Croatia’s 1st MEP Election
Only 20 per cent of Croatia’s eligible voters turned out for the first European Parliament election in the country’s history on 14 April. Croatia voted on their first 12 European Parliament seats and will officially join the EU on 1 July. Political analyst Davor Djenero attributed the low turnout to a “weak campaign” to inform [...]
The Truth About Legalising Drugs
Three years after decriminalisation, Prague is slowly but surely replacing Amsterdam as the mecca of Europe’s drug scene. “Cannabis has become somewhat of a complimentary item for a lot of tourists,” says Karolina Korvasova, a part-time guide. “Dumplings, beer, marijuana – this seems to be the young man’s tourist diet here in Prague.” In January [...]
EU-Parliamentarians: It’s Time to Vote ‘No’!
It’s time the European Parliamentarians finally take a stand against their national leaders. This was the advice of Helmut Schmidt, otherwise no fan of commotion and coups d’état, to the social democratic MEPs in Brussels in early December, in a moving appearance with Jacques Delors. If the members could vote down the miserly EU-budget, [...]
Private Property: Is Water the Price of Union?
Austrians love their water. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 94% of Austrians say they are satisfied with water quality. When restaurant owners attempted to charge for tap water in 2009, it was cultural blasphemy in a city where water, fed by Alpine springs, is seen as a birthright. When Austria held [...]
Renate Brauner: Keynesian in the Rathaus
In late February, the West and South sides of the Rathaus were still wrapped in gauze to contain the dust from sandblasting the final layers of soot built up over the decades and the repairing of weather damage to the 1883 city hall’s magnificent Gothic stonework. This is phase one of a major, 11 stage [...]
Eclipse of British Reason
When placed under too much strain, chains tend to break at the weakest link. Figuratively speaking, the same applies to the European Union. So most assumed that any process of EU disintegration would start in the crisis-ridden European south (Greece first and foremost). But, as British Prime Minister David Cameron has now demonstrated, the European [...]
Lincoln Has Lessons for the EU
Allan Janik wrote recently of lessons for the EU from American history, examining the Colonial era, but Steven Spielberg’s new film Lincoln (see Film Events, page 25 in Feb 2013 TVR) moves our focus to the mid-19th century. What can Austrians gain from Hollywood’s take on a “dead president”? This man, and his super-human feats [...]
EU vs. Facebook: Fighting for the Right to be Forgotten
Like most of us, Max Schrems is careful about his online persona: “At the beginning I was like: ‘no pictures’,” said the 25-year-old student who has become a prominent figure in an on-going privacy rights dispute with the social networking platform Facebook. Since he founded “Europe-v-Facebook”, the campaign has become a precedent in the European [...]
Should Germany Exit the Euro?
Last summer, financier George Soros urged Germany to agree to the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism, calling on the country to “lead or leave.” Now he says that Germany should exit the euro if it continues to block the introduction of eurobonds. Soros is playing with fire. Leaving the eurozone is precisely what the [...]
CommentaryMay 11, 2013No CommentRead More