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France and Strike
In an editorial note the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” on Saturday wrote about Unions and strike in France. There is something about the international reputation of France related to strong Unions and employees fond of going on strike. Let's hold some facts against it: in measured days of strike France is amidst the average countries in Europe. Also the Unions in fact are not as strong as it may look like. Only 8% of employees are organized in Unions which is one of the lowest rates worldwide. The perception we get is formed by a higher percentage of employees in public services compared to the general industry being part of Unions who regularly manage to focus strikes on key parts of daily life as transportation or schools.
Additionally the mood of the population does seem to change. Unions try to mobilize people and fail. Actually President Sarkozy puts reforms in place without encountering too much resistance. People may have understood that in times of international competition change is necessary. Nevertheless there is pressure in the system with energy prices going up and only “la rentree”, the school start after the holidays in September which traditionally is the time for protests will show what the situation is like.
Posted at
07:58PM Jun 23, 2008
by Volker Seubert in Europe & Beyond |
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Europe of Regions?
I was reminded of an interesting European reality during my stay in Barcelona last week. Europe is not as homogenous as many people may think. Alone the European Union consists of 27 countries. Within these countries there are a lot of regions that have own cultural traditions and own languages. Spain for example consists of several regions with different languages the most predominant being the Basque region (in the north-west around Bilbao/San Sebastian reaching pretty far into French territory) and Catalonia (region around Barcelona). One of the major German newspapers titled an article in connection with the Spanish elections last week-end “State without Nation”. Both the Basque and the Catalan got some autonomy within Spain, they have powerful regional political parties that play a role in the government. Also they are important economical hubs on the Iberian peninsula.
The Young European Federalists promote the idea of a Europe of Regions, power for what makes sense at the lowest political level, also to solve for Nationality conflicts like the one of the Basque who are split to Spain and France. I copied this from their website:
This could make a lot of sense to reduce bureaucracy for the benefit of the people if the complexity at a European level would not increase. With 27 countries and their governments all having a voice to decide on political direction the EU is already far too complex and limits its global role. Complexity at that level definitely needs to be reduced rather than increased!
Posted at
10:50PM Mar 13, 2008
by Volker Seubert in Europe & Beyond |
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Arabic History
Let me write up some final notes casually collected around the Dubai topic. The most interesting piece really is that European history is related to Arabic culture. Who knows that the Iberian peninsula had been conquered nearly entirely by the Muslim moors of Arabic and Berber descendant back in the 8. century? They were known as being extremely tolerant towards the defeated Christian and Jew population. Everyone was explicitly permitted to follow their own cults and religion which was not at all common at that time. The Christian's were extremely intolerant in that regard.
Something that could have favored the quick learning of the Sheiks from the West is the fact that there are aspects of Islam religion which are apparently very much favoring the acquisition of knowledge for its believers. This was one reason why the Islamic world in historic times held several huge libraries, like at the University of Cordoba (today Spain) with half a Million books or the two caliphian libraries in Cairo with 2 Million. Science had an important place. In the year 1000 a scientific catalogue was published in Bagdad containing everything written thus far in Arabian on Philosophy, Astronomy, Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Medicine. At the same time Abulkasis writes a standard work on surgery valid for centuries, Albiruni already discusses that the earth is surrounding the sun and Alhazen discovers the principles of optics and experiments with the camera obscura.
Only in 1492 with the conquest of Granada which marks the end of the centuries long Reconquista Christian rule was entirely reestablished in Iberia and with it prosecution and intolerance started to reign. Only source of wisdom was the bible, it gave all explanations how the earth was related to the universe. Just reading scientific papers was a sin. Paralyzed in this conservatism, it still took Christianity several hundred years until the age of enlightenment before starting to open up towards more liberal views.
Today it looks like the Islamic world is split. As stated here before the Emirates are definitely setting an example for a new Islamic openness following the footsteps of their far ancestors.
Posted at
08:54PM Feb 28, 2008
by Volker Seubert in Europe & Beyond |
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Arabic Capitalism
Interestingly the German weekly news magazine “Der Spiegel” ran a title story on Dubai beginning of February. Looks like the topic is hot. It was emphasizing the superlatives aspect of Dubai, the Emirates being the country in the world with the most mentions in the Guinness Book of records. But far more interesting it was looking at Dubai as an Arabic/Islamic model for the future, an element against Islamic conservatism, poverty, civil war and terrorism in other parts of the middle east and north Africa. Located between East and West, with a population of 1,5 Billion in a radius of 3 hours flight, being close to the growing markets of India/Pakistan, China not being far, as well as the European Union on the other side, Dubai has developed into a major very liberal trading place, somehow reviving the ancient silk road.
