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Map of Europe |
Spring 2001 Volume 2 - Number 2
Leader in Focus
The Goal of Trade Must be to Create Jobs
Supachai Panitchpakdi
former Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand and Director-General Designate of the World Trade Organization (WTO)
Current trade debates focus too much on whether trade liberalization increases trade, rather than on whether it increases jobs. If we can establish that more trade means more jobs, we shall have a much better chance of persuading developing countries to support a new round of multilateral trade negotiations in the WTO, and of getting the new round started promptly.
Defense and Security
U.S. and Europe Need A Common Approach to Security Issues
Fred Thompson
U.S. Senator (R-Tennessee)
In the Post-Cold War era, the United States and its European allies face common threats, but disagree as to how significant they are and how to deal with them. The biggest differences are over Russia, but the two sides also disagree on how to handle "rogue states," arms proliferation and terrorism. Instead of trying to resolve these issues in isolation, the United States and Europe should first establish a firm foundation based on collective understanding of common interests, threats and goals.
Document: Statement by Sergei B. Ivanov, Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation
The world is becoming multipolar, making it urgent to reform the United Nations. Russia opposes intervention in a country's affairs for "humanitarian" reasons without UN approval. U.S. plans for missile defense risk undermining basic global security, destroying the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and leading to a new arms race that could spread to outer space. The war in Kosovo was NATO's fault and demonstrated the ineffectiveness of the European security institutions in crisis management. Russia opposes NATO expansion and would like to give priority to relations with the European Union. (Statement unofficially translated and edited from the Wehrkunde conference in Munich.)
Interview
European Development Bank Will Go Where It Is Needed
Jean Lemierre
President, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
The Bank's strategy for the next five years will be to go where help is most needed, meaning that it will focus more on Russia, Ukraine and Central Asia. It will not need more capital. Both European and American companies have been very active in Central and Eastern Europe, although there has recently been a significant increase in interest by small and medium-sized European companies. There is a lot of interest in post-Milosevic Yugoslavia, but that has not yet been translated into real business.
In The News
NATO Must Show Strength in the Balkans
Michael O'Hanlon
Senior Fellow, the Brookings Institution
The Balkan conflict has grown more severe as ethnic Albanian militants have made trouble in Serbia and brought Macedonia to the brink of civil war. The Bush Administration, as well as other NATO governments, needs to act decisively to avert a prolonged upheaval. Critics note the irony of the way NATO, which went to war to rescue Kosovar Albanians from Serbian oppression, must now act with equal resolve to suppress ethnic Albanian extremists, in cooperation with Serbia.
EU Will Change Farm Policy, But Not Abruptly
Philippe Lemaître, Brussels Correspondent, European Affairs
Following the "mad cow" and foot and mouth crises in the European Union, some Europeans have begun to rebel against "industrial agriculture." Many are calling for changes in the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, without waiting for an EU deadline of 2006 for agreeing on the next stage of reform. The most likely outcome is that EU member governments will generally stick to their timetable, agreed in Berlin in 1999, but that they will take rapid action in some areas where it is needed, and make some gestures to public opinion.
European Integration
A Larger Europe Will Need An Avant-garde
A Conversation with Jacques Delors
Former President of the European Commission
A larger European Union comprised of 27 or more members cannot fulfill all the aims of the current EU and will have to be more realistic in its objectives. It should provide for the free circulation of people, goods, services and capital, a minimum of regulation and common policies to ensure economic and social cohesion. To prevent this wider Europe from becoming little more than a free trade area, there will be a need for an avant-garde of countries that want to go ahead faster on specific projects, until the others are ready to catch up. It would be up to each country to decide whether it wanted to join the avant-garde, which would be open to all EU members.
Politics and Society
The EU Starts, Gingerly, to Unbolt its Doors
Deborah Hargreaves
Correspondent for the Financial Times, Brussels
Even though most EU countries have pursued restrictive immigration policies since the 1970s, large numbers of illegal immigrants manage to enter the Union, often at great personal risk. There is growing recognition that the "zero immigration" policies of the past are no longer appropriate. Skills shortages - particularly in information technology - have forced governments to rethink immigration policy. As the EU takes its first tentative steps toward a common immigration strategy, however, many Europeans fear the economic impact of an influx of refugees and asylum seekers.
The U.S. and Mexico Should Strike a Grand Bargain on Immigration
Demetrios Papademetriou
Senior Associate and Co-Director, International Migration Policy Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
With new Presidents in office on both sides of the Rio Grande, the time has come for the United States and Mexico to reach a deal on immigration. The United States would issue more visas and legalize unauthorized immigrants; Mexico would agree to clamp down on illegal immigration and help secure the border. As illegal immigration in Western Europe is now greater than in North America, any pact between the United States and Mexico would hold lessons for Europe, too.
