Category: Blog

Can the New Libyan Government Survive?

Guest Blog by Philip Eliason There are current and rapid changes in Libya. The arrival of seven of nine members of the Government of National Accord’s (GNA) Presidency Council in Tripoli on 30 March 2016 is the most significant of them. The statement from Tripoli by Martin Kobler, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative to […]

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EU Referendum: The key word is Union

Paul Brannen is a Labour Member of European Parliament for the North East of England. Paul is a member of the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee and the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee in the European Parliament. Knowing the exact meaning of some words can be a challenge. For example the word ‘literally’ has […]

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Political Ethics: Anatomy of Malta’s Panama Papers Scandal

This week’s “Panama Papers” leak highlighted the activities of notable citizens in many countries. The recent revelations only confirm what everyone (and we mean, everyone) in Malta has been talking about for the past several weeks: Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, Keith Schembri both have connections to companies in […]

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Libya: What Needs To Happen Now

With writing by BCI and Frank Talbot, of Libya Reverb Project Defying sceptics and bluster of opposition, Libya’s Government of National Accord finally arrived in Tripoli, albeit by sea. Now it begins not just the hard work of winning and building alliances, securing it’s premises, but it must get on with the business of governing […]

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International Women’s Day Is Just the Start

For International Women’s Day 2016, we invited Italian Member of the European Parliament, Barbara Matera to share her thoughts on why there is still much to do to reach ‘Planet 50-50’.  Today we mark International Women’s Day, an occasion to look back on the past century of the fight for women’s rights and look forward to […]

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How Brexit would effect Malta

Written by BCI’s Matthew Lowell, a version of this opinion piece appeared in today’s Times of Malta.  It has been reproduced with the permission of the newspaper. British Prime Minister David Cameron is in Brussels this week in an attempt to gain approval from European Union leaders on a reform package for Britain’s membership of […]

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Will Populism Trump America’s faith in Democracy?

Guest post by Lisa Goldman When Donald Trump declared his candidacy for the Republican Party’s nomination in July, policy analysts and media outlets treated the news as a joke. One major digital news site, the Huffington Post, announced it would cover Trump’s campaign in the entertainment section. Six months later, Trump is the leading Republican […]

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The EU Debate on Poland: A Broader Perspective

On Tuesday, January 19, 2016 the European Parliament debated the state of Poland’s democracy. For reporting on the debate, see Politico EU’s coverage. We invited a Polish Member of the European Parliament, Michal Boni, to share his thoughts on this process and the state of Poland’s democracy. The debate in the European Parliament concerning the […]

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The Fight for Freedom in the Maldives

Guest post by Shauna Aminath On December 17, 2015, 563 Members of the European Parliament passed a harshly worded resolution calling for sanctions against officials of the government of Maldives. The resolution calls on the European Union and its member states to “Introduce restrictive measures in the form of targeted sanctions to freeze the assets […]

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More Women On Boards In The EU Is Good Business

In recent weeks, there has been discussion of EU efforts to increase the proportion of women in Europe’s boardrooms. The EU Commission proposal will oblige publicly listed companies to ensure that 40 percent of their boards are female. Under the plans being discussed in Brussels, companies would need to set a target of making 40 percent of […]

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