The Sheiks of the Emirates are positioning themselves and their country as the spearhead of a new Arabic/Islamic openness and tolerance. During a conference of Arabian states Dubai's Emir and Emirate's Prime Minister Sheik Mohammed Ibn Rashid Al Maktoum threw the following words to his fellow senior government leaders: “Change yourselves otherwise you will get changed.” He is not interested if someone is Sunnit or Shiit, those who are good to their neighbors and work hard are welcome. During his latest visit to the Emirates President Bush gave his blessing, stating that the Emirates are a model of an Islamic state tolerant against people of all religions. Dubai Marketing is advertising with slogans like: “Imagine a world in which no one is a stranger!” 150 nations live together in peace, there are 50 nations amongst the Palm investors.
So the summary really is that the Sheiks are learning very quickly from the West and getting a lot of acceptance. They are very well positioned in the global competition to attract investors as well as consumers and tourists from all cultures. The Egyptian author Jussuf Ibrahim is quoted at the end of the articel, that for decades (Muslim) people travelled to Saudi-Arabia, Irak and Iran importing into their countries the ideas of islamic fundamentalism and bringing black shawls for their wives. Today they go to the Gulf, bring Jeans for their wives and ideas how to make business. "Long live Arabic capitalism!"
Posted at
07:11PM Feb 26, 2008
by Volker Seubert in Europe & Beyond |
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What Petrodollars can do!
We had a meeting in Dubai last week in one of our global top growth regions, the middle east. First impression was like coming to the US or even more precisely to Las Vegas. Huge roads, big cars, tall hotels that in terms of standard are amongst the best of the world as the Burj al Arab. Already before I heard that the city is a huge construction site with all crane capacities concentrated there – and it is. For an impression of the state the city is actually in watch this short video, a drive on Sheikh Zayed Road. The Burj al Dubai is supposed to become the world's tallest skyscraper. On February 5 it actually reached the height of 604.9m (1,985ft). Although the final height was to be kept secret it leaked out that the plan is to go up to 818m (2,684ft).
There are a lot of other development projects (click this link for an overview) currently in progress, planned or finished, like Ski Dubai a skiing hall in the desert, Dubai's Disney World “ Dubailand” and most interestingly all the artificial islands in the sea, the Palm Islands, The World, The Universe. Not to mention all the huge shopping malls that already exist like Souk Madinat Jumeirah or the Mall of the Emirates.
Although one will find Arabic elements in the architecture most buildings still feel pretty artificial. The most impressive building and an architectural success for me is the Burj al Arab built to resemble the sail of a dhow, a type of Arabian vessel. People living in Dubai for years complained that the city lost much of it's Arabic character.
On January 24 the Herald Tribune reported about the project of “Lyon Dubai City”, the idea of Buti Saeed al-Ghandi the head of Emivest to build a little Lyon after he was overwhelmed visiting the city. The project planner was cited having said that this would not be Disneyland or Las Vegas, they want to make people feel that they are in Lyon without copying the architecture of the city itself!
But it is not Dubai alone seeking to invest the oil billions to develop a self sustaining economy. The big neighbor of the United Arab Emirates on the Arabian peninsula, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia the world's leading oil exporting country has even more incredible plans. King Abdullah, the 83-year-old Saudi monarch, himself is pushing a plan to establish six "economic cities" to be completed by the year 2020 in different regions of the country to promote development and diversification. The cities will be King Abdullah Economic City on the western coast, near the city of Rabigh; the Knowledge Economic City, near Medina; and the Prince Abdulaziz bin Mousaed Economic City, in the north.
Referring to another article of the Herald Tribune from January 20 the cities are supposed to create one million new jobs and be home to as many as five million people. They will together have three times the population of Dubai, and an economic output equal to Singapore's. Other plans include building four refineries, two petrochemical plants and a modern graduate-level university with an endowment of $10 billion. The focus will mainly be on four main sectors: petrochemicals, aluminum, steel and fertilizers. One big industry project is already in progress and ready to start production of plastics end of this year: the refining and petrochemical plant of Rabigh that will as one of the world's largest petrochemical plants begin to put Saudi Arabia within the top three chemical producers in the world within a few years. It is a joint venture of the state-run oil company Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical of Japan.
