despite President Hermann Van Rompuy’s roadmap that Member States requested in June, and even though the Commission communicated on this subject at the end of November, the decisions necessary to put such a union into place will undoubtedly not be made at this Summit. Its realisation will necessitate a stable political situation and depend especially upon the election results in Italy, and more so in Germany, where Angela Merkel aspires to a third term in 2013.

The other programme points will deal with the Commission’s annual growth survey, which the Council will defer until the March 2013 Summit. The goal of this report is to coordinate Member States’ efforts towards relaunching growth in a sustainable manner. Conclusions concerning defence will also be adopted in view of the preparatory work for the December 2013 European Council, which should be dedicated essentially to this subject. Namely, increasing effectiveness of the missions undertaken within the framework of the Common Defence and Security Policy, improving the development of defensive capacities and reinforcing the European defence industry.

Having unexpected guests, while not officially on the Summit’s programme, the subject of expansion was discussed, as well as possible sanctions against North Korea, following the recent launching of one of its rockets.

As one can see, the menu is ample and plentiful, making over-consumption a distinct possibility, with the risk of leaving a few plates in the fridge for future Councils. Which, in times of food shortages, is never advisable.

Operators of Europe, unite!

tomprs — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 14:20:00 +0100

By Jan Nils Schubert.

Calling your grandmother in Italy, texting your girlfriend in Romania or watching news on your Belgian mobile phone while on vacation in Sweden...Thanks to the newly launched ‘One Single Tariff’ act, all this might be soon possible without costing the earth. As part of the European Citizens Initiative, two young French citizens are on a mission to tackle the challenge of roaming charges.

On December 7^th, the European Citizens Initiative'sOne Single Tariff Act was launched at the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). Initiated by two young European citizens, the target is the mobile telephony market. The act speaks for itself: it is time to end “rip-off” of roaming charges

Roaming charges: reaching for a single market

Every time you leave your home country and you are using your mobile phone, you are roaming. You are using a foreign operator’s network and are therefore paying additional costs, which are on average five times higher than normal. And while some find out the hard way, the EU has been trying to limit these roaming charges by decreasing “Eurotariffs”since 2009. But, is this all that can be done? No, says Vincent Chauvet, one of the EIC’s initiators.

“Some people talk about fair-roaming, but this is a contradiction in terms. Dropping the price of a mega-octet by only 2 cents every year is not enough”.

"We want to be able to call, text and download data from any country in Europe at the same price” explains his colleague, Martin Wittenberg. Recalling his student days, the 26 year old claims: “We are the Erasmus generation! We need these services”, and adds:

“Mobile Phone companies are making huge profits with roaming charges. If people could actually pay less, they would be able to use the savings to buy new services for their smartphones and digital tablets.”

What challenges lie ahead?

"We need your time” says Martin. The EIC is looking for people to sign their proposal and their aim is to reach one million signatures in a year's time. They're also looking to promote the initiative through social media. They have already garnered support from Alain Lamassoure (MEP) and Henri Malosse, President of the Employer's Group at the EESC and the first signatory of the initiative. In his speech, Mr. Malosse expressed his support for the effort to “improve the single market against existing cartels”. As for the EIC, he called it “the only progress that came out of the treaty of Lisbon” adding: “...we want to be the voice of the European civil society and not the opposite”.

The stated objective is to hand over the project to the Union in six months. The European legislator will then decide on the follow-up. “The operator’s lobby is strong” says Vincent.

"Maybe, the number of calls will be limited. And there is still the issue of exemption for Overseas countries and territories. But the more signatures we have, the more pressure we can put on the legislator."

And if the devil is in the details, Vincent says confidently: “we trust in the European legislator”.

From the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf

Pierre-Yves Leveaux — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 12:04:00 +0100

By Aris Kokkinos

To boost growth between the EU and the Arab world is the ambition of many public and private institutions, both in the West and in the East. On December 4, Friends of Europe and Dansk Industri organized a meeting whose purpose was to pave the way in this direction.

Since the beginning of the Arab spring, economic growth evolves sometimes faster than political reform. The debate, moderated by Shada Islam, has confronted the views of four representatives of the EU with those of stakeholders coming from four Arab countries.

I greet you...

