Starving in Brussels

The past months many angry workers voiced their discontent with workers from other European countries ‘stealing’ their jobs. The economic crisis is taking its toll on employment and public opinion. However understandable this opinion is, policy makers should not give in to impulsive reactions. The migrant worker is also a human being, also adds economic value and migrants have become citizens, part of, and contributing to, Europe’s societies. A report from Brussels ‘down-under’, a city flooded with European migrant workers but benefiting the most from them.

11 ‘o clock in the evening, Brussels, capital of Europe. I am in my local night shop buying some fruit when a shabby-looking man enters. He says in a loud voice that he wants to buy an apple, putting it on the counter, but that the orange in his other hand was already his. However, via the security camera, the shopkeeper had seen him taking the orange from the shop’s outside shelves. The poor man initially denied the theft, but eventually admitted: he had stolen to eat.

Brussels – migration and poverty

It is a tragic story in Europe’s capital, where this January 19,9 percent of the workforce was unemployed, 1.2 percent higher than in December. The economic crisis stings. Paradoxically, Brussels is the third richest region of the EU, with a BBP/person of €53.381, twice the European average. It is also home to one of the largest foreign born populations in Europe. About 46 percent of its one million large population is foreign-born, 55 percent of which is European.

The map below provides you with real insight in the human map of Brussels. Similar data on rent prices, residence place of foreigners, age,… can be downloaded here, more info on Belgeoblog.be. The next map singles out unemployment. The red areas have about 37-56 percent unemployed, while the hazy white are better off.

White, rich, regions coincide with the residence place of the migrants from North-West Europe, United States, Japan and Oceania; while the red, poorer, areas are almost a watermark of the living place of migrants coming from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey and Morocco. It is clear that migration is interlinked with poverty and other socio-economic indicators.

Migration in the European Union

Looking at the more global picture, Europe’s migrating population amounts to 42 millions of which one third, or 14 millions of which are EU citizens migrating to another member state. On country level the foreign-born population thus represents between 7 and 15 per cent of the total population in most western European countries. Click here for data on your country.

Although protests against migrant workers are more frequent, European migrants were very valued by the host countries up until recently. A Commission report demonstrates that migration from new to old member states has had “a clearly positive impact on economic growth” with Eastern European migrant workers hailed to boost EU GDP by 0.28%. With European economies facing a dip, some are tempted to limit the free movement of workers in the EU. However, this would be a counterproductive, destructive and immoral decision

I am a migrant, you are a migrant, we are all migrants

Let us look at European mobility in practice. In my neighbourhood a new snack bar recently opened up. Not just any snack bar, it brings something new to us: falafels. Mr Shawkat exchanged Amsterdam for Brussels as he noticed that we in Brussels barely know or eat falafels. This migrating European brought something new with him. There are many other stories like this.

Europeans on the move do not only add economic value, they have more to offer. A migrant is a human being looking for a better life, changing homes to chase his or her dreams. He can be Romanian looking for a chance to work, an electro fan from Portugal keen on Berlin dancing or a rich British hedge fund manager longing for the simple life in an Italian vineyard. Migrants also bring a lot to our societies as citizens. They compensate for demographic deficits, pay taxes,will help in subsidizing our elderly in a few years and enrich our diverse societies. It is also not a coincidence that one of the icons of our time, Barack Obama, is born from a migrant family. Our 21st century world is a new world; people are becoming nomads again on a constant quest for happiness or freedom.

But… there is a big but. In Europe we believe that success and happiness of individuals depends on an enabling society. Emile Durkheim noticed already in 1897 that the number of suicides depends on an individual’s integration in society. Europe believes in social cohesion and also has to give that to migrating Europeans. In these hard economic times, they need a hand or they will fall, and only few benefit from that.

Providing opportunities to fellow Europeans

2009 is shaping up as a year of recession and retreat of the global economy. However, not everybody will be hit as bad. Success stories are found where there is a solid social security system, proactive government policies and when an individual scores high on skills, education and relations. This last point will make 2009 hard for our migrating fellow Europeans. First of all they will lose employment faster as they work in sectors hit harder by the economic downturn, on average have lower skills and education and have less of a social network in the host country to fall back on. Secondly the growth of informal economies in times of crisis will fuel exploitation of migrants. And finally, the public perception of migrants is likely to worsen.

However, in the Brussels area f.e., 1000s of businesses still need new workers. The Transatlantic Council on Migration rightly notes that “the global economic contraction has not put a pause on the competitive pressures unleashed in an ever-more globalized world”.

Labour law

The tide of public sentiment is rising against welcoming policies. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) blames Europe by saying that the principle of equal labour rights and equal pay for equal work has been damaged by European Court of Justice rulings in recent years.

Has the European social model really been damaged and, if so, is Europe to blame for it? Social policy in this field is a national competence according to the European Commission, as there is no uniform ‘European social model’. The European posted workers directive provides that European migrants have to abide by the host country’s labour laws. If Member States find that foreign European workers are working too cheaply, they should lift minimum wage and improve controls on existing labour laws.

Hey you! What do you think?

Do you think too many migrants work for too little in even worse working conditions in your country? Blame your country’s politicians. Demand more government controls of labour sites and their respect for labour law, and higher minimum wages for all workers. However, be careful in uttering slogans such as “British jobs for British workers”, because you might be hit first with higher prices for garbage collection, difficulties in planning business trips abroad or troubles in finding a job in your own country as your Romanian boss or French customers are no longer there.

Poverty will strike Europe, unemployment will rise and emotions will probably turn against migrants. Policy makers should be open to the grievances, but act rational, non-protectionist and provide sufficient social protection in these economic grim times. European migrants are here to stay, mobility in Europe is a fact and we all benefit from it. The only question that remains is how you welcome them. Do you make the life of our fellow Europeans difficult, thus increasing poverty, criminality and misery? Or do you enable their dreams, facilitating their integration as citizens, workers and human beings?

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This article represents my opinion only. I cannot be quoted in any other qualification or function but my name.

First published in Babelblogs Brussels
Photo credits: belgeoblog.be; OCDE; Kwatoko/Flickr

Sarkozy : an imprudent populist or a cunning strategist ?

Eastern Europe has been stealing jobs by using their people to produce French cars being sold to French people. That is going to stop with me.

