The Digital Agenda spearheads the Europe 2020 growth strategy (EU2020) and efforts to achieve a genuine Single Market. One stage was reached 25 May 2011, when new telecoms rules entered into force in the European Union. The Commission offers a brief overview of the new rules on phone, mobile and Internet services in a press release published in 22 official EU languages; here the English version with links to the other languages:
Digital Agenda: new telecoms rules benefit citizens and businesses across Europe; Brussels 23 May 2011 IP/11/622
The press release contains links to more detailed memos in English.
Ralf Grahn
Thursday, 26 May 2011
Saturday, 21 May 2011
Which straitjacket and life jacket for Eurozone Greece?
Yesterday, I collected a few of my blog posts regarding the eurozone crisis and the issue of transparency on Grahnlaw Suomi Finland. The text is in Swedish, but most of the posts and some references are in English: EU-institutionerna mellan stumhet, PR och genuin öppenhet (Portugal och Grekland). (For the rest, you can try Google translation.)
While I am worried that the lack of quality information from the EU institutions is like a gift to demagogues and populists in the weak eurozone countries as well as in the stronger ones, the president of the European Council had taken a different tack the previous day. According to EurActiv, Herman Van Rompuy maintained that the messages given out are part of the problem, not a part of the solution: Special report: Van Rompuy warns leaders not to panic markets (20 May 2011).
As we have noted, credible and up-to-date information from the EU institutions about Greece is especially scarce. Not a word in the Ecofin conclusions on Tuesday.
Regardless of conflicting messages and Van Rompuy's admonishing words the markets follow their own instincts and reasoning.
Greece downgraded
On the Brussels blog (Financial Times), Joshua Chaffin notes that the credit rating agency Fitch Friday downgraded Greece's long term debt by one notch to B+, with a negative outlook. ”Soft” or not, the rating agency takes a dim view of any debt restructuring: Fitch joins chorus for another Greece bailout (20 May 2011).
However, Reuters speaks about a cut by three notches, but records the same B+: Fitch cuts Greek rating, warns over restructuring (20 May 2011).
According to Wikipedia, Fitch's credit rating B+ is in the category Non-investment grade, highly speculative. Three notches below the March rating BB+, Greece is now in the company of Zambia.
Le Monde makes the three-notch drop explicit, by mentioning both the previous BB+ and the new B+ grade: L'agence Fitch dégrade de trois crans la note de la Grèce (20 May 2011).
Bloomberg tells us that the yield on the Greek 10-year bonds rose to 16.6 percent: Fitch Cuts Greece to B+, Says Maturity Extension Is Default (20 May 2011). It is even clearer than before that Greece is outside commercial debt financing of its huge government deficits.
The next moves have to come from the government and society of Greece, followed by the conclusions of the EU-IMF mission, but we still have to wait for guarantees that the EU, including the ECB and the member states, will deliver a combination straitjacket and life jacket able to avoid financial meltdown.
Ralf Grahn
While I am worried that the lack of quality information from the EU institutions is like a gift to demagogues and populists in the weak eurozone countries as well as in the stronger ones, the president of the European Council had taken a different tack the previous day. According to EurActiv, Herman Van Rompuy maintained that the messages given out are part of the problem, not a part of the solution: Special report: Van Rompuy warns leaders not to panic markets (20 May 2011).
As we have noted, credible and up-to-date information from the EU institutions about Greece is especially scarce. Not a word in the Ecofin conclusions on Tuesday.
Regardless of conflicting messages and Van Rompuy's admonishing words the markets follow their own instincts and reasoning.
Greece downgraded
On the Brussels blog (Financial Times), Joshua Chaffin notes that the credit rating agency Fitch Friday downgraded Greece's long term debt by one notch to B+, with a negative outlook. ”Soft” or not, the rating agency takes a dim view of any debt restructuring: Fitch joins chorus for another Greece bailout (20 May 2011).
However, Reuters speaks about a cut by three notches, but records the same B+: Fitch cuts Greek rating, warns over restructuring (20 May 2011).
According to Wikipedia, Fitch's credit rating B+ is in the category Non-investment grade, highly speculative. Three notches below the March rating BB+, Greece is now in the company of Zambia.
Le Monde makes the three-notch drop explicit, by mentioning both the previous BB+ and the new B+ grade: L'agence Fitch dégrade de trois crans la note de la Grèce (20 May 2011).
Bloomberg tells us that the yield on the Greek 10-year bonds rose to 16.6 percent: Fitch Cuts Greece to B+, Says Maturity Extension Is Default (20 May 2011). It is even clearer than before that Greece is outside commercial debt financing of its huge government deficits.
The next moves have to come from the government and society of Greece, followed by the conclusions of the EU-IMF mission, but we still have to wait for guarantees that the EU, including the ECB and the member states, will deliver a combination straitjacket and life jacket able to avoid financial meltdown.
Ralf Grahn
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
Ecofin: Eurozone bailout Portugal
It is a telling sign of weak EU structures that the chief outcome of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin) is produced ”in the margins” of the Council:
Statement by the Eurogroup and ECOFIN Ministers (16 May; no document identifier)
The unanimous decision by ministers is there, but references (links) to decisions and other documents in final or draft form would have made the statement more credible and readable.
Ecofin
Until the conclusions of the Ecofin meeting (16 and) 17 May 2011 are released, interested readers find guidance in the agenda and the background note (including a few paragraphs about Portugal).
Ralf Grahn
P.S. The members of the French blog collective ”les Cabris de l'Europe” produce the must-read Euroblog Europe 27etc, which discusses the shortcomings and feats of EU politics in France and elsewhere. Critical and constructive.
P.S. 1: Has the EU Council really internalised the newish Lisbon Treaty? The discussion about access to documents and Council transparency continues on Ronny Patz's blog post.
Statement by the Eurogroup and ECOFIN Ministers (16 May; no document identifier)
The unanimous decision by ministers is there, but references (links) to decisions and other documents in final or draft form would have made the statement more credible and readable.
Ecofin
Until the conclusions of the Ecofin meeting (16 and) 17 May 2011 are released, interested readers find guidance in the agenda and the background note (including a few paragraphs about Portugal).
