Dutch shocklog Retecool has posted an entry containing a link to an episode of the BBC’s Hard Talk in which Stephen Sackur is grilling Dutch right-wing MP Geert Wilders, founder of Group Wilders and the new Party of Freedom.
You can watch the episode by clicking here (RealPlayer, 23 minutes). Before you click, please read what’s [...]

Two years ago, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung began publishing a series of 50 great novels from the 20th century. It’s a good list, and I’ve been slowly reading my way through it. Emphasis on slowly. The newspaper never planned on keeping the editions in print indefinitely, and indeed, the smartly designed and inexpensive (EUR 4.90!) hardbacks [...]

I have learned via the unlinkable newsfeed site NOS Teletekst that The Netherlands will be opening its borders to East European workers coming from the new EU member states, starting January 1st 2007. Dutch Parliament pushed back the original entry date, May 1st 2006, that was proposed by employers. The big fear is abuse of [...]

While everyone in France is waiting for tomorrow’s decision (and not “démission” i.e. “resignation”, as Villepin said today in a dreadful slipe of the tongue) of the Constitutional Court on the CPE, I urge everyone to go read Wolfang Munchau’s refreshingly contrarian take on the current crisis.
The column is now safely protected by the [...]

For those of you who aren’t in the habit of reading the fine print in the left-hand column — especially the one-third who can’t tell us apart in the current poll results — this is an invitation to add your location to the frappr map of afoe readers. Join your peers from Wellington, New [...]

Chris “Stumbling and Mumbling” Dillow has a very interesting post on signs of German economic recovery. Interestingly, the bellwether Ifo confidence index has shown a dramatic uptick, reaching its highest level since 1991. Dillow proceeds to examine its correlation with the DAX stock market index.
Now, as Chris points out, DAX-constituents are likely to be the [...]

Discuss, if you like, to what extent the following quote is still applicable today. To what extent is success policy-driven, if there is any success at all, and not the accidental consequence of the actions of a few exceptionalist individuals? Where does Europe stand right now? Should we still count our blessings? Please keep the [...]

News today which is of more than passing interest from the Czech Republic. The South Korean industrial group Hyundai has announced that it is going to build its first European car plant at Nosovice. The factory - which is scheduled to cost around one billion euros - should begin production in October [...]

What’s the Matter With Kiev? By Scott MacMillan Sunday’s vote wasn’t a rejection of the orange revolution, it was proof of its success.
The pre-election media coverage was entirely useless, and the post-election stories weren’t so great either, so thank god for Scott, who’s written a great piece in Slate.

Or should that be a undemocratic state of emergency?
In past AFOE threads, we’ve been discussing the Italian elections, as you no doubt saw. One thing that came up is the possibility that Silvio Berlusconi might not behave himself in the event that he looks like losing. This is after all a man who has no [...]