"procurement officials insisted on paper, rather than digital, documents. They routinely rejected drawings submitted in English."
Mind-boggling tale of procurement insanity and, maybe, €2bn in sunk costs for the F126. Add to the long list of screw-ups that got von der Leyen 'promoted' to Brussels.
A different question would be in how far geo-technical difficulty and wage differentials can account for the difference in project costs.
True, there‘s a cost here to being a first-mover - or to put it the other way around, the ‘advantage of backwardness’ kicks in.
Was man nicht alles tut, um die Pendlerpauschale zu erhöhen
European Commission collaborating with Microsoft to cover up data centre emissions.
Another great project for #EuropeanSovereignty
"A direct pipeline from corporate lobbying to EU lawmaking." That's how @corporateeurope.org describes the EU's deregulation agenda. Our Social LobbyMap research into the CSDDD highlights a similar dynamic at work on human rights due diligence. corporateeurope.org/en/2026/04/w...
Very much appreciated :D
Having a continuously fast expansion of public transport seems to come with a range of benefits. Railway expansion in the 19th century and now high-speed expansion in China for sure are other good examples for this.
In most European countries you are not even really allowed to record traffic around you (though it is somewhat accepted in reality).
Having your licence plate filmed and registered by other drivers is one thing - but having your face registered by just anyone?
It seems to be a thing for anti-social right-wing parties to be vehemently pro metro. Here in Brussels it is similar for MR. It might be a technocratic solution to substitute for other social policies.
Interesting - why and how did it fail? Conditions too different, not enough for economies of scale?
“The timelines involved in the metro construction were politically fortuitous to the PP. Each metro expansion created a cycle that enabled the PP to open the lines and stations right before the next election.“
How democratic cycles of YIMBYism fuelled Madrid‘s extraordinary metro network expansion:
‘one of the greatest demands we received . . . that the next expansion should go further: close to their workplace or their home, everyone wanted to feel involved’
worksinprogress.co/issue/how-ma...
“The government is bought and paid for by members of the oldest generation, and it is organized for their sake. There is no way to separate the age of our elites from their ascendancy.”
@samuelmoyn.bsky.social on America’s gerontocratic crisis
As of tonight CET, embassy votes have already turned around 3 seats in favor of Tisza and the count is not over yet. According to the current count, Tisza will have at least 140 out of 199 mandates.
Immer schön dankbar bleiben
It’s a brilliant tax because when they say “but the billionaires will leave” you get to say “they already don’t live there”
Helpful reframing.
Stark steigender Zubau von Großbatterien in Deutschland, +600 MWh im März 2026
🔋 Okay, so langsam geht es los mit den Großbatterien. Nachdem die Zahl der Anschlussanfragen ja schon lange auf einem absurd hohen Niveau lag, kommen die Dinger jetzt zunehmend auch tatsächlich ans Netz. Im März kamen rund 600 MWh neu dazu, der höchste monatliche Zubau aller Zeiten in 🇩🇪 . #Speicher
Just do it
Put yourself in shoes of someone in a oil & gas importing country
Its triage: which hospitals get fuel, which industries shut, which crops get fertilizers?
Those who don't have deep pockets in a bidding war pay in increased hunger, lost wages and shrinking economies.
tinyurl.com/PolycrisisWesleyan
Still completely mind-blowing every time I read this somewhere
Krastev called Orban the right-wing Castro, which I think is exactly right: the leader of a small relatively insignificant country, that nevertheless became the ideological lodestar for a global movement after being propped up by russia
As wealth concentrates, so does power — the power to influence elections, shape policy, tilt markets and define the terms of public debate.
Taxing billionaires is not radical.
What is radical is allowing a system where extreme wealth exists alongside widespread hardship.
Zero chance of survival for those eggs on a Brussels street
Vorabexemplar!!!!!!!
Mit großem Dank an @juetzhd.bsky.social !
Libertarians are threatening to blow up the governing coalition in Belgium if they don’t get more public spending & government intervention for fossil fuels.
Where are the real free marketeers when you need them??
Something to be checked by @greenpeace.eu
Industrial policy might be “back” but under very different circumstances than in the postwar period.
Then: Driven by society-building political projects supported by strong labour unions
Now: Driven by geoeconomic state-capital projects with weak unions
Good comment by @umitak.bsky.social
Absolute “Big Mac weight loss plan” levels of idiocy from the German government here.