Ralf Grahn
P.S. The members of the French blog collective ”les Cabris de l'Europe” produce the must-read Euroblog Europe 27etc, which discusses the shortcomings and feats of EU politics in France and elsewhere. Critical and constructive.
P.S. 1: Has the EU Council really internalised the newish Lisbon Treaty? The discussion about access to documents and Council transparency continues on Ronny Patz's blog post.
Monday, 16 May 2011
Citizens first: EU Council ignores the Treaty
In his blog post The schizophrenic Council, Ronny Patz saw the real face of the Council of the European Union as that of an EU institution
However, Kemppinen's arguments miss the fundamental principles of equality of and equal attention to the citizens of the EU (Article 9 TEU), as well as the guiding values of a union 'in which decisions are taken as openly as possible and as closely as possible to the citizen' (Article 1 TEU).
This is more than a bureaucratic slip.
The guiding principles are relevant to both the apples of access to documents and the oranges of running communication work of the EU Council (as well as the other EU institutions).
The fruits belong to the citizens of the European Union.
Ralf Grahn
…that may have started to understand how 21st century PR works but that has not yet understood how 21st century democracy should look like.Kudos to Reijo Kemppinen for presenting the Council view about restricted and privileged access to information.
However, Kemppinen's arguments miss the fundamental principles of equality of and equal attention to the citizens of the EU (Article 9 TEU), as well as the guiding values of a union 'in which decisions are taken as openly as possible and as closely as possible to the citizen' (Article 1 TEU).
This is more than a bureaucratic slip.
The guiding principles are relevant to both the apples of access to documents and the oranges of running communication work of the EU Council (as well as the other EU institutions).
The fruits belong to the citizens of the European Union.
Ralf Grahn
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Herman Van Rompuy: Great Expectations
Herman Van Rompuy initiated a channel to EU citizen (bloggers) by launching 'Ask your question!' on Facebook. However, a few days after Europe Day 9 May 2011 most of the questions are still unanswered and the few recorded replies can hardly be described as illuminating, although new comments may still appear.
Until then, instead of the 'Great Expectations' drummed up – and then deceived – the questions by the participants and their reactions remain the most valuable part. (Remember to scroll down to older posts, until the end.)
The rickety institutional framework of the eurozone and the continuing appearance of new salvage operations erode trust in leaders wedded to 'dark secrets'.
Mainly written by pro-EU bloggers, posts marked 'eurozone' and 'myeurope' on Bloggingportal.eu tell us something about the need for 'comprehensive reform', way beyond failed PR exercises and official optimism.
The European Union needs to become real, trustworthy and comprehensible in the eyes of its citizens.
Update 14 May 2011: Read the EurActiv article 'EU leaders played poker with the euro and lost, says Borrell' (13 May 2011).
Ralf Grahn
Until then, instead of the 'Great Expectations' drummed up – and then deceived – the questions by the participants and their reactions remain the most valuable part. (Remember to scroll down to older posts, until the end.)
The rickety institutional framework of the eurozone and the continuing appearance of new salvage operations erode trust in leaders wedded to 'dark secrets'.
Mainly written by pro-EU bloggers, posts marked 'eurozone' and 'myeurope' on Bloggingportal.eu tell us something about the need for 'comprehensive reform', way beyond failed PR exercises and official optimism.
The European Union needs to become real, trustworthy and comprehensible in the eyes of its citizens.
Update 14 May 2011: Read the EurActiv article 'EU leaders played poker with the euro and lost, says Borrell' (13 May 2011).
Ralf Grahn
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Europe, 9 May and eurozone on Bloggingportal.eu
Without any official My Europe Week campaign to inspire eurobloggers, all the latest 100 entries tagged 'myeurope' on Bloggingportal.eu are now new ones, published during the last days.
The blog posts deal with Europe Day 2011 events or thoughts about the past, present and future of the European Union. Some of the articles are remarkable, well worth your tweets etc.
The other Bloggingportal.eu theme I find necessary to highlight is the 'eurozone', where the innate lack of transparency and credibility of official efforts offers juicy gifts to those who want to undermine the common currency.
Ralf Grahn
The blog posts deal with Europe Day 2011 events or thoughts about the past, present and future of the European Union. Some of the articles are remarkable, well worth your tweets etc.
The other Bloggingportal.eu theme I find necessary to highlight is the 'eurozone', where the innate lack of transparency and credibility of official efforts offers juicy gifts to those who want to undermine the common currency.
Ralf Grahn
Monday, 9 May 2011
Europe Day blogging 2011
Even if there is no real My Europe Week blog festival this year, you can still share your blog entries about Europe Day (9 May) events and your thoughts about the future of the European Union. By now there are about 35 new posts tagged 'myeurope' on Bloggingportal.eu.
On Twitter you can participate under the hashtags #EuropeDay and now also the shorter #euday, as well as the more reflective #MyEurope.
Own blogging
At this stage, my own experiment has been to compare feelings a year ago and now:
Share your Europe Day 2011
Europe Day essence: The future
Europe Day thrives on languages
Europe Day thoughts
***
Are there clear enough signs that the European Union has increasingly become a part of the solution? What should and could be done?
Ralf Grahn
On Twitter you can participate under the hashtags #EuropeDay and now also the shorter #euday, as well as the more reflective #MyEurope.
Own blogging
At this stage, my own experiment has been to compare feelings a year ago and now:
Share your Europe Day 2011
Europe Day essence: The future
Europe Day thrives on languages
Europe Day thoughts
***
Are there clear enough signs that the European Union has increasingly become a part of the solution? What should and could be done?
Ralf Grahn
Saturday, 7 May 2011
Share your Europe Day 2011
Soon there are seven billion of us sharing this fragile planet. The idea of European integration is very much about the future: making life more safe and prosperous for Europeans, as well as for all other humans.
Europe Day 9 May offers us a good reason to think about what we can learn from the past in order to build a better future. Reading the Schuman declaration of 9 May 1950 is a good way to start (available in twenty-two official EU languages).
'De facto solidarity' was on my mind a year ago, and the need has gone nowhere, despite regression trips among European electorates.
Last year, the call by Bloggingportal.eu editors for eurobloggers to share their views during My Europe Week led to 84 blog entries archived.
Nothing prevents the willing from using the hashtags #MyEurope and #EuropeDay on Twitter, or to think aloud about our common future AD MMXI.
