This list is in no particular order, but will hopefully highlight some of the good and bad that went on in 2010 in Blogactiv video. The list is simply my own thoughts and personal highlights.

1. At the end of 2009, after my last review was written and published, Daniela and I attended COP15 in Copenhagen where we mixed with the climate change and political elite as we tried to understand what was happening behind the scenes. I managed to grab Kumi Naidoo, the top guy at Greenpeace for a chat. This guy is seriously interesting and really fired up!

2. Also in Copenhagen, our exlusive interview with President Lagos – formerly President of Chile – was rather hijacked by other journalists, but he gave an excellent explanation of the problems at hand.

3. Sticking with the topic of climate change, at the 2010 European Business Summit, I interviewed James Leape, the head man at WWF. This is, without doubt, the policy interview that I am most proud of so far. Its just a shame that it didn’t get a proportionate number of views…

4. This year, I attended two events run by the Economic and Social Committee. At the second in the European Parliament, I interviewed a friend Anna Maria Darmanin, who was made so nervous by me (I make her laugh) that she couldn’t stand still. As you will see…

5. At the same event, incoming EESC President Staffan Nilsson spoke to me in what is essentially a TV booth. It looks like it could be a documentary. I was very proud. (Needless to say, it was EUXTV and not me doing to production work!)

6. At a Stakeholder Workshop in July, I interviewed Mr Van Oranje, a Dutch Prince who works for the European Commission. “What do I call you Sir?” I asked. “Whatever you want!” came the unexpected reply.

7. In Florence (I know, its a tough life!) at the first of the EESC events, I was lucky enough to speak to the library curator at the Instituto degli Innocenti. 500 years of helping children in Florence is detailed here. Truly fascinating and – hopefully – an inspiration to us all.

8. At the same event, former European Commissioner and currently the Education Minister in Greece, Anna Diamantopoulou stole the show at the event and then was a real star in front of the camera. She even waited patiently while I grappled with the pronounciation of her surname. Thank you!

9. At the FFA in March in Brussels, we (not me) spoke to Sir Crispin Tickell, a former adviser to Mrs Thatcher. This is a tour de force of the worlds problems, a suggested rethink of markets and capitalism and much more. Excellent.

10. Back to EBS and I spoke to Larry McDonald a former Lehman Brothers trader and now author. If you are wondering why the world is in such trouble financially, watch this…

This top 10 list has one noteable exception, an interview conducted in September by Raymond from EUXTV and myself with Stanley Crossick. This interview took over 2 hours and provides a real insight into many aspects of the EU, China, the personalities behind the formation of Europe and much, much more.

In total in 2010, I would guess that I carried out over 100 policy interviews and ‘we’ conducted probably another 60 or 70 more. Therefore, this is only a brief list. There was a lot of other very interesting moments, but these made my headlines.

All I can say is, thanks again for the opportunities!!

This must be the Eurosphere’s most prolific writer…

If you are not familiar with the blog, EU-Logos writes about a wide range of topics including human rights, immigration, democracy, the law and the economy. And unlike most EU blogs that are in English – no matter the nationality of the author – this blog is entirely in French.

Congratulations and a big thank you to EU-Logos from everyone at Blogactiv.

Well known within EurActiv for his blog about the Irish referendum of the Lisbon Treaty is Jim Murray. Formerly a Director of BEUC – representing consumers across the EU – Jim knows a thing or two about a wide range of topics. One of these is medicine.

On the 15th November, Jim launched a new blog about medicine within the EU with a first post titled Prequel to Seroquel. This has been a hit, to put it mildly, especially so given that it is the first post on a new blog.

In just the first eight days, and with one post to his name, Jim has racked up just slightly below 2,500 page views. By EU blogosphere standards, that is very good, but as a first post, it is little short of amazing!

Here at Blogactiv, we’d like to both congratulate and thank Jim.

It just shows how important links are to either your blog or website. If you aren’t taking linking seriously, you can’t really expect to receive any traffic from Google search queries.

Other commitments mean that I won’t be able to attend myself, but I imagine that the folks at bloggingportal would love to meet you have an EU related blog and you can make it.

To lead and strengthen our presence in social media, especially our own Blogactiv platform, we are currently looking to recruit a

Director Social Media & Stakeholder Projects

Job Description:

* Actively attract senior and highly visible bloggers to Blogactiv platform
* Be responsible for daily blogger animation, including coaching a member of the editorial team
* Encourage EurActiv country partners to engage in blogging activities
* Lead specifications for technical and visual integration of Blogactiv into EurActiv’s Drupal CMS (while retaining distinct brand for the platform)
* Help lead our thinking on how EurActiv & Blogactiv can use various social media to serve our readers and clients, implementing actions agreed among management
* Help design and lead projects with public or corporate funding and engaging stakeholders across borders in these projects
* Cooperate closely with editors, communication manager & publisher
* This position is supervised by the CEO

Profile and experience requested:

* Solid Brussels experience and understanding of EU institutions
* Background in consultancy, media, think tanks and/or EU projects (at least 4 years)
* Strong network among policy stakeholders and political influencers
* Strong interest in online culture, especially social media
* Proven track record of blogging, tweeting, etc.
* Excellent oral and written communication skills in English
* Excellent coordination and project management skills
* Ability to set appropriately ambitious targets and measure progress against them
* Entrepreneurial spirit and good team player
* Interest in partnership-type perspective, with ‘independent’ compensation + incentives, and prospect of becoming a shareholder of EurActiv
* Languages: fluent in English and very good French or German

Contact

For informal inquiries, relevant candidates can call in trust: Christophe Leclercq: 02 226 58 13 or Rick Zednik: 02 226 58 12

Applications including a short cover letter should be sent to Anneli Prohaska on  selection at euractiv.com by no later than 30th October.

– Yes. This is in large part my current position. For a mixture of personal and professional reasons I have decided to move back to the UK permanently and thus a vacancy has opened in the eurosphere.

If you are in the blogosphere and are interested in applying (it is worth pointing out that blogging is not the main function of this position) I recommend that you contact one of the names above and seek some further information. Good luck!

– Extra note: This position has been filled and Joe Litobarski took up the role in December 2010.

In part 2, Stanley discusses the role and progress being made by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy. He also explains why it is easier to argue against the EU than for it.