KNOWING ABOUT THIS..

February 28, 2020 A Dane should never work for a Swede! 11.693 days is a long time.   Actually, it is 32 years. I worked in the European Commission for exactly 32 years. First 15 years in Copenhagen, then 17 years in Brussels.   And all the years were full of great experiences, very nice and creative colleagues and with a feeling that it made a difference, all what we we doing together. Still, I decided long time before that I would retire after 32 years. Today this is 15 years ago. February 28, 2005. It was a great and enjoyable day! I also thought that it would be better to leave as long as the colleagues said:   Oh no – do not leave us now. We are in the middle of very exciting and important projects!   And not wait until they said – or at least thought – Oh, why doesn’t he just leave us alone soon! Nobody knew about my plans. So it was quite a surprise, also for my boss and my closest collaborators, when I on November 29 2004 handed in...

February 27: My comments the other day were dealing with the Corona virus .   I pointed out that according to the World Health Organisation WHO about 660.000 people die each year worldwide because of flu. Medical specialists in different countries have underlined the same fact.   The Corona is also a flu.   It infects easier than “normal” flu.   But it is not necessarily more dangerous than the traditional yearly ones.   People who were already hit by it confirm that. So there is no reason to panic.   Keep calm and carry on , as specialists tell us.   Use your common sense. Wash your hands more frequently and more energetic than you perhaps normally do.   Keep an eye on the elder members of your family. And contact your doctor, if you think that the Corona has hit you. The number of Corona cases in China seems to decrease .   But the virus has now reached more countries in Europe – in addition to Italy – such as Austr...

February 26: How to use untraditional methods to make people vote in elections. GO VOTING – about the parliamentary elections in Slovakia on Saturday, February 29. As mentioned some days ago in my comments about Slovakia the Slovaks have parliamentary elections on February 29.   It is a an interesting and partly unpredictable election, because the political situation in the country is very different from the situation at the latest elections in 2016. The first – and not new – problem in Slovak elections is that the turn-out, the participation, is often low . At the latest European elections in May 2019 only 22,74 %   voted. It was the lowest turn-out in all EU countries. Even though it was a bit higher than five years earlier. The low turn-out was of particular importance when Slovakia in 2003 organised a referendum about membership of EU. No referendum in Slovakia is valid, if the participation is under 50 % - independently of how many Yes votes or...

How EUROPA was beating Playboy. My comments will deal with a 25 years anniversary today – the birth of the server EUROPA and how it was beating even Playboy. EUROPA’s big bang did not take place 13 billion years ago. It happened on a cold and rainy December day in 1994.   On that day I was – as director of communications in the EU Commission – called to a meeting with one of my political bosses. He told me that he was preparing a G7 ministerial meeting on telecommunications. EU was going to host that meeting in Brussels on February 25-26, 1995. The Americans have told us that they want to present something called the internet , he said.   We must do the same. And YOU have to organise it. I rushed back to my staff, told them about the new political orders – and asked them, if they knew what this was all about, the internet.   Nobody knew. I didn’t either . And later I found out that my boss was also in the dark about what this was.    Ok, so ...

My special comments today are about BELGIUM .  Why? Because several of you have asked for it. And also because there is always a lot to tell about our country - also politically. Perhaps we will have general elections again soon.  I will come back to that on another day. We have now lived here for more than 31 years . And we intend to stay for 31 years more - at least!  But despite of all these lovely years here we have to admit, that we still do not quite understand Belgian politics . We have comfort from many "real Belgians" telling us that if somebody says he or she understands Belgian politics, then it is because he or she has had it badly explained! We have understood something, though. When Danes and others say to us: Ah, Belgium - this is the country with no government!   Then is it absolutely wrong. They have not just ONE government. They have at least 6 governments. Belgium is a federal country with regions with lots of tasks and responsabilities....

