On 14 April, the Foreign Affairs Ministers of the European Union, gathered in Luxembourg, gave the green light to designate 2015 as the European Year for Development. Since 1957, the EU’s cooperation policy has been increasingly broadened until reaching more than 130 developing countries. Currently, the EU, together with its Member States, constitutes the largest giver of Official Aid—56,500 million euros in 2013, more than half of the world total—. The EU is also the leading humanitarian aid donor and, only in 2011, assisted more than 150 million people in 80 countries.
The Carnation Revolution put an end to one of the longest dictatorships in the recent European history, and one of the most deceptive dictatorships established in the old continent throughout the 1930s. It was deceptive because, under the guise of a benevolent dictatorship, a highly repressive regime was concealed, as shown by the dark history of its feared political police, the PIDE. It was deceptive because, under a semi-liberal political structure, a true personal dictatorship was developed, that of the Head of the Council of Ministers, Antonio de Oliveira Salazar.
Friday, April 25th marks the 40th anniversary of the coup d’état that put an end to the Estado Novo and started a political change process that would lead to the current Portuguese democracy. The anniversary is surrounded, as it could not be otherwise when it comes to the country’s culture, by nostalgia and melancholy, the pitiful expression of a society that is not only going through a deep economic crisis but has also reached the mid-life crisis of its democracy.
The Balkans of 2014 are certainly not those of 1914. While Ukraine and Syria’s crises make us reflect on possible similarities between the current Europe and that of the outbreak of World War I, the Balkans are much more reminiscent of the wars in former Yugoslavia (1991-1999), which implied the country’s destruction and break-up and the subsequent appearance of seven new States. Of these, two are already members of the European Union (Slovenia and Croatia); two have signed the Association Agreement with the EU (Montenegro and Serbia), and three are stuck with their internal problems (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia and Kosovo).
One year after the death of the “Iron Lady”, it seems mandatory to make some comments on her figure and her political leadership. Margaret Thatcher was a world-renowned stateswoman. This is not only due to her three election victories (1979, 1983 and 1987), but also to the loyalty she always showed to her principles, specially to her unconditional defence of freedom, to which she linked a disused concept (then and now): responsibility.
Conceptos básicos de política lingüística para España
Extracto de 'Una política económica para volver a la senda de prosperidad en España'
04.28.2014. On 14 April, the Foreign Affairs Ministers of the European Union, gathered in Luxembourg, gave the green light to designate 2015 as the European Year for Development. Since 1957, the EU’s cooperation policy has been increasingly broadened until reaching more than 130 developing countries. Currently, the EU, together with its Member States, constitutes the largest giver of Official Aid—56,500 million euros in 2013, more than half of the world total—. The EU is also the leading humanitarian aid donor and, only in 2011, assisted more than 150 million people in 80 countries.
04.25.2014. The Carnation Revolution put an end to one of the longest dictatorships in the recent European history, and one of the most deceptive dictatorships established in the old continent throughout the 1930s. It was deceptive because, under the guise of a benevolent dictatorship, a highly repressive regime was concealed, as shown by the dark history of its feared political police, the PIDE. It was deceptive because, under a semi-liberal political structure, a true personal dictatorship was developed, that of the Head of the Council of Ministers, Antonio de Oliveira Salazar.
04.25.2014. Friday, April 25th marks the 40th anniversary of the coup d’état that put an end to the Estado Novo and started a political change process that would lead to the current Portuguese democracy. The anniversary is surrounded, as it could not be otherwise when it comes to the country’s culture, by nostalgia and melancholy, the pitiful expression of a society that is not only going through a deep economic crisis but has also reached the mid-life crisis of its democracy.
04.23.2014. The Balkans of 2014 are certainly not those of 1914. While Ukraine and Syria’s crises make us reflect on possible similarities between the current Europe and that of the outbreak of World War I, the Balkans are much more reminiscent of the wars in former Yugoslavia (1991-1999), which implied the country’s destruction and break-up and the subsequent appearance of seven new States. Of these, two are already members of the European Union (Slovenia and Croatia); two have signed the Association Agreement with the EU (Montenegro and Serbia), and three are stuck with their internal problems (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia and Kosovo).
04.11.2014. One year after the death of the “Iron Lady”, it seems mandatory to make some comments on her figure and her political leadership. Margaret Thatcher was a world-renowned stateswoman. This is not only due to her three election victories (1979, 1983 and 1987), but also to the loyalty she always showed to her principles, specially to her unconditional defence of freedom, to which she linked a disused concept (then and now): responsibility.
01.01.1995. Conceptos básicos de política lingüística para España