Ralf Grahn
Europe Day 9 May offers us a good reason to think about what we can learn from the past in order to build a better future. Reading the Schuman declaration of 9 May 1950 is a good way to start (available in twenty-two official EU languages).
'De facto solidarity' was on my mind a year ago, and the need has gone nowhere, despite regression trips among European electorates.
Last year, the call by Bloggingportal.eu editors for eurobloggers to share their views during My Europe Week led to 84 blog entries archived.
Nothing prevents the willing from using the hashtags #MyEurope and #EuropeDay on Twitter, or to think aloud about our common future AD MMXI.
Ralf Grahn
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Stability, convergence and EU2020 compliance: EU member states and Commission
The spring meeting of the European Council 24 to 25 March 2011 (EUCO 10/11, paragraph 2 and footnote 1) outlined the the next steps within the framework of the European semester and endorsed the the priorities for fiscal consolidation and structural reform ”in line with” the Council's conclusions of 15 February and 7 March 2011 and further to the Commission's Annual Growth Survey, while also referring to the synthesis report of 16 March 2011 by the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The conclusions of the Ecofin Council (Economic and Financial Affairs) 15 February 2011 on the European Semester stated that the Stability and Convergence Programmes and National Reform Programmes for the period 2011/2012 were to be submitted by the EU member states preferably by mid-April or end April at the latest (paragraph 1).
During our pre-deadline peek on 22 April 2011 we found both programmes, but mainly in the national languages, from four countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland) plus the Stability programme of Slovenia posted on the web pages of DG Economic and Financial Affairs (Ecfin) of the European Commission.
The next day we looked for updates on the website of the Europe 2020 strategy, but found none.
However, by searching for documents from the EU member states, we unearthed and provided links to the posted language versions of the first Stability Programmes, Convergence Programmes or National Reform Programmes stashed away on the website (Germany, Bulgaria, Belgium and Hungary).
We also provided direct links to the different language versions of the programmes posted on the Ecfin web page.
In part, different sets had been posted on the two Commission websites. At the time, even after combining the EU2020 and Ecfin websites, we still had no programmes from 21 out of 27 EU member states, and only one programme each from two of the six countries posted on the websites of the European Commission. Only Hungary and Finland offered both programmes in English.
Submission deadline
We have passed the 30 April 2011 deadline and we have entered what the Elisabethan writer Thomas Dekker called ”The Merry Month of May”.
The final version of the Stability Programme of each eurozone country or the Convergence Programme from each EU member progressing towards euro adoption, plus the National Reform Programme for every member, is its main contribution towards fulfilling its obligations according to the Stability and Growth Pact, the European Semester and the growth-enhancing reforms in line with the EU2020 strategy.
The drafts were submitted last autumn, but have been under wraps. It is high time for the European public to be able to access the final programmes, the new language versions (especially English) and possible related improvements and updates on the EU2020 and Ecfin websites.
Europe 2020 improvements and updates
The latest updates on the EU2020 website are press releases from the Commission.
If we search for Latest documents, the last addition is from 25 March 2011, namely a link to the conclusions of the [European] Council, which include the agreed text on the Euro Plus Pact.
In other words, the Commission has not improved its presentation since our latest visit.
In my humble opinion, on a pan-EU website such as Europe 2020, all the EU institutions and the member states should be treated on an equal basis.
Forewarned, or inspired enough to search for Member states' documents, you find six NRPs added to the ones we found on our previous visit: from Poland (in Polish), Lithuania (in English), Luxembourg (in French), the Czech Republic (in Czech), Ireland (in English) and the United Kingdom (in English).
Eight National Reform Programmes out of 27 EU member states, but only four programmes in English.
Ecfin improvements and updates
Through the Ecfin web page 'Stability and Convergence programmes (or updates) and National Reform Programmes 2011 – programmes received to date' we find thirteen Stability or Convergence programmes and nine NRPs, but most English versions are not yet available.
The DG Ecfin offers a dedicated web page and the available programmes can be seen at a glance. In addition to the submitted programmes, the page contains space for the later stages: Staff Working Paper, Commission recommendation and Council recommendation.
Clearly, someone has done some thinking. Perhaps the people responsible for the Europe 2020 strategy and website could pay a visit.
The missing Swedish version of the NRP from Finland I remarked about has not been added in the meantime.
***
Hopefully, we are going to see improvements within the next few days, by the EU member states as well as the Commission, because the deadline for proposed recommendations is approaching (late May, early June).
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Infopolitics.eu is a public service dedicated to news and opinion concerning netizens' rights and freedoms. It is a joint project by the Greens-EFA in the European Parliament and Piratpartiet.
The conclusions of the Ecofin Council (Economic and Financial Affairs) 15 February 2011 on the European Semester stated that the Stability and Convergence Programmes and National Reform Programmes for the period 2011/2012 were to be submitted by the EU member states preferably by mid-April or end April at the latest (paragraph 1).
During our pre-deadline peek on 22 April 2011 we found both programmes, but mainly in the national languages, from four countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland) plus the Stability programme of Slovenia posted on the web pages of DG Economic and Financial Affairs (Ecfin) of the European Commission.
The next day we looked for updates on the website of the Europe 2020 strategy, but found none.
However, by searching for documents from the EU member states, we unearthed and provided links to the posted language versions of the first Stability Programmes, Convergence Programmes or National Reform Programmes stashed away on the website (Germany, Bulgaria, Belgium and Hungary).
We also provided direct links to the different language versions of the programmes posted on the Ecfin web page.
In part, different sets had been posted on the two Commission websites. At the time, even after combining the EU2020 and Ecfin websites, we still had no programmes from 21 out of 27 EU member states, and only one programme each from two of the six countries posted on the websites of the European Commission. Only Hungary and Finland offered both programmes in English.
Submission deadline
We have passed the 30 April 2011 deadline and we have entered what the Elisabethan writer Thomas Dekker called ”The Merry Month of May”.
The final version of the Stability Programme of each eurozone country or the Convergence Programme from each EU member progressing towards euro adoption, plus the National Reform Programme for every member, is its main contribution towards fulfilling its obligations according to the Stability and Growth Pact, the European Semester and the growth-enhancing reforms in line with the EU2020 strategy.
