tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39992261296966666002024-03-14T03:14:13.055+01:00MountEUlympusMending faultlines.Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.comBlogger114125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-40487426404044925532015-07-05T23:59:00.003+02:002015-07-06T12:31:28.220+02:00Possible scenarios for Greece and the EurozoneIn my reading, the message that the Greek people is sending to the Europeans is the following: We want to end insecurity one way or another. Either take your decision and kick us out, or if you don't, start making real investments for growth in Greece. But whatever you do, give us a long-term perspective so that we can start working on this. Now you might question if a clear decision, one way or another, will really end insecurity, but in my mind the sovereign has spoken: Stop kicking the can down the road.<br />
<br />
All decisions will take time, because several Eurozone
governments need to get new negotiating mandates from their Parliaments. That means, if the ECB does not extend the lifeline for Greek banks beyond the next few days, negotiations need not even begin.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5495/10415440644_bee4df7e28_c.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5495/10415440644_bee4df7e28_c.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Europa carrying the Euro - Statue outside the European Parliament </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">- CC BY-NC <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/7119320@N05/" target="_blank">Sean_Marshall</a></span></div>
<br />
<br />
If the Greek banks survive the next few days and weeks, in my view there are several medium-term scenarios from
the viewpoint of the Europeans: <br />
<br />
Scenario 1) Announcement of a haircut for Greece, probably over time and conditional on real structural reforms. This would be the responsible choice and Cyprus has <a href="http://www.ekathimerini.com/198507/article/ekathimerini/business/cyprus-would-consider-writing-off-greek-debt-if-there-is-a-deal" target="_blank">shown leadership</a> already, but this means a loss of face for those politicians who promised their electorates full repayment. They will need to suggest the haircut to their electorates and Parliaments in a way that doesn't lead to massive resentment. But the truth is: If the creditors do not agree to a partial voluntary haircut, a full unwanted haircut will come along with a Grexit. But even if our politicians have the courage to voice this message, Scenario 1) still carries an incalculable risk about Portugal, Spain and Italy. They might ask for a haircut themselves, and a European debt conference would have to be called. Would this be the end for the Eurozone?<br />
<br />
Scenario 2) Stopping all discussions and all financing immediately, kicking Greece out and redoubling support for the "good" reformers Italy, Spain and Portugal while sending humanitarian aid to Greece. Message: Greece didn't play by the rules, and we prefer a strong Eurozone without Greece to a weak Eurozone with Greece. This would lead to a total haircut for Greece but at the cost of a Grexit and probably massive humanitarian hardships. This is what the populists in the Northern European countries have asked for all the time - but I doubt the Eurozone governments want to take responsibility for such an irreversible decision. <br />
<br />
Scenario 3) A solution somewhere between Scenarios 1) and 2) which allows Greece to stay in the Eurozone. But I suspect that any deal must include some sort of a haircut or else Tsipras will not agree. Are the creditors willing to agree to a haircut?<br />
<br />
Scenario 4) Kicking the can down the road again, bleeding Greece out: starting negotiations but without coming to an agreement, stopping ECB emergency loans and waiting until the Greek banks run out of money and disaster runs its course. This would lead to a Grexit as in Scenario 2, except that the Europeans can deflect the blame ("we tried all we could, but the Greek government didn't agree"). Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-11011035963752687062015-06-24T00:47:00.001+02:002015-06-24T13:14:04.505+02:00Towards a new EU trade policy<div style="text-align: justify;">
The European Commission organised an "EU trade policy day" on 23 June to talk about the future of EU trade policy with business representatives, NGOs and think tanks. With the input from the conference, the Commission will now work out a new EU trade policy that it wants to present in autumn. <br />
<br />
The EU might be a rather toothless tiger in defence policy, but its trade policy is an area from which it gets power in the world and legitimacy at home. If cleverly done, trade policy increases people's income and creates good jobs in the EU and abroad. If done poorly, the same policy can lead to widespread labour rights abuses, environmental degradation and destruction of companies. Therefore, the review of the Commission deserves to be looked at in detail. <br />
<br />
Predictably, participants at the conference heard that most economic growth no longer takes place in the EU. Good trade policy must give EU companies safe access to the growth engines in the world like China or India. As new middle classes develop in the world, the EU should get ready to supply these middle classes before others will do it. That's what some people say. <br />
<br />
But at the same time, it became clear that trade policy is no longer just about market access and reducing tariffs. Today's trade policy must also have good answers on labour rights, environmental protection, intellectual property, regulatory cooperation between trade partners, democratic participation and distribution of wealth. Today's citizens want to know how their products or services have been produced. Does the low price stem from competitive business structures or low environmental and labour standards? The desire for information has led to a proliferation of private standards for fair trade, sustainable fishing or sustainable forestry. At the conference, some Members of the European Parliament then made it clear that the Parliament also wants to see a much stronger focus on fair trade in the upcoming "new generation" trade agreements (EU-Canada, TTIP, Trade in Services, EU-Japan, EU-Mexico, etc.). </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
That is interesting: If this is really supposed to work, it means future trade agreements must have good structures to guarantee their monitoring and enforcement. Where one trade partner does not meet labour or environmental standards, the other trade partner may be allowed to retaliate. This also means that the "new generation" trade agreements could turn into a struggle of values, in particular if negotiations with China or India should come off the ground. Past efforts to bring them within a "Western" trade value system have not always <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/101571160/Brazil-and-China-A-Need-for-International-Arbitration-to-Secure-Foreign-Direct-Investment" target="_blank">worked so well</a>. Will the EU be strong enough to assert its values against the lure of accessing these big markets? </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The Commission will now draft its new trade strategy and share it with the general public in autumn. It will be interesting to see where the Commission puts its priorities. Then we will see if the EU is ready to negotiate and enforce more value-based trade partnerships, or whether classical market access logic will prevail.<br />
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IiOC5XG2I5Y" width="560"></iframe>Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-70357904436851553212015-06-15T00:12:00.000+02:002015-06-15T10:15:05.452+02:00The finale for Greece and the EU<div style="text-align: justify;">
The #Grexit debate has reached its peak. The next two weeks will decide if Greece stays in the euro or not. This is the biggest crisis that the EU has faced in a long time and probably its biggest crisis ever. <br />
<br />
It is becoming clear that the Greek government will probably force the other Eurozone countries to choose A or B: Continue lending money to Greece without conditionality, or bear responsibility for Greece's exit from the euro. Whichever way you turn it, there are only bad solutions left. <br />
<br />
<br />
<u>Solution A: Keep on lending money to Greece without conditionality</u></div>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li>No substantial improvement for the Greek people in the near future</li>
<li>More money needs to be transferred to Greece without guarantee that this money will be paid back</li>
<li>Negotiations for a third bailout package may need to start so that Greece can pay back the remaining outstanding debt</li>
<li>Public opinion in many other Eurozone countries will turn downright hostile toward the EU, right-wing parties will become more powerful. In the worst case, people will be so disappointed and disgusted by this European Union that we will see the breakup of the European project.</li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<u><br />Solution B: Exit of Greece from the Eurozone</u></div>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li>All funds given to Greece are lost</li>
<li>Massive economic and social problems for the Greek people, for example because the price of imported medicine will sharply increase as the drachma devalues</li>
<li>Massive financial loss for the French and Italian governments which together own 38% of the Greek government debt</li>
<li>Possible knock-on effects in Portugal, Italy, Spain which may strive for an exit from the Eurozone themselves to avoid further painful restructuring of their economies</li>
<li>Massive speculation against the stability of the euro which in the worst case may lead to the collapse of the Eurozone</li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
This is a huge challenge for our politicians and for European solidarity as a whole. Nobody wants the European project to break apart, but whichever scenarios is chosen, it will create massive losers. <br />
<br />
Europe's politicians are just as fed up with this entire situation as the European people, but it is now absolutely fundamental that our politicians keep a cool head. Otherwise, we may look back to the next two weeks as the beginning of the end of the European project. </div>
Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-89845725709442606312015-05-25T17:05:00.000+02:002015-05-25T18:31:20.657+02:00Naomi Klein's new book: Change energy policies now or the planet boils over!<div style="text-align: justify;">
