Following on a bit from Scott’s post below, here’s an interesting EU-related development following the US elections (via Blood and Treasure):
The reelection of US President George W. Bush could push Norway closer to joining the European Union, Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik said on Wednesday.
“If the distance expands between the two sides of the Atlantic [...]

On Crooked Timber, Henry Farrell has already emptied his glass of constitutional champagne and makes several quite reasonable predictions about the future of the formal and informal relations between the EP, the Commission, and the Council with respect to Commission appointments.

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I didn’t know this until just now, but the signing ceremony for the EU constitution is going to start in a few minutes. Le Monde is reporting that the signing starts at 11:30 this morning Europe time - about ten minutes from now. The ceremony is in Rome - where the EU was [...]

Trying to explain the inner workings of EU governance to non-Europeans is a bit like trying to explain the importance of the American League’s designated hitter rule to baseball neophytes. So it’s in the spirit of the 2004 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox that I present my European press review, written for Slate, for [...]

“It is better to take time to get it right.”
When Jos? Manuel Barroso asked the European Parliament with these words not to vote on his current commission line-up, European Parlamentarians welcomed his decision, downplaying that he was rather late for the party, emphasizing that he showed up at all. But of course, the EP [...]

As various places are reporting, Barroso is now saying he needs more time to secure the European Parliament’s assent to his Commission. Faced with the prospect of a majority of MEPs voting to reject the entire Commission, he’s taken this unprecedented step, handing a significant victory to Parliament.
According to the German newspaper whose web site [...]

In Sunday’s Washington Post, the often-astute Timothy Garton Ash argues:
If President Bush is reelected, many Europeans will try to make the European Union a rival superpower to the United States.
Led by French President Jacques Chirac, they will find the main justification for further European integration in counterbalancing what they see as irresponsible, unchecked American power. [...]

While most observers still expect a compromise between incoming Commission president Barroso and those groups in the EP which threatened to block his entire team over the Buttiglione row - Mr Barroso will meet with leading MEPs tomorrow -, according to EUPolitix.com’s press review, the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita reports that Rocco Buttiglione may “resign” today [...]

Over on Crooked Timber, Henry Farrell comments on the istitutional implications of the Buttiglione affair. While we are shocked to learn that The Economist does not like the recent self-confident behavior of the European Parliament with respect to the Commission hearings, Kieran Healy - duly apologetic - makes a fair point in the comments thread [...]

The pending crisis of the Barroso Commission isn’t limited to the dust-up over all-too-aptly-named Buttiglione. Another committee of the Parliament declined to endorse Laszlo Kovacs as commissioner responsible for energy policy. And that could cause the problem to escalate.

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