On the 9th of May each year we mark the Anniversay of the Schuman Declaration. This declaration made by French Minister for Foreign Affairs Robert Schuman in 1950, set the basis for what would has become the European Union. 61 years later and with the EU at a crossroad due to the financial crisis and the lessening impact it has around the world, it its only right we look back at the declation which started it all and remind...
Image via Wikipedia Radio Free Europe is reporting that the Government of Belarus has ordered the shut down of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe‘s (OSCE) office in Minsk. This was because it had fulfilled its mandate according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Savinykh. This is on top of the multiple arrests of activists and opponents of the Lukashenka administration. The OSCE has stated that Belarus is still “a considerable way” from holding a democratic vote. The...
Image via Wikipedia The BBC are reporting that Irish officials are in preliminary talks with EU officials about accessing the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) for a bailout. The talk is of a loan between €60-€80 billion to keep Ireland going. The government has yet to deny that it is talks and officials have stated “it makes no sense” according to the BBC. One Eurozone official told Reuters, “Talks are ongoing and European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) money will...
Image via Wikipedia As promised here are the results from today’s elections at the UN General Assembly to fill 5 non-permanent seats at the UN Security Council. The quota in all elections was 127 based on the fact that 182 members were present and voting. African Group: South Africa 182 Asian Group India 187 Latin America Columbia 186 Western Europe and Other States Round 1 Result: Germany 128 Portugal 122 Canada 114 Round 2 Result: Portugal 113 Canada 78...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife A follow on from this mornings post on the Elections to the five non-permament seats on the UN Security Council. The following countries have been elected: African Group: South Africa Asian Group: India Latin America: Columbia Western European and Other States: Germany and Portugal While the African, Asian and Latin American seats were uncontested, the candidates still needed a two-third majority to be elected.Canada, Germany and Portugal were contesting the Western European and...
Image via Wikipedia Today 5 new members of the of United Nations Security Council will be elected. They will replace Uganda, Japan, Mexico, Turkey and Austria. They will be elected for two years. The African seat is not being contested as South Africa as been endorsed by the African Union and is therefore unopposed. For the Asian seat, India is running unopposed and it is the same in Latin America where Columbia is running unopposed. The only election will...
Image via Wikipedia The Telegraph have an excellent article on the latest IMF report – “Will It Hurt? Macroeconomic Effects of Fiscal Consolidation” – and what it means for countries trying to make cuts. In Ireland we cut to quickly. We forgot to bring in a stimulus like other countries. Cuts in budgets mean growth cuts, which will lead to a longer depression. According to the report Southern Europe (Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece) and Ireland could be in...
On Saturday night, European Televoters and Juries voted Germany the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. This is the second time in the History of Eurovision that German of won the contest, see a history on escireland.com. It now falls to the German broadcaster ARD to host the contest next year. Throughout the voting on Saturday night many comments were passed about the fact that Europe was rewarding Germany for bailing them out and to the fact that...
![[Eurovision 2010] Final Preview](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3a/Eurovision_Song_Contest_logo.svg/300px-Eurovision_Song_Contest_logo.svg.png){kind=logo}
Image via Wikipedia So it is time to have a look at the final five entries in this years Eurovision Song Contest. It is time to look at the big 4 and last years winner. I will be marking these out of ten, as there is no prediction to make! Spain – Daniel Diges “Algo pequeñito” (Something Tiny) This is less poppy than Spains normal offering and it is growing on me. I love the circus theme to the...
Image by VitiligoCover via Flickr Two recent events should be highlighted to any politician thinking of using twitter to further their electoral prospects. These two stories do serve as maybe a warning, before the commit. Case 1: Dale v McCarthy. This case surrounds allegations made by the Hon. Kerry McCarthy, MP for Bristol East, about the political magazine Total Politics, which is run by tory supporting blogger Iain Dale. I shall leave it to each of them to tell their story. Iain...
Recent Comments