I’ve just finished reading a powerful and sometimes quite personal book called “This changes everything” by investigative journalist <a href="http://thischangeseverything.org/naomi-klein/" target="_blank">Naomi Klein</a>. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The book has a clear and simple message: Climate change cannot be fought through market mechanisms. Environmental policy is in direct competition with energy and industry policy; if we want to keep our planet from boiling over, environmental policy needs to go first. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Klein shows that all attempts by governments to incentivise good behaviour by the industry through carrots and sticks are failing. As long as pollution is economically viable, emissions increase further. The half-hearted policies by our governments, if they remain the same, will heat our planet by much more than 2°C. Klein says that our governments wasted precious years doing nothing and must now immediately pass courageous legislation to drive down absolute emissions. Market solutions are no longer sufficient if climate change is to be stopped.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnh9jvWhoYTs-VUT2yPGTj1N0YHiEgkG73orW4Vvx4YdEHF9OVOhKDREpBGV4YnO54QBaXBIIU_M6Ajt5ufDoShawOeaviBbjS0h0FMoK4K0Bqz81_hLlCMhHhoSoHgPA5kVAXEgtwHPUn/s1600/Nasa_earth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnh9jvWhoYTs-VUT2yPGTj1N0YHiEgkG73orW4Vvx4YdEHF9OVOhKDREpBGV4YnO54QBaXBIIU_M6Ajt5ufDoShawOeaviBbjS0h0FMoK4K0Bqz81_hLlCMhHhoSoHgPA5kVAXEgtwHPUn/s400/Nasa_earth.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Below, I have collected some of the main arguments of the book. The Canadian journalist is also working on a documentary to be released in autumn 2015 (see preview embedded at the bottom of this post). </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li>The total coal, gas and oil reserves already indexed for exploitation by companies today equal about 2,795 Gigatons of CO2 emissions. However, studies today can <a href="http://www.carbontracker.org/report/carbon-bubble/" target="_blank">say quite exactly</a> how much more CO2 can be burned until 2050 to keep global warming below 2°C: not more than 565 Gigatons, only one fifth of the total resources already on the books. If governments were serious about curbing climate change, extraction of these resources should be heavily restricted; investment in fossil fuel companies should as a consequence become uninteresting. However, in March 2014 ExxonMobil informed its investors that current climate policies makes them “confident that none of [their] hydrocarbon reserves are now or will become ‘stranded’” (i.e. unusable). </li>
<li>Fossil fuel companies hate renewable energy because it is a decentralised, locally- and people-owned form of energy. Meanwhile, fossil fuels rely on a centralised resource-extraction system that allows a few companies to make millions of dollars in profits. </li>
<li>Fossil fuel companies and their employees follow a locust-principle: exploit and move on. None of the employees in the oil sector want to grow old in the places where they work. All want to get filthy-rich and take early retirement in a clean place far away. Meanwhile, locals in the regions under threat do not want to see their homes destroyed because of short-term profiteering. They want solutions which will preserve the local environment and lifestyle. </li>
<li>97% of the world’s climate scientists including the World Bank and the International Energy Association agree that climate change is man-made and that it will have unprecedented and dangerous consequences for the next generations. If no far-reaching changes are made, the scientists agree, we are headed for disaster. </li>
<li>Right-wing politicians and businessmen in the US try to frame climate change as a hoax that the left employs to argue for more regulatory power of the state, less free markets and more redistribution of wealth. The right wingers perfectly understand the “dangerous” implications of strong carbon legislation. That’s why they spend millions of dollars to discredit the science and to kill climate legislation plans before they can get dangerous. </li>
<li> Some businesspeople and scientists think that human activity doesn’t need to change. Everything can be solved by shooting chemicals into the sky that will block sunlight. However, it is proven that using them will cause serious draughts and food crises in some parts of the world. And using them instead of reducing carbon will lock us into using them forever. </li>
<li>It is not enough to encourage renewable energy – at the same time, fossil energy has to discouraged with increasing severity. Since this was not done in Germany, coal in that country has become a big competitor for renewable energy. To discourage fossil fuels, governments can for example introduce higher fossil fuel taxes that can be used to subsidies renewable energies. </li>
<li>Bridge technologies only work if they do not become competitors to renewable energy. By exploiting bridge technologies like shale gas and tar sands, energy companies continue to make billions from fossil fuels without any restrictions. </li>
<li>Much of the necessary climate saving depends on countries like China and India. However, the West carries a <a href="http://gdrights.org/about/" target="_blank">massive historical climate debt</a> for 140 years of pollution. Even today, the West continues to outsource its pollution to the developing world. As a result of both, Western states must provide much of the financial resources to save the climate. </li>
<li>Indigenous people in several North and Latin American countries are becoming pivotal actors in the fight against carbon extraction because they can lay ancient claims to the land in which oil and gas are buried. </li>
<li>In many parts of the world, more and more determined “Blockadia” protests have sprung up. In these protests, citizens of all generations defend their regions against the profit-and-destroy mentality of the fossil fuel companies. Many governments including Canada’s, Greece’s, France’s and Nigeria’s are bitterly opposed to the protests and try to protect the extractionists. But it looks more and more that they are losing the fight against the citizen protests. </li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The book makes it clear beyond any doubt that governments need to act now and impose binding limits on carbon extraction. No more market solutions, carbon-trading schemes and pollution offsets. The shift to renewable energy needs to be financed by taxing fossil fuel companies (and their customers). Obviously, this will redistribute a lot of cost to all of us energy consumers. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Klein makes no secret about the challenges. No politician wants to destroy the jobs that rely indirectly on oil and industrial production by skyrocketing the oil price. Klein answers half of the question by pointing to the potential of new green jobs. But for the rest, she is clearly putting the reader in front of the choice: Either our politicians start today to eliminate fossil fuels, at the cost of job losses and re-education, or we will have unprecedented devastation and life insecurity for the next generations. We need to choose what we want.<br />
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Rqw99rJYq8Q" width="560"></iframe>Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-86227836958310531332015-01-11T17:04:00.000+01:002015-05-25T12:16:14.632+02:00Freedom to criticize? Yes, but let's not forget that others can criticize us too<div style="text-align: justify;">
After the attack on Charlie Hebdo and the “I am Charlie” manifestations, somebody shared an interesting video on Youtube. The video was made by the ARAM Production house and explains that freedom of speech and Islam both contribute to a peaceful world – as long as they are not abused. </div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/cwMKMJhtHJ8" width="560"></iframe><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Video by ARAM Production - English with Chinese subtitles </div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
While condemning any attacks in the name of Islam, the video also says that freedom of speech is not a blank check. It is important to remind this fact given all the people waving “I am Charlie” posters today. <b>Freedom of speech also carries a responsibility. </b></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In this context, it is quite interesting to take a look at the discussions in China about the Charlie Hebdo attack. Some Chinese commentators take offense when Europeans and Americans declare our Western concept of freedom of speech as a universal value (see tweet below for example. In their view, it shows a degree of Western arrogance that the Chinese have long despised. Put bluntly, in our self-centered look at the world we fail to notice that there are other philosophies in this world that deserve to be listened to. And <b>we should not exclude by default that other philosophies may offer things to this world that are superior to our own thinking. </b><br />
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
Le président <a href="https://twitter.com/fhollande">@fhollande</a> au Gouvernement "Paris est la capitale du monde, le pays va se lever tout entier sur ce qu'il a de meilleur"<br />
— Élysée (@Elysee) <a href="https://twitter.com/Elysee/status/554251935243841536">January 11, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In a more general manner, these Chinese commentators take offense that the debate in Europe is so disproportionately focused on bad things that happen to Europe because of influences from outside. What the Chinese would like us to do is take a more critical look at the negative influence that we and our so-called universal values have exported from European soil to the rest of the world. The Chinese have not forgotten the atrocities that we have committed in China and in the world in the last 200 years. And when we remember that these atrocities have given us wealth and development while locking the rest of the world into underdevelopment, we can never stop apologizing. The negative side of our Western influence on the world has so far been excluded from the European debate - and it should not be so.
</div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
Please, RT! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CharlieHebdo?src=hash">#CharlieHebdo</a> attack has another victim! Via <a href="https://twitter.com/MiddleEastMnt">@MiddleEastMnt</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ParisShooting?src=hash">#ParisShooting</a> <a href="http://t.co/PNesB88POL">pic.twitter.com/PNesB88POL</a><br />
— Carlos Latuff (@LatuffCartoons) <a href="https://twitter.com/LatuffCartoons/status/552847548776742914">January 7, 2015</a></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
You could say that the Chinese are free to criticize us in as many articles as they like, the same as we criticize human rights and environmental mismanagement in China. But that would be to judge by Western values and mistake the Chinese philosophy. Yes, they did resort to criticism once by calling the UK “<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/britain-is-merely-a-country-of-old-europe-with-a-few-decent-football-teams-chinese-newspaper-criticises-uk-during-david-cameron-visit-8979611.html" target="_blank">merely a country of old Europe with a few decent football teams</a>” and it spurred a lot of offended talk in the British press. But in general, open criticism is not common to China. In return, if we praise our philosophy for its freedom to criticize, Chinese commentators expect us to also apply that criticism to ourselves. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Bottom line: While we should uphold our freedom to criticise others, we should never forget that others also hold criticism against us. If we are taking freedom of speech seriously, that criticism maybe deserves a bit more attention in our media in the future.
