My Country? Europe. | Bruno Formicola | Activity

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, The EU Will Restrict Surveillance Tech Exports: A Win for Human Rights?

Tue, 08 Dec 2020 14:56:57 +0000

Just last month, German authorities searched the offices of the Munich-based software developing company FinFisher after accusations that it illegally sold spyware to Turkish authorities. This was only the lastest […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, Three Takeaways from the Latest Eurogroup Meeting

Sat, 11 Apr 2020 12:42:57 +0000

After three days of long negotiations, the Eurogroup has reached an agreement on the financial measures that will be made available to mitigate the catastrophic consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. The text of the […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, How the Mayor of Prague Became Taiwan's Best Friend

Sat, 04 Apr 2020 10:26:33 +0000

The independence of the World Health Organization (WHO) has been recently put into question when an official from the UN body eluded questions over the status of Taiwan in the WHO during an online video interview. […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, The High Representative's Role in the Iran Deal Through the Years

Tue, 15 Oct 2019 15:47:03 +0000

In July 2015, the parties involved in the negotiations over the Iranian nuclear capabilities reached an agreement putting an end to a years-long diplomatic effort. The P5+1 (France, United Kingdom, Russia, China, […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, Italy’s Embrace of the Belt and Road Initiative Could Be Beneficial to Europe

Thu, 01 Aug 2019 21:22:58 +0000

China’s new international assertiveness is one of the great talking points of the 21st Century, especially after the country’s adoption of the so-called Belt and Road initiative, a gargantuan infrastructure and […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, Why Did the European Community Emerge After WWII and Not in the Interwar Period?

Wed, 30 Jan 2019 12:17:02 +0000

The 20th century’s interwar years were studded with pacifist appeals and utopian visions of international unity. President Wilson’s fourteen points and the making of the League of Nations in 1920 (hereinafter LoN […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, How European Integration Changed French Power Politics and Transatlantic Relations

Mon, 14 Jan 2019 12:45:13 +0000

“At a time when Europe is undergoing great difficulties, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to call to mind what the European Union means for peace in Europe. […] The EU has in fact helped to bring about bot […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, The case for Switzerland as a post-Brexit model for the UK

Wed, 14 Nov 2018 13:08:47 +0000

The latest European Council meeting on October 17 has left the 27 leaders unsatisfied with the progress – or the lack thereof – in Brexit negotiations. Despite having been less confrontational than the pre […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, The Democratic Party should enter into a coalition with the 5SM

Mon, 19 Mar 2018 22:12:08 +0000

The Secretary of the Democratic Party (DP) Matteo Renzi announced his resignation over the disastrous outcome of the main centre-left formation in Italy (did the Italian centre-left ever exist, though?). He did so […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, Why Germany should give up on the Nord Stream 2 project

Fri, 20 Oct 2017 10:01:50 +0000

From the smallest individual actions to the most marvellous and destructive natural phenomena, nothing could be possible without energy, the source of any motion and chemical process in living beings and […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, The “American Problem” – Donald Trump and the European Union

Sat, 16 Sep 2017 11:40:38 +0000

Throughout its long history, Europe has known a great many “problems” that were so tightly knit to the fabric of the space in which they occurred that they became known as national problems. The Turks had a pro […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, Belarus ready to stop the military invasion from Veyshnoria

Thu, 31 Aug 2017 12:10:00 +0000

Veyshnoria is one of the three imaginary countries created by the Belarusian army as part of their latest military drill.

Some already created a Wikipedia page complete with the history of this country, while […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, Federal Union: when Britain tried to create a European Federation

Fri, 23 Jun 2017 15:12:45 +0000

In 1938, the European powers were desperately trying to restrain Hitler from further implementing its expansionist plan. In the shadow of this confrontation, three young British men gave birth to a groundbreaking […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, Loving the majoritarian system

Thu, 08 Jun 2017 09:54:11 +0000

When even Britain risks not to form a functioning government after the next elections, the calls for majoritarian electoral systems in other countries (like Italy) become more and more useless and laughable.

The […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, Commission starts considering Eurozone common debt and complete financial integration

Wed, 31 May 2017 15:20:34 +0000

This article is a post of the series “At A Glance” that refers directly to the original source.

On Wednesday, the EU commission released the “Reflection paper on deepening the economic and monetary union […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, What does the EU Commission think of globalization?

Mon, 15 May 2017 11:25:41 +0000

Last week the EU Commission issued a “Reflection paper” dedicated to globalization and the way the European Union should handle its effects in the near future. This paper is a part of a series inaugurated by the […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, The Europe That Never Was

Mon, 08 May 2017 21:28:49 +0000

We all know the story of the European Union, born from the ashes of the Coal and Steel Community – a success story after the fratricidal disaster of the world wars. What is less widely known is that an attempt at […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, Thoughts of a European: An Easterner in Austria

Fri, 28 Apr 2017 17:50:41 +0000

You always hear people talk about how much they loved their Erasmus experience, how much they love to travel or how much they enjoy meeting new people. But what happens when you actually decide to leave the […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, The dangers of purism

Sun, 23 Apr 2017 22:24:04 +0000

Speaking of the French election, we can draw a parallel with what happened last year in the United States.

Bernie lost the Democratic primaries, leaving Hillary Clinton the “honour” of beating Donald Trump; we […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, Don't get fooled

Mon, 03 Apr 2017 13:07:20 +0000

Don’t get fooled by the trappings of contemporary political discourse: the political dicotomy has not switched from right and left to Europeanism/federalism and nationalism/protectionism.
The former is still […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, European Federalists are Euro-critics

Mon, 13 Mar 2017 21:59:56 +0000

European Federalists are first of all euro-critics. They don’t blindly consider the European Union perfect. On the contrary, they know well its flaws. Maybe even better than the avarage eurosceptic, whose only aim […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, Realism and Idealism in the Federalist Bubble

Mon, 13 Mar 2017 21:58:42 +0000

We European Federalists are being often accused of extreme “idealism” and naïveté by those who criticize us.
That’s ironic though. Think about it, it’s the reality of the world that makes a united Europe n […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, How we view European Federalism

Wed, 08 Mar 2017 15:48:53 +0000

Whenever we mention federalism, some people think surely we must refer to a European superstate: well, they’re wrong.

What Federalism does mean to us is to put into practice the EU motto “United in diversity”, […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, My Erasmus experience: a Neapolitan in Romania

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 11:57:18 +0000

It was a cold day of February when I arrived in Bucharest. The Romanian capital is considered by many the little Paris of Eastern Europe for its similar architecture.
I rented a cozy apartment situated in Piata U […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, The current EU party system makes no sense: we need pan-European parties

Tue, 17 Jan 2017 18:48:06 +0000

As European Federalists, we are called to celebrate the successes of the European Union, but at the same time, our duty is to highlight its evident flaws, to criticize the inconsistencies, to analyze what made […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, Strange Bedfellows: The Deal Between ALDE and the Five Star Movement

Tue, 10 Jan 2017 16:43:32 +0000

The news regarding a deal between the ALDE group (composed by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and the European Democratic Party) and the notorious Italian Grillo-led Five Star Movement shocked a […]

Bruno Formicola wrote a new post, What's the TTIP? Here's a handbook.

Mon, 19 Dec 2016 20:41:54 +0000

Since the second half of the 19th Century, international trade has inflated as a mishmash of bilateral or multilateral agreements, some great and some small. They have built, and incrementally strengthened, a […]