(for my English readers: one off article in Norwegian (nynorsk) on the issue of language and the EU, previously published in the periodical Dag og Tid)

Målsaka har alltid vore inspirert av internasjonale og spesielt europeiske impulsar. Fleire av dei nynorske føregangsmennene var europeisk orienterte. Eg kan nemne Ivar Aasen, og ikkje minst Arne Garborg og Aasmund O. Vinje. Dette heng saman med at norsk kultur ikkje kan isolere seg, men må utvikle seg i samspel med det beste frå andre kulturar.

Eg meiner EU styrkjer det språklege og kulturelle mangfaldet i Europa i dag og fungerer som ei av dei viktigaste motvektene til den angloamerikanske påverknaden. Ein medlemskap vil sikre Noreg innverknad i den alleuropeiske politiske samskipnaden som EU er. Berre slik kan vi sikre sjølvråderetten og innverknad på vår eigen kvardag.

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I have been asked to make a presentation at the end of the week at a conference in Norway for around 50 youths who in their spare time are advocating Norwegian EU membership. The topic of my presentation is the following: “What is the next big thing for the EU?”, especially after the ‘Lisbon Treaty’ came into force before christmas.

I thought I would use this opportunity to ask friends and others who are interested in EU politics their opinion, in order to bring back some innovative and wide ranging? answers. Feel free to write short or long answers. What do you think is, or should be, the EU’s next big project?

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The horrible tragedy that struck Haiti a few days ago has shocked the world, due to the immense scale of the damages and human suffering the earthquake caused. Aid efforts are slowly coming into place, but alarming reports of criminal gangs killing and roaming the streets, as well as the lack of water, food and adequate protection is coming through the news wires every minute.

Taking a minute to reflect on this disaster – there is one issue that will emerge soon, if it hasn’t already: where shall all the homeless survivors, estimated to around 3 million people, live in the time to come?

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It is summer time in Brussels and everything is very quiet here as all the institutions are more or less closed. The only thing that is increasingly filling up my inbox are requests from friends and acquaintances who are looking for a place to live, as they are moving to Brussels in less than a month or so to work. As I received my third e-mail regarding this issue only this past week, I decided to put together a small list of places to look if you are moving to Brussels. Please feel free to add more this post and you will help my friends a great deal.

Place du Londres in Ixelles

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Being Norwegian and working in Brussels, I’ve been approached by other international friends many times with the question, when will Norway join the EU, and more recently, will the Icelandic application “push” a Norwegian application as well? Well, here is an attempt on a “short” answer.

Triggered by the up-coming parliamentary elections in Norway and the Icelandic application for EU membership, a light breeze of European debate has entered the political sphere in Norway. The Norwegian Parliamentary elections are held on 14 September, and the EU might, or at least should, become one of the outsider issues.

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