Eurozone: Calling Athens...

We continue to explore the euroblogs through the multilingual aggregator Bloggingportal.eu. After possible exitus letalis, more Greek dra(ch)ma, evaporating marble(s) and the need for democratic and robust government at European level, we turn to new entries about the crisis in the eurozone.


Losing appeal?

Is the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) worth its triple-A rating, asks Gli Euros (in Italian).


USA in G20

Pierre Buhler on Telos greeted the G20 leaders to Cannes by reminding us of the partisan warfare concerning the federal deficit and debt in the USA, as well as the underlying lack of competitiveness in the real economy. The indebted US projects less power globally (in French).


Calling Athens...

The Open Europe blog wondered who is actually running Greece, given the conflicting signals, which the blog followed at different times during the day.

Few options for Europe on the Greek vote, says Don Melvin, since the mere existence of the referendum on the horizon will keep uncertainty high in the markets.

Martin Nangle writes that Greece must not be coerced into a resentful position to save Brussels pride. Brussels should acknowledge that the mood of citizens is fast shifting towards direct action, social unrest and possibly revolution.

According to Hara Kouki and Antonis Vradis the Greek people are left with absolutely nothing to hope for from the mainstream political scene. After exemplifying growing misery, the authors highlight grassroots refusal to put up with austerity, which is quickly gaining momentum. In other words, civil disobedience on the rise.

Papandreou seems to have at least the Spanish socialist Carlos Carnero in his corner, with a link to the letter of the Greek PM presented in Publico.es (both in Spanish).


Greece and eurosphere

Erkan's Field Diary dedicates one of his judicious roundup posts to the deepening Greek crisis and the broader eurosphere.



Ralf Grahn

Eurosphere, Euroblog Meet-up and Bloggingportal.eu

Here are some thoughts about the Eurosphere (European public space) after the Euroblog Meet-up initiated by Joe Litobarski, leading to some suggestions concerning limited, but concrete action to improve Bloggingportal.eu by attracting new blogs with a European perspective.


Afterthoughts

Reading this the morning after, the Google Wave discussion got started when I was already at sleep.

I think there were some good ideas, which can grow into something. Nosemonkey's suitably realistic thoughts are a counterweight to pie in the sky.

Social get-togethers between eurobloggers, through Wave, Twitter, Skype and face to face are all good to promote a sense of community.

Small, but concrete

With regard to practical work and possible achievements, I wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to do something limited and concrete, rather than create new systems. (These will appear, if the euroblogosphere becomes bigger and more dynamic.)

"Keep it simple, stupid!" tells me that Bloggingportal.eu already exists, and that there is room for new blogs from the EU member states.

Since the idea behind Bloggingportal.eu is to promote discussion on EU themes, or with a European dimension, one natural ally would be to ask the European organisations (Young Federalists, European Movement) to spread the word:

They may have more official blogs, but there are also bloggers among their activists and members.

In my view, these are natural links between national and pan-EU debates on European issues.


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There is nothing wrong in presenting and discussing the EU institutions:

First of all, I'm guilty as charged, and there are considerable numbers of students engaged in various EU studies (politics, law, economics, communication).

Secondly, the general lack of knowledge about how the European Union is set up and how it works is astounding. (Otherwise the anti-EU part of British media would never get away with their distortions, and the comments sections would not look like crude caricatures of war time propaganda.)

But there are European aspects to practically every area of life, and almost all national level organisations have someone who is engaged with EU level questions or EU projects.

The list is almost endless: Sports, culture, education, business, women...
EU structural funds, agriculture (CAP), fisheries, research, student exchange (Erasmus)...


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Languages: Someone wrote that all these discussions lead to the issue of languages. Why make it into a problem? Bloggingportal.eu already is multilingual.

(By the way, the greatest unrecognised language in the EU is Russian [not unimportant outside, either]. Could it be added?)

The bloggers themselves are free to choose. Some want to discuss in English (or one of the more widely spoken languages), others in their mother tongue.

I think it's a great system, offering freedom of choice.

If Bloggingportal.eu manages to attract more bloggers, in various languages, the readers have the opportunity to read blogs in other languages, too, which means crossing borders mentally.

Many times more people are able to read one or more foreign languages, than are able to write for publication.

There are also about 10 million intra-EU expats, who live in cross-border situations culturally.

Even if there are expat forums, which are country-specific, I think there would be room for bloggers who specialise in EU level issues related to living in another member state.

More generally, when comparing the host of EU Council meetings these last days and the serious under-reporting in national media (except for a few headline-grabbing dramas) and in blogs, I find that there is an awful lot of room for blogs with some sort of focus on a certain policy area, or even an aspect of one.


Questions and suggestions

1. Should Bloggingportal.eu do something to attract more bloggers, from different EU member states?

2. If so, what can be done?

3. If something can be done: How?




Ralf Grahn

Bloggers of Europe, unite!

I, Resolved to add a few thoughts to the Euroblog Meet-up initiated by Joe Litobarski,


Drawing inspiration from the historic rallying call of the Communist Manifesto,


Recalling the amusement provided by the creation and propagation of the EUSSR myth,


Confirming my attachment to the vision of a vibrant Eurosphere,


Confirming my attachment to the languages of the European Union,


Desiring to encourage bloggers to read and discuss European issues of common concern,


Desiring to facilitate communication by and with EU citizens living in another member state,


Resolved to promote unity in diversity among Eurobloggers,





Have, with the sole voice of a citizen, in good and due form, decided to call on organisations and individuals active in European affairs to list their blogs on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu.




Done at leisure on the fourth day of December in the year two thousand and nine.


List of signatory reproduced: Ralf Grahn, EU citizen

Giant Panda and Eurosphere

Does the Giant Panda exist? It may be a conservation reliant endangered species, but few would doubt its existence.

How about the Eurosphere, aka European public sphere, or a small part of it, the Euroblogs?

Euroblogs exist: Bloggingportal.eu aggregates 487 of them.



Joe Litobarski does not doubt that there are Euroblogs, he just asks Where is the European Blogosphere? (26 November 2009). A key phrase from the discussion is "Can we look beyond our national audience?”.

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The Giant Panda needs conservation, the Euroblogs conversation. Both exist, but we need more of them.


Ralf Grahn



P.S. Do you find EUSSR myths fascinating? Are we EU citizens worth a better European Union? Educate yourself; there are already 487 Euroblogs aggregated on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. On most of the blogs you can comment and discuss our common European future.