vendredi, juillet 28, 2006
jeudi, juillet 27, 2006
Europe and Italy
Bruno Bozzetto (March 3, 1938, Milano, Italy) is an Italian cartoon animator, creator of many short pieces, mainly of a political or satirical nature. In recent years Bozzetto has turned his hand to flash cartoons, most notably with the award-winning "Europe and Italy", a witty and graphically elegant commentary on European vs. Italian sociocultural attributes. Wikipediato see the cartoon, please click here:
http://www.infonegocio.com/xeron/bruno/italy.html
suggested by Martin yesterday and by Francesca last year!
vendredi, juillet 21, 2006
Fête Nationale
L.S.,
Things that, thanks to my morning paper, I now know about the Belgian national holiday, and would like to share:
- Today is the 175th anniversary of the swearing in of the Belgian import-king Leopold de Saxe Coburg Gotha. Why they preferred him over the perfectly good king they had before will continue to be a mystery to all of mankind.
- On the national holiday, most people, including the stagiaires, have the day off.
- On the national holiday, parking is free. Please ignore Beglian parking meters to your heart's content today! That is one thing that is really ok about this holiday. I think I'm going to have to import this rule into my country...
- Apart from the two previous points, no one in Belgium cares about the national holiday, except slightly grey haired francophones in Brussels. (And yes, that includes the King. He gave a speach on TV yesterday, like every year. And, like every year, it was really boring.)
- The Flemish and the Walloons each have their own national holidays. The Flemish had theirs last week, on the 11th. Theirs celebrates the serious ass kicking they handed to the French in the Guldensporenslag in 1302. According to wikipedia, in English it is called the Battle of the Golden Spurs, and in French simply the Battaille de Courtrai. Anyway, it's called that because of all the gold spurs from the French knights that were spread all over the ground when they were finished dying. Now that is a reason to celebrate! (Just kidding, of course. I do not condone the use of violence, not even when a French royal army is trying to invade and conquer your country. Obviously, such an event would be a joyous occasion, making an end to barbary and creating a fresh start with a glourious injection of civilization. That is why the Dutch did absolutely nothing when the French, albeit not royal, came walking in in 1795.)
- The Walloons are clearly just being annoying for the hell of it. Instead of celebrating the swearing in of the first King, they celebrate the establishment of the provisionary government on the 27th of September, 1830. I think, if you're going to have a national holiday celebrating the independence, why not stick with the national one?
- The German speaking community have their day on the 15th of November, but no one really cares why.
In any event, today is the big one! There will be a "massive" fire works in the park. My Dutch newspaper of course did not say which park, but I assume it is the park that they named the metro station after.
More importantly, there will be a big music festival ("volksbal") in de Marollen. (Oh, sorry, for the francophones, in Les Marolles.)
Apart from that, I wish those stagiaires who are still in BXL a happy holiday. Take advantage of the chance to sleep in and forget about the heat for a while. After today, there are two days weekend, so you can get as drunk as you like.
Чао,
Martin
Things that, thanks to my morning paper, I now know about the Belgian national holiday, and would like to share:
- Today is the 175th anniversary of the swearing in of the Belgian import-king Leopold de Saxe Coburg Gotha. Why they preferred him over the perfectly good king they had before will continue to be a mystery to all of mankind.- On the national holiday, most people, including the stagiaires, have the day off.
- On the national holiday, parking is free. Please ignore Beglian parking meters to your heart's content today! That is one thing that is really ok about this holiday. I think I'm going to have to import this rule into my country...
- Apart from the two previous points, no one in Belgium cares about the national holiday, except slightly grey haired francophones in Brussels. (And yes, that includes the King. He gave a speach on TV yesterday, like every year. And, like every year, it was really boring.)
- The Flemish and the Walloons each have their own national holidays. The Flemish had theirs last week, on the 11th. Theirs celebrates the serious ass kicking they handed to the French in the Guldensporenslag in 1302. According to wikipedia, in English it is called the Battle of the Golden Spurs, and in French simply the Battaille de Courtrai. Anyway, it's called that because of all the gold spurs from the French knights that were spread all over the ground when they were finished dying. Now that is a reason to celebrate! (Just kidding, of course. I do not condone the use of violence, not even when a French royal army is trying to invade and conquer your country. Obviously, such an event would be a joyous occasion, making an end to barbary and creating a fresh start with a glourious injection of civilization. That is why the Dutch did absolutely nothing when the French, albeit not royal, came walking in in 1795.)