</b></div>
Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-38554130846086388012013-11-11T22:04:00.000+01:002013-11-11T22:04:22.489+01:00No investor-state litigation clause in EU-US trade agreement!<div style="text-align: justify;">
American and European negotiators have met for the second round of bilateral talks for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on Monday. In different negotiating groups such as "market access", "public procurement" and "regulatory aspects", EU and US officials are working to simplify business rules for both sides of the Atlantic. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In one of the groups, negotiators are trying to establish a mechanism for investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). This would allow an American investor to claim damages from the EU in front of an international court if the EU was to modify its public policy in a way that would spoil the investor's profits. Canada is feeling the heat of such a dispute since a group of investors has <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/10/03/quebec-fracking-ban-lawsuit_n_4038173.html" target="_blank">sued the region of Quebec</a> under NAFTA for its ban on fracking. Argentina had to <a href="http://www.law.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/ECM_PRO_065328.pdf" target="_blank">pay US investors hundreds of million dollars</a> for their losses after it had to devalue its currency in 2001. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
If US and EU negotiators agree to put an ISDS clause into the TTIP, this could curb the EU's and the member states' regulatory powers. A British fracking ban could for example cost the EU millions of Euros if it spoils a planned investment by US investors. In the same way, if a European country was to introduce an eco-tax or a financial transactions tax (FTT), this could also lead to compensation for American investors. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
EU and US negotiations keep affirming that both entities have a well-developed legal system and the need for ISDS should never arise. But once the system is in place, it can be freely used by every investor who wants to. It is a system that can become very dangerous for the shaping of democratic politics. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
For this reason, there should be no ISDS clause in the TTIP.</div>
Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-59156640949489309842013-10-17T00:22:00.002+02:002013-10-18T10:06:57.319+02:00MEPs ask for an end to Brussels-Strasbourg travelling circus<div style="text-align: justify;">
Members of the Constitutional Committee of the European Parliament on Monday took a first step to end the travelling circus of the Parliament between Brussels and Strasbourg. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In a report (see the <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+COMPARL+PE-513.103+02+DOC+PDF+V0//EN&language=EN" target="_blank">draft report</a> here) that was adopted by 20 to 4 votes, the committee urges to give the Parliament the say over its location, its calendar and the modalities of its meetings. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"We want to have one seat, so that we can save money and carbon dioxide," commented the co-rapporteur of
the resolution, British MEP Ashley Fox, in a press conference on Tuesday.
At a time where European citizens are asked to make cuts, an estimated 200 million EUR is spent by taxpayers every year to fund the monthly travel of 766 MEPs, their assistants and Parliament staff from Brussels to Strasbourg and back. The MEPs of the Constitutional committee find this an unnecessary waste of money and carbon dioxide.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"This report is a small revolution, but it will be the beginning of a bigger
revolution," the second co-rapporteur Gerald Häfner (Germany) added. "We want to take our own decision about where
to have the Parliament's seat, but we are hostages of the European
Council, the member states and their governments." The seat of the Parliament is written into the EU treaties, and a treaty change requires unanimity by all 28 EU member states. The French government has indicated many times that it will not agree to abolish the EP seat in Strasbourg. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Many people have tried to end the monthly travelling circus before, but always in vain. Fox and Häfner believe that this time will be different. "This is a new
thing," said Häfner, "because the Parliament has never before asked for a treaty change that would allow it to
decide itself where and when to hold its meetings." </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Fox and Häfner are certain that by now there is a majority in the European Parliament in favour of a single seat, a majority that runs through all the political groups. It appears that quite a few European governments are also in
favour of putting an end to the travelling circus but they would not
like to directly pronounce themselves in favour of either Strasbourg or
Brussels. To bring the report through Parliament, the two rapporteurs have therefore decided not to mention either Brussels or Strasbourg. "We don't take a stance about where the single seat should be," said Fox. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Nonetheless, there was a bit of opposition to the single seat report. When it was voted on Monday, a number of French MEPs not belonging to the Constitutional committee tried to highjack the decision. They had added 87 amendments to dilute the impact of the report (most of which were rejected) and attempted to cast votes in the committee even though they were not member of it. The committee had to pause several times until the final vote could take place. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The report will now be voted by the plenary on 11 November vote and Ashley Fox believes that only few MEPs will be brave enough to put down their name for a two-seat solution. If the report is adopted, the Parliament would wait until after the elections in May 2014 and then formally submit the report to Council. The Council would then be forced to debate the question of the single seat and take a vote on it. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The next European convention to review the EU treaties, probably in 2015, would then debate the Parliament's request to decide itself on its location, said Häfner. And an agreement would have to be found to compensate the country which would lose its European institutions, added Fox. </div>
Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-9528760193061321512013-10-12T12:20:00.000+02:002013-10-12T13:29:15.726+02:00The pope is right: Europe should be ashamed<div style="text-align: justify;">
Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, 560,000 refugees (or about 9% of the Jordianian population) have crossed into Jordan and asked for asylum. The cost of providing shelter, food, water (Jordan is a desert state) and assistance for all these refugees has cost the government of this upper-middle income country 1.53 billion USD since the beginning of the refugee crisis. Commenting on the refugee situation, Jordan's interior minister <a href="http://www.aawsat.net/2013/10/article55318983" target="_blank">said</a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote>
Jordan is a safe haven; even if we have to share some of our livelihood we will not deprive anyone of the privilege to be here. This is the nature of Jordanians and their leadership, and I pray to God that we are never in a position where we would make a different decision. I want to emphasize Jordan’s moral, humanitarian and political commitment.</blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Meanwhile, 6,400 Syrian refugees have <a href="http://www.euractiv.com/justice/syrian-refugees-african-migrants-news-530952" target="_blank">reached</a> the European Union through Bulgaria. Others come into the EU through Greece or Italy. Two boats carrying African refugees capsized at Lampedusa this week, killing hundreds of them. At the Council meeting of Interior Ministers this week, some of these countries asked for help from their richer, northern European neighbours. They find that the 2003 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_Regulation" target="_blank">Dublin II regulation</a> – which obliges asylum seekers to file their asylum request in the EU country of arrival – does not respond to the challenges of today any more.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But the richer north European partners refused to move an inch away from the Dublin II regulation. A representative survey conducted in Germany last week revealed that a majority (52%) of the Germans <a href="http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/bilder/crchart4826~_v-videowebl.jpg" target="_blank">believe the EU should accepted more refugees</a>, but the same majority (51%) thinks that these refugees should <a href="http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/bilder/crchart4822~_v-videowebl.jpg" target="_blank">go to a country other than Germany</a>. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
For a bloc of the most developed countries in the world, but especially for a union that prizes itself for being a value-community, this is completely unacceptable. The pope <a href="http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-migrants-deaths-are-shameful" target="_blank">put it a bit more bluntly</a>: This a shame.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The EU not only has the economic resources and cultural diversity to accept a far greater number of refugees, but it has also proclaimed to the world that it promotes humanitarian values and human rights.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But the picture that it gives of itself in the African and Syrian refugee crisis is a club of wealthy countries, busy with itself, ignoring the rest of the world. </div>
Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-88535538031627886582012-05-09T09:41:00.000+02:002012-05-09T09:45:09.376+02:00Happy Europe Day!Who would have thought that Europe would come this far, when Robert Schuman gave the <a href="http://europa.eu/abc/symbols/9-may/decl_en.htm" target="_blank">Schuman Declaration.</a> <br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="400" src="http://www.cvce.eu/object-content/-/object/ae3fc5f0-2b25-4261-a358-7d3649d392ca" width="98%">&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;your browser does not support IFRAMEs&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;</iframe>Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-7303410425107572952012-05-08T16:39:00.000+02:002012-05-08T17:17:37.984+02:00Is Martin Schulz emerging as a new leftist leader in Europe?On the morning after François Hollande was elected president of France, Martin Schulz sat in his office at 7h50 and gave an interview to <a href="http://www.dradio.de/dkultur/sendungen/interview/1749241/" target="_blank">Deutschlandradio</a>. Then his press team sat down to write an <a href="http://www.social-europe.eu/2012/05/europes-opportunity-in-hollande/" target="_blank">opinion peace for Project Syndicate</a>. Not only François Hollande wants to move away from austerity, Schulz said. The European Commission under Barroso is also convinced that more growth cannot come about by austerity alone. And the European Parliament, with Schulz, an (albeit impartial) social democrat at the top, is also coming out in favor of <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&reference=A7-2012-0021&language=EN" target="_blank">less austerity</a>. <br />