This is the baseline of Sarkozy’s remarks in the last couple of days. But as we have seen in the 1930s, protectionism results in retaliation after retaliation, countries keep on building walls, eventually suffocating themselves. So why did Sarkozy utter these words last week, even though he must be aware of the implications? Is he an imprudent populist or an intelligent and cunning strategist?

One way of looking at it, is Sarko being a pompous nationalist, looking no further than the end of his own nose. Or is it something completely different? Could he be a cunning strategist, misleading us all?

After millions took the streets in Paris, Sarkozy launched populist, nationalistic recovery plans, soothing the mob. Hereafter he reinforced that protectionist signal, by targeting his remarks at the EU president: the Czech. This creates two very beneficial effects for Sarko. On the one hand the angry threats of other EU countries to oust French companies if French protectionist plans go through, proves the Paris’ mob wrong and partly alleviates Sarko of those pressures. On the other hand it has induced the Czech to call for an EU summit. This creates an opening for European action and coordination of the different economic stimulus packages, something the French have been demanding for several months. And it could of course also be an excellent opportunity for Sarkozy to regain European leadership.

Each day of doing nothing results in 1000s of new unemployed. One thing is sure: Europe needs to unite again to fight this crisis, to reform the financial institutions and to kick start to the European economies.

In more than 60 years we have not seen a crisis such as this one. Europe’s unemployment is projected to soar to record heights, and we can expect negative growth all over Europe deep into 2010. Loud calls for fierce government action can be heard in all European capitals. Yet Europe has not been the frontrunner in planning a government-induced economic recovery. According the EUobserver, the largest 13 EU economies’ stimulus packages, announced since September 2008, account for only €90 billion or 0.78% of GDP. Compared to the stimulus packages in the US (around 6% of GDP), China (around 7.5% of GDP) or Japan (around 6% of GDP with public debt at 180% of GDP), this is but insipid water. However, large public spending also implies large public debts and quantitatively big government spending does not equal quality. Unfortunately the European recovery plans seem to also lack quality. According to the Danish weekly, the European stimulus packages devote only €1.2 billion, or 1.3%, to green investments, compared to $58 billion for green and climate friendly investments in the U.S. “(European) rescue packages are designed to give us our old lives back”, according to Staffan Laestadius, professor at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. “It is all about saving jobs in the car industry”.

Such investment policy is firmly denounced by the Czech, not only it means building walls where we could hold hands and gain from it, but it is also very ill-advised policy. Money can indeed be used to ensure people a job, but it is not enough to just spend it, we need to spend it wisely. Money should not flow to failing industries building up debt for future generations. Money should go to the future, to education, training, innovation, research, competitive industries,… We should invest in tomorrow, not yesterday. Green investments targeted at a transformation to a green economy, are excellent examples. They help save the climate, the reduce energy dependency, reduce consumption costs and can become a key driver for innovation, entrepreneurship and jobs.

Europe today does not appear to go for a shock and awe treatment of the economy into recovery, nor does it work on its fundamentals. We urgently need to put our attention on tomorrow, not yesterday. Some countries such as Germany have understood that and are redirecting their economy to the future green knowledge economy, albeit refrain from large government funding to avoid large debts. France’s stimulus package on the other hand, which hands out money to car manufacturers as long as they stay in France, will call for subsidies of other European governments to keep their car manufacturers in their own country. This results in more of society’s money spent than needed. If we want to invest society’s money and support our ailing car industry, we would do better to coordinate and focus on the production of, for example, green cars, creating jobs but also gaining a competitive advantage.

Let us hope Sarkozy is indeed a rational and cunning strategist, who is aiming low to shoot high. Sarkozy assured European action is taken and the Czech can become the broker for an EU deal. Many tasks are in front of us, such as a shift to a green economy, providing social stability by inclusion, stabilizing the bank sector, avoiding long-term government debt and preparing for the future knowledge economy to accommodate the workers of tomorrow. To assure our future, European countries need to coordinate and cooperate in designing their economic plans to boost Europe’s faltering economy. The stakes are high. If Europe fails to unite and divides up into different fronts, an economic depression could come in sight.

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How to read EU blogs?

A novelty has appeared in the European blogosphere: bloggingportal.eu. As they themselves put it, it could become a “new way to read blogs about EU affairs”. The blogaggregator syndicates the content from currently 278 blogs about Europe and the European Union in as many languages as possible. By also structuring and rating the different posts they aggregate, it could become a powerful tool in empowering Europe’s online democracy.

http://www.bloggingportal.eu/

I strongly believe in the ability of blogging to enhance democracy by facilitating discussion between differing opinions while accomodating like-minded individuals to connect and share. Certainly within the European Union blogging must become a strong democratic forum to enable people to bridge the huge distances and languages in Europe separating the North from the South and the East from the West.

However, the development of a European blogoshpere has not been an easy task, due to Europe’s diversity. It has been a working progress slowly advancing with initiatives such as the blogplatform blogactiv, multi-author Euroblogs such as cafebabel, Fistfull of Euros or social Europe blog and finally there have also been individual bloggers such as me, perhaps you or Jon Worth.

Jon Worth has also been one of the key people behind the latest bloggingportal initiative and my insider source for this post. Some other key protagonists are programmer Stefan Happer (Politik Portal) and the EU bloggers Kosmopolit, DJ Nozem and Le Croche-Pied.

For an interesting read to get a better grasp of the EU blogosphere, you might also want to take a look at this overview and a structural analysis of how to read EUblogs.

Have fun in the sphere and make sure you find your way back out again!

Eurocrats against Entropa

The European Association for Eurocrats (EAE) proposes that the EU should form a High Level Expert Group to oversee the work of a Committee for the regulation of the registration, evaluation and authorization of Art & Jokes (HAHA), thereby allowing the EU to limit mockery to approved and standardized jokes.

The move comes in response to David Cerny’s notorious “Entropa” statue, which has been in the European Council since the 12th of January. The European Association for Eurocrats (EAE) strongly condemned the process by which David Cerny’s “Entropa” had been selected. Divad Ynrec, spokesman of the EAE today stated that, ‘Entropa is a dangerous violation of the requirements laid out by the European Commission against Humor and Intolerance (ECHI), regarding European invitations to tender to third parties for artful purposes’.