The drafts were submitted last autumn, but have been under wraps. It is high time for the European public to be able to access the final programmes, the new language versions (especially English) and possible related improvements and updates on the EU2020 and Ecfin websites.
Europe 2020 improvements and updates
The latest updates on the EU2020 website are press releases from the Commission.
If we search for Latest documents, the last addition is from 25 March 2011, namely a link to the conclusions of the [European] Council, which include the agreed text on the Euro Plus Pact.
In other words, the Commission has not improved its presentation since our latest visit.
In my humble opinion, on a pan-EU website such as Europe 2020, all the EU institutions and the member states should be treated on an equal basis.
Forewarned, or inspired enough to search for Member states' documents, you find six NRPs added to the ones we found on our previous visit: from Poland (in Polish), Lithuania (in English), Luxembourg (in French), the Czech Republic (in Czech), Ireland (in English) and the United Kingdom (in English).
Eight National Reform Programmes out of 27 EU member states, but only four programmes in English.
Ecfin improvements and updates
Through the Ecfin web page 'Stability and Convergence programmes (or updates) and National Reform Programmes 2011 – programmes received to date' we find thirteen Stability or Convergence programmes and nine NRPs, but most English versions are not yet available.
The DG Ecfin offers a dedicated web page and the available programmes can be seen at a glance. In addition to the submitted programmes, the page contains space for the later stages: Staff Working Paper, Commission recommendation and Council recommendation.
Clearly, someone has done some thinking. Perhaps the people responsible for the Europe 2020 strategy and website could pay a visit.
The missing Swedish version of the NRP from Finland I remarked about has not been added in the meantime.
***
Hopefully, we are going to see improvements within the next few days, by the EU member states as well as the Commission, because the deadline for proposed recommendations is approaching (late May, early June).
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Infopolitics.eu is a public service dedicated to news and opinion concerning netizens' rights and freedoms. It is a joint project by the Greens-EFA in the European Parliament and Piratpartiet.
Monday, 2 May 2011
”Wide ownership” of Europe 2020 strategy – and more intense
The European Union and the EU member states have programmes for competitiveness in and of Europe, but the Europe 2020 growth strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (EU2020) and the relaunch of the Single Market (through the Single Market Act SMA) need to develop much beyond ritualistic planning and reporting chores for a handful of EU and central government officials.
”Wide ownership”
At least, the spring meeting of the European Council 24 to 25 March 2011 (EUCO 10/11) paid lip service to the need to engage all stakeholders, but the summit silently dismissed the demand from the Committee of the Regions to create territorial growth pacts:
Regarding the challenge from the CoR and support from the European Parliament and the Commission, see the blog post (in Swedish) 'Regionerna utmanar EU-rådet: Pakt och partnerskap för EU2020-strategin' and (in English) 'Europe 2020 strategy: Regions challenge central governments', published just before the ides of March.
Having thwarted the regional ambitions, what are the European Council, the Council (of ministers) and the EU member states going to do to create at least a sense of wider ownership, even if lacking empowerment?
How are they going to manifest their own ownership more intensely?
They make or break the reform strategies for competitiveness, but how often do we see signs of the EU2020 strategy and the SMA at the top of the political agenda in the member states?
How much of a wider debate do we notice?
Hungarian benchmark
At this point, I am far from convinced that the EU2020 strategy will prove to be a greater success than the lost decade of the Lisbon strategy, even if proactive reform policies are crucial for the prosperity and the public services of Europeans.
However, even in dire circumstances there are almost always pockets of excellence to be found.
The Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union communicated brilliantly about the informal meeting of research ministers on innovation challenges 11 to 13 April 2011.
Is the Council secretariat prepared to improve the Consilium web pages by including links to future informal ministerial meetings of the different Council configurations? Is the next presidency trio – Poland, Denmark and Cyprus (Wikipedia) - ready to equal or surpass the benchmark set by Hungary regarding the meeting of the ministers for research?
***
We have to find and to nurture pockets of excellence, necessary to promote and communicate both wider and more intense ownership of the Europe 2020 growth strategy and other reform programmes, such as the Single Market Act and the Small Business Act, based on the sustainable foundations of the Stability or Convergence Programmes.
Ralf Grahn
P.S. In French and English, La Quadrature du Net informs us about legal developments at EU and national level and advocates the rights and freedoms of citizens on the Internet. Highly recommended.
”Wide ownership”
At least, the spring meeting of the European Council 24 to 25 March 2011 (EUCO 10/11) paid lip service to the need to engage all stakeholders, but the summit silently dismissed the demand from the Committee of the Regions to create territorial growth pacts:
6. In implementing these policies, and in order to ensure wide ownership, close cooperation will be maintained with the European Parliament and other EU institutions and advisory bodies (ESC, CoR), with the full involvement of national parliaments, social partners, regions and other stakeholders.
Regarding the challenge from the CoR and support from the European Parliament and the Commission, see the blog post (in Swedish) 'Regionerna utmanar EU-rådet: Pakt och partnerskap för EU2020-strategin' and (in English) 'Europe 2020 strategy: Regions challenge central governments', published just before the ides of March.
Having thwarted the regional ambitions, what are the European Council, the Council (of ministers) and the EU member states going to do to create at least a sense of wider ownership, even if lacking empowerment?
How are they going to manifest their own ownership more intensely?
They make or break the reform strategies for competitiveness, but how often do we see signs of the EU2020 strategy and the SMA at the top of the political agenda in the member states?
How much of a wider debate do we notice?
Hungarian benchmark
At this point, I am far from convinced that the EU2020 strategy will prove to be a greater success than the lost decade of the Lisbon strategy, even if proactive reform policies are crucial for the prosperity and the public services of Europeans.
However, even in dire circumstances there are almost always pockets of excellence to be found.
The Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union communicated brilliantly about the informal meeting of research ministers on innovation challenges 11 to 13 April 2011.
Is the Council secretariat prepared to improve the Consilium web pages by including links to future informal ministerial meetings of the different Council configurations? Is the next presidency trio – Poland, Denmark and Cyprus (Wikipedia) - ready to equal or surpass the benchmark set by Hungary regarding the meeting of the ministers for research?