On the European side, Louis Telemachou, Cypriot Ambassador to the Political and Security Committee, has mentioned the efforts of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council to strengthen the links between the EU and its Arab partners, concretized by a trade agreement with Morocco. Peter Balas, the Hungarian deputy director of DG Trade, explained the need to reach similar agreements with the Arab world as a whole, and at first with Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan. On both sides of the Mediterranean people wish to deepen trade, diversifying it: agriculture, but also services and high tech. MEP Sajjad Karim stressed the importance of the political factor in all economic negotiations. The EU/Egypt Task Force, of which he is in charge, is a concrete example: nor Europe knows if its ambitions will be reached in the Mashreq, neither President Mohamed Morsi knows if he can deliver his promises. Alar Olljum, Estonian advisor to the EEAS, believes the EU has a new deal to offer its Arab partners: before the Arab Spring, the priority was development, now it’s the economy. Thus the changes have convinced both EIB and EBRD to invest in the region.

…ya salama

On the Arab side, the former Algerian Minister Ahmed Tibaoui (Arab-EU Business Facilitation Network) points out two elements: first, the EU is in crisis, and that changes the degree of its involvement in the Arab world; second, it matters to focus on the private sector: the company must be at the center of the debate. Fadel Allabadi (Jordan Europe Business Association) stressed the need of educational development, recalling that the EU-Jordan Agreement, initiated in 2002, is a key factor of it. Ilham Zhiri President of the Women's Network for Mentoring/Networking, noted that 70% of women are in a situation of poverty in her country, Morocco. Equality of rights between men and women remains a demand to fulfil. Last but not least, Abdul Rahim Hassan Naqi, Saudi Secretary General of the Federation of the Gulf Council Chambers of Commerce, spoke of the strengths and expectations in the relations between the Persian Gulf countries and the EU. A free trade agreement between the EEC, now EU, and the Gulf Cooperation Council exists since 1988, yet the businessmen of the region are still struggling to get visas to Europe.

The Mediterranean Sea unites and separates two shores whose destinies are linked. It is in the interest of these two worlds to find a common ground, which would be beneficial to both sides.

Feminism: it's not all about equality!

tomprs — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 16:32:00 +0100

Article by Miléna Cazin

"There is no need to be feminist in my generation”, that is what the French former First Lady Carla Bruni lately declared. These words set off many reactions from the feminist movement; she ended up rectifying them and saying: “I personally never felt the need to be a feminist activist”. That little controversy reminds us that feminism is still alive, even though it sometimes takes new shapes.

On 29^th-30^th November, the second European Gender Summit took place in Brussels claiming how women can bring excellence in scientific research. The Gender issues could be the new name of feminism today. Indeed, it seems that women of today still fight for equality, but not only. They also may claim for gender difference, in other words, they want equality with recognition of their difference with men. This European Gender summit brought together scientists and politicians in order to think about gender in the science field and these two facets were very present.

More women on board

The European Commission recently made a proposal for a directive aiming at increasing the number of women among non-executive directors of companies. There is indeed a clearly lack of representativeness among them, and it is the same thing for hard science research which is mostly considered as a “male thing”. Professors Veerle Draulans and Tine Baelmans from the University of Leuven reminded us that women are often underrepresented in engineering or other technical studies, but are overrepresented in social science. According to them, it is not a question of individual choice but it has much more to do with how women and men are represented and thought in our society. Besides, in many Universities there are more women than men. Isn’t it silly then to educate people, make them valuable and finally not use their skills, as it is the case for women?

Gender as a source of innovation and excellence

The other interesting aspect of this European Gender summit was the thought about the contribution of the gender dimension in any scientific research. Medicine is maybe the most revealing example. Indeed, as pointed out by Professor Marie Vahter from Sweden, gender difference exists. Men and women don’t always react in the same way to the same event. For instance, her institute of Environmental medicine found that an arsenic exposure in Bangladesh had more effect on male skin than female one. It is then important to study these gender differences, so that we can explain many medical causalities. Beyond the medical sphere, a general consensus seems to have emerged from this summit about the contribution of gender perspective. Every participant agreed that a female approach strengthen any business or fields of research. It brings innovation and excellence. Those two words were actually dominating the whole summit.

