Sir, As the announcement of the laureate for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize draws near (Friday 8 October, 11:00 a.m. CET), we should recognise that the most successful promoter of peace, prosperity and tolerance in modern times might be the European Union as an institution. The initial objective of the Union’s founding fathers – to [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘EU stresses benefits of languages for SMEs‘: It is strange that the Babel-like EU, with its 23 official languages and over 40 regional tongues, announced the European Day of Languages with a speech delivered essentially in English. Likewise, although the statement announcing the multilingual celebration was posted in all European Union languages, the [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Structural funds ‘key to innovation plan’‘: Innovation comes in all guises, but what we lack in the EU is the really big new things in life. We try to add-on a little innovation here and there to current technologies and products (which all other nations of the world do), but we totally neglect [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Brussels drops antitrust probes into Apple’s iPhone‘: I wonder if Brussels will be doing the same thing for the new appliance from Apple, the iPad, which in the past month has been updating its terms and conditions of use to more restrictive and un-European rules. While the US with its states is regarded [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Commission defends ‘farewell bonus’ for top officials‘: When professional EU staff retire from service, there is no so-called extra financial compensation other than what’s in the original contract. Why do we have a separate formula for European commissioners, which had not been made public until now by FT Deutschland? Given budget and fiscal [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Kroes wants to include developing countires in Internet governance‘: The Internet Society welcomes EU Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes’ call for Internet governance to be extended to the developing world, given that emerging economies will soon have more web users than the EU and the US combined. The Internet Society agrees that the [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Commission defends ‘farewell bonus’ for top officials‘: Contrary to what was stated in the above-mentioned article I have no paid job at the European Experience Company – I am co-founder, shareholder and non-executive director without compensation. My investment in this company does not constitute an occupation. Consequently the Code of Conduct does not [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Farm reform: Following the money trail‘: I fail to understand how and why no-one is really aiming at real reform of the CAP. I think genuine reform is obviously needed. Why are people discussing the future like a mere repetition of the past? Paulo Casaca

Sir, After a sharp (about 40%) drop in foreign trade during the 2008-2009 crisis, the ongoing economic recovery in most Central and East European countries (CEECs) has been associated with a strong revival of exports. By mid-2010, the pre-crisis export levels have been reached again in most CEECs. External demand recovered, but what have been [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Summit sees Sarkozy, Barroso clash in bitter Roma row‘: As a convinced European, I appreciate the recent concerns over the handling by France of the situation of Roma citizens, all the more so because I am also Romanian of origin. However, I am also a person who lived for a limited period of [...]