Author Archives: Ronny Patz

Wenn der Landwirtschaftskommissar auf Facebook reagiert

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Ich bin jetzt nicht so der Agrarpolitikblogger, ich geb’s zu. Aber nachdem ich bei Philip Banse letztens erzählt habe, dass es keine EU-Agrarpolitikbloggerszene gibt, obwohl da 2012 fast 60 Mrd. Euro auf EU-Ebene für ausgegeben werden, dachte ich mir, es wäre mal an der Zeit, mich halt selbst der aktuellen EU-Agrarpolitikreform zu widmen. Ich war [...]

(Updated) Reform of EU fisheries and EU agriculture: Post-Council observations

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I’ve been at the EBD post-Council debriefing in Berlin today (Chatham House rules), trying to get a wider and a more German perspective on the ongoing reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Common Agricultural Policy When watching the beginning of yesterday’s Council debate on the greening of the [...]

The brown Council: EU member states refuse environmental reforms

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Yesterday, the EU Council on Fisheries showed no urge to push for an environmentally sustainable fisheries policy (cf. my life blogging). Today, the EU Council on Agriculture showed no interest in greening the Union’s agriculture. I’m not what one might call a radical environmentalist. In fact, I have more hope in citizens changing their behaviour [...]

CRIS – The Common External Relations Information System

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I study information flows in EU policy-making, and thus am glad about a recent EU Court of Auditors Special Report evaluating an EU Commission information system I haven’t come across: The Common RELEX Information System (CRIS). As far as I understood, this system is basically a management and control system for the planning and operational execution [...]

Live blogging: EU Council on Fisheries, morning session 14 May 2012

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Live blogging of the morning session of the EU Council meeting on Fisheries of 14 May 2012 (background here). May contain mistakes and miss certain aspects! 12:50 END OF LIVE BLOGGING 12:45 Danish Presidency: It is difficult to conclude after this discussions. I have heard the mentioning of the socio-economic dimension. But we have a [...]

Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy: Public debate and secret negotiations

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Today, the EU Council holds its third orientation debate on the reform of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (Council background note). That’s the shiny surface of general ideas and positions staged for the public and live streamed on the internet (from ~11/11.15 am). Tomorrow, the Council’s Working Party* on “Internal and External Fisheries Policy” meets, and [...]

Nachlese zur #rp12: Euroblogger-Wochen in Deutschland (update)

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Vor zehn Tagen hatte ich ihn noch als Beispiel eines deutschen Euro-Bloggers in meinem re:publica 12 Vortrag genannt (Präsentation, S. 13), von dem das Video leider noch nicht online ist.: Heute sprach Lost in EUrope Euroblogger Eric Bonse in einer spannenden 1-stündigen Radiosendung beim Deutschlandradio Wissen übers Eurobloggen, Eurojournalismus und europäische Öffentlichkeit. Damit setzen sich die Euroblogger-Wochen [...]

The European Union mid-term priorities at the United Nations

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The EU Council just published “The European Union mid-term priorities at the United Nations” for “public diplomacy use”. I suppose that this means that there is a second document “for secret diplomacy use”. And indeed, reading through the “priorities” looks like a long shopping list of diplomatic blabla – whether it’s worth anything is hard [...]

The illusion of the EU bubble and the discovery of the EU foam

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Mathew believes in the existence of the EU bubble. For him, EU blogging is just the tiny fraction of overlap between the small world of EU experts and the small world of bloggers. For him, we need to build bridges to escape from the bubble. But all that Mathew needs is to open his eyes. [...]

Travel to Greece, smile, and everything will be fine

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From the EU Commission meeting of 18 April 2012: Barroso “asked each Commissioner to travel to Greece to support the communication actions there and demonstrate visibly not just the Commission’s support for the Greek people but everything it had done to lay the groundwork for inclusive growth and sustainable development in Europe.” This request closed the [...]