<br />
As a German commentator <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/french-greek-and-schleswig-holstein-elections-show-risks-ahead-for-merkel-a-831671.html" target="_blank">observed on Sunday</a>, the word "super election day" several years ago meant elections in two or three large German states. Today, it means elections in France, Greece and Serbia (<a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/french-greek-and-schleswig-holstein-elections-show-risks-ahead-for-merkel-a-831671.html" target="_blank">and Schleswig-Holstein</a>). In an integrated European economy, national policies can no longer be shaped in isolation; policy-making has to shift from the national to the European level to remain efficient. <a href="http://mathew.blogactiv.eu/" target="_blank">Mathew</a> suggested that we have seen the emergence of a truly European debate on economic policy in the last few months - more austerity against more growth programs instead of more Europe against less Europe. I think he is right. And now that Hollande's rise to power <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/07/hollande-europe-cameron-polly-toynbee" target="_blank">shifts European policy-making</a>
from austerity to growth, the president of the European Parliament appears well-placed to broker
and negotiate this transition within the European institutions. He could emerge as new leftist leader in European policy-making, if not in front of the cameras then at least in the hallways of the institutions. <br />
<br />
The next European Council will have growth programs on its agenda. And Martin Schulz has been <a href="http://www.dradio.de/dlf/sendungen/interview_dlf/1739061/" target="_blank">fighting</a> for the inclusion of the EP president in the negotiations of the fiscal pact. It will be interesting to see how much he will use his position and his intra-party networks to help broker a growth program in Europe.<br />
<br />
And then? National elections in Germany are next year and if the European mood, inspired by Hollande's election, turns toward growth programs, then the German elections might sweep the former social democrat finance minister Peer Steinbrück, an efficient pro-European, to power. Might be a very interesting constellation for social democrat governance in Europe: Hollande - Steinbrück - Schulz.Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-75854091391977573382012-04-07T14:17:00.003+02:002012-04-07T16:14:21.336+02:00What must be saidWith his poem "What must be said", to be found <a href="http://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/gedicht-zum-konflikt-zwischen-israel-und-iran-was-gesagt-werden-muss-1.1325809" target="_blank">here</a> [DE], German nobel prize laureat Günter Grass stirred up a heated discussion in Germany. At the core of it: Can Germany, the country that bears responsibility for the Holocaust, criticize Israel? <br />
<br />
Public opinion in Germany seems to answer this question with a yes. Although I cannot find the figures, the majority of Germans looks at Israel's aggressive foreign policy with unease (and shows empathy with Palestinian citizens in the West Bank and the Gaza strip). When Günter Grass now writes that the "atomic power Israel endangers a world peace that is already crumbling" and criticizes the German shipment of a nuclear submarine to Israel, he speaks out what many German citizens have thought for a long time.<br />
<br />
In other countries, this would not be a problem. But in Germany, where chancellor Merkel has <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,826163,00.html" target="_blank">declared</a> Israel's security a piece of Germany's raison d'état and where a <a href="http://www.tagesschau.de/inland/antisemitismus108.html" target="_blank">recent study</a> has found "a banalization of antisemitist practices and rants that reaches far into the middle of the society", such a piece of criticism cannot be uttered without being called an antisemitist. German criticism of the state of Israel and of its government is always understood as criticism of the Israeli electorate, the Jewish nation. <br />
<br />
And yet, the state of Israel is evidently in breach of several UN resolutions that deal with Israeli settlements in the West Bank and has repeatedly expressed its desire for a preemptive strike on Iran which would defy the intentions of the UN Charter. You could conveniently argue that every world citizen with an interest in peace should have the right to criticize Israel for its policy, regardless of their nationality. <br />
<br />
What Günter Grass therefore advocates in his capacity as a global citizen is to put both the Iranian and the Israeli nuclear programs under the scrutiny of an international authority. If you look at the situation without a Western bias, the question is justified: Why subject the Irani nuclear program to external control and make an exception for Israel, although its attack could endanger Iranian citizens just as much as an Iranian attack would endanger Israelis? <br />
<br />
As a German or non-German, what do you think of the question?Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-6765520848083371702012-02-16T16:05:00.003+01:002012-02-16T17:25:17.401+01:00EU-China summit: Advance on Market Economy Status, retreat on Economic PartnershipAt the EU-China summit in Tianjin, José Manuel Barroso, Herman van Rompuy and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao <a href="http://consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/127967.pdf">agreed</a><br />
<blockquote>that a rich in substance EU-China investment agreement would promote and facilitate investment in both directions. Negotiations towards this agreement would include all issues of interest to either side, without prejudice to the final outcome. [Both sides] agreed to work towards the start of the negotiation as soon as possible.</blockquote>One the one hand, this is an interesting development. In the past, bilateral investment agreements have allowed European enterprises additional security in their overseas investments, given that they could directly seek arbitration with an international tribunal. <br />
<br />
One the other hand, opening new investment negotiations suggests that the 2007 <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/trade/analysis/sustainability-impact-assessments/assessments/">Partnership and Cooperation Agreement</a> (PCA) talks are all but dead. At the time, the EU wanted to update the 1985 agreement that governs Sino-European economic relations, and adapt the partnership to the changed trade patterns of the 21st century (increased trade in services, increased volume of foreign direct investment, questions of intellectual property, China's entry into the WTO in 2001 etc.). The 2010 EU-China summit still <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/10/462&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en" target="_blank">referred to the PCA</a>, but this year it was <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/12/103&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en" target="_blank">not mentioned a single time</a>. Are economic relations between the EU and China running smoothly if a comprehensive economic agreement is silently scrapped and replaced with the promise of a <i>potential</i> investment agreement? I don't think so. <br />
<br />
Another import point at the summit was Market Economy Status (MES) for China. Despite China's WTO membership since 2001 (analysis: <a href="http://ictsd.org/downloads/2011/12/2011-ebook-on-china-and-wto.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>), the EU has long <a href="http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/europe/2012-02/09/content_14565654.htm%22%20target=%22_blank" target="_blank">withheld MES for China and used it as a bargaining chip</a>. Now, it appears that Van Rompuy and Barroso are ready to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/17/business/global/europe-steps-up-talks-with-china-on-its-market-status.html" target="_blank">scrap their opposition</a> if China steps up its help in the Eurozone crisis in return. Granting MES to China would <i>inter alia</i> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/17/business/global/europe-steps-up-talks-with-china-on-its-market-status.html" target="_blank">strengthen</a> Chinese enterprises in anti-dumping cases. The ALDE group is <a href="http://www.alde.eu/press/press-and-release-news/press-release/article/the-recognition-of-market-economy-status-to-china-is-not-on-the-agenda-37922/%22%20target=%22_blank" target="_blank">particularly unhappy</a> to see the EU's bargaining chip vanish, but it would soon disappear anyway, given that under China's WTO accession agreement, the EU agreed to <a href="http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/europe/2012-02/09/content_14565654.htm" target="_blank">grant MES automatically in 2016</a> (even though this is <a href="http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/7345" target="_blank">contested</a>).<br />
<br />
Overall, I do not have the impression that this summit was a great advance in EU-China relations. But then, good relations across different cultures <a href="http://www.understandingchina.eu/Chinaideascommunity/KnowledgePartnercontributions/tabid/887/PostID/2757/EUChinatiesBeyondtheheadlines.aspx" target="_blank">are not created overnight</a>. Instead, many small initiatives such as dialogues in climate change, energy, urbanization etc. continue to bring the two partners closer together. In the long run, I would hope that the EU and China, two of the biggest trading blocks in the world, can use the summits to give their voice to global trade and global sustainable development. But in the short run, I believe that bilateral cooperation will continue to take place on the micro-level.Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-82857245086886418662012-01-25T12:08:00.004+01:002012-01-25T13:39:41.770+01:00Here are the EurobloggersBloggingportal.eu is celebrating its third anniversary tomorrow, 26 January 2012. The website brings together 904 blogs in the different languages of the EU, written by individuals, journalists, Members of the European Parliament, European Commissioners and many more. They are looking at the European Union from different angles, giving themselves a sectional, party-political, cultural or regional focus when they translate the mass of communication that comes out of the European institutions every day. <br />
