New Citizen Europe Blog!

Goodbye, Blogger!

I'm making the move over to WordPress. Anyone interested in reading about European nationalism can find me writing on my new blog over at http://joelitobarski.com/

See you there!

Where Have I Been?

I've been keeping a low profile in the EU blogosphere since the TH!NK ABOUT IT finale in Rotterdam.

The main reason for this is that I'm up to my eyeballs in work at the moment, so my blogging has suffered.

The other reason is that I'm working on a brand new blog/website (powered by Wordpress) to be launched soon.

More info to follow...

Blogging in the Stone Age: How Political Blogging in the EU is Playing Catch-up With America

I've just had an editorial published on www.dailybabel.com.

I'm sure it will prove at least mildly controversial, and I hope it will generate a bit of debate. If not debate, then at least some thoughts!

Comment if you think I've got it wrong, because I will listen to you. I would actually love to be proved wrong in this case!

You can read my editorial here.

What is the Point of the EU Blogosphere?

I'm going to try experimenting more with audio and video as a blogger. I'm sure this is a better way to connect with people and show the human side of EU politics. So here's a video I've put together, showing some of my thoughts about what we could do with an EU blogosphere.

Please criticise my mad ideas!

My Editorial for JMECE Lab

The Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence Lab has published an editorial I wrote about European identity. It's a personal piece describing my own feelings as a young European living and working in the EU.

You can download it or read it online here.

Comments and criticism welcome!

Some News on How the Elections went in Maastricht

The UK and Netherlands were the first countries to go to the polls today in the EU parliamentary elections!

I was sent an e-mail today by Faten, a voter in Maastricht in the EU elections [EDIT: Fatan isn't actually a voter, because she is South African. But her partner is Dutch and voted in the elections]. She offers a personal account of going to vote in the Netherlands:

"Dear Joe,

As promised I wanted to drop you a quick email on my observations on how the elections went in Maastricht.

It was a normal cold Thursday morning; people going to work as one sees it every morning on bikes. Pretty much like other days, really. There was no rush to vote. I live next to a voting office, which I pass on my way to work.

The voting office is a school and the traffic of this morning was rather calm - again the usual traffic caused by parents dropping off their kids at school. The City Hall also housed a voting station. To guide the voters, small signs were put up to direct the voters. Those were the only noticeable signs that some type of elections were taking place (if one doesn't know he wouldn't recognize that EU elections are taking place due to the lack of some type of poster of even a sign of the EU flag). However, the preliminary estimates show that 40% of Dutch went out to vote - a higher figure than initially predicted.

One of the key concerns in the run up to the election was that the radical PVV party of Geert Wilders would win the majority of votes. As it looks now, they only got the 2nd position (of course official results still have to be announced). Preliminary results show that CDA (the leading party in government) is leading (20% - 5 seats which is a decline of 2 seats from the previous election) followed by the radical PVV which has secured 15% of the votes according to the preliminary estimates.

The elections were not only 'spiced-up' by the radical PVV but an animal for the animals also run for elections and the preliminary results show that they are close to securing 1 seat. The party is said to represent those who are victims of human cruelty. Interesting!

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Faten"

What Future for the EU Blogosphere?

My latest TH!NK ABOUT IT post can be found here - in which I muse about how we can build a better EU blogging community.