The Gender issues are then more than ever newsworthy. As Professor Curt Rice from Norway said, to get a gender balance is “the right thing to do” and to conduct research or business with a gender perspective is “the smart thing to do”.

Berlin-London: a new axis for the EU?

tomprs — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 14:29:00 +0100

By Thomas Bignal

Despite the EU summit which took place on 22-23 November focusing on settling the Greek debt and securing a bailout for Cyprus, everybody’s eyes were on the EU budget negotiations for 2014-2020. The EU multi-annual budget pays for policies carried out at European level (such as agriculture, regional development, research, etc), as well as for its administration.

The budget of the Union is mainly financed by contributions made by each Member State. Not unsurprisingly, this round of negotiations led to little, if no outcome. The British received strong support from the Germans, the Dutch and the Scandinavians in rejecting the budget of 971 billion EUR proposed by Herman Van Rompuy; a whole 80 billion EUR cut to what was originally proposed by the European Commission.

This led Van Rompuy and José Manuel Barroso, head of the European Commission to throw in the towel and accept that an agreement had to be postponed until future negotiations.

26 vs 1 : an unfair battle?

Rather than having isolated the UK and weakened its positioning, the last batch of budget negotiations has appeared to have strengthened the position of David Cameron over the next few months. Indeed, whereas the support by the Swedes and the Dutch towards the British position might have been predictable, the support of Angela Merkel was rather more unexpected. Although it was believed that she would not support an increase, her overall rejection of the proposed 971 billion EUR comes as a surprise. It is understood that the German Chancellor was furious with both Van Rompuy and José Manuel Barroso for their efforts to try and isolate Britain and create a 26 against 1 situation which would have forced Cameron to play his veto. Merkel was desperate to avoid that scenario which would force EU leaders into chaotic negotiations every year over a new annual budget.

Subsequently, Van Rompuy had informally proposed to lower the 971 billion budget to 940 billion EUR, in accordance with the so-called “payment ceiling”. The Payment Ceiling covers the funds the EU would redistribute in reality rather than the higher “commitment ceiling” which is seen as the maximum Member States would be committed to giving. However, the UK called for a further cut of 50 billion whereas the Dutch demanded an even bigger cut of 100 billion EUR. Although Merkel was eager to see additional cuts on the initial Van Rompuy proposal, she nevertheless viewed the British and the Dutch cuts as going too far.

Tough negotiations in sight of the next Summit.

It is clear that Merkel saw her role as the central mediator in balancing the conflicting interests between the rich “contributor” nations and the poorer “recipient” nations. However, by supporting the British government, the German Chancellor is probably looking towards next month’s summit on 13-14 December which aims to make the European Central Bank the new banking supervisor for the Eurozone. This policy is strongly objected to by the British who demand certain concessions from the 17 countries of the Eurozone. Merkel may believe that by supporting the British over the EU budget, she will get more flexibility from them over the ECB proposals. If this does not turn out to be the case, she can withdraw her relative support for the British in the next budget negotiations. As such, this new “Berlin-London” axis does not appear to be a shared ideological euroscepticism but based on pure political pragmatism by the German Chancellor who hopes to secure the involvement and participation of the British in both the 7-year EU budget and in reforming the ECB and thus safeguard the unity of the Union.

European leaders will have to find a consensus before the next emergency budget summit which is expected to take place in the New Year. To not do so would oblige the EU leaders to revert to more expensive annual budgets or, worst, to the departure of some of the Members from the Union.

The last three years of the Eurozone crisis and the tensions and resentment generated by austerity has led to unprecedented doubt in the European institutions. Yet the founding ideas of the Union still exist (as demonstrated by this year’s Nobel prize award) and the potential of the Single Market is as important as ever for each and every Member State. National governments must agree to a 7 year EU budget which would alleviate certain worries surrounding the future of the European Union and establish a financial and policy framework upon which to build future European economic recovery.

Inventors invade Brussels for Innova 2012

dbasic — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 12:31:00 +0100

By Agata Olbrycht

Between 15 and 17 November, Brussels Expo opened its stalls to exhibitors and guests for Innova 2012 where 4,000 professionals from 15 countries presented over 300 innovations. Cafebabel Brussels went along to check it out and found everything from innovative wind energy converters to newfangled frites bags for the country's favourite junk food...