<br />
But why would you bother to write about this stuff if you don't even get paid for it? Here are some of the blogger profiles I have come across.<br />
<br />
Blogger A<br />
<br />
I am a journalist working for a national newspaper or an audiovisual media. I am caught between the political discussion in my member state and the discussions in the hallways of the European institutions in Brussels. My media asks me to translate what I hear in Brussels so that my home audience will understand it. But many of the ideas and solutions that I hear about in Brussels are not relevant for my home audience. I put them on my blog.<br />
<br />
Blogger B<br />
<br />
I am a professional working in the European institutions or a lobby group. In my daily life, I have a lot of meetings behind closed doors in which European politics is decided day by day. This strikes me as utterly undemocratic and I feel like I should do something about it. So I gave myself a pseudonym and am writing down some of my daily experiences and thoughts on my blog - in the hope that it will make these European institutions a little bit more transparent.<br />
<br />
Blogger C<br />
<br />
I study the European Union. My day involves reading scientific articles about the number of votes that are necessary in the Council of Ministers to get a piece of legislation adopted. My desire is to switch the side of the desk and become a part of this European world myself in the future. I feel fervently pro-European and take a lot of pain in the way that reality differs from my ideal model of a harmonic European Union. On my blog, I can say what I think about all this. Maybe someone will read it one day. Maybe they will offer me a job. <br />
<br />
Blogger D<br />
<br />
I don't care about the European Union. All this institutional bla bla bla bores the crap out of me. I have my own agenda, what I care about is my personal freedom, freedom to travel, freedom to say what I think on the web, freedom to obtain the information that I want to get. But this freedom is in danger from a few grey hats in Brussels and some more grey hats in America, and that's why I am raising my voice. My voice is a mixture of well-placed needle pinches and indignant rioting. If one of those grey hats that I am talking to actually reads me blog, that's even the better. But quite frankly, I don't care. <br />
<br />
Blogger E<br />
<br />
My media team is handling my blog for me. They also handle my Twitter. Our media analysts told us that European citizens all start going online. We have tried press conference for a long time and even set up our own TV station, but we only get coverage when the EU is in trouble (granted, that happens a lot lately). My blog allows me to reach the citizens directly. I am providing my own voice, and I know that citizens appreciate this. I know that I could do more to interact with them, but I have business leaders and national politicians to meet as well. I am faithful that my media team is doing a good job, and they collect a good load of valuable feedback from the readers of my blog that I can use in my daily work.Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-15136177761783041812012-01-03T23:47:00.004+01:002012-01-04T00:02:05.433+01:00MountEUlmypus post no. 100I just realized that my previous post was MountEUlympus post no. 100. After two and a half years of writing about the EU, this blog is still here, and it is here to stay for a while. Just a few musings about EU blogging before I turn back to proper content in my next post. <br />
<br />
It is a rewarding experience to blog about European affairs. The last 30 months in blogging have seen me <a href="http://mounteulympus.blogspot.com/2010/02/bye-bye-moravcsik-neofunctionalism-is.html" target="_blank">challenged by Prof. Andrew Moravcsik</a>, reprinted in the newspaper <a href="http://mounteulympus.blogspot.com/2010/08/unpaid-internships-forbidden.html" target="_blank">New Europe</a> (New Europe pdf unavailable), <a href="http://www.debatingeurope.eu/2011/11/17/what-should-eu-china-relations-look-like/" target="_blank">responded to</a> by development economist Ha Joon Chang, participate in the <a href="http://climatechange.thinkaboutit.eu/think4/blogger/feldhof" target="_blank">Th!nk about it 2 blogging competition on climate change</a>, publish a <a href="http://books.google.be/books?id=e-Mk7Ec7LR4C&" target="_blank">bachelor thesis on the European blogosphere</a>, become a co-editor of <a href="http://bloggingportal.eu/">Bloggingportal.eu</a>, <a href="http://mounteulympus.blogspot.com/2011/06/hungarian-presidencys-legacy-bloggers.html" target="_blank">discover</a> the workings of the Council of Ministers, <a href="http://mounteulympus.blogspot.com/2011/10/epp-heads-of-govt-retreat-to-belgian.html" target="_blank">cover the EPP Summit</a> and many other experiences. Most of all, however, blogging has put me into an international community in which new ideas are put forward and debated every day and thereby significantly increased my knowledge of European affairs. <br />
<br />
As I said, it is a rewarding experience to be a blogger and I can only encourage every citizen reading this post to think about starting his or her own blog. Given that European politics are rarely debated in national public spheres, European debates frequently develop in the blogosphere from where they are sometimes upscaled to national media. Even though the European blogosphere might sometimes appear a little like the electronic version of the Brussel bubble, participation is open to everybody and new entrants are welcomed and listened to. Maybe you will be next?Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-41989328288412792902012-01-03T15:16:00.004+01:002012-01-03T23:26:56.282+01:00A cultural war between China and the West?The Chinese word for coffee - 咖啡, pronounced kafei - is a good example for the way in which Western culture has slowly crept into Chinese society. While the idea of drinking tea ("cha") has developed through centuries of Chinese history, coffee came from outside the Middle Kingdom. In phonetic terms, it has always remained on the outskirts of Chinese culture.<br />
<br />
But when you walk through any bigger city in Eastern China, you will see Western coffee chains and fast food restaurants invite young Chinese into what is essentially a space of Western culture. With English being the international <i>lingua franca</i>, many Chinese people working in the export industry come into contact with Western values, send their children abroad for college and start celebrating Christmas (albeit as a largely secular holiday). Consumerism, Western entertainment and Western dating mentality have long reached Eastern China. Without doubt, they are a powerful force tugging at the foundation of a family-based society with a high degree of discipline and sacrifice.<br />
<br />
When Chinese president Hu Jintao now <a href="http://www.gov.cn/ldhd/2012-01/01/content_2035250.htm" target="_blank">speaks</a> of a Western desire to divide Chinese society through ideology and culture (see <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/04/world/asia/chinas-president-pushes-back-against-western-culture.html?src=tp" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-03/hu-says-west-is-trying-to-divide-china-by-using-ideology-cultural-weapons.html" target="_blank">here</a>), one could of course respond with a shrug. Western influence comes to China as a result of market exchange in a globalizing economy. One could say that China pays the price for its participation in the WTO and its export-led development with cultural influx from its trade partners (while truly Chinese products have simply not incited Western demand yet).<br />
<br />
But then, the story is more complex than that. Globalization has a significant influence on the structure of the Chinese economy, an economy that has for some time devoted all its resources to the demands of the rest of the world while neglecting domestic demand. Globalization has led to enormous migratory flows from the Western plains into the Eastern metropoles which are connected to the global markets. To put it a little plain, China has in some regards neglected its own culture in the interest of export-led economic growth. <br />
<br />
It therefore appears legitimate to raise the question how a country can brace itself against cultural influence from other countries. France, for example, has established a law that requires its radios to <a href="http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/actualites/politique/audiovisuel/audiovisuel1.htm" target="_blank">play 40% French music titles</a>. In my view, Hu Jintao is correct to worry about the erosion of Chinese culture through Western influence. But it does not appear very helpful to <a href="http://www.gov.cn/ldhd/2012-01/01/content_2035250.htm" target="_blank">speak</a> about "international hostile forces [that] are stepping up the implementation of China's Westernization" (Google Translated). A cultural war between China and the West would really not be a smart thing, but then I don't really see it happen either. <br />
<br />
As a final remark, the concept "the West" which is often used in China (closely associated to the <a href="http://mounteulympus.blogspot.com/2011/01/china-and-laowai.html" target="_blank">idea of a Westerner, or <i>laowai</i></a>), is by no means culturally homogeneous. The US and Europe show immense cultural differences, in the way in which they consume information, in the way in which they view leadership and in way in which they view the ideal state, to name but a few aspects. And to return to <i>kafei</i> mentioned above: While coffee might be considered a Western product in the Middle Kingdom, its production is crucially important to guarantee the livelihood of many smallholder farmers - in Africa and Latin America.<br />
<br />
<i>I have focused on the economic aspect of Westernization; maybe my Chinese friends would like to comment on the cultural aspect of Western influence?</i>Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-59816620831199314512011-12-19T01:45:00.003+01:002011-12-20T12:48:23.896+01:00European Quality Charter on Internships presented in ParisEuropean interns working outside or after formal education should earn at least 60% of the median income or the national minimum wage of a European country, say the European Youth Forum, MEP Emilie Turunen and a range of other stakeholders in the new <a href="http://www.qualityinternships.eu/">European Quality Charter on Internships</a> that was presented at a <a href="http://youthforum.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1155%3Ayouth-employment-conference-with-the-support-of-the-oecd&lang=en">Youth Employment conference</a> in Paris last week. <br />
<br />
