Central Europe Activ

This time it was not different – bailouts in 2008 and 2011

Dániel Antal — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 20:27:25 +0000

With Alex Katsiatis we have written a post two years ago about the dysfunctional Greek politics in the context of the Hungarian bailout of ’08, predicting that the Greek party will lead to a similar hangover. Very interesting in retrospect. The only reason why the money markets could not pick on Greece instead of Hungary [...]

Brown to replace Strauss-Kahn in IMF top job?

Dániel Antal — Sun, 15 May 2011 20:52:25 +0000

While Ms Merkel cannot discuss urgent matters on the euro crisis with the IMF while Mr Strauss-Kahn is detained in the United States, Mr Brown has already popped up again as a substitute for Stauss-Kahn for the top IMF job. Even if London is the biggest financial center of Europe, given the British disengagement with [...]

What is the EU (and Tony Blair) doing in the ‘peace process’?

Dániel Antal — Sun, 15 May 2011 17:24:42 +0000

When Sen. Mitchell, the Middle East envoy of the Obama administration resigned on Friday, I immediately asked ‘what is Tony Blair doing’? In the time-frame of a single weekend, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has regained its importance in the Middle Eastern region. If the EU countries want it or not, they will have to play their [...]

DSK should sort out his private life, not the euro crisis

Dániel Antal — Sun, 15 May 2011 15:03:19 +0000

For a long time it was seen as a virtue that the French press was not grilling politician’s private lives. I think that the French public owes a lot to NYC gossip press and NYPD when it was saved from a non-substantial presidential campaign about the respective personal characters of Messieurs Strauss-Kahn and Sarkozy. In [...]

Elvis (Officially) Dead in Budapest

Dániel Antal — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:38:11 +0000

While national Fidesz, the strongest governing party in Europe, is taking an effort to finish a new constitution for Hungary, its municipal group in Budapest has different ambitions. The party has won over the city council for the first time in October 2010 and it is busy re-arranging the streetmap. Elvis Presley will be declared [...]

European Parliament: Who is a lobbyist, really?

Dániel Antal — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 14:17:04 +0000

It appears to me that the term ‘lobbying’ is not very clear in Austria. Disgraced former MEP Ernst Strasser boasted that he was both a lobbyist and an MEP. His successor, Hubert Pirker owns a lobbying firm yet he believes that he is not a lobbyist. If the European Parliament wants to avoid more embarrassment, [...]

To Build a Road Across Libya from Tunisia to Egypt

Dániel Antal — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 23:06:02 +0000

It was only last summer that the two leaders held 'amity talks' in a big Bedouin tent in the center of Rome 'focusing on trade relations'. They celebrated the big friendship agreement singed two years earlier. It is astonishing that in 2010 these statesmen have celebrated their deal struck in 2008 where Italy pledged 5 billion dollars over 20 years to build a road across Libya from Tunisia to Egypt.

No Man’s Land – Ecology of a Minefield

Dániel Antal — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 13:34:52 +0000

I remember the young children of the war who always preferred to play on concret because green meant death for them. And I remember forests with mines that have not seen mankind or any greater animal for a decade because of the landmines. This year I would like to find out what happened with those kids who are becoming grown-ups these days and what happened with the forest without us. What is life exactly on a minefield? How people, animals and plants are effected?

Starting citizens’ initiatives is easier than stopping them

Dániel Antal — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 23:22:55 +0000

First of all, there will be a lot of single issue politics, connected to lifestyle/hobby groups like hunting, bird watching or music downloading. A million signatures to abolish copyrights will be no match for them. There will be also a lot of emotionally loaded political questions. Banning nukes, GMO agriculture products or bailing out Assange? I bet that you can collect a million signatures for such issues in Europe almost overnight. Or collecting signatures for big business 10 euros each? Even signing up, too.

Against History III: Mind the Borders!

Dániel Antal — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 20:03:10 +0000

I started, but did not really complete a series after the Schengen zone accession of the two countries to show municipalities and local communities that want to revert history and erect local borders where the state borders become invisible. Now that monuments will remind us to the invisible borders I think I will start again, so please keep me posted with photographs. As many Trianon monuments, one-way street signs, concrete flowerbeds in the middle of the street as possible. Beware - history is a one-way street