Judith Sargentini is an MEP for GroenLinks, the Dutch Greens. Before being elected last June, she spent ten years working for development NGOs. November 2009 is a historic month. With Vaclav Klaus, the last head of state has finally ratified the Lisbon Treaty. The Treaty, in effect as from 1st December, makes the Council of ministers more transparent, gives us Members of the European Parliament more legislative powers and - very relevant for the development world - it gives us a say over...   Read more>>

Jeske van Seters While the longest dinner in EU history is soon to start, some of you may like to easy the waiting by taking account of important decisions made by the EU this week on policy coherence and more contours of the 'job description' for the High Representative for foreign and security policy. Whereas the latter note on the High Representative points out that trade and development policy should remain the responsibility of the respective Commissioners...   Read more>>

Last Friday, European Commission President Barosso presented his proposed 27-strong team and the policy portfolios for each of them. Reactions in the press on the proposed team of Commissioners are on average 'tentatively positive' of the mix of experience and new blood, while also starring one woman more than the present team. It goes without saying that the European Parliament is quite anxious to organise the hearings for the proposed Commissioners in the first weeks 2010. Columnist N...   Read more>>

Those of you who are subscribed to the Broker magazine will have already come across it, but this brief post is to highlight an article in the most recent edition by Otto Holman, reader in international relations and European integration studies at the University of Amsterdam. In the article, Otto Holman reflects on the recent posts in this Blog on the future of Europe, and present his own analysis of the implications of the entering into force of Lisbon for the future of Europe as a gl...   Read more>>