‘We cannot laugh at this piece of art’, Mr Ynrec went further, supported by the nodding and modest cheering of the colleagues present. ‘Although we protested in small numbers on Sunday, our French colleagues have threatened to go on strike as long as Entropa stays where it is’. Meanwhile the rumors are that the British are busy lobbying to ‘keep the thing there in order to keep the French out’.

The EAE views the sculpture as a direct assault on the Eurocrat-profession by typifying and mocking certain Eurocrat nationalities. Bulgaria’s Eurocrats are especially insulted by being compared to a toilet. A local Bulgarian explains the situation: ‘Although nobody knows it, David is a regular here in Brussels and everybody knows him. But after he told some particularly bad jokes, we started giving him the cold shoulder, and this is way of getting back at us”. Even the local Belgian lady that he had an affaire with isn’t spared. Their relationship broke down over diet problems and it is particularly hard for her to now be stereotyped by a box of chocolates.

The EAE believes that a High Level Expert Group overseeing the work of a Committee could prevent this from happening again. Divad Ynrec concluded by saying “We must limit mockery to approved and standardized jokes!If we don’t protect this basic ideal, what will Europe have?”

Starved by the rich : the cult of organic food imposed on Africa

Last week I met up with a friend who is passionate about organic food. No pesticides for her, no large industrial farms and certainly no Frankenstein food. She is not alone in this, the movement for the promotion of the so called organic food gains more and more supporters. Their ideal world consists of locally grown food on small family farms instead of the current large factory farms with a large carbon footprint. They strive to abandon the use of synthetic chemical fertilizers, pesticides and genetically modified organisms and wish to eat crops who are grown organically instead. Animals should be able to range freely instead of being locked in small cabins. Greenpeace, Oxfam and others, including my friend, wish to see “slow” food rather than fast food.

After listening to her commercial I was left wondering what the desirability was of organic agriculture for the peasant trying to make ends meet. Is organic agriculture really the best option for the impoverished of this world? Are we in fact not imposing the richest of tastes on the poorest of people? Are the rich starving the poor?

Robert Paalberg makes in his book “Starved for Science: How Biotechnology is Being Kept Out of Africa” a strong case that this is indeed the case. Wealthy countries are blocking biotechnological progress from deprived regions like Africa by giving adverse incentives while the African peasants are the ones who most need it. In former times numerous countries had to deal with famines as the weather didn’t cooperate, population growth was too high or crops were contaminated by diseases or insects. Several green revolutions during history have put an end to this, recent examples being Mexico, India and other parts of Asia. Africa however has not been able to put an end to the medieval situations of crop shortages and famines, they are stuck in organic agriculture.

Africa’s organic farms

Oxfam, greanpeace, friends of the earth and my friend advocate a generalized organic agriculture, but how might such an idealized food system actually look like? Robert Paalberg points to Africa. The post-materialist fantasy described earlier is an actual reality for most African peasants. This might look good at first glance but a second look makes you think twice. The drive up to the farm is exhilarating with red soil underneath, the blue beauty of the sky above and arid vistas at the sides. As at the end of the road the two-lane tarmac makes place for rutted dirt, one eventually comes to meet the people. The fields at that end of the road are populated with hardworking people yet they are obviously poor. They do not use chemical fertilizers, have no knowledge of irrigation, improved seeds are absent and with their meagre crops they earn less than a dollar a day. Two third of the African population still depends on this kind of farming that may be organic yet provides them little income and little nourishment.

In the coming decades, Africa will have to feed a population that is expected to increase from around 850 million today to more than 1.8 billion in 2050. But at the current pace, it is estimated that Africa will be able to feed less than half of its population by 2015. A major increase in agricultural productivity is absolutely essential. If we look to the feasibility of this, one has to conclude that technology is the only answer. In the last four decades in Africa, less than 40 percent of the gains in cereal production came from increased yields. The rest was from expansion of the land devoted to arable agriculture. The problem of this expansion is that it comes at the expense of forests, soil fertility and water.

Increasing production by increasing yield on existing areas, employing methods such as improved plant varieties, mineral fertilizers and irrigation in dry areas has proven necessary yet problematic in Africa. Power machinery is almost absent with only two tractors for every thousand agricultural workers, irrigation is used with only 4 percent of the crops, traditional crop varieties are still used on more than two thirds of all cropland instead of the scientifically improved varieties and animals still have to look for their own food instead of being fed, what would give better results. The use of chemical fertilizer per hectare is only one tenth of the industrial world average, insecticides and herbicides are unaffordable, weeding is done by children who should be at school and genetically engineered crops are not grown because African governments follow Europe and have not approved such crops for use.

All this makes African farms very organic which makes the post-modern dreamers very happy. That these kind of farms are therefore also poor and non productive is not thought of by the defenders and propagators of this ideal post-modern world of slow food. But they should think of this. Population growth this year is close to 15 percent while the agricultural production per capita has fallen 19 percent below the level of 1970. Unless African agriculture will reform it’s current organic agriculture and start apply modern agricultural science, it comes to depend more and more on imported food aid.

Are the rich countries imposing the richest of tastes on the poorest of people?

The post-modern dreamers of the North are the reason for the harsh reality of the African peasant. However oversimplified this can be, there is a core of truth in it. As the organic dreamers of the rich countries in the north gained the momentum and all the more adherence, the support for science-based farming in the 1980s sharply diminished. This resulted in catastrophic neglect for the modernization of farming. When the U.S. Agency for International Development was still devoting 25 percent of its official development assistance to the modernization of farming at the end of the 80s, it is merely one percent today. The statistics for the World Bank aren’t any better with a drop from almost 30 percent to the current 8 percent.

Agricultural modernization is the way out of poverty and Europeans should know that. For the agricultural revolution has once enabled the European farmers to escape poverty with the British agricultural revolution in the 18^th an 19^th century spreading across Europe and eventually facilitating the industrial revolution. But some official donors and nongovernmental agencies are non the less still trying to block farm modernization in Africa. And then we don’t even speak of the European governments and NGOs who promote regulatory systems that block the use of genetically engineered crops, including crops capable of resisting insects without pesticide sprays.

In Europe only 4 percent of cropland is currently being farmed organically (and less than 1 percent in America), but Africa, so does the West seem to demand, has to be 100 percent organic. By this approach, perhaps unknowingly, the affluent countries are imposing the richest of tastes on the poorest of people. This way the African peasant stays organic but poor. This way the rich are starving the poor.