The signatories stress the fact that internships and apprenticeships should be a learning experience to integrate young people into the labor market, not a means for companies to replace a full-time position with an unpaid internship. Therefore, they should normally take place within an educational programme and be appropriately remunerated.<br />
<br />
At the Youth Employment conference organized in partnership with the OECD, panelists from the European Commission, the European Parliament, Trade Unions and youth organizations also debated the fate of Europe’s young population in the economic crisis. With youth unemployment rates between <a href="http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php?title=File:Table_youth_unemployment_MS.png&filetimestamp=20110930133430">45% in Spain and 7% in the Netherlands</a> (September 2011 figures), young Europeans are disproportionately hit by the crisis. Reasons for this are the fact that the crisis first eliminated new job vacancies that could have put youths into employment, and that an employer’s need for particularly skilled personnel increases in a crisis, thus making it difficult for young people without prior work experience to meet the requirements. <br />
<br />
To improve the situation for young unemployed, the European Commission is set to come out with a Youth Opportunities Initiative tomorrow, 20 December (update: now online <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/11/1568&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en" target="_blank">here</a>) working towards a “Youth Guarantee”, and a Youth Strategy in the spring of 2012. “Young people should be either in education, or in work,” said Jean-Louis De Brouwer, Director of the Division “Employment, Lisbon Strategy, International Affairs” in DG Employment of the European Commission, adding that they may be offered a qualification measure if they have not found a job after four months of unemployment.<br />
<br />
At the conference, I interviewed the <a href="http://parti.sf.dk/default.aspx?site=emilie">Member of the European Parliament Emilie Turunen</a>, European Youth Forum Secretary General Giuseppe Porcaro, Santa Ozolina, in charge of the Quality Charter for Internships on the part of Youth Forum as well as Ben Lyons, Co-Director of <a href="http://www.internaware.org/">InternAware</a>. You can watch a round-up about the Quality Charter here and the individual interviews below. <br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/d3n741yOhnc" width="560">&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;X&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;</iframe><br />
<br />
See the individual video interviews here:<br />
<ul><li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNCz_gJcyaU&feature=related" target="_blank">Emilie Turunen</a>, Member of the European Parliament</li>
<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3n741yOhnc" target="_blank">Giuseppe Porcaro</a>, Secretary General of the European Youth Forum</li>
<li><a href="http://youtu.be/V8DzWR1FNN8" target="_blank">Santa Ozolina</a>, Policy Officer Employment and Social Affairs at the European Youth Forum</li>
<li>Ben Lyons, Co-Director of <a href="http://www.internaware.org/">InternAware</a> (will be available on Monday) </li>
</ul>Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-72210954836952890142011-12-11T01:01:00.002+01:002011-12-11T01:14:43.602+01:00Youth urge leaders at Durban conference: GET IT DONE!As the Durban climate conference is going into its last negotiations (follow them at the tag <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/search/%23COP17">#COP17</a> on Twitter or via <a href="https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=uk&tbm=nws&q=Durban&oq=Durban&aq=f&aqi=d1g-z1g2d-o1&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=1443l2325l0l3196l6l4l0l1l1l0l311l859l2-2.1l3l0">Google News</a>), young people have been given the floor to speak on behalf of global youths, representing half of the world's population. <br />
<br />
Global Youth's message to Durban is perfectly clear: Failing in climate negotiations is the "most stark betrayal" that a generation can commit against following generations. And its message is perfectly simple: GET IT DONE!<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Ko3e6G_7GY4" width="560"></iframe>Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-54211882238374128432011-12-07T01:17:00.000+01:002011-12-07T01:17:33.986+01:00Durban summit: Is China becoming a climate leader?Three more days of climate negotiations in Durban and the <a href="http://brussels.cta.int/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=6073&tmpl=component&print=1">EU's hopes for a binding agreement</a> are <a href="http://www.ips.org/africa/2011/12/climate-change-comprehensive-agreement-beyond-reach/">vanishing into the distance</a>. Climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard already <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/en/plenary/video?idmep=101464&page=0&format=wmv&askedDiscussionNumber=0">told the European Parliament</a> in November that she did not insist on a binding agreement but was prepared to make concessions, if other countries agreed to a binding commitment from 2020 and a clear roadmap until then. <br />
<br />
After no ratification of Kyoto and no progress in Copenhagen and Cancún, I am by now downright resentful of the United States that <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-30/u-s-says-un-green-climate-fund-needs-small-changes-in-structure.html">shot down the Green Climate Fund</a> upon arrival in Durban and that now <a href="http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Canada+skeptical+Chinese+offer/5815663/story.html">prefers to nag China</a> before committing itself to any binding accord. I have laid out before my view <a href="http://mounteulympus.blogspot.com/2011/07/mep-robert-goebbels-we-dont-move-if.html">that emission reduction cannot wait</a> and that developed countries should <a href="http://mounteulympus.blogspot.com/2010/05/france-and-germany-are-again-playing.html">lower their emissions irrespective of what developing countries do</a>. <br />
<br />
Now, the US has waited for so long that it seems China might not only outgrow its economy but also become a leader in emission reductions. On Monday, China stunned the world by announcing that it supported a binding agreement by 2020 (albeit in return for <a href="http://www.firstpost.com/world/heat-is-on-india-as-china-commits-to-emission-cuts-148792.html">five conditions</a> such as common but differentiated responsibilities and a continuation of developed country subsidies for developing countries).<br />
<br />
The Chinese volte-face leaves the US and India in a cold shower, and it makes the US and Canada as developed economies look particularly isolated. As it currently stands, the US refuses a binding agreement, at this point as well as for the year 2020. It pledges to <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gZIjy2cxeL6WUgTVKZGLAZ1Bv5Dw?docId=CNG.7ecd231f6d2b64a4334ecaf3076dae5a.ab1">reduce emissions</a> by 17% until 2020 given 2005 levels while <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/world/asia/china-outlines-cuts-in-carbon-emissions.html">China says</a> it "achieved a 20 percent reduction in carbon emissions between 2005 and 2010 per unit of gross domestic product and planned to cut another 17 percent by 2015" (given that GDP is still growing at around 8%/year, absolute figures continue to be on the rise). <br />
<br />
Even though Chinese emissions are still rising in the short term, signs are multiplying that citizens are becoming increasingly unwilling to put up with air and water pollution. Millions of Chinese citizens <a href="http://www.lemonde.fr/asie-pacifique/article/2011/12/06/des-millions-d-internautes-chinois-se-rebiffent-contre-la-pollution_1613733_3216.html">protested online</a> yesterday after several days of severe pollution in Beijing that caused the cancellation of hundreds of flights across China. The government heavily subsidizes the installation of solar panels on rooftops in parts of the country and China recently became the <a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-07/06/c_13967565.htm">world's biggest investor in renewable energy</a>. <br />
<br />
These developments indicate that something is changing in China. With capacity-building and technology from the EU, China is moving onto the path of sustainable environmental development. It might be on the way to becoming a climate leader within in the next decade. The US, meanwhile, continues to pretend that life will always go on as it has before. It thereby not only endangers its own citizens but also citizens of the rest of the world.Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-11478520532241660522011-11-08T08:44:00.005+01:002011-11-16T20:20:21.897+01:00European Financial Transaction Tax – the story of a broken dreamThe G20 summit last week made significant advances in the introduction of a global financial transaction tax (FTT). Not only France, Spain and Germany but also Argentina, Brazil, Ethiopia and South Africa have <a href="http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressrelease/2011-11-04/robin-hood-tax-kicks-g20-cannes">declared themselves in favor</a> of an FTT, or Robin Hood tax, which is set to take money from the traders and distribute it to the world’s poor. International NGOs like Oxfam, CIDSE and ActionAid build momentum around this tax that could for example be used to finance climate change mitigation in the global South. The European Parliament has long supported the introduction of an FTT. And even the European Commission has recently declared itself in favor of an FTT, albeit claiming its benefits for the European budget rather than for developing countries. <br />
<br />
A pan-European financial transaction tax, however, always seemed unlikely because of the UK’s defiant veto in the Council of Ministers. The city, British politicians fear, would take a heavy blow if every transaction lost 0,05% of its value to the state. And this despite the fact that, according to <a href="http://www.re-define.org/blogs/sonykapoor">Sony Kapoor</a>, a trader who takes a 10-minute coffee break comes back to a far higher change in stock prices than just 0,05%. <br />
<br />
If a European financial transaction tax cannot be established, German and French politicians recently suggested that the Eurozone should simply go ahead and introduce the tax on its own. Other parts of the world would certainly fall in line behind the biggest economy in the world once the tax had been introduced. However, not only does the EU's impact assessment show that the Eurozone would lose 80% of its financial transactions to London and other stock exchanges according to Dr. <a href="http://www.eui.eu/Personal/Researchers/BartVanVooren/">Bart Van Vooren</a>, Assistant Professor of EU law at Copenhagen University. The introduction of a universally applicable FTT would also heavily conflict with the freedom of capital mobility enshrined in the European treaties: “(A)ll restrictions on the movement of capital between Member States and between Member States and third countries shall be prohibited” (Article 63 TFEU). Countries may discriminate between inner-European transactions and foreign direct investment, but within the common market, an FTT would not stand before the European Court of Justice, says Dr. Bart Van Vooren. <br />
