Europe

Irish is to be the EU’s 21st official language, according to the Examiner. It will mean “jobs for 110 translators fluent in the language, who can earn up to €85,000”. Aha, an end to Slugger’s funding problems! Anois, ca bhfuil mo focloir? Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: …

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Two of Northern Ireland’s MEPs, Bairbre de Brun and Jim Allister were involved in the launch of an international forum taking place in Belfast this week, with two very different takes on its significance.Allister spoke on the devastation suffered by families whose kids become involved in paramilitaries, a big problem in many loyalist and, increasingly, in mixed community areas. De Brun concentrated on the importance of increasing early learning provision in order to tackle the problem of educational disadvantage. Mick …

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TV viewers in the Netherlands have voted murdered right-wing politician Pim Fortuyn the greatest Dutchman of all time. No prizes for guessing who came second… Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

NORMALLY reliable sources have indicated that Sinn Fein Assembly member and MEP Bairbre de Brun is to resign her West Belfast seat very soon to concentrate on Europe. It is likely that Sue Ramsey will replace the former Stormont health minister. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

As European leaders sign the new EU constitution at “a lavish ceremony” in Rome, the Irish Times gives Taoiseach Bertie Ahern space to expand on his view of a “magna carta that has built on all earlier foundations”.Today, when we sign the European Constitution, Dermot Ahern and I will join our colleagues in the very same room in which the Treaty of Rome was signed in 1957. The historic symbolism is powerful. The European Constitution will replace existing EU treaties. …

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A somewhat irreverant glimpse at the beginning of the one of the most successful revolutions of modern Europe, the Protestant Reformation, from ex pat Diarmuid Logan. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty

Stephen Pollard picks up on the controversy surrounding the vetoing of Rocco Buttiglione as an EU Commissioner because of his mainstream Catholic views on homosexuality, and argues that it points to a deeper problem should the current draft of the European Constitution be adopted:If the proposed EU constitution is adopted, it will not matter what Mr Buttiglione, or anyone else, thinks. Most areas of morality and fundamental policy would no longer be amenable to democratic decision making; they are dictated …

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Eilis O’Hanlon argues that whereas a previous Catholic right political project proved ludicrously ineffectual, the European left is much more effective in asserting passive agressive power. She cites the summary blocking of Rocco Buttiglione for the post of EU commissioner for justice, liberty and security for, in effect, recounting his (mainstream Catholic) belief that homosexuality is a sin. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider …

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Jim Allister will return to the subject of accountability tomorrow in Gibraltar. And he makes a point about the uncertainty of the colony’s position in the ongiong relations between Spain and the UK. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty

BOTH Jim Allister and Bairbre de Brun are united in their disappointment about the cut in EU PEACE funding. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

As the European Social Forum prepares to get under way in London, and Sinn Féin pay their fees and send a delegation to attend, the Guardian reports on the alternative conference, Beyond ESF, organised by grassroots activists (horizontals) who state that “the ESF has been ‘hijacked by authoritarian organisations’” (verticals).As the Guardian reports “internal splits, between grassroots activists on one side and key players and major sponsors on the other, have now broken into the open” leading to the “rival …

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