Job Alert – View from Colombia on Europe’s Summer Heat and the ECJ

This week’s editorial comes from the former murder and drug capital, and now hipster hotspot, Medellin/Colombia! Your politjobs editor is on a travel-while-working trip – which leads to the opportunity for you politjobs readers to learn from Brussels outsiders about their perspective on the EU.

But first things first: Brussels and the rest of Europe experience such an extraordinary, never-ending heat wave that the European Commission had mercy with European farmers: they are allowed to deviate from the EU’s green requirements under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), much to the concern of Greenpeace and others who believe that we will see more of the current climate in the future.

Those who report on such decisions will need additional funds: as the Belgian government apparently does not earn sufficient taxes from the EU expats in the country, Prime Minister Charles Michel decided to introduce a 50 Euro fee for journalists to access EU summits. Whilst Belgium argues the money is needed for security services, EU journalists view this as censorship. The European Commission also requested Belgium to reconsider – a story to be continued.

And, who knows, possibly another future case to be decided by the European Court of Justice – an institution that is currently growing stronger and possibly more political than ever, as the final decision-maker on cases that policymakers did not manage to handle properly. The ECJ currently deals with – and strongly doubts – the independence of Polish courts, following the request of an Irish judge concerning the execution of a European arrest warrant. In addition, the Polish Supreme Court itself has turned to the ECJ concerning a new Polish law on forced early retirement of judges.

Less fundamental issues are also in the hands of the court right now: the ECJ has also recently ruled on online copyrights: something that is common-sense in academia and journalism will hopefully also dawn on self-proclaimed internet authors from now on: online content can only be re-published with the consent of the person who created it.

Let’s take the promised look from outside:

Apparently, the EU is not the first what comes to mind when in Medellin, Colombia. Interviews revealed a few interesting highlights though: did you know that many well-travelled Americans believe that the EU came into being in 2001 – with the introduction of the Euro? A success story for all travellers, whether inside or outside the Union. Additionally, Russia – of all places – has a wonderful project going that educates people about Europe. Actually, the credit goes to three Germans, and EU bureaucratic communicators can learn from this: the project „Home Visit Europe“ is an interactive theatre, taking place in people’s homes and gathering about 15 attendees who are then involved in the play – with the guiding question of how much Europe is inside each one of us.

If you want to get this creative in Brussels, find some jobs below and as usual more on politjobs.eu!

Irina Michalowitz

Featured Job: Bernstein Group seeks Associate
Brussels | Apply by: 2 September 2018 | Start: September 2018 | Full Time

The Bernstein Group consists of multiple partner-managed consulting companies that specialise in communications services for exceptional circumstances, change and transformation processes, complex political decision-making processes and regulatory issues. From September 2018 onwards we are looking for someone displaying drive and courage, personal initiative and a marked willingness to play a role in shaping outcomes to join us as an Associate with Bernstein Public Policy in Brussels ➡See full job ad

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