The New Leviathan Blog

Mountains and mice: the births of Leviathan Barroso, Van Rompuy, Ashton… Despite the joy and pride that the appointment of our Prime Minister to the post of first permanent President of the Council of the European Union may arouse in Belgium, it is clear that it is an unenthusiastic trio which will embody Europe from now on, in the new configuration established by the Treaty of Lisbon. Herman Van Rompuy, a candidate whom the Belgians have reason to believe will be perfect...Read More >>

Thank you Ireland! The Irish said "no" by a large majority to the European Treaty of Lisbon, three years after the rejection of the Constitution by the French and Dutch in 2005. According to the final official results, the no won with 53.4% votes, against 46.6% “yes”. (…) Ireland, the only European country to have submitted the European treaty to a referendum, rejected the text on June 12 by 53.4% ​​of the votes, precipitating the EU into a new institutional crisis. Its fate became even more uncertai...Read More >>

Return Europe to the Europeans There was, in reality, no institutional crisis opened by the double Franco-Dutch “no” in 2005. The EU has bodies, it has a budget until 2013, it can function. The only real crisis arose from the contradiction between the fierce desire of politicians to build a European state and the scathing denial that the people had inflicted on this desire. This so-called crisis was felt only by the political class, and had value only for them. The agreem...Read More >>

The European Union and Europe Broken down, in crisis, paralyzed, in a coma, disenchanted... So many expressions which reflect the same observation: the European Union is in the grip of disaster as it celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome - of which birth certificate of the European Economic Community. On this occasion, the Twenty-seven will not fail to praise the merits and successes – peace, prospe...Read More >>

The European Leviathan 1, The 13 eurozone countries will issue a special two-euro coin this week to mark the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome. All copies are illustrated with an open book on a background representing the Capitoline Square, in Rome, and bear the words "Treaty of Rome" in the language of the country. Belgium, the only country with three official languages, opted for the Latin expression "pactum romanum", while Ireland in...Read More >>

On the interest of bringing together facts usually perceived separately Fact 1: Without the voices of the “new Belgians”, Antwerp would have been darker than ever on October 8, according to an analysis by Jan Hertogen, Flemish sociologist. It is in the districts where the new Belgians have experienced the greatest progress, such as Antwerp and Borgerhout, that the Vlaams ...Read More >>

European Parliament: the worst shoemaker The European Parliament is a bit Janus. With MEPs presenting the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought on the one hand, and the head of the audiovisual service Anne-Margrete Wachtmeister preventing a Portuguese journalist from filming images of the strike of the auxiliaries-session of the Parliament of somewhere else. MEPs who vote for the creation of a fund intended to financially help employees who are victims of ...Read More >>

The agony of the Euroimperial dream While the euro has five candles on its cake, those nostalgic for the franc and other detractors of the single currency have the wind firmly in their sails. And, even if Slovenia becomes the thirteenth member state of the euro zone on January 1, the blues have won over most of the participants in the adventure. Thus, between September 2002 and Novemb...Read More >>

The euro which is rising, which is rising… what are the consequences? In two weeks, the European currency has seen its value increase by 4 pc against the dollar. Main cause of the increase: the contrasting evolution of interest rates in the United States and Europe. No worries for the moment, says an analyst. Without lifting a finger, the holder of monetary funds denominated in euros has just seen his assets swell by 4 pc in two weeks. That’s an impress...Read More >>