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A Day in the Life of a Woman Farmer

Just looking at the day shedule makes one tired and still some people want them to produce slow food instead of fast food. To give an example of the producing of slow food I wish to cite an article of the Herald Tribune:

“To serve maize meal (called nsima) to her family, an African woman must first spend a season planting, weeding, harvesting and storing her corn, then she must strip it, winnow it, soak it, lay it out to dry, carry it to a grinder or pound it by hand, dry it again, and finally – after walking to gather enough fuel wood – cook it over a fire.” However idyllic or organically correct this may be, I wouldn’t like to be in her place.

4:45 am	Wakes up, the first in the family
4:50 am	Kindles the fire
5:00 am	Breast-feeds the baby
5:30 am	Walks over a mile to fetch water
6:00 am	Makes breakfast and feeds the family — she eats what is left over
6:30 am	Washes and dresses the children
6:45 am	Uses water to feed and water the livestock
7:00 am	Washes the cooking utensils
7:15 am	Walks another mile to fetch more water
7:45 am	Washes clothing
8:15 am	Breast-feeds the baby and gets the children off to school
8:45 am	Walks to the family plot, with the baby on her back
9:00 am	Depending on the season, she plows, hoes, weeds and plants in her husband’s field
11:00 am	Returns home to prepare the afternoon meal
11:45 am	Breast-feeds the baby
12:15 pm	Walks to the field where her husband is working to bring the food she has prepared
12:45 pm	Walks to her own field
1:00 pm	Weeds and tends to her own field, with her baby on her back
3:15 pm	Returns home, and on the way, gathers firewood
4:00 pm	Breast-feeds the baby
4:30 pm	At home, she pounds and grinds maize into flour
5:30 pm	Fetches more water
6:15 pm	Kindles the fire
6:30 pm	Prepares the evening meal
7:30 pm	Serves food to her family — she eats last
8:30 pm	Washes the children, breast-feeds the baby
9:30 pm	Washes the dishes
9:45 pm	Washes herself
10:00 pm	Puts the house in order
10:30 pm	Goes to bed, last in the family

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References

Starved for Science
How Biotechnology Is Being Kept Out of Africa
Robert Paarlberg
Foreword by Norman Borlaug and Jimmy Carter
Harvard University Press
Amazon.com

Robert Paarlberg is the Betty F. Johnson Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College.
Norman Borlaug is Distinguished Professor of International Agriculture at Texas A&M University and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970.
Jimmy Carter is Former President of the United States and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

• Starved for Science: How Biotechnology is Being Kept Out of Africa
• Will Africa cotton to bioengineering?
• GM Comes to sub-Saharan Africa (sort of)
• Out of Africa: is the cult of organic keeping people poor?
• Africa’s organic farms
  
• What is organic food?

The russian future with Dmitri Medvedev: a look at the inner mechanisims

The Times published yesterday 2 very interesting articles that give a good insight into the consequences of the Russian elections that have put Dmitri Medvedev in the presidential seat formerly occupied by Vladimir Poetin. The first article “from bankruptcy to big bucks” considers the political economy of Russia. The second analysis of Michael Binyon “Back-seat driver should resist trying to grab the wheel” gives an interesting insight into the psychology of Russia’s new president

From bankruptcy to big bucks

Tony Halpin in Moscow — March 3, 2008

Two three-letter words sum up Russia’s economic good fortune under Vladimir Putin: oil and gas.

Russia was bankrupt just a decade ago, its economy in meltdown after the Government defaulted on its foreign debt and the stock market lost two thirds of its value in a single day.

Oil was just $11 a barrel in 1998, half the level of the year before, but the price rebounded sharply to $35 just as Mr Putin came to power in 2000. Foreign currency reserves tripled and Russia — the world’s largest oil producer and second only to Saudi Arabia as an exporter — has been awash with money ever since as the price of crude has risen to above $100 today.

It has wiped out its international debt and built up foreign currency reserves of $480 billion, the third largest in the world after China and Japan. It has also built up a vast stabilisation fund — worth $144 billion and growing — to support future investment and insulate the state budget against falls in the oil price.

Dmitri Medvedev inherits a country transformed by oil, though he cannot hope to enjoy Mr Putin’s luck in seeing revenues triple. One immediate challenge is to tame inflation at almost 12 per cent as the petro-fuelled economy threatens to overheat.

But the former chairman of Gazprom knows that Russia’s status as an energy superpower can only grow. Russia is the world’s largest gas exporter and has the world’s largest proven reserves. It supplies a third of the EU’s gas imports, a dependence that has triggered alarm bells in Brussels, and is extending its reach with new gas pipelines and deals to sell direct to consumers.

Critics say that the Kremlin is already using its energy influence to reassert political influence over its former Soviet neighbours, raising prices and manipulating supply. Russia replies that it is simply switching to market prices for everybody.

Some experts warn that Russia has become dangerously dependent on energy and that a dip in prices would hit the economy hard. Mr Medvedev has made diversification of the economy a central part of his programme, promising to encourage the growth of small businesses by slashing red tape and fighting bureaucratic corruption.

Analysis: Back-seat driver must resist taking the wheel

Michael Binyon — March 3, 2008

President Putin insisted last September that he did not want his successor to be a puppet. Russia would need a strong President for the foreseeable future, he said, since party democracy was still in its infancy. But did he mean it? And now that he is no longer President, will he allow his hand-picked successor any room for manoeuvre?

Mr Putin’s ambivalence was already clear then, a month before he announced that he was “willing” to serve as a future Prime Minister. He also declared that he intended to continue playing a key role in Russia’s government, and that whoever followed him “will have to reckon with me”. So how does he propose to steer policy-making as a back-seat driver? Already there are forecasts that the Kremlin Zil, zigzagging in different directions, will crash, and that it will be President Medvedev who gets hurt.

Dmitri Medvedev has no political constituency of his own. A middle-class lawyer, the son of academics, he owes everything to Mr Putin, the mentor who is very different in temperament, background and ideology. He is a competent administrator — he transformed the lumbering state-owned Gazprom into one of the world’s most influential energy companies. But, unlike Mr Putin, he has no loyal following of acolytes, former KGB colleagues or ambitious politicians. He will be accepted by the Kremlin siloviki (power-brokers) solely because he is Mr Putin’s man.