Germany is Becoming a Country of Immigration
Rainer Münz
Professor of Demography at Humboldt University, Berlin
Although most Germans have long resisted the idea that Germany is a country of immigration, the fact is that it has attracted large numbers of immigrants. Now, German elites no longer pretend that their country wants and needs no immigrants. Demands are growing for a new immigration policy that reflects current and future realities. Sooner or later, Germany will have to compete with other countries to attract skilled workers from abroad.
Special Report
Trends in Information Technology
The Internet Revolution Has Hardly Started
Michael R. Nelson
Director, Internet Technology & Strategy, IBM
The Internet's explosive growth has transformed numerous industries, but the revolution is only beginning. As Internet technology expands, it is clear that the IT and telecommunications sectors will undergo fundamental changes, which in turn will have profound consequences throughout the economy. In order for E-business to grow, however, governments need to fund basic research and education, deregulate the telecommunications sector, and eliminate outdated rules that bar certain online businesses.
EU Aims to Match U.S. in Information Technology
Piia-Noora Kauppi
Member of the European Parliament (Finland)
Although nearly one-third of EU homes have Internet access, the Union still trails the United States in many crucial areas. The eEurope Action Plan is designed not only to bridge this Transatlantic gap, but to close the digital divide inside Europe as well. The Plan has two objectives: to accelerate the development of the information society in Europe, and to ensure that its potential is made available to all member states, regions, and citizens. One of the Plan's immediate aims is to make the Internet faster, cheaper and more secure.
Radio Spectrum: The Need for a More Market-Based Approach
David Hendon
Chief Executive Officer, Radio Communications Agency (UK)
The growth of radio-based industries, such as pagers and mobile telephones, depends on effective management of the radio spectrum. If this is not achieved, there is a danger of spectrum congestion and shortages that could slow down innovation. Britain is increasingly using market-based spectrum management techniques, and its experience could be useful for other countries.
Trade Relations
The Demands of Developing Countries Must be Heard
Ransford A. Smith
Chairman, Committee on Trade and Development, WTO
Developing countries have increasingly participated in world trade liberalization over the past half century, but they have not gained as much from it as industrial countries. Many of the poorer countries remain marginalized. Successive rounds of world trade negotiations, including the last one, the Uruguay Round, have paid more attention to the interests of the rich countries than to those of the poorer participants. The developing countries will not support another round unless their interests are taken fully into account, and they are given a full voice in the proceedings.
We Need a Serious Trade Initiative in the WTO
Hugo Paemen
Senior Advisor, Hogan and Hartson L.L.P.
Although moves to start a new round of world trade negotiations are intensifying, too much time has been lost since the failed Ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle at the end of 1999. The WTO must make a major effort to conclude membership negotiations with China and Russia, resolve the complaints from developing countries about implementation of the Uruguay Round, increase transparency, improve its dispute resolution system, and be careful not to make mistakes in preparing the new round.
Business Wants Freer Trade, But Disagrees on How to Achieve it
Marietta Bernot
U.S. Global Issues Group Manager, Transatlantic Business Dialogue
Business supports the WTO and is calling on governments to start a new round of multilateral trade negotiations. The U.S. and European business communities disagree on whether it should be possible to negotiate new trade agreement outside a new round, or whether everything should be included in the round. Nevertheless, they agree on many aspects of what a new round should look like: it should have a realistic and manageable agenda, be short, and provide for early agreements to be implemented without waiting until the end.
Opinion
Food Safety: The Precautionary Principle is the Wrong Approach
Gregory Conko
Director, Food Safety Policy, Competitive Enterprise and Henry I. Miller, Senior Research Fellow, Stanford University
By adopting flawed and internally inconsistent strategies, many governments are mismanaging food safety issues. Adherence to the "precautionary principle" lies at the heart of this negligence. Regulatory measures are often invoked in the absence of scientific evidence, and when potential threats to human health or the environment are purely conjectural. It must be acknowledged that many technologies, while capable of introducing new risks, may also confer a net benefit - namely, the reduction of many other serious hazards.
Now, Let's Open Up Our Stock Markets
Paul Arlman
Secretary-General, Federation of European Stock Exchanges
Although Transatlantic trade and economic cooperation continue to grow, cooperation has lagged behind in the field of financial services, particularly in equity investment. American access to direct trading on Europe's Stock Exchanges is hindered by the SEC's guarded view of foreign jurisdictions. The European exchanges, however, have made huge strides in modernization. With a new administration in Washington, the time is ripe for closer Transatlantic links between equity markets that would benefit the economies of both Europe and the United States.
Book Reviews
More Sinning Than Sinned Against
Guilty Victim: Austria from the Holocaust to Haider. By Hella Pick
Reviewed by Michael D. Mosettig
A Welcome Primer for Americans
Europe in the New Century: Visions of an Emerging Superpower.
Edited by Robert J. Guttman
Reviewed by Helle Bering
Letter to the Editor