Welcome to Hemicycling!

Welcome to Hemicycling! With the European elections starting literally next week, I'm trying my hand at some political blogging.

I decided to call the blog "Hemicycling" as a reference to the hemicycle in the European Parliament. I'm going to try focusing on European politics from a more pan-European perspective: after all, this is the first time that the European political parties are running candidates for the Presidency of the European Commission, so it's a perfect time to discuss a politics of issues and ideas.

And what are the ideas of the European political parties? Tonight is the first pan-European televised debate for the elections, so that seems like a good place to find out, but I'll be taking a look at what some of their common manifestos say and watching to see how it plays out after the votes have been counted.

With a focus on the European Parliament - but also looking at the national maneuverings that inevitably shape the European stage - I'll be taking the scenic, and not-so-scenic, route through the ups and downs of European politics.

Thanks for reading!