Jorge Valero with Alexandra Brzozowski
The Brief, powered by BP – Building Ursula’s platform
The first question any candidate faces when running for office is why they decided to join the race. The second question is what platform of voters will help them get the job.
The Brief – The ‘Super-Commissioners’
In spite of EU leaders’ opposition to measures to make the Commission more functional, the rise of three ‘super-commissioners’ to support the next EU executive chief would improve Europe’s response to the turbulent world. The death of the Spitzenkandidaten process...
The Brief – A heated European summer
Italy, Brexit and the trade war top the list of concerns for decision makers and pundits across Europe. The situation will likely get worse on each of these fronts over the next few weeks. Another perfect storm is looming just...
The Brief – Make Europe ‘sticky’ again
European decision-makers and civil servants agree: Europe still has some work to do to improve how it communicates. Despite recent improvements, the EU machinery must make its messages “sticky” or it will fail to win the hearts and minds of...
The Brief – Back to school
This month I went back to my old school. Exactly twenty years after I left, I was invited to talk to my six-year-old niece and her classmates about the joys and miseries of being a journalist and, of course, about Europe.
The Brief – Alone in the dark
As Europe is nearing the end of an extremely turbulent mandate, the bloc is starting to realise just how much ground has been lost in preparing for a brave new economic world.
The Brief – The shameful death of Europe’s Google tax
The celebrated attempt to set up a EU digital tax died today at the Council’s table. Killed by the questionable unanimity rule required on taxation, Europe lost another opportunity to become a global rule maker.
The Brief – Removing the EU’s straitjacket
The Venezuelan crisis is the latest example of how the unanimity rule continues to hamper European leadership on issues like foreign affairs and taxation. Is it time to smash national vetoes to make Europe greater… again?
The Brief, powered by Metal Packaging Europe – Just like Blade Runner, it always rains
Killer robots, sex robots, huge video ad panels and flying cars. The world may well be closer to looking like the dark melting pot Blade Runner imagined for this 2019, aside from intergalactic battles and constant rain. But this year we won’t be worried about robots going rogue, at least for now, but who will become their almighty master.
The Brief – The fall of Merkel, the end of the ‘listener’?
Angela Merkel’s unexpected announcement about the end of her political career, at least in Germany, was followed by ‘end of era’ reflections about the troubling future facing Europe without the continent’s ‘anchor of stability’. But for your Brief’s author, an altogether different picture came to mind.
The Brief – Enemies of Europe
Economic matters matter again, as the Italian government wants to showcase its battle against the European Commission over its spending plan as a renewed European crusade against austerity. But who are the real enemies of Europe?
The Brief, powered by AmCham EU – Sweating a way out of the pit
Ten years after the Great Recession, the social scars of the crisis are slowly starting to heal. But the youngest generation is entering the labour market in troubling conditions while Europe remains unprepared for the future of work.
The Brief, sponsored by the European Parliament – A Swedish lesson
Europe woke up on Monday after another crucial election testing the rise of populism across the bloc. The preliminary results in Sweden produced no clear winner and mixed results for left-wing parties, the welfare state and Europe.
The Brief, sponsored by Danfoss – A JEDI to disrupt Europe
In the midst of a new revolution, innovation is no longer a minor issue for policymakers. At stake is not only what national ‘champions’ will control in cutting-edge sectors but what countries will become the new empires in a digital world where it really is winner-takes-all.
The Brief – Platform wars
The lack of a European ‘demos’ is seen as one of the obstacles for the EU project’s road to progress. But a pan-European discourse has finally taken hold on the continent, paradoxically not to take the European dream forward but to dismantle it once and for all.
The Brief – The hopeless deepening of the euro
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte recently compared the EU to a giraffe. But for the author of this Brief, our Union rather looks like an old lady (or man if you wish) with heart problems, who ignores her doctor’s recommendations and instead focuses on her fictional back pain.
The Brief – The price of a hollow eurozone budget
More than a year after Emmanuel Macron won the presidential elections in France, and following three months of arduous negotiations between Paris and Berlin, the French president finally got his trophy: a specific budget for the eurozone.
The Brief -Votes: boats or wallets?
As the tenth anniversary of the fall of Lehman Brothers approaches, politicians can finally sigh with relief - Europe is out of the woods. For the first time in more than a decade, a majority of Europeans have a positive opinion on the situation of their national economy (49% versus 47%), according to a Eurobarometer published on Thursday (14 June).
The Brief, powered by Yara – A mission-oriented narrative for Europe
Horizon Europe, the EU’s research programme, has been one of the biggest winners of the EU’s long-term budget after 2021. But it’s not all about money (even if we're talking about €100 billion here). Science needs a mission, Commissioner Carlos Moedas told reporters on Thursday.
The Brief, powered by 2025AD -The unglamourous victory of the institutions
Europeans, especially Spaniards and Italians, must be wrapping up this working week with a sense of dizziness.