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 ‘Chinese Nobel boycott divides EU’s ‘inner circle’‘: The Nobel Peace Committee must act now. The Nobel Peace Prize as a means to inspire peaceful coexistence is fading. The Nobel Peace Committee must eventually recollect and act according to the clear, explicit and unambiguous last-will and testament of Alfred Nobel, to reward: “…the person [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘EU officials win pay rise battle with EU member states‘: I have no doubt the Irish people will have an even warmer glow about being in the EU, in the knowledge that EU officials will now get a 3.7% pay rise in addition to job security, perks and benefits and little accountability. Charles [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘EU officials win pay rise battle with member states‘: I would like to make the following additional points: The Court’s decision was fast because the breach of EU law by the Council was obvious and flagrant – as the legal services of both the Council and the Commission had warned beforehand. The progressive [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Single market delays draw fire in forum‘: A lot of internal market problems, especially the lack of economic transparency, were never acted upon after Maastricht Treaty came into force under Jacques Delors’ presidency of the European Commission. Following the publication of Mario Monti’s recent report, which reviews the single market, it may be [...]

Sir, Concernant ‘L’UE et l’Irlande se mettent d’accord sur le fonds de sauvetage‘: Certes l’Union a les moyens de sauver de la banqueroute ce mauvais élève de la classe européenne. Car les difficultés irlandaises ne sont pas seulement dues à ses banques, mais bien à la politique économique et fiscale de son gouvernement. Voila un [...]

Sir, Concernant ‘L’Acte sur le marché unique attire les foudres du forum public‘: L’article d’EurActiv.com paru suite au débat public organisé par Confrontations Europe ce jeudi 18 novembre est inacceptable. Alors que tous les participants ont souligné la formidable opportunité qu’ouvre cet Acte pour le marché unique, le titre laisse penser que nous sommes opposés [...]

Sir, Now the EU is awake at last, it should deal with debt workouts for EU and developing countries. With the Greek financial crisis rocking the foundations of European Monetary Union, the EU has finally realised it needs to agree on debt mechanisms. With regard to the Council’s conclusions on a ‘permanent crisis mechanism’, EU [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Parliament backs 20-week maternity leave‘: Europe’s leaders must use Thursday’s EU summit to fight against the introduction of new laws on maternity leave, voted on by MEPs last week, that will increase maternity leave from the current EU minimum of 14 weeks to 20 weeks, all of which will be on compulsory full [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Treaty change debate divides EU foreign ministers‘: In its present state the Lisbon Treaty explicits forbids any form of financial solidarity between eurozone member states. This ‘original sin’ must be erased to guarantee the survival of the euro. The treaty must therefore be revised. Such revisions are consubstantial with the evolving nature of [...]