newsstand sales: £ 0,83 Sunday, 19 May 2013. The circus is in Brussels.

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Contributors

Alfonso Ricciardelli

Alfonso Ricciardelli studied law at “Federico II” University in Naples, Italy and then at the College of Europe, in Belgium. He practiced administrative law, then banking and financial law. Alfonso also has been a European Commission Trainee in the DG Internal Market. He has a personal blog (lapoliticadelfuturo.blogspot.com) and writes another one for "ilfuturista.it" ("Eurocrats") - a liberal italian online newspaper. He is 28 year old.

Annika Stienen

Annika Stienen is a political sciences graduate and holds a BA degree in European Studies from Osnabrück University (2006) and a MA in European Political and Administrative Studies from the College of Europe (2008), but also completed international programmes in Romania, France and the US. Following a traineeship at the European Commission's DG Enlargement, she has been working as Project Manager at a Brussels NGO and coordinated events at the Euro Middle East Forum. Her interests include EU enlargement, the Middle East and conflict resolution, and she is fascinated by sustainable urbanization projects and (political) art.

Antonija Petričušić

Antonija Petričušić is a research and teaching assistant at the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Croatia. She is pursuing her PhD studies in constitutional law at the Karl-Franzens University of Graz, Austria. Antonija Petričušić authored a number of articles and studies dealing with human rights and protection of national minorities in South East Europe. She furthermore served as a member of the Croatian negotiations team in the chapter dealing with judiciary and fundamental rights.

Arsène Lupin

Arsène Lupin is the author of the Schmeuze: he is a passionate reader. He considers Christopher Hitchens to be his real role model and tries to imitate him by sharing his eagerness for late night drinking and drugs consuming. He considers himself a journalist. He's half Swedish, half South African and lives in a beautiful mansion in the centre of Bilbao, in Spain.

Bernard Naron

Bernard works for a Dutch politician in the European Parliament. He studied European economic law in Utrecht, Geneva and at the College of Europe in Brugge. Bernard has previously worked as a lawyer for the Dutch government. He is 28 years old.

Djurre Fijen

Djurre Fijen was born in the Netherlands and has studied History, Philosophy and Intelectual History in Groningen and London. He is currently working on a project on the future of Europe for a Dutch member of the European Parliament. He lives in Brussels.

Elena Zacharenko

Elena Zacharenko has an academic background in international politics, specifically focusing on EU foreign affairs in the areas of enlargement and neighbourhood policy. She has previously worked in theEuropean Commission's Directorate-General for Enlargement and currently holds a post in a major international human rights NGO, where she deals with EU policy towards Wider Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

Francesco de Palo

Francesco is a journalist. He writes about politics - he is an expert in immigration issues, Greece and North Africa. He has a degree in law and speaks Italian, English and Greek.He works for several Italian newspapers and magazines.

Gisela ten Kate

Gisela is assisting a Dutch member of the European Parliament. She studied European Policy with a minor on International Development Studies in Amsterdam and Zürich. She recently participated in a master class on Politics and International Partnership. She is 27 years old.

Manfred Kohler

Manfred Kohler is a guest Lecturer at University of Kent’s Brussels School of International Studies, working on the topics of European governance (EMU), European identity, and International Relations. He has worked both in the European Parliament as a Parliamentary Assistant and has conducted policy analysis of economic and monetary union governance for AK Europa, the Brussels Office of the Austrian Chamber of Labour at the Permanent Representation of Austria to the EU. Born in Austria, he holds a PhD in Political Science and an MA in Translation from the University of Innsbruck and has studied and worked abroad at the University of New Orleans in the United States for two years.

Michele Pastore

Michele works as public affairs manager for an ICT company. He is responsible for trade and customs policy issues. He holds an MA in European Studies from the College of Europe and a degree in International Relations from “L’Orientale” University, Naples, Italy. He also attended advanced courses in EU Competition Law and in Diplomatic Studies at the University Institute of European Studies, Turin, Italy.

Natalia Marczewska

Natalia Marczewska is a Project Assistant for a Brussels NGO, working to engage tomorrow’s decisions makers with today’s private and public sectors. Born in Poland but raised in the UK she holds a BA from the University of Bath and an MA from the College of Europe but has also studied in France and Russia. She has worked in research, communications and at the European Parliament and her interests include EU Communications & External Relations, EU Enlargement, NATO, Russia and the Balkans.

Núria Matamoros i Fabregat

Núria, born in 1988, studied Political Science at Pompeu Fabra University. Currently she is enrolled in a Master in European Integration, with a focus on European Foreign Affairs and Multilevel Governance.

Pietro Curatolo

Born in Rome in 1988 he studied law at Bocconi University. After completing his Masters in European Competition Law he worked for about a year at the European Commission's DG Competition. He is currently enroled in a Masters in Politics and Government in the European Union at the London School of Economics.

Teresa Selvaggio

Teresa works as an Assistant in the European Parliament since 2009 for the Italian EPP Member, Erminia Mazzoni. She is 27 years old and holds a degree in European Studies obtained at the University of Rome, La Sapienza

Victor Vaugoin

Vienna-born Victor Vaugoin, who considers himself rather European than Austrian, holds a Master's degree in Advanced Int. Studies from the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, as well as law degree from the University of Vienna. After having lived in the USA, he became convinced that Europe needs a political union and set this as his life-aim. (The other, namely to see his favourite soccer team, Rapid Vienna, win the Champion's League, will be left for future generations). Currently working as a Parliamentary Assistant in the European Parliament, he earned his first spurs in the Greek Delegation to the OSCE during Greece's Chairmanship and in the Austrian Foreign Ministry (Multilateral Cultual Affairs).

Vincent Chauvet

Vincent Chauvet holds a master’s degree in public administration from SciencesPo Paris and in management from the French business school HEC, as well as a bachelor’s degree in History obtained in the University Paris-Sorbonne. Previously intern at the Reuters Brussels bureau and literary critic for the economic newspaper La Tribune, he is currently hosting a radio talk show about national and EU politics and regularly publishes op-eds in French newspapers Le Monde and Les Echos.

Wilco Otte

Wilco (28) works at Deloitte as a project- programmemanager. Before joining Deloitte, Wilco studied International Relations in the United States and Urban Planning in the Netherlands. Moreover, he worked as a political advisor at the European Parliament. In addition, he gained experience working with several companies as a (junior) consultant on economic issues at JongeHonden and Corporate Social Responsibility Netherlands. During his studies he gained various experiences by becoming the Youth Representative to the UN General Assembly and doing several internships with NGOs and the UN.

Ymke Oerlemans

Ymke completed Univerity College in Maastricht, where writing in all sorts and forms was a big part of the curriculum. After completing her master in Political Science, she started working and left writing alone.She has a blog (ymkeoerlemans.com), which does not talk about politics.

Comrades, a New Secretary General Has Been Elected
The European Parliament is very proud of its transparent procedures. But when power is at stake, all good intentions come short. And the election of the new President of the Parliament - the German socialist Martin Schulz - appears like the secret ceremonies of appointment of the Secretary General of the Soviet Communist Party.

So, you want to be a Commission trainee?
With youth unemployment levels hitting all time records across the EU, finding a job can be can be quite an arduous task.

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With the entry into force of the new Hungarian constitution, the European Union is hosting an official "democrature", a merge between democracy and dictatorship.

Comrades, a New Secretary General Has Been Elected (12)
The European Parliament is very proud of its transparent procedures. But when power is at stake, all good intentions come short. And the election of the new President of the Parliament - the German socialist Martin Schulz - appears like the secret ceremonies of appointment of the Secretary General of the Soviet Communist Party.