***
We have to find and to nurture pockets of excellence, necessary to promote and communicate both wider and more intense ownership of the Europe 2020 growth strategy and other reform programmes, such as the Single Market Act and the Small Business Act, based on the sustainable foundations of the Stability or Convergence Programmes.
Ralf Grahn
P.S. In French and English, La Quadrature du Net informs us about legal developments at EU and national level and advocates the rights and freedoms of citizens on the Internet. Highly recommended.
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Improving communication: Informal EU Council meetings
We have scouted in the direction of competitiveness, in EU programme terms the Europe 2020 growth strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (EU2020) and the relaunch of the Single Market (through the Single Market Act SMA).
This has now led us to ask if future Council presidencies will try to exceed the benchmark set by Hungary for an informal Council meeting and if communication on official and informal Council meetings could be better integrated.
Hungarian benchmark
I am impressed. The Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union showed the way by going well beyond the traditionally lousy communication standards for informal Council meetings.
The informal Competitiveness Council 11 to 13 April 2011, where research ministers discussed innovation, offered stakeholders, the media and the wider public a fairly detailed account of the meeting as well as the solid discussion paper Future Perfect.
Even if the ministerial discussions 'sub rosa' remained closed to the public, the well structured web page with the main press release brilliantly gave interested readers access to related news and pages, as well as relevant external websites and documents about research and technological development (RTD).
(We also found that the European Commission should do some technical repair work regarding the links to the Digital Agenda.)
Improving the Consilium website
As we have seen, the Consilium website offers us official conslusions, as here regarding the Competitiveness Council (internal market, industry, research and space).
Even if it still seems like a utopian dream to wish for one-stop thematic websites truly covering all the EU institutions, I wonder if the Council (Consilium) couldn't at least build a bridge to the rotating presidency by including the main press release (web page) reporting the outcome of each informal Council meeting.
This would offer a permanent reference to the presidency pages, otherwise easily missed. In turn, wider and more long term readership might inspire future Council presidencies to communicate more generously about the informal Council meetings they arrange, with the Hungarian innovation page as the benchmark 'pro tempore'.
Is the next trio – Poland, Denmark and Cyprus (Wikipedia) - ready to take up the challenge?
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Gergely Polner and Hajdú Márton give the Hungarian presidency of the EU Council a human face on the Kovács & Kováts blog. You can follow @polnerspox and @hajduspox on Twitter, too.
This has now led us to ask if future Council presidencies will try to exceed the benchmark set by Hungary for an informal Council meeting and if communication on official and informal Council meetings could be better integrated.
Hungarian benchmark
I am impressed. The Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union showed the way by going well beyond the traditionally lousy communication standards for informal Council meetings.
The informal Competitiveness Council 11 to 13 April 2011, where research ministers discussed innovation, offered stakeholders, the media and the wider public a fairly detailed account of the meeting as well as the solid discussion paper Future Perfect.
Even if the ministerial discussions 'sub rosa' remained closed to the public, the well structured web page with the main press release brilliantly gave interested readers access to related news and pages, as well as relevant external websites and documents about research and technological development (RTD).
(We also found that the European Commission should do some technical repair work regarding the links to the Digital Agenda.)
Improving the Consilium website
As we have seen, the Consilium website offers us official conslusions, as here regarding the Competitiveness Council (internal market, industry, research and space).
Even if it still seems like a utopian dream to wish for one-stop thematic websites truly covering all the EU institutions, I wonder if the Council (Consilium) couldn't at least build a bridge to the rotating presidency by including the main press release (web page) reporting the outcome of each informal Council meeting.
This would offer a permanent reference to the presidency pages, otherwise easily missed. In turn, wider and more long term readership might inspire future Council presidencies to communicate more generously about the informal Council meetings they arrange, with the Hungarian innovation page as the benchmark 'pro tempore'.
Is the next trio – Poland, Denmark and Cyprus (Wikipedia) - ready to take up the challenge?
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Gergely Polner and Hajdú Márton give the Hungarian presidency of the EU Council a human face on the Kovács & Kováts blog. You can follow @polnerspox and @hajduspox on Twitter, too.
Friday, 29 April 2011
Hungarian EU Council presidency: Innovation (Future Perfect)
Third time lucky? Our third informal ministerial ”competitiveness” meeting arranged by the Hungarian EU Council presidency seems to unearth a rich vein of precious ore, especially for those who are interested in research, development and innovation (RDI).
Europe 2020 growth strategy
Competitiveness in and of Europe depends on growth-enhancing reforms in line with the Europe 2020 strategy (EU2020) for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (although we still hope for updates) and the relaunch of the Single Market (link to all Single Market Act SMA language versions).
Informal Council meetings
Therefore, we looked at how the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union communicated on relevant informal meetings of the Council. First, we searched for the press releases related to the 16 to 18 January 2011 meeting of employment ministers (Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affaris EPSCO). Then, we found richer and better structured pickings from the gathering of ministers for transport (Transport, Telecommunications and Energy TTE) on 7 and 8 February 2011.
Competitiveness Council
Our third informal meeting brings us into contact with the Competitiveness Council (internal market, industry, research and space). As usual, the related press releases on the Consilium website contain official Council conclusions.
Hungarian EU Council presidency
If we use the search functions on the Hungarian presidency page News and events, filtering down between 11 and 13 April 2011, as well as the Council formation Competitiveness (COMP), we find some interesting items.
Innovation (RDI)
The press release 'Ministerial debate on innovation reform' gives us an account of efforts to intensify European efforts in the areas of research, development and innovation (RDI), including the need to simplify the European research framework programme(s). The new member states in Central Europe lag far behind as recipients of EU research funding.
In the margin of the web page, we find a number of helpful links to additional resources, reminding us of the well structured and high quality web communications of the Swedish EU Council presidency in 2009.
Future Perfect
We find a solid introductory presentation of RDI policies in the European Union:
Future Perfect – Discussion Paper for the Informal Meeting of Ministers of Research (Competitiveness Council); Budapest – Gödöllö, Hungary, 12 April 2011 (45 pages)
Future Perfect contains four interesting chapters on the RDI challenges facing Europe:
The aims of the discussion paper are presented like this:
Future Perfect is highly recommended as an overview for everyone engaged in RDI issues in Europe.
***
We return to the informal EU meeting(s) of research and industry ministers in future blog entries.