- The Walloons are clearly just being annoying for the hell of it. Instead of celebrating the swearing in of the first King, they celebrate the establishment of the provisionary government on the 27th of September, 1830. I think, if you're going to have a national holiday celebrating the independence, why not stick with the national one?
- The German speaking community have their day on the 15th of November, but no one really cares why.
In any event, today is the big one! There will be a "massive" fire works in the park. My Dutch newspaper of course did not say which park, but I assume it is the park that they named the metro station after.
More importantly, there will be a big music festival ("volksbal") in de Marollen. (Oh, sorry, for the francophones, in Les Marolles.)
Apart from that, I wish those stagiaires who are still in BXL a happy holiday. Take advantage of the chance to sleep in and forget about the heat for a while. After today, there are two days weekend, so you can get as drunk as you like.
Чао,
Martin
jeudi, juillet 20, 2006
mercredi, juillet 19, 2006
36º in Brussels
Do you remember this little sun that was posted on the blog on February…Ohhh it was so nice to see it for a couple of minutes during winter…. Now…ufff…he decided to come…and stay… and Brussels is warmer than ever, according to our correspondent in Sevilla (Ms. De La Plaza Canete), is even warmer than the south of Spain! It just impossible to walk on the street, to stay in the park, to stay at home…or to sleep…fortunately…someone invented the fridge!36 degrees in Brussels…and no holidays in the horizon!!
Well, wish you all good holidays, enjoy and hope to see you sun…ups soon (effects of the heat)…
lundi, juillet 17, 2006
Time for the stupid post of the day: Life after the Council
Dear Consilium trainee,
Where are you, what are you doing???
To see the picture (original size), click here!
Yes we could, and we will ! But not regularly, of course! You can imagine that the reason to do it is not Mr copy/paste. We were motivated by some of your pictures and e-mails.
That’s why, you should send us more photos and information or post it by yourself!
Let us read you your rights first.
1.You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say (or send) can and will be (misquoted and) used against you in the blog. You have the right to be speak to a porte-parole or a lawyer (or both), but it won’t help you. If you cannot afford a lawyer, and you still want to sue us, one will be provided for you at your expense.
Where are you, what are you doing???
© Ricky23
To see the picture (original size), click here!
We wanted to end this blog, when someone said (I’m using his favourite technique: copy/paste).
L.S.,
Do you want to keep using the blog, or do you want to leave it like it is? (...) We could try to turn it into a place where people leave messages as to what they're up to, but I'm not sure if we could manage that. But we could try.
M****
Yes we could, and we will ! But not regularly, of course! You can imagine that the reason to do it is not Mr copy/paste. We were motivated by some of your pictures and e-mails.
That’s why, you should send us more photos and information or post it by yourself!
Let us read you your rights first.
1.You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say (or send) can and will be (misquoted and) used against you in the blog. You have the right to be speak to a porte-parole or a lawyer (or both), but it won’t help you. If you cannot afford a lawyer, and you still want to sue us, one will be provided for you at your expense.
2. You have the right to remain silent, but if you exercise this right, we will use your silence against you, cut your head and paste it to something strange!
samedi, juillet 15, 2006
Houston, we have a problem...
Ministers agree on radical cuts to EU bureaucracy
14.07.2006 - 18:11 CET | By Lucia Kubosova
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU finance ministers on Friday (14 July) approved radical cuts in the European Commission staff budget, following proposals by the Finnish EU presidency.
The presidency argued on Friday that Brussels cannot escape a similar process as is currently under way in many national capitals, which are trying to boost efficiency and reduce bureaucracy.
Helsinki wants to see a cut of 1700 eurocrat jobs over the next seven years which amounts to 8.5 percent of the commission staff - the equivalent of three departments (DGs).
"It can't be that we just have the EU institutions live their own life," commented Ulla-Maj Wideros, the Finnish coordinate minister of finance.
She maintained that despite the cuts, the necessary administrative adjustments linked to EU enlargement would still be secured, with the commission's staff budget rising by 3.4 percent as compared to the 2006 EU budget.
