Blogs : 25th September

Vote of confidence? P O Neill, A Fistful of Euros (en)
Bon appetit. Certain Ideas of Europe (en)
Mature debate? Richard, EUReferendum (en)

New Eurobarometer on EP elections: national issues more important than European ones. Brussels Blogger, Blogactiv.eu (en)
" .... Only 3% of UK citizens are aware that next EP elections are in 2009 (European average: 30%). 30% of citizens responded that they will definitely vote in the upcoming elections. Nearly half of European say that if they would vote it would be because they are not interested in politics in general. Candidates positions on national issues will have be slightly more important than their views on European issues."

The invisible takeover. Richard, EUReferendum (en)
" … it needs to be emphasised, the UK no longer has any meaningful existence in the world of international trade negotiations as it has ceded Brussels controls of most aspects of its trade relations with third countries apart from currency and trade promotion. While she retains nominal WTO membership, it is now in reality little more than a region of the EU in trade policy terms, with the periodic right to nominate one of its nationals as EU trade commissioner ..."