August 31, 2009
With less than five weeks to go, the debate on the Lisbon Treaty gathers momentum. In Ireland, two very big companies, INTEL (Ireland) and Ryanair, have announced that they will be promoting a Yes vote. Having been a consumer advocate for so long, my reaction was a bit mixed. I am not anti-business, quite the… » read more
Posted by Jim Murray
August 17, 2009
I said earlier that I might do an occasional post on the theme of “With Friends like this, who needs enemies?” I hoped I would not have to. Unfortunately Commissioner McCreevy joined the debate. The No websites are giving great prominence to the Commissioner’s statement in June that 95% of the member states would have… » read more
Posted by Jim Murray
August 12, 2009
“Soyez bienvenue! Je peux vous offrir un café, un verre peut-etre? No, merci, c’est gentil. D’accord. Asseyez-vous”. This was a typical greeting from friendly Belgian people, when I first moved to Brussels in 1990, but it was a culture shock for me. Things are different in Ireland. In Ireland, the conversation would go like this.… » read more
Posted by Jim Murray
Jim Murray spent eighteen years campaigning for consumers in Brussels as Director of BEUC the European Consumers Organisation - a non-governmental organisation representing some forty independent national consumer organisations from all around Europe. Bef
