Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.
“Freedom isn’t something to take for granted” – CDU #EUelections2019 video shows how non-UK nations often see the link between WWII and the EU: facebook.com/CDU/videos/227…
Wed 22 May 2019 · on Twitter
Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.
Happy Europe Day 🇪🇺 – time to get stuck in #EP2019 thistimeimvoting.eu/?recruiter_id=…
Thu 9 May 2019 · on Twitter
Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.
« les électeurs les plus radicaux préféreront toujours l’original à la copie » lecho.be/opinions/edito…
Tue 30 Apr 2019 · on Twitter
I’ve managed one of these (Bernina Pass – in heavy fog!) but also one that isn’t on the list but should be: Bar to Belgrade in Montenegro and Serbia. theguardian.com/travel/2019/ma…
Sun 5 May 2019 · on Twitter
Today I’m at a conference on 21st century democracy (#SoU2019) in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, specifically in the Salone del 500. I love the historical continuities and discontinuities of talking about that here.
The room was first constructed under religious fanatic Savonarola, decorated by Leonardo to glorify the Florentine Republic then repainted by the Medici dukes when the palace became their principal residence after they destroyed the Republic.
It feels like civic and local democracy, and some of those civic republican traditions, are a better starting point for the reconstruction of European democracy than the narrative of nation-states.
Going back to David Runciman on @TPpodcast_ the other week, this feels like a day where the long-story, medium-story and short-story democracy are close together.
It’s also positive (says this eternal optimist) that the conversations in the last two days have not been “we’re doomed” but “we’ve got to do things differently”. Yes. The momentum is building, but institutions like the EU, and organisations like ours, still aren’t ready.
We need sustained action and support to grow skills and capacity, to open civic space, and to ensure that the offer to citizens isn’t just about the what Europe is going to do for them, but how Europe is going to do it. #sou2019
Originally posted as a thread of 6 tweets on Twitter on 3 May 2019. View the original thread.
Personal view of #florencedebate before my battery finally dies. Much better than I expected. Genuine interaction and debate rather than position-taking (though obviously plenty of that too). Not sure how it came across down the lens but in person it was
Engaging and interesting. Verhofstadt underperformed my expectations – too much inside baseball. Timmermans was clearly a class act but also careful about what he promised, which makes sense but made him seem flat compared to some of the grander visions.
Weber overperformed my expectations and I left thinking for the first time he might do ok as President on a personal leadership level. Keller was good and passionate but sat back on Green core issues and counterattacked rather than playing outside her comfort zone.
Timmermans was the winner for me, but I expected that and I am a pro-European progressive. I left wanting him more visionary rather than hedging and trimming, and thinking that Weber might have been a bit underrated, including by me.
On the issues, carbon tax for EU spending was surprisingly popular, climate change is still not being taken seriously enough as a policy challenge across the board, democracy and rule of law were underplayed – but you’d expect me to say that.
Thanks to @MESandbu @ftbrussels and @EuropeanUni, a good evening.
Originally posted as a thread of 6 tweets on Twitter on 2 May 2019. View the original thread.
Moment of being impressed that all four candidates are debating fluently in their second (or third or nth) language. Chapeau! #florencedebate
That said it would almost be harder for a native English speaker to join them (I know this from my public speaking) because you have to work hard on *not* using colloquial phrases or complicated structures and metaphors.
(I do not do well at that)
Originally posted as a thread of 3 tweets on Twitter on 2 May 2019. View the original thread.
“Redemocratising Europe” question from the floor at #florencedebate
Weber: as commission president will put all proposals from the Parlt in a quasi-automatic process that gives effective legislative initiative to the EP.
Verhofstadt: transnational lists, Parliament needs legislative initiative but also tax-raising powers.
Keller: all of the above plus European council transparency and rule of law in member states. #Florencedebate
Originally posted as a thread of 4 tweets on Twitter on 2 May 2019. View the original thread.
Now @ManfredWeber – why do I want this job in a crisis. I’m 46 and the first generation who can said they’ve lived their whole lives in peace and freedom. We have to defend that.
We must practice democracy – parliamentary democracy, which I can do all the better by being a President who has emerged from the Parliament.
And finally @guyverhofstadt – explaining he’s not a #Spitzenkandidat and that ALDE is going to change. Arguing for direct election of Commission president via transnational list. [this feels quite inside baseball compared to the others]
“Ever since Brexit everyone is saying ‘we’re not as stupid as the Brits’” says @guyverhofstadt #Florencedebate #diplomacymasterclass
Originally posted as a thread of 4 tweets on Twitter on 2 May 2019. View the original thread.
Jim Cloos (answering my question on the role of participatory democracy at EU level) says it has to be local and regional first, and based on deliberation that comes from expert evidence. Again, don’t agree – or at least not entirely – but a clear position. #SOU2019
Why don’t I agree? Because elements of participation can be done on European issues at local and regional levels as part of the European policy conversation. There aren’t rigid levels any more.
Moreover that participation at whatever levels depends on the openness and information that have to come from every level of government.
Finally, the multiple levels of delegation that démocratise the European level just don’t work in the modern democratic mindset to give legitimacy. There is a need for more directness (in the sense of participation not referendums) – otherwise the current popularity won’t last.
@AnnMettler and Anthony from @EP_ThinkTank positive about experimentation and most importantly openness.
Originally posted as a thread of 5 tweets on Twitter on 2 May 2019. View the original thread.
Jim Cloos from @EUCouncil arguing that direct democracy is bad for the EU and it’s not the Commission’s job to be close to the citizen. Don’t agree but it’s interesting to have the view set out. #SOU2019
Fair criticisms of #spitzenkandidaten system: the President has no power to select his team, and Commission can only propose not do [though this is true in a way in the US as well]
Risking the old legitimacy of long-term expertise and the general interest for new legitimacy of direct election is a bad bet, says Jim Cloos. Nation states are where solutions to the crisis are to be found.
(This is an eloquent defence of the past and a criticism of the incompleteness of the present, but it’s not a plan for the future if all you’re doing is going back).
It’s not undemocratic to use codecision. It works and brings all The European political forces together. [yes, but…]
And then an eloquent defence of using citizen assemblies and more participative democracy at EU level. So I don’t understand where he’s coming from.
Originally posted as a thread of 6 tweets on Twitter on 2 May 2019. View the original thread.