Both men understand this. But both know that a clone would be unacceptable at home and overseas. Mr Putin has ridden the wave of nationalist, nostalgic and aggrieved sentiment, basing much of his popularity on harnessing Russia’s longing to be strong, disciplined and feared again abroad.

The mild-mannered Mr Medvedev can never don the same clothes. But he can show a different face: the liberal (a relative term in Russia) who speaks for the middle class, the conciliator in tune with a young generation of businessmen more open to the outside world.

This would go down well with the intelligentsia, the only class not swept away by Putinmania. It would also smooth Moscow’s dealings with the outside world after a tricky year. All that would be useful to Mr Putin who, as Prime Minister, will remain in charge of domestic policy, where his authoritarianism finds greatest resonance.

The two can therefore work in tandem — the good cop and the bad cop. The bad cop will clearly set the pace — but he will do so as he always has: incrementally and often in the shadows. And if Mr Medvedev has any mind to challenge this arrangement, there are plenty of Putin loyalists to remind him who is still the boss.

Nevertheless, a clash could occur, largely because the presidency carries duties that cannot be ignored even by a dominant Prime Minister. Mr Putin must at times defer to the head of state, especially in dealings with foreign countries.

Neither Mr Putin nor the Russian public would welcome a President they do not respect. Mr Medvedev must assert himself at least to the point where he is considered a political figure in his own right. The question is whether, if he starts turning down an unfamiliar route, the back-seat driver will seize the wheel and even eject the driver.

Independent Kosovo faces an uncertain economic future.

“From today onwards, Kosovo is proud, independent and free,” Prime Minister Hashim Thaci announced in an address to parliament this sunday. Hearing those words, tens of thousands of ethnic Albanians came on the street to celebrate. However justifiable their celebration, the party may end with a serious hangover and a bad case of headache.

Kosovo rates as one of the poorest regions in Europe. The Kosovo government reports an unemployment rate of 42.0-43.7 percent with 90 percent of them in long-term unemployment. According to the World Bank, the average annual salary for the population is 1,243 euro, resulting in 37 percent of the population living in poverty and surviving on less than 1.42 euro/day. On top of that is the fact that Kosovo is wracked by corruption and organized crime. 15-20 percent of the Kosovo economy is run by the organized crime by estimates of UNMIK, that same UN mission is mentioned in numerous corruption charges, thereby closely resembling several of Kosovo’s leading politicians they work with. As such, it comes as no surprise that Kosovo ranks in the top quintal of the world’s most corrupt countries, next to Nigeria and Cameroon with 67 percent of the population reporting having to pay a bribe to get a service (transparency international global corruption barometer 2007).

Kosovo’s economic situation

“The secessionists ignore the economic realities” Ruth Wedgwood, a professor for international law and diplomacy at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, wrote in a commentary in The Wall Street Journal on Feb. 9. She is one of those researchers who think Kosovo has little to nothing to gain from independence. “Kosovo has coal, lead and a workforce, but it lies in a corner of Europe where only a few tourists ever go.” But not everybody agrees with this statement. The World Bank and UNMIK foresees a brighter future for the people of Kosovo.

Franz Kaps is an independent advisor to the World Bank and strongly believes in the potentials of Kosovo. Geologists recently conducted a survey and came up with some good news. Kosovo may be richer then many think with vast amounts of high-quality lignite coal (up to 15 billion tons), considerate amounts of nickel, lead, zinc, bauxite and even some traces of gold. The World Bank predicts Southern Europe will need up to 4,5 gigawats of additional electrity by 2012, creating vast potential for Kosovo’s economy. But by pointing out the potential of Kosovo, Kaps also points to the problem. The problem is the state of Kosovo’s mining industry which has to improve radically and that can only happen after the political, juridical and economic relations are made stable.

those political, juridical and economic relations concerning Kosovo were and still are for a big part the responsibility of The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). looking at the macroeconomic results of 2007 they are rightfully proud of what they have done. Notwithstanding a significant reduction in foreign assistance and public expenditures, Kosovo’s GDP is estimated to have grown by about 3 percent. Clearly, this time growth was not driven by increased public expenditure or donor spending, but by a better performance of the private sector. Several economic indicators also signalled improved economic performance. After a fall in 2005, Kosovo’s exports grew remarkably in 2006 by 54 percent, with a modest growth of imports by 5 percent. Furthermore, the rate of non-housing private investment grew impressively by 61 percent and lending to the private sector also increased. These remarkable results were achieved by privatisation of publicly owned enterprises, the implementation of the euro and membership of the Central Europe Free Trade Area (CEFTA). However, if Kosovo wants to maintain it’s economic development and build upon the economic foundations which have so far been put in place by UNMIK, big reforms are still needed. Kosovo’s economic development is still most severely constrained by interruptions in the electricity supply, weak capacity of public institutions, and the lack of adequate skills in the labour market. But Kosovo’s main obstruction to a brighter future is the omnipresent organized crime, corruption and lack of transparency.

About wedding dresses, corruption and the international community

The Minnesota daily reports of a ordinary story that perfectly reflects the problems Kosovo has to deal with. It’s noon on a weekday, and Kosovar fashion designer Krenare Rugova’s sewing machines are strangely silent. Rugova, young and U.S.-educated, is trying to build an upscale clothing business in her homeland. But she can’t work because the power has gone out for the second time this morning. “They just shut me down. I’m thinking, ‘OK, I’ll get all these wedding dresses finished in an hour,’ and then ‘zap.’ It’s very frustrating.”

Every citizen in Kosovo has an emergency generator by hand. While approximately one billion euros is put in repairing KEK, Kosovo’s old and worn out main power central, power failings occur every day. The question is how this is possible and where the KEK-billion has gone to. The answer to this is corruption. 4.5 million euros were stolen from power import during 2000-01, buying equipment from public tenders, purchasing computers from friends’ companies,… The number of allegations is immense, the charges numerous, the convictions rare. The problem of corruption is not unique to KEK, the whole society is drenched in corruption. A survey performed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) showed that 80 percent of Kosovo’s people consider corruption the main problem of everyday life. The institutions named as most corrupt were the Kosovo Energy Corporation (KEK), customs service, hospitals, the presidency and the government.

