Sir, Regarding ‘EU regulators deal blow to Berlusconi’s media empire‘: I must say I do not share the prevalent satisfaction about the permission granted to Murdoch to enter the Italian audiovisual scene. The active anti-European ideological bias of the Murdoch press empire is responsible for desastrous disinformation on European affairs in several EU countries, notably [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Belgium wants citizens’ initiative deal by December‘: There are already reasons to doubt that citizens’ voices will be heeded. In 2007, persons with disabilities, united in Europe under the umbrella of the European Disability Forum, pre-empted the legal right to a citizens’ initiative later awarded by the Lisbon Treaty. In the space of [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Food industry wins battle on ‘traffic light’ labels‘: CIAA’s [Confederation of the Food and Drink Industries of Europe] €1-billion campaign to promote the GDA [guideline daily allowance] labelling system was clearly a key element in its political strategy to combat other, stricter labelling options, which it feared would damage sales of unhealthy food, [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘UK coalition to mimic EU lobby register‘: Both the existing European Commission voluntary register and the proposal for a new EU inter-institutional register rely on registration being underpinned by adherence to a Code of Practice/Ethics. At present there is no commitment on the part of the UK government to introduce such a statutory [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Ex-Commissioners face conflict of interest accusations’: The recent cases of former European commissioners moving to industry positions involve very obvious potential conflicts of interest. The Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) has written to the European Commission asking it to review its decisions to approve the moves of Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Meglena [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘EU to kick off citizens’ initiative with tougher rules‘: The Young European Federalists (JEF Europe) welcome the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) as a unique opportunity to breathe new life into European democracy and strengthen the participation of citizens in EU policymaking, but it would be a terrible mistake to limit the potential of [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘EU officials offered hotline for ‘clear writing’‘: I was pleased to read that the European Commission is keen to promote and use clear language – not a quick or easy job. I wonder, however, why DGT’s commissioner needed 27 words to say what 17, 14, 10 or 7 words would have said instead: [...]

Sir, Most countries in Central, East and Southeast Europe emerged from the trough of the crisis at the end of 2009. Several leading indicators point to a modest upswing. All countries in the region will only begin to grow again by 2011. Growth may accelerate slightly in 2012, but will in general be slower than [...]

Dear Ms. Kroes, As you might know, often my country tends to walk on the wrong path when it comes down to freedom of the press and information. This is really a pity since we do have the potential to do more and better. As you might also know, Italian governments, both from the centre-left [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘EU pioneers asked to tell their stories‘: Frankly, are they nuts? It took me more than a decade to recover from the shock I experienced upon my arrival in Brussels. A filthy, badly organised and corrupt place. I can fill entire evening conversations with stories of incompetent administration departments, shady police actions targeting [...]