All this investment would not have been possible without the surge in energy prices which have quadrupled since 2002 and reached $100 a barrel in New York in January. But clearly the oil exporting nations do not invest all their increasing fortunes in their own countries. The McKinsey Quarterly in January analyzes “The new role of oil wealth in the world economy”. Added liquidity from these countries has significantly lowered interest rates and increased real-estate values in developed countries. McKinsey concludes that petrodollars are creating inflationary pressures in markets for illiquid investments, such as real estate, art, and companies and states that if the pressures move beyond those markets, the potential asset price bubbles could burst. The question is how the world economy long term would react to higher oil prices that it has so far accommodated without a notable rise in inflation or an economic slowdown?
Last but not least I have to mention that I really enjoyed the Arabian food, one of my favorites being Hummus!
Posted at
05:03PM Feb 10, 2008
by Volker Seubert in Europe & Beyond |
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Europe Unite!
Not to miss out on a still historic event even though there was not a lot of buzz around it. So just a brief update on the expansion of the Schengen Area. From Dec 21 2007 there were no border controls at overland borders and seaports any more to go to any of the following countries coming from within another Schengen country: Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Slovenia. But please note that only from March 29 2008 the border controls will fall at the airports of these countries!
If you have some time here you find an interesting article specifically about the german-polish boarder in this context. All this is a really great evolution, the old wounds from history are getting more and more healed the closer we get to each other. European people unite - the doors are wide open!
Posted at
02:17PM Jan 19, 2008
by Volker Seubert in Europe & Beyond |
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Russia and Democracy
I really like the idea of cross checking mainstream opinions as you realized from my last entry. These days I came across an interesting perspective on the Russian elections in which President Putin's party won more than 60% of the votes and the perception of Russian democracy. Mostly the elections were described as unfair not giving the opposition parties the means to represent themselves. Other voices even said results were manipulated. In general the reputation of Russia as democracy is very bad in the west and Putin is accused to destroy any elements of it.
Nicholas N. Petro is a teacher of international politics at the University of Rhode Island. He served as the U.S. State Department's special assistant for policy on the Soviet Union under President George H. W. Bush and is bringing different facts to the table that seem to get overlooked by most observers. In his article “Russia through the looking-glass” from February 2006 he lists a few of these to give a true understanding of developments in Russia to challenge the distorted perceptions of western governments, media, and human-rights organizations, as he puts it.
His article in the Herald Tribune “Why Russian liberals lose” that made me discover Petro and his view on Russia simply states that it is not that the opposition cannot get its message to the public but it is about the people representing the opposition who are not credible to their main audience Russia's growing middle class. In this context he mentions that 13% of Russia's population use the internet as their main resource of information which remains completely unfiltered. In the big cities St. Petersburg and Moscow the rate is double. Maybe the lower percentages voting for “Unified Russia” in these areas (only around 50%) are a result of their internet literate populations.
And there are very concrete and evident elements contributing to Putin's popularity: the economy is booming, average salaries have increased from $81 to $550/month, social spending has increased and the poverty level fell from 27 to 15 percent.
Nevertheless there are very critical voices for example in the blog Russophobe which subtitles “Recording the rise and hopefully fall of the Neo- Soviet Union”. Also Kasparov, the former chess champion being one of the disputable figures of the opposition mentioned by Petro, is raising his voice regularly like in this IHT article.
Posted at
05:27PM Dec 07, 2007
by Volker Seubert in Europe & Beyond |
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Russia's Dilemma
Now finally I finished reading “The Grand Chessboard” from Zbigniew Brzezinski (former national security advisor in the Carter administration) written in 1997 some years after the end of the cold war. A real interesting book on geopolitics focussing on Eurasia that allows to get more understanding of nations rethorics on the political stage. In German the book was given the title “The only Superpower” (the english subtitle is: “American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives”. So it is also about how the US can sustain it's current role as the Superpower in the world which is closely connected to keeping it's influence in Eurasia.
Brzezinski describes the geopolitical interests and situation of the most dominant nations in Europe (Germany and France), and Asia (China, Japan and to some extent India) and of Russia. Building on my blogs about Russia and Putin's speech it is quite interesting to see Brzezinski's thoughts about Russia. Which geostrategical options does Russia have?