Bajram Kosumi, former prime minister stating that friends payed for his private jet flight; Ali Sadriu, minister of economy and finance in the previous government, allocating 430,000 euros to his nephew for implementing a dentistry project in the town of Ferizaj; former president Rugova purchasing six government vehicles for 1,5 million euros (which is more than twice the true value) with a car dealership owned by a relative,… Bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, and embezzlement, it is all too common in Kosovo. And not only within the Kosovo government, also the International organizations are swimming along the tide of corruption according to the respondents of the UN survey. The facts are there to support this claim. Leme Xhema, Bedri Rama and Uno Nielsen are known for corruption and signing dubious contracts. Former deputy head of UNMIK, Gerhard Fischer, and another high official, Ranier Lesar were also under investigation. Joe Trutschler, a former UN official was sentenced in Germany to 3,5 year in prison for embezzling 3,9 million euros from the Kosovo Energy Corporation budget (Kosovo B).

Not only the KEK, a.k.a. ‘Kosovo B’ but also Kosovo C power plant is getting known for corrupt practices. The case of the former Principal Deputy Special Representative Steven Schook is one example or indication of this. He was one of the main promoters of ‘Kosovo C’: a new coal power plant, a huge project with a huge budget. Kosovo’s heavily subsidized solution to the power shortages (Kosovo C) may fall once again to corruption. The question is how Kosovo will climb out of the economic valley with such widespread corruption that damages the economic tissue of Kosovo. Only effective, strong and exemplary political leadership can rectify this situation. Let that now just be the problem…

The man that Sunday proclaimed Kosovo’s independence and sits as prime minister of Kosovo, mr. Hashim Thaçi is a convicted war criminal and former head of the Kosovo Liberation Army. He was also head of the Drenica group, a mafia group who controlled 10-15 percent of criminal activities in Kosovo by trafficking heroin, cocaine, arms and stolen cars as well as engaging in prostitution and upholding international contacts. His sister may very well be the perfect example for that, as she is married to Sejdija Bajrush, one of the leaders of the infamous Albanian mafia.

The Kosovo cocktail

The question posed at the beginning of this article was whether or not the party will end with a bad hangover. But as we all know, we have to forecast the morning after the party by looking at what we drunk, so let’s look at the ingredients for Kosovo’s cocktail.

Kosovo’s economic situation at this moment is not very positive with a high percentage of unemployed, a low productivity and a lot of energy shortages. Kosovo’s economy has however big potential in the mining industry, it has the advantage of low wages and last but not least the UNMIK has pushed through some important and fruitful reforms. However, as stated before, the Kosovo government still has loads of work and reforms to plan and accomplish. The biggest challenges are the electricity interruptions, the weak capacity of public institutions and the lack of adequate skills in the labour market.

Those are in principle challenges that are controllable and manageable. But an effective policy towards Kosovo’s problems is blocked. The reason for that is organized crime and the high levels of corruption penetrating the whole society from the bottom to the top, from the poorest to the richest and most powerful, from the peasant to the prime minister. This creates a very hard and difficult situation. Independent Kosovo faces an very uncertain economic future.

Kosovo’s cocktail may prove to become an economic Molotov cocktail.

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Links:

Kosovo’s economic situation:

- www.euinkosovo.org/upload/EPO%20Kosovo%20Outlook%202007.doc

- http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3122353,00.html

- http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2008/02/19/72165644

About wedding dresses, corruption and the international community:

- http://www.unmikonline.org/press/2002/mon/may/lmm290502.htm

- http://www.ceeol.com/aspx/getdocument.aspx?logid=5&id=B913E37C-703E-4EC1-BBD3-7677924EBC66

- http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/Article.aspx?id=1559

- http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=561

- http://www.nrcnext.nl/nieuws/internationaal/article937096.ece

Corporate tax race to the bottom: is harmonization on EU level the answer?

1. The reality of corporate tax competition

Both industrialised and developing countries will face a major public funding crisis if governments don’t stop the race to lower business taxes, a report from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions states. Tax competition is a real problem and a race to the bottom is taking place. This is especially the case within the European Union as goods, labour, services and capital enjoy free movement within EU borders. The problem of lowering corporate tax is the effect it has on the redistributive nature of taxes. For as revenues from corporate tax diminish, taxes on labour will augment, widening the gap between capital and labour while this is not the preferred social optimum in the European welfare states. On the other hand it has to be said that tax competition within certain limits can be beneficial to boost countries with a lack of comparative advantage and to allow a ‘race to efficiency’ to countries where taxes are collected in an inefficient manner. This however does imply tax competition within certain limits which is not the case looking at corporate tax competition history.

The report from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions gives further data on the corporate tax competition. Corporate tax rates have fallen from around 45% to 30% in the last 20 years in industrialised countries. The average rate between 1995 and 2005 fell by 8,1-10,8 in the EU. The recent EU-enlargement has intensified this mechanism as CEEC’s rely less on company taxation to finance their budgets to lure FDI. Austria for example lowered its rates from 35% to 25% in 2005, Finland and Greece has cut theirs by 3% and Germany has recently made a major corporate tax overhaul by cutting its rates from 38,7% to about 29% beginning on January the first 2008 transforming its corporate tax from Europe’s top levy to a levy that is broadly in line with the other rich countries of Western Europe.

2. The role of the EU

Since the beginning of the EC, company taxation was seen as an important element for the establishment and completion of the Internal market. It is however not a direct objective of the EU. The legal basis for corporate tax harmonization is formed by art. 100, which deals with the harmonization of laws in general. This general harmonization is obligatory only in so far as the establishment or functioning of the internal market is at stake. Additionally article 94 of the EC Treaty provides for approximation of such laws, regulations or administrative provisions of the Member States as directly affect the establishment or functioning of the common market. Thus harmonization of laws per se is not a stated objective of the treaties and clearly serves to safeguard the process of integration, i.e., the harmonization of corporate taxation serves to safeguard the four freedoms and to eliminate distortions of competition in the internal market as comparative advantages are distorted by tax differences. The findings of the Ruding committee for example prove that differences in corporate tax regimes produce significant distortions of investment and location decisions. In practice however harmonization has been minimal as it is limited by the limited qualification of the community and reluctance of member states to cooperate in a substantial harmonization as taxes are touching upon the heart of a member’s state sovereignty. As a consequence, member states are reasonably free to set their own levy, tax rates and tax base. There have however been important initiatives and directives coming out of the EU legislative body.