But the EU executive had favoured a budget rise by over 5 percent as the EU is most likely to take in Bulgaria and Romania next year, while there are still obligations to create new posts filled up by newcomers of the bloc's 2004 enlargement.
EU budget commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite said "We can't compare the national administrations with the European institutions as we have some specific rules here such as creating a geographical balance."
Under the plan approved by the ministers, the commission argues it could not recruit anyone in 2007 for 801 posts originally projected for new member state officials - as the package provides €56 million less on salaries than Brussels' draft proposal.
Also, the EU regulator would only be able to replace 41 of the 460 officials from the old member states that will retire next year - a move that particularly angered Spain who voted against the Finnish presidency draft on the 2007 budget.
The budget commissioner added that national bureaucracies tend to eat up around 23 percent, in some states even 28 percent of a countries' budgets - which does not compare to the 5.5 percent taken up by all EU institutions, or 3.4 percent by the commission alone, within the EU budget.
We want more than secretaries
But the new member states point out Brussels uses the enlargement argument to get more cash, while at the same time taking far too much time to fill up the posts allocated for newcomers.
"We have so far supported the commission but now we have a new strategy - to push it a bit as the nationals from the new countries have still not been chosen to take up the middle and higher management positions," one diplomat told the EUobserver.
"There are a number of secretaries or other administrative staff doing photocopying and similar jobs from our countries, but the new member states are more interested to get their people in positions where they can actually influence policies," he added.
Poland - as the biggest country with relatively the highest number of jobs to be offered has actually performed as one of the worst to get its nationals in the commission, with Warsaw expressing its dismay.
Ms Grybauskaite, herself from Lithuania, admitted that the recruitment process for higher posts has been somewhat slower in the past few months, but said the commission is still keen to fulfil its annual target.
But she added it is also the member states' problem - as they are not providing enough well-prepared experts to get the top eurocrat jobs.
Next year's EU budget including the staff issue will be subject to further discussions between the Finnish presidency, the commission and the European Parliament in the autumn, with the parliament also disliking member states' proposed cuts.
© 2006 EUobserver, All rights reserved
14.07.2006 - 18:11 CET | By Lucia Kubosova
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU finance ministers on Friday (14 July) approved radical cuts in the European Commission staff budget, following proposals by the Finnish EU presidency.
The presidency argued on Friday that Brussels cannot escape a similar process as is currently under way in many national capitals, which are trying to boost efficiency and reduce bureaucracy.
Helsinki wants to see a cut of 1700 eurocrat jobs over the next seven years which amounts to 8.5 percent of the commission staff - the equivalent of three departments (DGs).
"It can't be that we just have the EU institutions live their own life," commented Ulla-Maj Wideros, the Finnish coordinate minister of finance.
She maintained that despite the cuts, the necessary administrative adjustments linked to EU enlargement would still be secured, with the commission's staff budget rising by 3.4 percent as compared to the 2006 EU budget.
But the EU executive had favoured a budget rise by over 5 percent as the EU is most likely to take in Bulgaria and Romania next year, while there are still obligations to create new posts filled up by newcomers of the bloc's 2004 enlargement.
EU budget commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite said "We can't compare the national administrations with the European institutions as we have some specific rules here such as creating a geographical balance."
Under the plan approved by the ministers, the commission argues it could not recruit anyone in 2007 for 801 posts originally projected for new member state officials - as the package provides €56 million less on salaries than Brussels' draft proposal.
Also, the EU regulator would only be able to replace 41 of the 460 officials from the old member states that will retire next year - a move that particularly angered Spain who voted against the Finnish presidency draft on the 2007 budget.
The budget commissioner added that national bureaucracies tend to eat up around 23 percent, in some states even 28 percent of a countries' budgets - which does not compare to the 5.5 percent taken up by all EU institutions, or 3.4 percent by the commission alone, within the EU budget.
We want more than secretaries
But the new member states point out Brussels uses the enlargement argument to get more cash, while at the same time taking far too much time to fill up the posts allocated for newcomers.
"We have so far supported the commission but now we have a new strategy - to push it a bit as the nationals from the new countries have still not been chosen to take up the middle and higher management positions," one diplomat told the EUobserver.
"There are a number of secretaries or other administrative staff doing photocopying and similar jobs from our countries, but the new member states are more interested to get their people in positions where they can actually influence policies," he added.