My special comments today will deal with the election in Hamburg yesterday. Though the official and very final result is not yet totally ready ( counting is still happening in a couple of places ), we know the key result.  A few days ago I described the main themes in the election. The Hamburg Parliament ( "Bürgerschaft" ) has 121 members . So a majority is at least 62 seats. The results are: 1. SPD continues to be the biggest party and has got 39,0 % of the votes - and 51 seats.  A loss of 7 seats. 2. CDU got 11,2 % - and 14 seats. A loss of 6. 3. The Greens got 24,2 % and 31 seats. A gain of 16. 4. Die Linke got 9,5 % and 12 seats.  Gain: 1 seat 5. FDP has got 4,9 % and 9 seats. A loss of 9. 6. AfD got 5,3 % and 7 seats. A loss of 1. The turn-out :  63,3 %  ( in 2015:  56,5 % ). The six most important conclusions from the election are: 1. The present government coalition SPD + The Green has been strengthened wit...

Dear friends, As I wrote to you last Sunday I will today stop sending you my daily greetings - unless you want to continue to receive them. Below is my contribution for today. Best greetings, Niels Hello to all of you on this day - February 23 .  The day is here in Belgium now 2 hours and 34 minutes longer than on December 21.  See more in the enclosed annex. I also enclose other information linked to this day. I also want to send MY WARMEST CONGRATULATIONS to those of you celebrating your birthday or some other nice event today.  Have a lovely day ! My special comments today are about SLOVAKIA . Why? Because they have parliamentary elections on Saturday, February 29 . I will come back to the election and the themes discussed in the election campaign in a few days. Today I want to tell you about the country. Slovakia is since 2004 one of our 26 partners in the EU . We are working closely together with them every day in all what the EU is de...

My special comments today will briefly try to describe what happened around the region Schleswig-Holstein after Denmark in 1864 had to hand them over to Germany (Prussia). The change was a loss of land to Denmark of 10 % of its land. About 200 years earlier Denmark has lost Skåne, Halland and Blekinge to Sweden, and 50 years earlier ( in 1814 ) Denmark had lost Norway.  So it was really a country "growing smaller" .  This had as a consequence that many efforts were now concentrated to regaining new land internally from the many heath areas, reclaiming land from fiords, etc. A sort of a new wakening of the country - which happened at the same time as the new Danish democracy from 1849 was gaining ground. In Schleswig-Holstein the new German administration was quickly in place.  Also in the military field. A new Schleswig Regiment with soldiers from the region was started, and it already took active part in the war with France in 1870-71.  Another initiative wa...

My special comments today will deal with the situation around the reunification of Southern Jutland with the rest of Denmark in 1920 , a hundred years ago.  Denmark was at war with Germany in 1864 - and lost.  So it had to renounce the provinces of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg to Germany ( Prussia at the time ).  It was at the time about 10 % of Denmark.  What we know today is that it wouldn't have gone so badly for the Danes , if the then Danish national-liberal government had been more flexible and realistic. The peace conference after the Prussian-Austrian-Danish war in 1864 took place in London under British chairmanship. Queen Victoria took herself an active interest in the conference and called her prime minister, Lord Palmerston. She asked him:   Please, explain to me how things are in Schleswig-Holstein?   He replied: There are only 3 people in this country who know about it. One has died. The second one has gone mad. And I am the third...

My special comments today are - as promised some days ago - about the coming general ELECTIONS IN HAMBURG on Sunday, February 23. Hamburg was independent until 1871. Now it is one of the 16 federal states in Germany. Its Parliament is called BÜRGERSCHAFT  ( a name from the Middle Ages ). In English it means Citizenry. I has a mayor and a deputy mayor. The other members of the government are called Senators.  The Parliament has 121 members. All citizens in Hamburg have the right to vote, including the 16 and 17 years olds .  They have had that right since 2013. In this election there are 733 candidates from 15 different parties .  An interesting initiative is that NDR ( Norddeutsche Rundfunk ) has made a public NDR Canidate Check   - a database with brief information about each candidate who wants to be part of it. About 500 candidates have agreed. It also includes a short video in which each candidate presents her or his programme. See more on:  htt...