The three major advancements concerning corporate taxation originate in the sixties and have finally been approved in July 1990. The parent/subsidiary directive (90/434/EEC) eliminates double taxation of dividend payments paid by subsidiaries located in one member state to parent companies in another. The merger directive (90/435/EEC) ensures that capital gains are no longer taxed at the time of a merger but rather at the moment when the capital gains are collected, as such contributing to the formation of European firms. The arbitration convention on transfer pricing (90/436/EEC) aims for the elimination of double taxation that occurs through adjustment of profits by tax authorities through a code of conduct and common procedures.

The above directives, however, don’t deal with the problem posed here of a race to the bottom on corporate taxes. Four fields of interest are important here: the system of corporate taxation, the tax rate, tax base and tax incentives. First of all there is the system by which the corporate tax is collected. Up to 27 different tax systems are being used throughout the EU, here simplified into three major categories. The classical system is used by the Netherlands and Luxembourg which is characterized by a complete separation of corporate and personal income tax, that means that taxable income earned by a corporation and then distributed to an individual shareholder as dividend is thus taxed twice. The full amputation system is used by Germany and only taxes shareholders under the personal income tax, eliminating the corporation tax. The other countries use a partial imputation system that partially avoids double taxation by imputing part of the corporate profit tax to the shareholder’s tax liability. Proposals like those from the Neumark committee in 1963 (split rate system), Van den Tempel report in 1971 (classical system) and finally the 1975 commission proposal to adopt EU-wide partial amputation system every time stumbled over the reluctance of the member states. The 1975 proposal also included harmonization of tax rates that would be in the range of 45%-55%. This last proposal didn’t, as mentioned, make it. The proposal even met with opposition from the European parliament which claimed that it made no sense to harmonize tax rates and leave the tax base untouched.

Harmonizing tax rates without touching upon the important differences in tax bases and tax incentives makes indeed little sense. The tax base relates to the rules that govern the determination of taxable profits. Tax incentives are frequently given through the tax base. Harmonization of the tax base would basically make it inappropriate for member states to grant tax incentives through the tax base and force member states to do so using tax credits or direct subsidies. This has also been the position of the European commission since 2001 onwards. The policy towards a common tax base was established in 2001 with COM(2001) 582. In July 2004 after discussion in an informal ECOFIN meeting on an informal paper, a working group was set up with broad support to form a proposal: the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base Working Group (CCCTB WG). The CCCTB WG has been meeting since November 2004 till 10 to 12 December 2007. A working paper has been prepared: CCCTB/WP/057. Revolutionary as it is, the proposal will probably take some time to come to an agreement. It is even be doubtful if the proposal will get through as similar proposals have been rejected in the past (cfr. Ruding Committee, Neumark Committee,…) It would however be a major step towards a possible solution for the corporate tax race to the bottom. As transparency on corporate taxation grows, debate on the subject becomes easier and states can become more cooperative on the subject. The open method of cooperation could be an important tool in this context.

3. Conclusion

The question raised here is to what extent a race to the bottom is actually taking place and what the place could be for the European Union. It has been the conclusion of this paper that there indeed is a race to the bottom concerning corporate tax. This growing competition between member states touches upon the heart of market, state and society. It distorts competition within the EU as it changes the comparative advantages of member states towards capital investments as proved in the conclusions of the Ruding Committee. Corporate tax competition may prove to be a short-term remedy against a lack of comparative advantage in for example Estonia (with no tax on profit reinvested in the country) but in the long run it may prove devastating as the state looses a big share of its revenues. The state and society also suffer from the results of the corporate tax race to the bottom. As state capital revenues decline, taxes on labour will have to rise to maintain the same government spending. This causes a widening gap between capital and labour, deteriorating the gini coefficient and redistributive effect of taxes which is not the social optimum of European societies with their high level of preference for the welfare state. The harmonization of certain aspects of corporate taxation are in this respect very welcome. Especially the latest moves of the commission towards harmonization of the tax base are a great leap forward to combating harmful tax competition.

The conclusion of this paper is that states should look further then their short-term view on sovereignty and take example from the early steps towards integration of the EC. Integration has often shown not to limit sovereignty but to enlarge it due to interdependency as stated by Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye. This argument is obviously the case with corporate tax competition. A shift to sovereignty through integration should be welcomed and we may only hope that the recent suggestions of the CCCPTB WB will be seen using this logic.

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International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, Having their cake and eating it too – the big corporate tax break, 2006. (20.01.2008, International confederation of free trade unions, http://www.icftu.org/www/pdf/taxbreak/tax_break_EN.pdf).

EURACTIV, Corporate tax’ race to the bottom’ hurts EU growth, 09.11.2006. (20.01.2008, Euractiv, http://www.euractiv.com/en/taxation/corporate-tax-race-bottom-hurts-eu-growth/article-156658).

DOUGHERTY, C., Germany to lower corporate tax rate, London, International Herald Tribune, 02.11.2006. (20.01.2008, International Herald Tribune, http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/02/business/tax.php)

VAN MOURIK, A., The economics of tax harmonization, Leuven, K.U. Leuven, s.d., 16-24.

EUROPEAN COMMISION, Company tax, 20.01.2008. (20.01.2008, European Commission, http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/company_tax/gen_overview/index_en.htm).

VAN MOURIK, A., The economics of tax harmonization, Leuven, K.U. Leuven, s.d., 16-24.

EUROPEAN COMMISION, Company tax, 20.01.2008. (20.01.2008, European Commission, http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/company_tax/gen_overview/index_en.htm).

VAN MOURIK, A., The economics of tax harmonization, Leuven, K.U. Leuven, s.d., 16-24.

EUROPEAN COMMISION, Common tax base, 20.01.2008. (20.01.2008, European Commission, http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/company_tax/common_tax_base/index_en.htm).

gulzigheid

Het is goed dat er nog oplichters als Jérôme Kerviel bestaan. Op zo’n momenten voelt de eerlijke broodwinner zich immers opgelucht, omdat de staat hem beschermt tegen de kwade en onaantastbare grootverdiener. Niet dat iemand al van hem had gehoord tot voor 2 weken geleden. Daarvoor verdiende hij niet genoeg. Maar bekendheid is een relatief iets. De ene dag ben je niemand, de andere dag is je naam op ieders lippen.