Brussels is the perfect hub for exhibitors and fairs, and a perfect meeting ground for Europe's innovators. The Innova event is an opportunity for regional bodies, SMEs, start-ups, enterprises and colleges to get to know each other, exchange ideas and practices and possibly begin fruitful collaborations.

Despite being dominated by exhibitors from Belgium, the event also hosted guests from Poland, France, Russia, Serbia, Hungary, Saudi Arabia and Georgia and featured serious business mixed with fun ideas. Strict-looking men in suits recommended the best engineering and scientific schools in Central and Eastern Europe, while other equally serious-looking researchers talked passionately about their innovations, some of them gathering good-sized crowds. Guests were invited to learn about a wind energy tower that permits the utilisation of wind energy and transforms it into mechanical or electrical energy by coupling a fixed energy, or about a device for formation of music and audiolines for music therapy. There were also explanations of the circular transportation systems for big cities and high-tech devices for ion light therapy, which can improve health and metabolism.

At ‘Innovation avenue’ , devoted to ingenious and playful inventions, guests were welcomed by Lego-like colorful constructions – the new conceptual learning game made up of plastic click-together ABS parts. Moving along, a coach taught how to follow and improve tennis moves on the court while using the laser tennis racket’, a device equipped with emission means of luminous laser beams that form luminous spots on targets placed on the floor or on the wall, giving the 'student' very precise reference points. Then there was the ‘Clic-clac house’, a foldable building of 16 square meters for use by disadvantaged populations, the homeless, disaster victims, and the army. Further on, guests examined the ZENERATOR, a small object made of the synthetic crystal that shows the movement of luminous waves used for relaxation purposes...

Elsewhere ‘Starters avenue’, a dedicated section for innovative start-ups, guests were treated to such innovative marvels as the odourless toilet...There were also opportunities to participate in workshops. Guests were spotted gathered around tables enthusiastically discussing the role emotions play in work (emotional business), creative writing on innovation, or kinesiology and tools for learning how to handle our emotions and to anchor ourselves without dispersing ourselves.

And finally, a little treat for the innovation-hungry, and downright hungry: an innovative bag for fries that features little gaps on the sides and the bottom of the bag to let the air pass through, making the legendary Belgian fries even fresher, tastier and less loaded down with fat, plus a special eco-friendly and hygienic sauce-holder. And if that is not the highlight, we don't know what is...

Photo credit: Olek Mielczarek

Salman Rushdie’s autobiography: a plea for free speech

dbasic — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 10:59:00 +0100

By Florent Verfaillie

Salman Rushdie was in Brussels on 13th November to present his autobiography “Joseph Anton: A Memoir”. This was the opportunity for an author knowing the difficulties and responsibilities it implies to reiterate his fight for free speech. Meeting with an entertaining speaker who doesn’t keep his mouth shut.

Salman Rushdie was in Brussels last Wednesday to present his autobiography ‘Joseph Anton: A Memoir”. The Indian-born British writer was applauded by a full theatre in the prestigious Henry le Boeuf Hall of the BOZAR centre for fine Arts. This event was one of those were Belgians – both French- and Dutch-speaking – mingle in the audience with expats, and where you need three languages to follow the welcoming introduction. Switching from French to Dutch and to English, there were of course few – if any – repetitions from one language to another. Typisch Belgisch!

The warm welcome Rushdie received made palpable the sense of privilege the audience had to attend one of his public appearances, still rare a few years ago. When commenting on the number of spectators, the author hailed the public, derisive: “Don’t you have anything else to do?” The first laugh follows and set the tone. As the discussion goes on with the interviewer, you quickly understand Rushdie’s sense of humour is not only a personality’s feature: it is a way of life. It obviously helped him a lot when facing hard living conditions over a decade.

Salman Rushdie was sentenced to death in 1989 by a fatwa of Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini for his book “The Satanic Verses”, which was accused of being against Islam, the Prophet and the Koran. The threat was extremely serious, as Rushdie’s Japanese translator was murdered, and attacks on both his Italian translator and Norwegian publisher were nearly fatal. Protected by the British Intelligence, Rushdie had to live hidden and to move from one secret place to another under constant police surveillance. Nothing glamorous, really. As he was asked for an alias, he came up with ‘Joseph Anton’, a conflation of his favourite writers: Joseph Conrad and Anton Chekov. They were about to give him a new identity for a while. Somehow, this turned Rushdie into a fictional character as well.

