Sir, Regarding ‘Cyber-attacks now the most feared EU energy threat‘: Recent comments by European Commission officials concerning ‘cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure’ are superficial and fail to address key issues. Furthermore, discussions on this subject seem to occur only when budget allocations are being made. In 2003 PWR produced a report on this subject (Vulnerabilities of [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Parliament scales down Hungary media law debate‘: As private citizens, we are bewildered and confused. On the one hand, the European Commission still has to evaluate the conformity of the Hungarian media law with regard to EU legislation. On the other, MEPs from one political group already calling protests against this law and [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Sports policy could help build ‘European identity’‘: Reading your interview with Laurent Thieule of the think-tank Sport and Citizenship reminds me of Reagan’s famous dictum: The nine most dangerous words in the English language are “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”. Sport evolves organically. It is unique in creating a [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Cameron rallies troops for budget battle‘: UK Prime Minister David Cameron said last July that he would strongly support Turkey’s EU membership. But today I have my doubts. The EU membership of Turkey is possible towards 2016-2020 on the condition that the next budget of the EU for 2014-2020 foresees some funds for [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Barroso: Media freedom is ‘our sacred principle’‘: Hungary would veto Romania’s accession to Schengen if pressed by the EU to alter its recent press legislation. In turn Romania would veto Treaty change to allow the 18 additional MEPs to sit in the European Parliament and impose a CVM clause on Croatia’s accession to [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Italy isolated as ten countries unite on patents‘: Today, most technical and commercial communications are in English, while an inventor’s mother tongue is their most precise communication tool. Why not combine the two (the inventor’s usual language + English) in a two-column layout where paragraphs in one language are aligned next to the [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Brussels outlines vision for ‘fairer’ EU farm policy‘: The European Commission’s Communication on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy sets separate objectives of social cohesion, economic health and environmental sustainability. Our association fully shares these objectives. Together with the 19 participants from 14 member states and highly diverse backgrounds who attended our [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘IMF votes to shift more power to developing countries‘: Article 138§2 of the TFEU prescribes that “the Council may adopt appropriate measures for ensuring a unified representation (of the EU) in international financial institutions”. The recent reshuffle of seats and voting rights within the IMF was a unique occasion to trigger that clause [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Romania fumes at Franco-German Schengen blockade‘: The Jesuit Refugee Service is seriously concerned about the recent announcement by the Greek Minister of Citizens’ Protection that the Greek government is considering building a fence along the 12.5km section of Greece’s land border with Turkey, and about the weak reaction from the European Commission. We [...]

Sir, Both Europe and the USA have in relative terms to the constantly emerging South East Asian region declining economies. Although these economic blocs know that they have major problems on the horizon and when only innovation can get them out of their economic woes in the long term, they still continue to treat innovation [...]