After the end of the cold war Russia had the expectation as the former second superpower to establish a global condominium with the US in which it was deceived. Then it focussed on it's former sphere of influence and tried to reestablish power in the countries of the former Soviet Union (CIS = Commonwealth of Independent States). But most countries are in fear of Russia and want to keep political and economical distance to Russia not to risk their independence. Russia was politically not strong enough to force these countries to join a closer federation nor economically attractive enough to have them cooperate voluntarily. The next option was an antihegemonial coalition with Iran and China against the US. But there are complicated relationships involved in this model (e.g. Russia and China) and it would only work if the US had bad relationships with both China and Iran.
This leads Brzezinski to talk about a dilemma for Russia only having one beneficial alternative that would help Russia speed up the countries' development process and give it a realistic role as one of the big, important nations in the world. And that is aligning itself with a transatlantic Europe, the EU and NATO. Brzezinski advocates for driving Russia into that direction, reinforcing the dilemma by stabilizing and securing the independence mainly of Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine, the latter being the most important. According to him Russia needs to give up it's historical ambitions of rebuilding the old Russian empire and clearly decide itself for this European option. With such a different attitude Russia could gain the position as the leading economical partner in the region. I would welcome Russia being more close to Europe!
Posted at
09:22PM Jul 27, 2007
by Volker Seubert in Europe & Beyond |
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Heiligendamm
Concerning global politics interesting things are going on here in the North of Germany. Just a few days ago there was the meeting of ASEAN countries with the EU (ASEM: Asia Europe Meeting) in Hamburg. Main topic was the climate change. According to the German weekly Spiegel the meeting was a failure in these regards. Unfortunately there has been a clash with the police from anti-globalization protesters.
Since weeks and even months the German government and the press treat the topic of potential violent demonstrations in the context of the Group of 8 (G8) annual summit in Heiligendamm taking place from June 6.-8. At a G7 summit in Genoa/Italy 2001 the demonstrations of 200.000 people turned into heavy violence that left one dead shot by police. A main international demonstration has been organized for tomorrow in Rostock, biggest City nearby (apparently there are demonstrations organized in other countries as well, see here for US).
Heiligendamm is located on the east German part of the Baltic Sea coast and is a particularly nice place with a long history. It's buildings are dating back to the 18. century. All along the coast east of Luebeck there are old resorts that have unintentionally been protected by communism from bad urban planning and from ugly buildings of the post war era which disturb the picture on the west Baltic coast. With Boltenhagen, Kuehlungsborn, Heiligendamm and several resorts on the islands of Ruegen (e.g. Binz) and Usedom close to the polish border it is from my perspective one of the most authentic, natural and beautiful coasts we have in Europe.
I have been in Heringsdorf on the island of Usedom for the past long week-end only 3,5 hours drive from Hamburg. It is part of the three “Kaiserbäder” (The Emperor's Spas) on a more than 40km long fine sand beach. Ideal for nice long beach walks and never thought of that before, ideal for nice long cocktail lounge nights, as I discovered the Coco Lounge being one of the finest cocktail bars I have ever visited, drinks, music and interior - just perfect! Claus Ermlich will give a special warm welcome to all international guests!
So lets hope for peaceful events during the next days. Generally those demonstrations can be a good thing as they make people aware that the industrialized countries are not alone on this earth and the world's problems are not only resolved by them. It may augment the pressure on them to come up with concrete results. On the other hand the globalization has helped many countries to raise their populations standard of living. It looks like the potential demonstrators have many different mind-sets, from extreme opponents to any globalization to those who say we need to manage globalization, influence it, not just let it go. That's something I would go with too!
Posted at
06:55AM Jun 01, 2007
by Volker Seubert in Europe & Beyond |
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Orange and Blue
Friday a week ago the two Viktors in Ukraine, main players on the political scene, one being the prime minister and the other being the president, were agreeing to hold new elections. Although at that time it looked like the crisis was over it appears now that the negotiations about the timing are taking a long time. A crisis which had also been referred to as the blue revolution and again highly destabilized political life in Ukraine raising memories of the orange revolution of 2004.
President Yushchenko is a former president of the national bank who successfully fought hyperinflation and wants to stabilize the countries economy also fighting corruption and the insane mixing up of political and economical interests that is characteristic in ukrainian society. He stands for a closer integration into western organizations like NATO and EU.
Yanukovych on the other side stands for a closer alignment with Russia and has the support of president Putin. He is coming from the eastern industrial region of Ukraine, the Donetzk which is also culturally pretty close to Russia. His party “Ukraine of Regions” got the most votes, during the March 2006 elections and cleared his way to become Prime Minister again. Since then Yanukovych and Yushchenko are having a kind of Cohabitation.
