Published on by Ronny Patz | Comments Off on Lobbying EP rapporteurs through committee secretariats
In a very interesting academic paper titled “Do rapporteurs receive independent expert policy advice? Indirect lobbying via the European Parliament’s committee secretariat“* the author David Marschal concludes on the basis of structured interviews and questionnaires that: “Secretariat officials play an often important role in the legislative process, but, rather than serving as the source of independent policy expertise, they act […]
Published on by Ronny Patz | Comments Off on Really, Commissioner Potocnik, 72 billion Euro a year?
In a recent speech, EU Commissioner Janez Potocnik claimed that: “A report we have just published calculates that full implementation of the existing waste legislation by Member States would […] save € 72 billion a year “ This figure looked a little ridiculous to me, so I mocked it on Twitter and soon after got a […]
Just in time for the upcoming Cyprus EU Council Presidency, the EU Court of Auditors issued a special report on EU assistance to the Turkish Cypriot community. In fact, between February 2006 and September 2011, a total of 292.3 million Euro was planned and 259.4 million were actually contracted, 178.8 million Euro of which have […]
One year ago, the Cyprus government ran a competition for its presidency logo, with the winner being promised 6000 Euros. According to Cyprus Mail, the competition had to be restarted after allegations of nepotism. In mid-May, after the final logo was unveiled, there were media reports that the logo looked very similar to a raw […]
Published on by Ronny Patz | Comments Off on My presentation at the Personal Democracy Forum Brussels 2012
Some people have asked me whether I could share my presentation from the Personal Democracy Forum in Brussels yesterday. That’s done. For all those who like to read all the posts written in preparation for this talk, click here. And be aware that my “EU foam” metaphor used in a previous post and during the […]
Soon Cyprus – the island presidency – will take over the EU Council Presidency from Denmark. And they have proposed a bloggers meeting on 12 July in Brussels, a meeting that should bring together bloggers from Cyprus and other European bloggers, as well as introduce the Presidency team to them. I think this is a […]
In November 2011, I submitted a complaint to the EU Ombudsman because the Commission failed to provide me with documents I needed for my research. The Commission finally provided me with the documents in late December, but I only got partial access and it became clear that they failed to follow the procedures properly. Hence, […]
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 […]
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 […]
Published on by Ronny Patz | Comments Off on The brown Council: EU member states refuse environmental reforms
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 […]
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