Poland - as the biggest country with relatively the highest number of jobs to be offered has actually performed as one of the worst to get its nationals in the commission, with Warsaw expressing its dismay.
Ms Grybauskaite, herself from Lithuania, admitted that the recruitment process for higher posts has been somewhat slower in the past few months, but said the commission is still keen to fulfil its annual target.
But she added it is also the member states' problem - as they are not providing enough well-prepared experts to get the top eurocrat jobs.
Next year's EU budget including the staff issue will be subject to further discussions between the Finnish presidency, the commission and the European Parliament in the autumn, with the parliament also disliking member states' proposed cuts.
© 2006 EUobserver, All rights reserved
vendredi, juillet 14, 2006
mardi, juillet 11, 2006
The end of the EU
L.S.,
This is it, we're all going to hell. The people will revolt, and burn all the eurocrats at the stakes on Grand Place.
"Why now?", you may ask. Well, the European Court of Justice, in full court setting, decided that, yes, mrs. Edith Cresson was guilty of nepotism, but no, it was not necessary to actually punish her, for example by taking away half her pension as proposed by the Commission and the Advocate-General.
This makes sense to no one. Least of all to anyone actually reading the ruling (case: C-432/04), because the Court discusses the penalty in three one-sentence paragraphs, that don't actually explain why this verdict is punishment enough.
It will be 1789 all over again... Flee Brussels while you still can! Now, for once, I'm happy to be in safe, boring, Enschede!
Martin
This is it, we're all going to hell. The people will revolt, and burn all the eurocrats at the stakes on Grand Place.
"Why now?", you may ask. Well, the European Court of Justice, in full court setting, decided that, yes, mrs. Edith Cresson was guilty of nepotism, but no, it was not necessary to actually punish her, for example by taking away half her pension as proposed by the Commission and the Advocate-General.
This makes sense to no one. Least of all to anyone actually reading the ruling (case: C-432/04), because the Court discusses the penalty in three one-sentence paragraphs, that don't actually explain why this verdict is punishment enough.
It will be 1789 all over again... Flee Brussels while you still can! Now, for once, I'm happy to be in safe, boring, Enschede!
Martin
mercredi, juillet 05, 2006
Olivier's Post from last Thursday
Presentation of the Finnish Presidency:
Servus Österreich, tervetuloa Suomi!
On saturday, one Presidency will go away, another will arrive. Exactly as 9/10 of the stagiaires of the Council, snifff!
Before you skip this subject (because all what follows is anything else than political blah-blah), and just to make you jealous (we were only four stagiaire there, allthough I sent you all a nice e-mail!), the Finnish Presidency is really generous. They gave us pencils, post-it, paper blocs, and a nice book of 170 pages, all in images, about Finland. After the short presentation and Q&A, the gave us a reception in the press bar with wine, orange juice, and salmon, cheese, shrimps, and so on, and so on. I hope you're thinking now "oh no! Why didn't I listen to Olivier's proposal! Why!!!"
OK, I stop being vindictive now.
Here's what the presentation was about: priorities of the Finnish Presidency.
The Finnish representatives look really competents. One of them even speaks French, which is a proof of great refinement (small attack in direction of Martin, héhé, het is alleen een grapje). They are really funny as well.
Servus Österreich, tervetuloa Suomi!
On saturday, one Presidency will go away, another will arrive. Exactly as 9/10 of the stagiaires of the Council, snifff!
Before you skip this subject (because all what follows is anything else than political blah-blah), and just to make you jealous (we were only four stagiaire there, allthough I sent you all a nice e-mail!), the Finnish Presidency is really generous. They gave us pencils, post-it, paper blocs, and a nice book of 170 pages, all in images, about Finland. After the short presentation and Q&A, the gave us a reception in the press bar with wine, orange juice, and salmon, cheese, shrimps, and so on, and so on. I hope you're thinking now "oh no! Why didn't I listen to Olivier's proposal! Why!!!"
OK, I stop being vindictive now.
Here's what the presentation was about: priorities of the Finnish Presidency.
The Finnish representatives look really competents. One of them even speaks French, which is a proof of great refinement (small attack in direction of Martin, héhé, het is alleen een grapje). They are really funny as well.
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