10/15/2005

lobbying the European Union

I have been interested in lobbying and the European Union, since I first visited Brussels in 2001. Back then I was working on a comparison between regionalisation processes in different member states of the European Union (Italy, Spain, UK) in the course of a seminar. The seminar was taught by the head of the “Vertretung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen bei der Europäischen Union”, the regional representation office of my home state in Germany. During a visit in Brussels the instructor gave a talk about the political system of the EU and the importance of knowing the right people in Brussels. I remember being fascinated by both aspects, the institutional complexity of that political system and the importance of the human factor in such a multilingual environment.
Several years later, after I graduated, I found myself working in the “Landesvertretung” as an intern. As it turns out, all that glistens isn’t gold but the subject is even more fascinating…

http://www.europa.nrw.de/

10/10/2005

starting point

I finally decided to put some of my current thoughts out on the web. Why? Well, first of all there are many good reasons why scientists or practitioners in many fields are blogging these days. To list them here wouldn’t make a lot of sense, since you are reading my blog, which means you obviously have your own idea why people do it (or you will get one in the process).
However, the fact that you can read it on the web is only part of the story. The main motivation behind writing this blog is rather self-centred. It serves predominantly the purpose of recording thoughts/ideas/concepts which are not yet elaborated enough to be used otherwise - therewith minimizing the risk of being buried inside my head with limited chances of rediscovery. Also, comments on current developments and news will be put on record to capture the essence of flying days.

http://lobbyeu.blogspot.com/