Recently Yushchenko's party “Our Ukraine” accused the governing coalition lead by Yanukovych's party to slow down and hinder negotiations on the elections timing. Yanukovych appealed to EU and Russia to mediate between the parties to reach a conclusion. Russia replied promptly being willing to do so. According to polls “Ukraine of regions” would gain 35.5% of the votes, slightly higher than in March 2006.
The Ukraine is a geopolitical linchpin as Zbigniew Brzezinski puts it in his book “The grand chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives”. With approximatly 48 million people of Slavic origin (amongst them 17% Russians) located between new EU members in the west and Russia in the east it is crucial for Russia to keep influence in Ukraine with it's 140 million decreasing population in order to maintain a supreme position in Eurasia. Alone the geostrategic location of Crimea makes the Ukraine important.
It appears to me that the conflict in Ukraine is nurtured by the colliding geopolitical interests of Russia and western Europe / the United States. My guess is that the recent political crisis is not the last one, there will be more to report on Ukraine in the future...
Posted at
09:56PM May 13, 2007
by Volker Seubert in Europe & Beyond |
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Putin's Speech
I realized that I wrote my blog about Russia exactly at the right moment (probably couple of days too late). At the Munich Security Conference from 9-11 February Russian President Vladimir Putin held a highly controversial speech (the link guides you to the full English text of it). The reactions ranged from “improper accusations against the US” to “properly describes the world imbalance as it is today”. It is worth having a read through to make up one's own picture.
He talks about many points that are mentioned in Peter Scholl-Latour's book about Russia. Specifically the fact about promises that the NATO should not be extended further east than the former iron curtain. Jens Siegert from “Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung” states in an interview that in the 2 + 4 Treaty this was laid down (in contradiction to the information I had before). His overall comment translates approximately like this: in geopolitical issues there are no friends nor enemies there are only interests and opportunities (former German chancellor Bismarck is said to have used this phrase).
Another fact that gets some proof is that the NATO is looking for a new purpose (strategy). It comes from NATO Secretary General Hoop Scheffer himself calling for a new strategic concept.
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Posted at
11:16PM Feb 12, 2007
by Volker Seubert in Europe & Beyond |
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Russia between Europe and Asia
Actually I am reading a book from a well known journalist in Germany who is an expert in analyzing geopolitical conflict situations in different regions of the world. His name is Peter Scholl-Latour and he is now in his eighties. Few of his books have been translated into English, e.g. Death in the Rice Field, reporting on three wars in Indochina.
His age does not keep him from travelling regularly as he did throughout his life. During the last year he has again been in Russia and some neighboring countries. The result is a book about Russia and it's situation being “squeezed” between Europe and Asia. Let me pick up some of his thoughts.
Russia's strong disagreement demonstrated towards US plans to deploy missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic reported in late January is raising memories to the times of cold war and iron curtain. Clearly with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) the US sphere of influence is more and more spreading towards the east, towards the borders of russian core country.
Scholl-Latour goes back to the days of Michail Gorbatshov the Russian president of Perestroika who made the German reunification happen. From many of his Russian compatriots though he is regarded as responsible for letting the soviet empire fall apart and carelessly making concessions to the west. During the negotiations about the German unification it was discussed that the NATO should not expand more towards east and verbal promises were made that never appeared in any contractual document and apparently Gorbatshov did not further insist.
Today the NATO has expanded pretty massively further east aiming at countries like Ukraine as future members. No surprise that Russia feels threatened if the US drive to put missiles into past Russian “brother” countries. The NATO seems to corner Russia and it looks like the US does not leave Russia room to stay the No. 2 behind superpower US.
The European Union (EU) and even more some member states are purely driven by loyalty to their perceived protector, the US (although you could probably argue if the modern superweapons that do not prevent to bring the US in trouble in Iraq are still adequate means of defense in times of asymmetric war). The EU does not appear to be a strong partner that speaks with one voice and has an own agenda. The interests of the EU are different from those of the US. For the US the EU is the base on the Eurasian continent on the other side of the Atlantic and with the spreading of the EU also the US influence spreads. The EU is geographically much closer to Muslim countries and to the perceived roots of terrorism. Terrorist attacks have hit more frequently in the past.
A stronger EU would be a better partner for the US and considering more own interests questions would pop up like: should not Russia be a more closely aligned partner for Europe? Why should we focus and insist so much in claiming our way of democracy for Russia?