<br />
The only means of introducing a Financial Transaction Tax therefore seems to be a global agreement. But would elected governments ever trust an international organization to enforce the first global tax in history? Realism seems to win this battle in a second.<br />
<br />
See below my video interview with Dr. Bart Van Vooren:<br />
<br />
<object height="375" width="500"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=31961156&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=31961156&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="500" height="375"></embed></object><br />
<br />
<i>Update 08-11-2011: The Economic and Financial Affairs Council today <a href="http://t.co/u8F1OWhq">debates</a> the Commission's proposal for an FTT. But according to Sony Kapoor and Dr. Bart Van Vooren, the FTT is a welcome object of political talk. Public opinion is in favor of it, and its implementation reaches beyond the political life of most heads of government and ministers. Talk about a European FTT without the UK's consent is therefore not much more than cosmetics. </i>Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-76173249432085799052011-10-27T22:07:00.001+02:002011-10-27T22:13:05.083+02:00Youths challenge European leaders on EU foreign policyFed up with widespread political apathy of the young generation, the editors of the European blog <a href="http://www.europeandme.eu/">Europe & Me</a> dared a bet: If they could mobilize 10,000 young Europeans to fill out a <a href="http://www.europeandme.eu/survey">4-minute survey</a> on European Foreign Policy, its results will be presented at the Berlin Forum on Foreign Policy organized by the German foreign ministry, and discussed with European foreign ministers.<br />
<br />
The survey not only asks young people to state their perception of current EU Foreign Policy ("who do you perceive to be the most prominent actor?", "is EU foreign policy easy to follow?") but also asks what young people perceive to be the most important challenges for the EU in the future.<br />
<br />
At the time of writing this blogpost, there are just about seven days left to complete the survey. Might I invite you to give your opinion as well?<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>Some young Europeans, by the way, are not idle and politically apathetic at all: The <a href="http://www.youthforum.org/">European Youth Forum</a>, together with <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/public/yourMep/view.do?language=EN&id=96703">MEP Emilie Turunen</a>, the <a href="http://www.jef.eu/">Young European Federalists</a> (JEF) and other partners, are <a href="http://mounteulympus.blogspot.com/2011/09/75-of-european-interns-are-unpaid-or.html">drafting</a> a <a href="http://www.youthforum.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1112:interns-revealed-european-youth-forum-presents-results-of-pan-european-survey-on-the-situation-of-young-interns&catid=28:current-users&Itemid=89&lang=en">Quality charter for internships</a> at the request of the European Parliament. Once this charter is established, every intern will be able to hold up a document to his future employer and demand his rights as they are written down. </i>Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-90814080508271395252011-10-23T13:35:00.003+02:002011-10-23T14:02:18.850+02:00EPP heads of govt retreat to Belgian castle to discuss European CouncilIt’s a busy weekend in Brussels. Yesterday’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council <a href="http://www.consilium.europa.eu/homepage/showfocus.aspx?lang=en&focusID=77574">cleared the path</a> for today’s <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search/%23EUCO">European Council/Eurozone Summit</a>, while the General Affairs yesterday <a href="http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/EN/genaff/125491.pdf">discussed</a> (PDF) economic policy and finalized the EU positions for the G20 summit in Cannes in November and the COP17 climate conference in Durban in December.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6237/6269718918_af00d50b24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6237/6269718918_af00d50b24.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Angela Merkel's badge is waiting for her<br />
Source Flickr CC BY-NC-SA <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/61125805@N03/6269718918/in/photostream">mounteulympus</a></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Somewhere in between, 13 heads of state and government belonging to the European People’s Party (EPP), reinforced by José Manuel Barroso, Herman van Rompuy and Jerzy Buzek, took a retreat to a beautiful castle outside of Brussels to save the Euro over a decent dinner.<br />
<br />
Journalists were waiting in front of the castle nervously as the first shaded limousines pulled into the driveway. One by one, heads of state and government got out of their cars and walked past the journalists to the castle entrance. Angela Merkel, Finland’s Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen and Austria’s Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger stopped to explain their expectancy of the summit, while Silvio Berlusconi put on a grin and ignored the journalists as his bodyguards walked him to the door. MEP Elmar Brok opened his passenger door alone and walked up to the castle by himself. By the time of his arrival, the journalists’ interest had waned and they were comparing their notes of the Merkel interview. <br />
<br />
<div align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hbCidvfyAuo" width="560"></iframe></div><br />
Your blogger had access to the advisors’ chamber, so over dinner I plugged into some interesting conversations. The advisors themselves were not fully aware of what was going on behind the closed doors of the meeting room, either. “Sometimes, very important progress is made in between the negotiations, in bilateral conversations in the hallway,” said German government spokesman Steffen Seibert. And after heads of government have negotiated a compromise among themselves, each of them returns home to win the approval of their Parliaments. “For those governments with a narrow majority, that can be quite a struggle,” Seibert said. Indeed, one reason for the postponement of the European Council to Wednesday is that Angela Merkel has <a href="http://www.focus.de/politik/deutschland/eu-eu-gipfel-verhandelt-ueber-euro-rettungspaket_aid_677365.html">not secured the approval</a> of the German budget committee yet.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><object height="300" width="400"> <param name="flashvars" value="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2F61125805%40N03%2Fsets%2F72157627833214265%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2F61125805%40N03%2Fsets%2F72157627833214265%2F&set_id=72157627833214265&jump_to="></param><param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=107931"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=107931" allowFullScreen="true" flashvars="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2F61125805%40N03%2Fsets%2F72157627833214265%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2F61125805%40N03%2Fsets%2F72157627833214265%2F&set_id=72157627833214265&jump_to=" width="400" height="300"></embed></object></div><br />
Throughout the dinner, buzz was high about the tête-à-tête between Sarkozy and Merkel after the EPP summit. Sarkozy did not participate in the summit but was due to arrive in Brussels later in the evening. According to media reports, however, the meeting only achieved little progress. <br />
<br />
It seems that a lot of work remains as heads of government meet for the European Council today. And if the <a href="http://blogs.ft.com/brusselsblog/2011/10/eu-summit-leaked-draft-conclusions-2/#axzz1bVwPCmDE">leaked conclusions</a> prove to be true, there will not be an agreement on the recapitalization of the banks today.Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-56997355724617656962011-10-21T08:01:00.006+02:002011-10-21T12:03:29.161+02:00MountEUlympus at the EPP SummitIn the footsteps of <a href="http://julienfrisch.blogspot.com/2010/06/eurobloggers-report-from-epp-summit.html">Julien Frisch</a>, <a href="http://socialmedia.blogactiv.eu/2011/03/24/liveblog-from-epp-summit/">Joe Litobarski</a> and <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajburgess/sets/72157627039772250/">Andrew Burgess</a>, your humble blogger will cover the summit of the European People's Party (EPP), held this Saturday evening in preparation for the European Council on Sunday (and Wednesday).<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5223/5881184422_656ab46f9c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5223/5881184422_656ab46f9c.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Angela Merkel at the EPP Summit in June 2011<br />
Source: Flickr CC BY <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eppofficial/5881184422/in/photostream">europeanpeoplesparty</a></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The <a href="http://www.epp.eu/">EPP</a> currently brings together 17 of the 27 European heads of state or government, among others Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy, Donald Tusk and Silvio Berlusconi. Discussions at the summit will mainly center around the Eurocrisis, which already brought one EPP government down last week (Iveta Radicová's liberal-conservative coalition in Slovakia). Will EU leaders, Merkel and Sarkozy most of all<span style="font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;"></span></span>, be able to come to a sustainable agreement? Will they be able to produce a consistent solution that appeases the markets and brings back politicians' credibility? These are the questions that this blog will address at the EPP summit.<br />
<br />
I will be live-tweeting directly from the summit (follow my account <a href="http://twitter.com/mounteulympus">@mounteulympus</a> or the hashtags <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search/%23epp">#epp</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search/%23euco">#euco</a>) and provide you with a round-up in the aftermath of the summit on this blog. You can send me your questions, comments and remarks by comment function, via Twitter or through the contact form, and I will try to address them at the summit.Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-3154414044617618842011-10-08T23:06:00.005+02:002011-10-21T13:20:13.533+02:00Macroeconomic convergence in the EU - ok, but what about structural funds?The macroeconomic stability regulations that the European Parliament passed in late September, better known as "<a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/en/headlines/content/20110429FCS18371/html/Economic-governance-package-explained">sixpack</a>", lay down severe penalties for countries whose economies exceed the European average by too much. This could hit overachieving Germany just as much as underperforming Greece. <br />