Ralf Grahn
P.S. The Spanish journalist Macarena Rodríguez writes one of the top Euroblogs: La Oreja de Europa. Follow her on Twitter as well @MacarenaRG.
Europe 2020 growth strategy
Competitiveness in and of Europe depends on growth-enhancing reforms in line with the Europe 2020 strategy (EU2020) for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (although we still hope for updates) and the relaunch of the Single Market (link to all Single Market Act SMA language versions).
Informal Council meetings
Therefore, we looked at how the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union communicated on relevant informal meetings of the Council. First, we searched for the press releases related to the 16 to 18 January 2011 meeting of employment ministers (Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affaris EPSCO). Then, we found richer and better structured pickings from the gathering of ministers for transport (Transport, Telecommunications and Energy TTE) on 7 and 8 February 2011.
Competitiveness Council
Our third informal meeting brings us into contact with the Competitiveness Council (internal market, industry, research and space). As usual, the related press releases on the Consilium website contain official Council conclusions.
Hungarian EU Council presidency
If we use the search functions on the Hungarian presidency page News and events, filtering down between 11 and 13 April 2011, as well as the Council formation Competitiveness (COMP), we find some interesting items.
Innovation (RDI)
The press release 'Ministerial debate on innovation reform' gives us an account of efforts to intensify European efforts in the areas of research, development and innovation (RDI), including the need to simplify the European research framework programme(s). The new member states in Central Europe lag far behind as recipients of EU research funding.
In the margin of the web page, we find a number of helpful links to additional resources, reminding us of the well structured and high quality web communications of the Swedish EU Council presidency in 2009.
Future Perfect
We find a solid introductory presentation of RDI policies in the European Union:
Future Perfect – Discussion Paper for the Informal Meeting of Ministers of Research (Competitiveness Council); Budapest – Gödöllö, Hungary, 12 April 2011 (45 pages)
Future Perfect contains four interesting chapters on the RDI challenges facing Europe:
1. Introduction
2. Research, development and innovation in the EU
3. New directions for EU research, development and innovation funding
4. The contribution and potential of Hungarian innovation
The aims of the discussion paper are presented like this:
The purpose of this document is to set out an agenda for discussion and to provide an overview of the most recent offi cial papers and draft reports concerning the fi elds of research, development and innovation in the EU. The four themes which have been identifi ed are:
• Unleashing Innovation
• Addressing the Grand Challenges
• Strengthening Europe’s Science Base
• Spreading Excellence
Future Perfect is highly recommended as an overview for everyone engaged in RDI issues in Europe.
***
We return to the informal EU meeting(s) of research and industry ministers in future blog entries.
Ralf Grahn
P.S. The Spanish journalist Macarena Rodríguez writes one of the top Euroblogs: La Oreja de Europa. Follow her on Twitter as well @MacarenaRG.
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
Sharing informal EU Council meetings (Employment)
Let us look at how informal meetings of the EU Council inform and enlighten citizens, choosing the first example offered this year by the Hungarian presidency and relevant to the competitiveness challenges important to us all. This leads us to the nourishing gathering of employment ministers, relevant in the context of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (EU2020).
Background
Beyond the official Council conclusions reflected on the Consilium website, we noted the informal Council meetings arranged by the presidencies of the Council of the European Union.
The Hungarian presidency programme acted as a GPS navigation device (Wikipedia) offering a clear picture of the main roads and destinations regarding EU efforts to improve competitiveness.
Rereading the first priority of the Strategic framework of the presidency programme 'Growth, jobs and social inclusion' offered me a general roadmap. The following sections of the Operational programme gave more detail about the main challenges for the different Council configurations with regard to European competitiveness: 5. Transport, Telecommunications and Energy (TTE; from page 32), 6. Competitiveness (COMP; from page 37) and 7. Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs (EPSCO; from page 41).
HU news and events
If we want to follow the most recent activities, we can study the homepage of the Hungarian presidency, or we can move on to News and events, where we find press releases ordered chronologically, with the events of today on top.
HU presidency calendar
This time we are interested in information and materials regarding informal meetings of the three Council formations most directly concerned with competitiveness challenges (EU2020): TTE, COMP and EPSCO.
With these limitations, through the Hungarian presidency calendar January – June 2011 we find three relevant informal Council meetings and one just around the corner:
16-18 January EPSCO (employment)
7-8 February TTE (transport)
11-13 April COMP (research and development; industry)
2-3 May TTE (energy)
Nowadays, the formal Council meetings are arranged in Brussels or Luxembourg, but the informal meetings offer the rotating presidencies opportunities to act as hosts to ministers, officials and journalists, as well as to make the presidency visible to the home crowd.
Employment ministers
I decided to look for information based on the specific dates of the informal Council gatherings. There must be more to life than meetings, so the item to turn up on top 'Gala dinner at the Museum of Fine Arts', shared the culinary delights on 17 January 2011 with us EU citizens, in detail equal to an EU legislative act.
If you scroll deep enough, you find that the ministers and state secretaries for Employment were going to discuss in the framework of two workshops: youth employment, and employment friendly growth-recovery and more and better jobs.
We are able to share in on one related document: the Menu of the gala dinner.
After the event, we find the press release 'EU ministers discuss employment in Gödöllö', much less detailed than the culinary exposition.
The summary offered some generalities about the Europe 2020 goal of raising the employment level to 75 per cent, the Commission's flagship initiative Youth in Motion, contributions by the other members of the presidency trio, the use of the European Social Fund (ESF) and other structural funds to improve employment, as well as discussions with the social partners and non-governmental organisations.
The menu excepted, I found no illuminating documents, with a bearing on the workshops or employment issues generally, shared through the web pages of the informal meeting of employment ministers.
Those who remember the Hungarian media law wonder if this is balanced enough reporting.
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Joe Litobarski has littered his basket with comments about blogging versus Facebook, opening and shutting down his new Facebook comment system within a few hours due to critical comments. Interesting questions for all and sundry.
Background
Beyond the official Council conclusions reflected on the Consilium website, we noted the informal Council meetings arranged by the presidencies of the Council of the European Union.
The Hungarian presidency programme acted as a GPS navigation device (Wikipedia) offering a clear picture of the main roads and destinations regarding EU efforts to improve competitiveness.
