The European Council killed the “Spitzenkandidaten” process. It was never great, but a return to the old appointment system will have consequences of its own.
Quoted by The Spirits Business
I was quoted by The Spritis Business following a press release by the Consumer Choice Center on the decision of the Latvian Health Ministry to ban alcohol advertising. You can read my quotes down below, or find the full story here.
[Video] Hands off my cheap flights
Click down below to see my latest video on EU Updates. I’m addressing the proposal for new flight taxes in the European Council.
In its war against disinformation, the European Union goes too far
The European Union wants to do more to combat the spread of fake news. The tools it uses, however, will hand too much power to the government.
One war Europe won’t join
Regular readers of my contributions to this site may have noticed that I am in no way a fan of the European Union. Yet even with the EU, the stopped clock principle applies: they have to be right sometimes. And when Federica Mogherini, high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy, said that everyone […]
A selfie in Pripyat
I experienced some social media backlash after posting a selfie from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Beyond the usual problem of annoying comments, this experience raises questions about our current social media use.
The new “middle ages” for science is on
It’s usually an upper-middle-class elite, living in the metropolitan centre, that shops for organic and GMO-free food items from fancy stores. That’s fine, nobody really has an issue with people paying more for green carton packaging and food with no added health benefits. What is concerning, however, is that, increasingly, the same people want to […]
Credential inflation leads to mass ghost-writing
As students value higher education for credentials instead of knowledge, ghostwriting becomes a lucrative business.
Remember Macron’s new food bill? It backfired as anticipated
Last year, the French legislature passed the “Loi EGalim”, intended to re-establish fairness between food producers and retailers. But none of the “fairness” measures have made anything fairer. Quite the contrary.
Nationalism destroyed Europe in the early 20th century
The far-right in Europe is making gains both at the national and EU level. Donald Trump has made noise about reuniting with self-identified economic nationalist Steve Bannon. It’s a trend that’s not going away, even as we debate the true meaning of nationalism and its political implications. So it’s worth remembering what it did to Europe in the 20th […]
Bill Wirtz 