Some new sections on B2. And an “English” version
(BRUXELLES2) For several months and several years B2 has been covering European news in terms of foreign policy, European defense and European powers. What is called political Europe The signature of the blog, which is in the header, thus reflects this evolution.
The first French-speaking webnews on political Europe – Defense and security, Foreign affairs, European powers
As a result of this daily monitoring, our database now includes nearly 7000 items every single year (5600 in the public edition and 1400 in the club edition). And we have started a major job of reclassifying articles, creating new sections and setting up new keywords to refine searches. This important "signposting" work is still in progress. Be forgiving and patient. We are working on it. Do not hesitate to let us know (in the comments) where there is a problem or an inconsistency...
New sections, headings and... archives
In the section "Foreign politic", you can now directly access the articles on theHumanitarian aid or Refugees. We have enriched the section "homeland security", with headings "Borders (aka Schengen), "Intelligence", "Terrorisme".
In the section Europe and Powers, topics Economy, History et European policy were created or reorganized. These headings will also be enriched with many articles from the archives, published (or unpublished), interesting to read or reread. Because they relate to periods which today seem distant – whether it be the Intergovernmental Conferences (IGC) or previous electoral periods – but are necessary to understand politics today. You can access it, also directly using the keywords: IGC 1991, IGC 2000, Elections 2004 et Commission 2004, IGC 2004 et IGC 2007, Elections 2009 et Commission 2009.
Finally, we created a section "Weekend", bringing together our weekend readings, exhibitions, outings, films, interesting to see...
The reorganized Defense and PSDC section
The section "Defense" does not escape this reorganization. Alongside the usual headings on the doctrine and strategy, armed national cmilitary skills, etc we have also created a section PSDC, now distinct. Because the CSDP is above all a question of the projection of European forces abroad with a very specific objective: the maintenance of peace and the consolidation of the rule of law. In order to reflect this state of mind, the missions / operations of the PeSDC have moreover been reclassified and divided between Missions "Rule of law et "Peacekeeping" operations. This classification seems to us more understandable and more adequate than that usually made between civilian missions and military operations. The official classification reflects, in fact, too much the "organic" status of the missions. The objective that a mission pursues seems more important to us. A military mission can have a direct objective of consolidating the rule of law more than maintaining the (example: EUTM training missions in Somalia and Mali). Conversely, a civilian mission may have a direct peacekeeping objective (example: observation missions such as EUMM Georgia). As for the "Crisis areas" section, it is now almost complete. The icing on the cake, we have installed a page allowing access at a glance to the articles published on the Blogs "friends".
Enhanced Club Edition
As for our edition "Club" - reserved for subscribers and/or members of the association, several new sections have also been created: "Confidential" ; "Investigation ", which brings together our exclusive surveys (on the future composition of Parliament, on the next names in the European Commission, on the profile of the future High Representative, etc.), Portrait, on upcoming or current appointments; and the "License" (which takes over from "Brèves & Confis") which gives, on a regular basis, several times a week, a series of confidential or brief information and a summary of articles published regularly and those to be published. Sections and thematic headings have been reorganized in a similar way to those of the blog, with more specialized sections and headings around Law and Case law, defense markets and Industry (contracts and markets, arms export, regulation), Cybersecurity, Space, etc.
English Version and others
Finally, for our more English-speaking than French-speaking friends (noone is perfect ;-), we have (re)installed our translation software based on Google Translate or Bing ©Microsoft technology allowing us to have a 95% correct translation. Connoisseurs will correct themselves. The other languages "Italian", "German", "Polish" are also available, but the results are much more approximate.
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
(*) What was still until recently — before the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty — referred to as the "2nd pillar" . Hence this number 2 which follows the "Brussels". One of the explanations in the name of the blog, which is intended as an unofficial echo of what is happening at European level, the "2" then meaning the "bis".