<br />
Two of the six pieces of legislation are relevant for this, the <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2011-0424+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN">Ferreira regulation</a> and the <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2011-0423+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN">Haglund regulation</a>. The Ferreira regulation allows for the establishment of "an alert mechanism for early detection of emerging macroeconomic imbalances" within the European Commission, but under consultation of the <a href="http://www.esrb.europa.eu/home/html/index.en.html">European Systemic Risk Board</a>. This mechanism "should be based on use of an indicative and transparent scoreboard <span class="bold"><span class="italic">comprising indicative thresholds, </span></span> combined with economic judgment" (see the exact rules for the scoreboard in the <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2011-0424+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN">regulation</a>). <br />
<ul></ul>If a Eurozone economy exceeds the European average by too much, and for too long (meaning that it ignores several warnings from the Commission), it will be heavily fined. Within the Euro area, "<span class="bold"><span class="italic">the</span></span> yearly fine [...] shall be 0.1% of the GDP of the Member State concerned", according to the <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2011-0423+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN">Haglund regulation</a>.<br />
<br />
The aim of the two regulations is among others to bring the macroeconomic policies of the 17 different Eurozone economies closer together. While one country lowers taxes, establishes a minimum wage and gives out subsidies to make people spend more, it should be safeguarded that its neighbor doesn't raise taxes to keep its purchasing power at home (Germany has been <a href="http://mounteulympus.blogspot.com/2010/01/germany-poor-man-of-europe.html">pretty good at that</a> over the last decade, and <a href="http://mounteulympus.blogspot.com/2010/03/christine-lagarde-is-right.html">France was rather angry about it</a>).<br />
<br />
<br />
While the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/what/future/proposals_2014_2020_en.cfm">structural funds</a> of the EU (European Regional Development Fund, European Social Fund, Cohesion Fund and two others) are not directly related to macroeconomic policy of the member state governments, they also have an important role in bringing European economies closer together. The Commission has just published its <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/11/1159&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en">proposal</a> for the structural funds 2014-20, which are expected to have a volume of 336 billion EUR. Three different types of regions are to <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/11/663">profit from the funds</a>, namely<br />
<ul><li>less developed regions, whose GDP is below 75% of the Union average (this will continue to be the top priority for the policy)</li>
<li>transition regions, whose GDP is between 75% and 90% of the EU 27 average </li>
<li>more developed regions, whose GDP per capita is above 90% of the average.</li>
</ul>This is probably not fair, and I am not an expert on structural funds, but on a polemic note it strikes me as funny that Germany's North-Rhine Westphalia (whose Brussels representation you see below, next to the Latvian embassy) has <a href="http://www.nrw.de/landesregierung/nrw-erhaelt-auch-in-zukunft-foerdermittel-aus-strukturfonds-der-eu-11669/">already been promised funding</a> of some sort for the period of 2014-20... <br />
<br />
<table border="1"><tbody>
<tr> <th><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4071/4378057153_07eb385f6c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4071/4378057153_07eb385f6c.jpg" width="195" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Latvian embassy in Brussels. <br />
Source: The embassy's <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/latvianmfa/sets/72157622674544100/">Flickr page</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table></th> <th><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.derwesten.de/omg/1778626-342631436/530_530_0013926311-0050274046.JPG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.derwesten.de/omg/1778626-342631436/530_530_0013926311-0050274046.JPG.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">North-Rhine Westphalian Representation <br />
in Brussels. Source: <a href="http://www.derwesten.de/nachrichten/im-westen/Neue-Landesvertretung-im-Herzen-des-Europaviertels-id1781030.html">derwesten.de</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table></th></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<i>Update (10/10/11): The Commission's 6 October proposal <a href="http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/fiscal-threat-added-to-reform-of-regional-aid/72191.aspx">does incorporate a suspension of cohesion funds</a></i> if macroeconomic criteria are not met. Read more <a href="http://www.publicserviceeurope.com/article/947/regional-funds-to-be-tied-to-deficit-targets">here</a>.Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-50364765999886766322011-10-02T10:28:00.006+02:002011-10-02T13:11:16.903+02:00Finally - a debate about the future of the European Union in GermanyFor one and a half years, debates on the European Union in Germany could be largely summed up as "we always pay, we never get anything back". Not only is this wrong, the pure limitation to financial aspects also obstructed the view upon a more important question: In a world where the European Union "<a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2011-0412+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN">will account for only 18%</a> of world GDP in 2020, signifying a decline of 28%" compared with 2000 levels, are citizens prepared to give the EU strong multilateral institutions? This question has long been left unanswered in Germany. The Lisbon treaty was nodded off without debate. <br />
<br />
Thanks to finance minister Schäuble, the debate now seems to take a new turn. Schäuble has always been one of the most fervent supporters of more European integration. After his initiatives for a European Monetary Fund (<a href="http://www.consilium.europa.eu/homepage/showfocus.aspx?lang=en&focusID=66189">more or less granted</a>), a <a href="http://euobserver.com/19/30001">European rating agency</a> (<a href="http://www.faz.net/artikel/C30535/europaeischer-gegenpol-finanzplatz-schmiedet-an-einer-ratingagentur-30447739.html">still negotiated</a>) and an <a href="http://www.thelocal.de/politics/20100330-26211.html">economic government for the Eurozone</a> (<a href="http://euobserver.com/19/113336">granted</a>), the German finance minister yesterday <a href="http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article13637384/Schaeuble-sieht-in-mehr-Europa-die-Loesung-der-Krise.html">pursued</a> that the answer to the European debt crisis can only be more Europe. For once, I've got the feeling that the debate is not directed against fellow European countries but towards the degree of competence to be given to Brussels. <br />
<br />
Chancellor Angela Merkel gave a <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search/%23jauch">one-hour televised live interview</a> last week in which she explained the reasons behind the EFSF. This doesn't happen very often, and it may have given many people a new view upon the EU and Germany's role in. People begin to understand that the country profits a lot from European integration and stronger institutions do not necessarily mean less democracy.<br />
<br />
The time is right to pursue this debate and to wonder what Europe will look like in the future. Bavaria's CSU, in dire need of voter support, warns against a "European superstate", but it was apparent from the EFSF vote last week that there is room for more Europe in large parts of CDU, Social Democrats and Greens.<br />
<br />
Unnoticed by many, chief German constitutional lawyer Andreas Voßkuhle recently gave an interview in which he <a href="http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/hauptnavigation/startseite/#/beitrag/video/1450540/Was-nun,-Herr-Vo%C3%9Fkuhle">predicted</a> (14min30) that Germany may pave the way for stronger European institutions (within the next 10-20 years, roundabout), and give itself a new constitution to accommodate these changes. The time hasn't come for such a quantum leap, but I've got the feeling politicians start laying out the cobble stones to get there. <br />
<br />
I hope that there will be an honest debate about the future of the EU, not only in the Parliament but also in the public sphere. After Schäuble started the debate, the next few days will show if other parties are prepared to exchange some serious arguments on this.Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999226129696666600.post-48176403524824633042011-09-25T23:24:00.000+02:002011-09-25T23:24:41.278+02:00It's good to live in a shared European Union<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSaCrCGM7lzxqXf3_nkDXbbV8H34lRZZn3XzBWzCg6AzmtkvpsULgAE18gt43o9eHuF8AHooEWmH0KIPpMe3dvkXLLmAZIAYzAgik4umgmkK3xhtRk71sjsG3rKvHXo8fuPcrXd9q0a6A2/s1600/IMGP3858.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSaCrCGM7lzxqXf3_nkDXbbV8H34lRZZn3XzBWzCg6AzmtkvpsULgAE18gt43o9eHuF8AHooEWmH0KIPpMe3dvkXLLmAZIAYzAgik4umgmkK3xhtRk71sjsG3rKvHXo8fuPcrXd9q0a6A2/s400/IMGP3858.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Verdun, 24 September 2011<br />
CC BY-NC-ND André Feldhof</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">much better than to live in a Europe of hostile nation-states</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSvB_1EBGvSuR0vSe0_UvmcGaRWw3Nu9w-Kjw_KBHiJWWykmq5pOfo6gKW8_Hu_8NeoZTjCvGZZHS4Yz-uFU-d9B_yRoe-OKx56BM6BHCnBtXz4Bwghh-IXMK-FhY1FQiwLGJrpVXKgdyd/s1600/IMGP3879.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSvB_1EBGvSuR0vSe0_UvmcGaRWw3Nu9w-Kjw_KBHiJWWykmq5pOfo6gKW8_Hu_8NeoZTjCvGZZHS4Yz-uFU-d9B_yRoe-OKx56BM6BHCnBtXz4Bwghh-IXMK-FhY1FQiwLGJrpVXKgdyd/s400/IMGP3879.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEPmo1piZ-jz0_515WX_IFndqhtKEmm9nGfCuwzGBU-I_Qo52mEJr3J74Idj0drVtjl4HPYRGMUdPflcewD6RfSI3xjOFgjIGETP1kbmeNbospmI7FTtSzOBYLCjns5PLXMh64doPOLzQ9/s1600/IMGP3877.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEPmo1piZ-jz0_515WX_IFndqhtKEmm9nGfCuwzGBU-I_Qo52mEJr3J74Idj0drVtjl4HPYRGMUdPflcewD6RfSI3xjOFgjIGETP1kbmeNbospmI7FTtSzOBYLCjns5PLXMh64doPOLzQ9/s400/IMGP3877.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Andréhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964083958627359931noreply@blogger.com0