Rereading the first priority of the Strategic framework of the presidency programme 'Growth, jobs and social inclusion' offered me a general roadmap. The following sections of the Operational programme gave more detail about the main challenges for the different Council configurations with regard to European competitiveness: 5. Transport, Telecommunications and Energy (TTE; from page 32), 6. Competitiveness (COMP; from page 37) and 7. Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs (EPSCO; from page 41).
HU news and events
If we want to follow the most recent activities, we can study the homepage of the Hungarian presidency, or we can move on to News and events, where we find press releases ordered chronologically, with the events of today on top.
HU presidency calendar
This time we are interested in information and materials regarding informal meetings of the three Council formations most directly concerned with competitiveness challenges (EU2020): TTE, COMP and EPSCO.
With these limitations, through the Hungarian presidency calendar January – June 2011 we find three relevant informal Council meetings and one just around the corner:
16-18 January EPSCO (employment)
7-8 February TTE (transport)
11-13 April COMP (research and development; industry)
2-3 May TTE (energy)
Nowadays, the formal Council meetings are arranged in Brussels or Luxembourg, but the informal meetings offer the rotating presidencies opportunities to act as hosts to ministers, officials and journalists, as well as to make the presidency visible to the home crowd.
Employment ministers
I decided to look for information based on the specific dates of the informal Council gatherings. There must be more to life than meetings, so the item to turn up on top 'Gala dinner at the Museum of Fine Arts', shared the culinary delights on 17 January 2011 with us EU citizens, in detail equal to an EU legislative act.
If you scroll deep enough, you find that the ministers and state secretaries for Employment were going to discuss in the framework of two workshops: youth employment, and employment friendly growth-recovery and more and better jobs.
We are able to share in on one related document: the Menu of the gala dinner.
After the event, we find the press release 'EU ministers discuss employment in Gödöllö', much less detailed than the culinary exposition.
The summary offered some generalities about the Europe 2020 goal of raising the employment level to 75 per cent, the Commission's flagship initiative Youth in Motion, contributions by the other members of the presidency trio, the use of the European Social Fund (ESF) and other structural funds to improve employment, as well as discussions with the social partners and non-governmental organisations.
The menu excepted, I found no illuminating documents, with a bearing on the workshops or employment issues generally, shared through the web pages of the informal meeting of employment ministers.
Those who remember the Hungarian media law wonder if this is balanced enough reporting.
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Joe Litobarski has littered his basket with comments about blogging versus Facebook, opening and shutting down his new Facebook comment system within a few hours due to critical comments. Interesting questions for all and sundry.
Monday, 25 April 2011
EU Council: Official and informal meetings (Competitiveness)
The official meetings of the Council of the European Union are the tip of the iceberg, although EU citizens in general are not well informed about how the Council works. Even less known among the wider public are the informal (unofficial) gatherings of ministers from the EU member states.
EU Council functions
According to Article 16(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU):
Council configurations
Because of the unitary structure, a formal Council decision can be taken by any configuration.
However, the ministers of the EU member states meet officially in different Council configurations to exercise the functions of the Council, not unlike ministries or departments (or parliamentary committees) in the member states.
We have different Council configurations, such as the General Affairs Council (GAC) entrusted with preparation, coordination and follow-up of European Council meetings (summits), the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) dealing with all aspects of EU external action, the Economic and Financial Affaris Council (ECOFIN) coordinating economic policies and monitoring public finances, the Competitiveness Council (COMP) responsible for the internal market, industry, research and space, etc.
The press releases of the Competitiveness Council, available on the Council website, reflect the official functions.
Informal Council meetings
Even less known are the regularly occurring informal (unofficial) meetings of Council configurations, or parts of them. The informal meetings remain under the radar screen at Council level (Consilium).
If you want a fuller picture, you have to turn to the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union; Hungary during the first six months of 2011.
Competitiveness Council
As an example, in future blog posts I am going to look at Competitiveness through the prism of the web pages of the Hungarian EU Council presidency, especially with a view towards issues unreported at the Consilum website, but important to us Europeans in the context of the Europe 2020 growth strategy (EU2020) and the relaunch of the Single Market.
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Kosmopolito, the blog with a European perspective, could be updated more frequently, but it is always thought-provoking and interesting when it does. Don't miss @kosmopolit on Twitter.
EU Council functions
According to Article 16(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU):
The Council shall, jointly with the European Parliament, exercise legislative and budgetary functions. It shall carry out policy-making and coordinating functions as laid down in the Treaties.Resembling both a second chamber of parliament and a government, the Council as a whole is an institution of the European Union.
Council configurations
Because of the unitary structure, a formal Council decision can be taken by any configuration.
However, the ministers of the EU member states meet officially in different Council configurations to exercise the functions of the Council, not unlike ministries or departments (or parliamentary committees) in the member states.
We have different Council configurations, such as the General Affairs Council (GAC) entrusted with preparation, coordination and follow-up of European Council meetings (summits), the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) dealing with all aspects of EU external action, the Economic and Financial Affaris Council (ECOFIN) coordinating economic policies and monitoring public finances, the Competitiveness Council (COMP) responsible for the internal market, industry, research and space, etc.
The press releases of the Competitiveness Council, available on the Council website, reflect the official functions.
Informal Council meetings
Even less known are the regularly occurring informal (unofficial) meetings of Council configurations, or parts of them. The informal meetings remain under the radar screen at Council level (Consilium).
If you want a fuller picture, you have to turn to the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union; Hungary during the first six months of 2011.
Competitiveness Council
As an example, in future blog posts I am going to look at Competitiveness through the prism of the web pages of the Hungarian EU Council presidency, especially with a view towards issues unreported at the Consilum website, but important to us Europeans in the context of the Europe 2020 growth strategy (EU2020) and the relaunch of the Single Market.
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Kosmopolito, the blog with a European perspective, could be updated more frequently, but it is always thought-provoking and interesting when it does. Don't miss @kosmopolit on Twitter.
Saturday, 23 April 2011
Europe 2020: National Reform Programmes posted
Yesterday we noted that the Stability or Convergance programmes and National Reform Programmes 2011 from Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland had been posted on the web pages of DG Economic and Financial Affairs (Ecfin) of the European Commission. In addition, there was the Stability programme of Slovenia.
