There used to be a time when science was conducted to gain insight and knowledge, and for ‘the greater good’. But the EU only really acts on fear of economically lagging behind: ‘EU to challenge MIT with new institute‘. How will the Barroso Family ever achieve their Lisbon agenda when all they do is [...]

According to a BBC article, I’m smack in the middle of one of Europe’s pollution hotspots. Where I live, the air contains large quantities of nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, sulphur dioxide, small particles, as well as tropospheric ozone. That doesn’t sound too healthy. It certainly doesn’t sound like a place where I’d like my children to [...]

So the European Union is in crisis. My wife finds my gloating inappropriate, since it is in no small part owed to the far right that the dog was killed. For her, the European Constitution represents a small step towards European unity. I see no such unity, but rather a constant maneuvering by the Leisure [...]

EU leaders dream up secret ‘plan B’ to rescue treaty if French say Non

While our own government has been parroting the neo-liberal dribble of how cutting taxes for businesses and cutting spending on welfare will revive our economy, the Nordic countries, owners of the best welfare system in the world–and the highest taxes–have been doing rather well with clever policies like investing in education.
Why Nordic states lead the [...]

Since our Belgian government once again proved to be too chicken to hold a referendum on the Constitutional Treaty, our best hope of killing the dog is arguably the French.

Free trade working too well
It’s a race to see who can impose the restrictions first: China or the EU/USA. So if you are wondering why your clothes were cheaper for a couple of months before they became more expensive again, this is the answer: because countries are competing over trade barriers, not on products and [...]

We no need yo stink’n guns.
Chinese officials have suggested their country has no money and appetite for “useless” and “expensive” European weapons.
A nice spit in the face of European hypocrisy, and very well put, courtesy of Li Zhaoxing. You have to hand it to those Chinamen, they have a great sense of humor.

Against all reason, and apparently also against their own rules, the Council Presidency declared the Software Patent Agreement to have been adopted. Despite the fact that the EU Parliament had already rejected it.
There is no economic evidence that software patents work, quite on the contrary, they actually damage independent developers and stifle creativity and technological [...]

Commission moves to calm services row
Mr Whitehead believes the country of origin principle will survive the rewrite but with many safeguards written into the law and that areas such as healthcare would be fully exempted.
So, we can have Polish cleaners, but no Polish nurses. No, sir, don’t want those unqualified Polish sticking thermometers up my [...]

IMF Executive Board Concludes 2004 Article IV Consultation with Belgium

This Barroso character, I don’t trust him one bit. First he’s rejecting the European Parliament’s request for a renewed referral of the much-hated Software Directive on patents. Now he’s going to take some time to re-write (read: obfuscate) the country-of-origin principle, presently written into the services directive. What to expect from a former prime-minister of [...]