The French (youth) in trouble?

(social issue) I found this very interesting article about the stories of young people in despair, part of the BBC radio programmes called Crossing Continents. What do these people interviewed have in common? They are all of African or Arabian descendance or have been staying in the suburbs (banlieues) of a big city in continental France. They have educated themselves and acquired university degrees, but yet this wasn’t enough for a smooth integration in the society and in the work market. They have all tried their chance either in another EU country, where they achieved getting a job within some days, or they tried to be innovative and with the use of their entrepreneual spirit sat up their businesses in France or abroad.

Although they have have the drive to succeed and integrate, there are big issues that lie on the way. So where does the problem lie?

In addition I would like to give this link to a very interesting article found in Time Magazine, where the youth of France cries out for changes in order to make the market more flexible and open to new ideas, instead of being conservative, afraid of changing the old “recipe” and becoming a victim of its’ own globalisation-fear.

The need for a different mentality, more open to innovators, has created a wave of young minds moving to the UK, Spain, Germany or even beyond the European boarders to places such as North America and Japan.

These two subjects, part of a bigger problem in France concerning unemployment and the state of the French market, are main issues in the campaigns of the stronger (according to polls) candidates for the presidential elections such as Ségolène Royal, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Bayrou. These issues are approached in a different way by each candidate and this is what the people in France are going to vote, which approach will according to them give the best result (or at least I hope they will!).

But maybe these two articles should alert the rest of Europe. We are reading for the succesful Nordic model, the positive trends in the UK economy and the Irish tiger, but yet what about the younger minds and integration of immigrants. For some years now, many EU countries have been complaining for the growing numbers of younger minds moving across the borders of the continent to the US or Asia without any plans of returning back. Maybe we should instead focus on these people with fresh ideas that will enable the national economies of the European continent to flourish or continue flourishing, instead of loosing them to “rival” economies and markets. Should we wait, or should we take action?

 

Déjà-vu à la EU?

(european union) The Golden Jubilee, the 50th anniversary of the European Union is being celebrated this week. It was on the 25th of March 1957 that the treaty of Rome was signed at the Palazzo dei Conservatori. It has been a period where we experienced the most peaceful 60 years in our continent, after the two last wars of the 20th century that had a great impact also to the rest of the world. But now we stand before one of the most important issues concerning this political and economic union, a common foreign affairs policy.

After the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall, a new era for the European continent started with an upcoming expansion to the east. By now, three former Soviet republics are part of the EU and a number of former communist east and central European countries are also in the game.

One would probably say that everything turns out rosy for the continent and the EU, so where is the problem?

During the last decade we have experienced that this expansion first from 12 to 15 , then to 25 and now to 27 countries has created a new mega-group not able to find common ground on many of the issues that have been raised. Concerning foreign affairs, one could mention as an example the war in Iraq or the antiballistic missile shield that the US and a number of EU countries, such as the Czech Republic and Poland, want to be installed in their territory and the list goes on. Of course every country has national interests and they want to defend them in any possible way. This is where it all begins, when there is a conflict between the national interests and the interest of the EU as a whole. But how could there be an interest for the EU as a whole, while at the same time posing a problem for the national interests of one of the participating in the union countries?

If we see the Baltic area, it is one of the most important borders between the EU and the “big bear” neighbour, namely Russia. After the accession of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, a cool peace front has been created in the region. Probably the feeling that the EU has come so close to the Russian borders as well as due to the history of the area, causes problems in many different levels. Problems that arise in the relations between the Baltic countries and their neighbour should logically be solved in a EU – Russia level. But the fact that the big countries of the union, such as France or Germany, have such close – mainly economic – relations to Russia, they may not be at ease to engage themselves in such a dialog. At the same time, the oil and gas pipeline project that will link Russia directly with Germany bypassing the Baltic countries and Poland has caused other players in the region – such as Sweden – to reassess their position and their close economic partners in neighbouring countries.

Another sticky subject is the stand of each European country in the EU after a change of persons in a government of a member country. With great interest, one may follow the French presidential election’s campaign and each of the three main contenders. Nicolas Sarkozy has as his main goal a more active and politically engaged France in the EU as well as in a proposed Mediterranean union for the countries of the region, including north Africa and the Middle East, and last but not least Turkey.

The celebrations of the golden jubilee of the EU has also given us the latest example in the problem of communication that may arise between some countries concerning, since the text of the Berlin declaration has caused a big headache for the German presidency, who had to please 27 countries. At the end there was no mention to the proposed EU constitution or any other subject that would cause unease to any of the members.

Are we ever going to find a common tune?

The China effect

(international economics) The story of the red dragon.

After the mini-crack on the 27th of February, when the Shanghai Stock Exchange market plunged nearly 9%, we could say with certainty that 2007 will be (yet again?) the year of China. The world stock exchange markets followed the negative trends and as an example I can name the Wall Street that had its worst week since the 11th of September 2001. All the signs show that the biggest in population country – with the highest economic growth – is after a more active role in the international scene as the Chinese economy will not just continue being the provider of cheap labour for the big multinational companies of the West.
Today, the Chinese government is following a “hybrid” solution of absolutistic governance – with a political party of 70 million members – and Anglo-Saxon capitalism. As a result we have not only an exceptional economic growth but also the creation of ideological contradictions and social inequality that has an effect to the rest of the world, since we do live in a globalized society. It actually affects the middle class of Europe and the U.S.
“Made in China” products was a strategic choice of the American and the European industrial elite with the move of production lines in the Far East in a vicious circle of production and consumption
The Chinese miracle seen in another perspective: for each factory that opens in China, we have the closure of another one in France, Germany, the U.K., the U.S. Each product made in China by either an anonymous Chinese company or a worldwide known brand and bought for example in Europe, is the proof that western societies are turning very fast into service and consuming economies, where the majority of the products will be imported from China or other low-cost labour developing countries. Actually this was no accident. It all started with the “China card” played by Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger in 1979 and the European and American funds followed in a competition of whom will invest the most in this developing country so that they will profit from a future growth. It is by this that the Chinese tiger has evolved into one of the worlds leading economies in terms of annual growth numbers. And this tiger is only growing and becoming more confident, looking for a place in the world scene.
The ambitions to expand that the fast evolving Chinese economy has and the need to control raw materials – especially oil – is well known and we can understand the importance of such plans for a fast growing economy looking to become less dependant from others.
The Chinese miracle is accompanied by a frightful human cost. That is the numbers of people migrating from the rural areas of the country and into the big cities, where they are experiencing the worst treatment in their work, as reported recently by Amnesty International in the last report for the social class emerging problem of the Chinese society and economy, a harsh answer to the supporters of the Chinese economic miracle.
With the Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong forced millions of people to leave urban areas and move to rural areas in order to become farmers and cultivate the country, with catastrophic consequences. Today we have Deng Xiaoping that has caused one of the biggest moves of people within a country’s borders in the human history, where more than 200 million farmers moved to bigger cities in the last 5 years and according to the calculations made by Amnesty International the numbers of these people will reach 300 million by 2015.
All this happens in a country ruled by the people’s party that launched the “one country, two systems” – something that today probably looks like more of a “one system – two countries”, one of the richer and one for the poor.