EUROPE 2020
In this blog post we look for possible updates on the website of the Europe 2020 strategy. No updates are visible on the EU2020 front page.
You do not find them even under latest documents, but if you are inspired enough to search for member states' documents, you can find the first national programmes stashed away on the Europe 2020 website.
I do not know why the presentation has to be as discreet as this.
I do not understand why we find a slightly different set of documents on the EU2020 pages than the ones posted on the Ecfin pages.
Anyway, here are the six programmes you find if you look for member states' documents through the Europe 2020 pages right now.
Germany
The German National Reform Programme, in German:
Nationales Reformprogramm Deutschland 2011; Berlin 6. April 2011 (about 46 pages)
Bulgaria
The Bulgarian Convergence Programme and National Reform Programme, in Bulgarian:
(Bulgaria: Convergence Programme 2011-2014)
(Bulgaria: National Reform Programme 2011-2015)
Belgium
Belgium's National Reform Programme has been posted on the EU2020 website in French and in Dutch:
Programme national de réforme Belgique 2011; 15 avril 2011 (128 pages)
Nationaal Hervormingsprogramma België 2011; 15 april 2011 (121 pages)
Hungary
Both the Hungarian Convergence Programme and the National Reform Programme have been posted on the Europe 2020 web pages, in English:
Convergence Programme of Hungary 2011 – 2015 Based on the Széll Kálmán plan; Budapest, April 2011
National Reform Programme of Hungary Based on the Széll Kálmán Plan; April 2011 (86 pages)
ECFIN
Nine programmes in all have been posted on the Ecfin website (DG Economic and Financial Affairs).
Let us just fill in the missing programmes and versions.
Belgium
The Stability Programme from Belgium is not yet available in English, but we have versions in the national languages, Dutch and French:
Het Stabiliteitsprogramma van België (2011-2014); version 14 April 2011
Le programme de stabilité de la Belgique; version 14 April 2011
Slovenia
The Stability Programme of Slovenia is available, in Slovenian:
Program stabilnosti Dopolnitev 2011; Ljubljana, april 2011
Finland
SP
The Stability Programme of Finland is available in English, Finnish and Swedish:
Stability programme update for Finland 2011
Suomen vakausohjelman tarkistus 2011
Uppdatering av Finlands stabilitetsprogram
NRP
The National Reform Programme (NRP) of Finland has been given another heading, with the English and Finnish versions posted on the Ecfin page:
Europe 2020 Strategy – Finland's National Programme Spring 2011
Eurooppa 2020 -strategia – Suomen kansallinen ohjelma, kevät 2011
We can find the missing Swedish version through the web pages of the Finnish Ministry of Finance, concluding a full set:
Europa 2020-strategin – Finlands nationella program, våren 2011
Missing links
Even after combining the EU2020 and Ecfin websites, we still have no programmes from 21 out of 27 EU member states, and only one programme each from two of the six countries posted on the websites of the European Commission. Only Hungary and Finland offer both programmes in English.
A few working days remain until the end of April, when the programmes are due at the latest.
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Jon Worth, one of the best known and most widely read Eurobloggers, has returned with a number of interesting blog posts within a few days. Highly recommended.
EUROPE 2020
In this blog post we look for possible updates on the website of the Europe 2020 strategy. No updates are visible on the EU2020 front page.
You do not find them even under latest documents, but if you are inspired enough to search for member states' documents, you can find the first national programmes stashed away on the Europe 2020 website.
I do not know why the presentation has to be as discreet as this.
I do not understand why we find a slightly different set of documents on the EU2020 pages than the ones posted on the Ecfin pages.
Anyway, here are the six programmes you find if you look for member states' documents through the Europe 2020 pages right now.
Germany
The German National Reform Programme, in German:
Nationales Reformprogramm Deutschland 2011; Berlin 6. April 2011 (about 46 pages)
Bulgaria
The Bulgarian Convergence Programme and National Reform Programme, in Bulgarian:
(Bulgaria: Convergence Programme 2011-2014)
(Bulgaria: National Reform Programme 2011-2015)
Belgium
Belgium's National Reform Programme has been posted on the EU2020 website in French and in Dutch:
Programme national de réforme Belgique 2011; 15 avril 2011 (128 pages)
Nationaal Hervormingsprogramma België 2011; 15 april 2011 (121 pages)
Hungary
Both the Hungarian Convergence Programme and the National Reform Programme have been posted on the Europe 2020 web pages, in English:
Convergence Programme of Hungary 2011 – 2015 Based on the Széll Kálmán plan; Budapest, April 2011
National Reform Programme of Hungary Based on the Széll Kálmán Plan; April 2011 (86 pages)
ECFIN
Nine programmes in all have been posted on the Ecfin website (DG Economic and Financial Affairs).
Let us just fill in the missing programmes and versions.
Belgium
The Stability Programme from Belgium is not yet available in English, but we have versions in the national languages, Dutch and French:
Het Stabiliteitsprogramma van België (2011-2014); version 14 April 2011
Le programme de stabilité de la Belgique; version 14 April 2011
Slovenia
The Stability Programme of Slovenia is available, in Slovenian:
Program stabilnosti Dopolnitev 2011; Ljubljana, april 2011
Finland
SP
The Stability Programme of Finland is available in English, Finnish and Swedish:
Stability programme update for Finland 2011
Suomen vakausohjelman tarkistus 2011
Uppdatering av Finlands stabilitetsprogram
NRP
The National Reform Programme (NRP) of Finland has been given another heading, with the English and Finnish versions posted on the Ecfin page:
Europe 2020 Strategy – Finland's National Programme Spring 2011
Eurooppa 2020 -strategia – Suomen kansallinen ohjelma, kevät 2011
We can find the missing Swedish version through the web pages of the Finnish Ministry of Finance, concluding a full set:
Europa 2020-strategin – Finlands nationella program, våren 2011
Missing links
Even after combining the EU2020 and Ecfin websites, we still have no programmes from 21 out of 27 EU member states, and only one programme each from two of the six countries posted on the websites of the European Commission. Only Hungary and Finland offer both programmes in English.
A few working days remain until the end of April, when the programmes are due at the latest.
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Jon Worth, one of the best known and most widely read Eurobloggers, has returned with a number of interesting blog posts within a few days. Highly recommended.
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