EUX.TV, the European affairs channel, will relaunch soon with an exiting new and regular video reporting service on European affairs. The new service will also include streaming of live events.

In the meantime, stay tuned via our YouTube channel for the biggest and broadest collection of news clips, interviews and videos collected from the EU institutions.

EUX.TV is a Brussels-based service of White Bull Communications BV, registered in the Netherlands.

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EUX.TV presents ‘Covering Europe; European journalists analyzing the state of Europe.’

In this June 2009 post-election edition, EUX.TV moderator Raymond Frenken sits down with Lisbeth Kirk, editor of EUobserver.com; Swedish freelance journalist Teresa Kuchler; New Europe editor Alex Koronakis; and Stafford Wadsworth, editor of Meuse Rhine Journal.

Together, they analyze the impact of the European elections on the EU process, the new composition of the European parliament, including the Swedish Pirates Party and the potential impact of Dutch right-wingers of Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party; the chances of Jose Manuel Barroso’s second term as president of the European commission; and other issues that will appear on the European agenda in the coming months, such as the new Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

This program was recorded on Tuesday 9th of June 2009 in the Berlaymont studio of the European Commission in Brussels. The studio was made available to EUX.TV on the condition that the “European Union” would be the topic of the program.

EUX.TV today broke the barrier of two million video views, making it one of the top webTV channels on the Internet in Europe.

Our channel and video blog is dedicated to independent coverage of European politics and of the European Union.

According to our YouTube stats, EUXTV is popular in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic and the United States.

We were told repeatedly an interview would be possible, but never were able to get a date.

Then, in October 2007, this interview with Margot appears on the Commission’s own YouTube channel. Jacki Davis is a tv pro, appears regularly on the BBC, but also happens to be a good friend of the Commissioner. She is head of communications at the European Policy Centre and editor of E! Sharp magazine. No doubt she knows about Europe, but she’s not in a position to throw tough questions at a European Commission Vice President.

The interview that is still up on EUtube has been heavily edited. Check for yourself. You’ll see a lot of giggles between two girls in several languages. (Girls, wake up, Europe’s troubles are nothing to giggle about!)

We at EUX.TV believe Europe needs to be challenged in order to be understood. National media do it with national politicians. European media (if they exist – but that is a different issue) should do it with European politicians.

It’s no surprise that so many people outside the Brussels bubble don’t understand what’s going on at an EU-level. And behaviour like in this interview suggests that the current people in power have no real desire to create a better understanding for the work they do.

Unless Commissioners and other EU leaders are able to face tough and uncensored questions that allow them to really explain themselves, they will not be understood. Never.

Or might it be that the ‘people in power’ like it this way? After all, when the masses do not really understand, it enables those in power to continue operating the EU in the undemocratic, uncheckable way. Yes of course, the Lisbon Treaty would make Europe more democratic. But seriously, when you take a good look, the EU will still not be a real democracy once that treaty gets into place. Lisbon simply is a marginal improvement. It’s not good enough to turn the EU into a real democracy. Now how about that, you giggly girls.

So, Margot, be serious about Europe, and give EUX.TV 30 minutes of your time in the Berlaymont’s basement studio. We’ll meet you anytime…

The EUX.TV website is currently migrating to a new platform on the WordPress blogging network. 

We expect to complete this move by the middle of January. 

Our YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/euxtv, will stay up to date.