On the other side of the Asian continent China is on the rise and stepping up to play a part in the “Great Game”. Alignment between Russia and China can bring a lot of combined power to the play. Already Chinese and Russians did maneuvers together. Most of the second half of the book is dedicated to this eastern side of the “squeeze”.
Fitting to this wording describing rivalry and strategic conflict for supremacy is a book Scholl-Latour refers to a lot: “The grand chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives” from Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security advisor in the Carter administration. Suggested it to myself for one of my next reads.
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Posted at
09:00PM Feb 11, 2007
by Volker Seubert in Europe & Beyond |
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EU Economy
The decision of the German government mentioned earlier to restrict the entry for workers from Bulgaria and Romania, new EU members from tomorrow on, is no surprise. It has to deal with a highly EU enlargement averse population. Polls published these days show that only 39% are positive towards the enlargement. People fear that low cost competition is going to threaten their jobs. But with this type of protection the problem will only be postponed.
Sometimes it is difficult to convince people although the benefits of the EU and it's enlargements should be obvious. As stated in the article: New members give lift to EU economy, the EU is still behind the US and 5 East Asian economies and likely to fail it's own goal to become the most competitive region in the world by 2010. The new members in eastern Europe provide possibilities for further growth and development of the whole EU economy. As also stated earlier in my blogs those new countries are fostering competition which is a good thing as “good old Europe” is forced to renew itself. By boosting welfare and economies in new member's countries all other economies will participate and prosper over time. Every country will find it's niche and specializations and trade with the others. The less regulated and free this whole multi country economy is the higher the benefits for all (going back to the economic theory of competitive advantage).
As an example how successful new member countries can be: the Czech Republic already overtook Portugal in gross national product per person since joining the EU beginning of 2004. Why not let the whole EU economy get some traction through these relatively young, highly dynamic economies? Instead of taking measures of protection we need to confront ourselves with the phenomenon of competition which would bring us to the next level. The earlier the better. For 2007 I wish politicians, unions and all people in western EU countries to discover that challenge and take it up!
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Posted at
12:29PM Dec 31, 2006
by Volker Seubert in Europe & Beyond |
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Schengen
One element of free movement for EU citizens within the EU is to freely move across borders without border control. Schengen is a small town in Luxembourg where Germany, France and the Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) signed a first agreement to gradually abolishing internal border checks in 1985 and create a “Schengen Area”.
Non EU citizens who need to apply for a visa can get a Schengen Visa, which allows them to travel freely in all countries that not only signed the Schengen Convention but also implemented it. The abolishment of border control for travel within those countries is reality today.
Wikipedia provides a nice overview of the countries who actually implemented and are going to implement. The new east European members from January 2004 are supposed to implement Schengen between January and March 2008. After that date no border controls anymore while travelling to those countries coming from other Schengen countries.
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Posted at
08:51PM Dec 30, 2006
by Volker Seubert in Europe & Beyond |
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Mobility in Europe
In my blog about Krakow I mentioned that competition for western European countries gets tougher with each new eastern European country joining the European Union (EU). As a means of protection many EU members restrict the fundamental right of Free Movement that any EU citizen should enjoy, e.g. work in a different EU country without the need to be in possession of a work permit. They are allowed to do this based on the Accession Treaty for the EU enlargement effective January 1, 2004. It states that measures can be applied restricting the free movement of workers from, to and between the new member states for an interim period of 7 years.
The EURES Job Mobility Portal shows exactly what conditions apply if a EU citizen wishes to work or provide services in another EU country. For Germany there is no permission to provide services in construction and related branches, interior decorating and industrial cleaning if this service originates in one of the new member states. Citizens of those states may only take up employment if they have an EU work permit issued by the German Federal Employment Agency.
Already in August this practice for the upcoming enlargement of Romania and Bulgaria was discussed and Romania's President Traian Basescu asked for equal treatment. In 2004, 12 EU member states imposed controls on workers from the 8 East European states that joined that year; only Britain, Ireland and Sweden fully opened their labor markets. Germany already announced restrictions for workers coming from Romania and Bulgaria limited until December 31, 2008 but as in the past prolongation is possible for maximum 7 years. It looks like only 10 in 26 EU member countries are providing free movement to the newcomers.
An interesting fact though is that around 800,000 Poles left their country since joining the EU in 2004. This lead to a major labor shortage in Poland and as a curious consequence inverting the trend unemployed ship workers from Germany will now cross the boarder to Poland to work there.
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Posted at
11:15PM Dec 29, 2006
by Volker Seubert in Europe & Beyond |
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