‘Joseph Anton’ is a story about how does a writer live with his family under threat over a decade and feel it into his flesh. About how he does share intimacy with bodyguards, carry on working, stand criticisms and struggle for support, fall in and out of love, stumble and learn to fight back. The book is composed very much like a novel, in plain prose and in the third person. Although bizarre, the “he” feature is to give Rushdie some mental space to maintain a critical distance from himself. This choice finds its coherence in a book handling with the split into several selves: Rushdie vs Anton, the private vs the public man, the writer vs the character.

Rushdie’s autobiography is written with much frankness and honesty, as well as raw emotions and hasty judgements. It is nonetheless an essential work of self-affirmation. He aims to correct the ‘tabloid-constructed’ misunderstandings about his position and role: an immigrant novelist who came from a former-colony and with a Muslim background and who settled down into the West as an atheist. This journey taught him who he was and wanted to be. It also tells the reader why it was important to him to defend his honour as a writer, presenting his choices and position in a comprehensive and narrative way.

Salman Rushdie's voice is soft and measured, his choice of words precise and pleasurable. He is physically quiet and passive. But Rushdie is a fighter, and obviously enjoys fronting up to anyone on an intellectual battleground. He actively rejects fear and anger and pleads for fun and de-dramatisation as a crucial necessity in an open and tolerant society. When asked if he has provoked regrettable violent reactions, he replies: “It doesn’t mean we have to give up this idea that in an open society people often disagree with you. And that has to be ok”.

As he ironically stresses it, living in captivity in order to defend freedom has something absolutely grotesque. But he insists: “Literature is the voice of freedom”. After recent protests in Muslim countries against an insulting movie, ‘Joseph Anton’ will certainly find some echoes and foster the debate about free speech.

Despite his deep opposition to univocal interpretations, the author is nevertheless and conscientiously trying to sell his own as a truth. In particular about what remains his own version about his life-story. Writing from the heart can hardly be enough. This suggestion should sound to our readers as an open call for criticisms. As a provocation for another living debate.

(Video of the conference)

Autumn in Brussels: time to discover music!

dbasic — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:57:00 +0100

By Marnix de Witte

Every music lover in Brussels knows Autumn Falls. This one-week festival across the center of Brussels gives (undiscovered) bands a chance to convince their crowd….The third edition starts today and lasts until the 2nd of December.

Autumn Falls is organised by the European booking agency and Benelux promoter Toutpartout. It started as a three-day festival in 2010 and was extended to a six-days in 2011. Today, this contemporary music journey lasts a whole week.

Autumn Falls is a festival of discovery. The bands get the opportunity to convince an audience that is open-minded to new music, and generally unaware of what they will listen to. Surprises are plenty; every year bands impress and shortly afterwards break through…think about Metronomy, Beach House, Low, Pinback and SX.

Except for the music, Autumn Falls is the perfect opportunity to discover the best music venues across Brussels. The festival takes place in the AB, Botanique, Atelier 210, VK, Magasin 4, Maison des Musiques and Madame Moustache. All diverse and characteristic venues.

Which bands are on the menu this week? Cafebabel explored the music on offer and links you to one of their songs:

Sandro Perri / Do Make Say Think / Eric Chenaux / Julianna Barwick / Mad About Mountains / Lower Dens / Kiss the Anus of a Black Cat / Hundred Waters / Jens Lekman / Ravens and Chimes / The Soft Moon / Lumerians / Three Mile Pilot / Joe Gideon & The Shark / Chris Cohen / Ty Segall / White Fence / SX / Stubborn Heart / Mala In Cuba (live) / Father John Misty / Shearwater / Dark Dark Dark / Deerhof / Why? / DIIV / Clinic / BRNS / Otto Von Schirach / Alec Empire / Great Lake Swimmers / Dusted / Zammuto / Mombu / Gentle Veincut / Castus / Swindle

Music that caught your interest? Or prepared to take a blind guess? You’ll find the schedule here.

Autumn Falls starts today until the 2 December.