Life and art, Europe and the West Wing

One thing this blog can do is let you into those little secrets of the daily life of the European Parliament. So here’s one for you: the place is positively heaving with ardent fans of the US television series the West Wing. Well at least that was my observation a few years ago when I [...]

A yes, a no, a maybe…

There was a palpable air of stakes being upped in Strasbourg this week, with parliamentarians flexing their muscles and, like rookie supermen early in the film, taking themselves by surprise with their own new powers. Last time I can remember that feeling was another seminal moment: the fall of the Santer Commission in 1999.

So this is what its like after all

So this is what it’s like? After more than a decade and a half as a journalist, I am now a source. One of the… yes, one of the “faceless bureaucrats”.

Haiku news from the European Parliament

This week, a group of journalists endeavoured to make a “news” experiment. They isolated themselves from the world’s traditional media (no radio, no television, no newspapers) and “produced” news having as unique sources of information “haiku” texts on Facebook and Twitter. To complicate things, they were not allowed to click on the links proposed in [...]

Twittering the hearings

Just  a short post to draw attention to one of the more interesting aspects of the hearings of commissioners-designate, one which may mark an important change in the way EP political groups communicate.
I was fascinated to observe during the seven days of hearings we have already had, and presumably in the one more we are [...]

Statistics – a quick look on the backstage

Let’s have a (critical) view on our production on this blog… Is it enough? Is it equally distributed? Here are some statistics to help you make your own opinion.

Video six-pack.

It’s a tradition. Now and then we make a video, especially just before Christmas. Sure enough, at the end of last year, we made Writing for (y)EU. Basically, it’s a commercial. It’s about the stuff we do. You may know it; it’s on our Vimeo page and was embedded in a previous post on this [...]

Help! It’s a blank sheet moment…

It’s a classic fantasy. You can start with a blank sheet, your options open, all choices yet unmade, no idea too crazy, no limits except the limits of your own creativity… I refer, naturally, to designing a website (what else?).

That was the year that was

One year ago. December 2008. I just remember being incredibly stressed out; and, remarkably, that Tibo was even more so. We were up against the deadline for signing the “online” contract with our agency. We maybe didn’t realise it at the time, but in that contract the shape of WebCom’s annus mirabilis could already be discerned.

Professional chatterboxes

Already thought by some of our colleagues to pass our working hours in ways that are not quite serious, we have just started a new line of work which will give them another stick to beat us with. Yes, we now – officially – spend our time chatting online.

The photo man, seen but unseen

A quick plug for Pietro, our photographer. His is the most visible work in our team, as he illustrates just about everything we produce, and indeed provides even more illustrations without us producing anything to go along with it. And yet, poor lad, he’s not very visible himself. Perhaps it’s his shy retiring nature…

Lisbon and how to sell a Treaty with a new Parliament

Selling chocolate and soft ice at the age of 15 was not a challenge. The customers came, graving for it, and happily paid for their sweet treat. Now, over 20 years later, the challenge is of another scale. I’m working on a tough sell – Lisbon, the EU’s notorious reform treaty, and the new EP in the making.

Post-match analysis: Personal Democracy Forum in Barcelona

Conferences are like London buses. You go for ages without one showing up, then they all come along at once. Suffice it say that, thanks to an improbable number of internet/politics conferences in a very short period, I feel I am becoming something of a connaisseur of the genre.

Meeting Mr Rasmussen

It is quite a heady experience to sit in the office of the head of the world’s largest military alliance and ask him questions about global geo-politics. Geographically, at least, our questions ranged from Brussels to Moscow via Washington and Kabul.

Guys in black and no ties

Dilemma. The sartorial angst of the eurocrat-turned-web-dude can become a major preoccupation, especially when facing a new oh-so-cool peer group in public. Damn! I haven’t a thing to wear…

European Parliament “Question time” – can it deliver?

Many people are hoping that question time at 3 pm this afternoon will deliver a lively and memorable debate when Members bowl questions at Commission President José Manuel Barroso. To move things along and prevent waffle they are limited to 1 minute – for the question and response.

Questions on any subject will come from the [...]

Make your step on an unknown path

A few days ago I was discussing with my colleagues about how and why we came to Brussels. I filled in my application for auxiliary agent (temporary limited employment) the very last evening before the deadline. I found it by accident on some Czech government page.
Few weeks later I received a phone call from the [...]

The day the system broke down

This week started with a huge system failure. The first thing we noticed was that “Outlook” was not responding anymore. It left – for half a day as we discovered later – with no mention of when it would come back, and we couldn’t write e-mails to each other anymore.
It became a day of actual [...]

A blogging guru visits

It was truly fascinating to meet – in the flesh!!! – euro uber-blogger Julien Frisch this week when he paid a visit to our humble faceless office block. Rarely-seen editors emerged blinking into the light to proffer a hand, impressionable young web-editors jostled for a sighting of a local myth, glamourous young ladies solemnly vowed not [...]

Britney and the top five

A while ago, in February to be precise, I wrote a post entitled “Sex, porn and Britney Spears”, at the end of which I wondered “whether an article titled and tagged as this one is, especially when these terms appear in tempting conjunction with “European Parliament”, gets any bump in traffic?”. Well, I went and checked.