Jo – Wilfried Tsonga was zo een fenomeen. Als iemand me enkele dagen geleden had gevraagd of ik hem kende, dan had ik vast gegokt op een dictatoriale figuur in het binnenland van Afrika waar wetteloosheid en werkloosheid een cultuur eerder dan een probleem zijn. “Hij heeft Roger Federer verslagen in 3 sets.” Ach, het bleek dus om een tennisser te gaan. En nog geen al te goede ook, stond niet eens in de top 20. Dat hield de hele tennis – liefhebbende wereld niet tegen om op slag verliefd te worden na zijn schokkende overwinning tegen het nr. 1 van de wereld. Prachtig succesverhaal toch: de Afrikaanse, bananen etende underdog die in zijn eerste grote match geschiedenis schrijft.

Merkwaardig toch hoe liefde plots zo spontaan kan ontspruiten. En merkwaardig toch hoe haat tegenover een medemens zo snel kan ontkiemen, gewoon omdat wat hij deed geen succesverhaal werd.

Zo weten we nu tenminste hoe de overblijvende 11 apostelen zich voelden na Judas’ verraad. Alleen, Judas had genoegen genomen met 30 zilverlingen. Jérôme Kerviel had 5,3 miljard nodig om z’n honger te stillen, geld dat na afloop van z’n sociaal onacceptabel gedrag niet eens op zijn naam werd overgeschreven.

Alleen Jezus ontbreekt nog in het verhaal. Maar waar Hij sprak van vergeving en verlossing, zijn bij de Société Générale geen zalvende woorden te horen. “Wie wind zaait zal storm oogsten” was de boodschap van Daniel Bouton, topman van Société Générale. Wist hij veel dat diezelfde storm ook zijn baantje zou wegblazen.

We mogen het de arme man niet verwijten. Hij ontkent immers alle complottheorieën, en daarbij zweert hij dat zijn ziel zo zuiver is als een pasgewassen wit laken. Deed een zekere president dat ook niet, toen men hem vroeg naar zijn relatie met Monica Lewinsky? Maar hij zorgde tenminste nog voor een bevredigend overschot op de staatsbalans, een prestatie die we Mr. Bouton niet mogen aanschrijven.

De geruchtenmolen draait ondertussen op volle toeren, en de afgelegde verklaringen steken elkaar naar de kroon waar het aankomt op originaliteit. Science – fiction schrijvers moeten zich op dit moment voor het hoofd slaan dat ze er niet zelf aan gedacht hebben. Anno 2008 volstaat het om de krant open te slaan om een writer’s block te doen wegsmelten als sneeuw voor de zon.

De een weet te zeggen dat Kerviel opdracht gegeven werd om de crisis te laten ontsporen en op die manier het toch al verzwakte Amerika te treffen. De ander haalt aan dat een lid van de raad van bestuur – met een naam als een klok trouwens – handelde met voorkennis en daarbij aandelen ter waarde van net geen 86 miljoen Euro in één keer verhandelde. Kon slechter. Een gemiddeld jaarsalaris van 100.000 Euro valt erbij in het niet.

Zelfs verbijsterende onthullingen zoals de mogelijke overname van de Société Générale door een Russische bank doen nu het Europese kredietwezen beven. “De Commies zijn terug! Koude Oorlog nr. 2 is in de maak…” Kerviel zou dan in dit toneel de rol spelen van een saboterende Russische agent. Men portretteerde hem nog net niet als de Sovjet – tegenhanger van James Bond. Dat kon natuurlijk ook niet, Russisch spreken met een Brits accent lijkt werkelijk nergens op.

Anders dan in de eerste Koude Oorlog hebben we nu geen monsterachtig sterk Amerika dat het arme Europa tegen de oprukkende rode sprinkhanen kan beschermen. Wat baten immers die vele bommen en soldaten van de enige overblijvende mondiale supermacht? We kunnen toch de Russische rekeningen niet platbombarderen? We hebben immers hun gas en olie nodig om onze banken te verwarmen.

Om alle geruchten voorgoed de kop in te drukken en zijn miljoenensalaris nog net wat langer veilig te stellen sleepte Mr. Bouton er vervolgens een allegaartje aan planeten bij, kwestie van duidelijk te stellen dat hij er écht niets mee te maken had. Verbluffend tot wat voor uitspraken een mens verleid kan worden als hij eenmaal merkt dat hij dit jaar een grote kerstbonus gaat mislopen.

Het gemak waarmee een onbetekenend makelaartje een wereldwijde economische crisis veroorzaakte, roept intussen heel wat vraagtekens op bij Ben Bernake, voorzitter van de Amerikaanse FED. Deze trok fel van leer tegen het bestuur van de Société Générale omdat zij zolang had verzwegen dat er mogelijk een kredietcrisis zat aan te komen. Nu zou Europa er al schuld aan hebben dat hijzelf bevel gaf tot het – nog maar eens – verlagen van de rente.

Alsof de Amerikaanse zeepbelconstructie een dezer dagen niet zonder hulp zou uiteengespat zijn. Alsof Kerviel eigenhandig de Amerikaanse economische groei een halt had toegeroepen. Alsof Kerviel ervoor zorgde dat er vandaag in Amerika minder huizen worden gebouwd dan 10 jaar geleden.

Stoute Jérôme Kerviel. Stoute, gulzige Jérôme Kerviel. 2000 jaar na de kruisiging van Christus werden hem zelfs 30 zilverlingen niet gegund. Mensen houden blijkbaar niet van verhalen die slecht aflopen.

auteur: Tom Ceulemans

Globalisering en mijnbouw: de andere kant van de medaille

Als resultaat van de oorlogen en spanningen in het Midden-Oosten stijgen de energieprijzen tot ongekende hoogten. Sommigen beweren dat voor het bezit van energiebronnen recentelijk zelfs een oorlog is ontketend. Ontwikkeling en welvaart worden echter niet enkel gevrijwaard door middel van het bezit van energiebronnen, ook andere materialen spelen hier een essentiële rol in. Vandaag de dag is het gevecht voor natuurlijke grondstoffen even belangrijk als het gevecht om energiebronnen. We willen hier focussen op mijnbouw en de toegang tot mineralen en in een tweede deel focussen we op twee specifieke voorbeelden, de Democratische republiek van de Congo en Peru.

 

Mijnbouw in de wereld

Goud in je computer, zilver om je pols, coltan in je GSM, koper in je huis, deze natuurlijke grondstoffen zijn een essentieel deel van ons leven. Metalen en mineralen worden in grote hoeveelheden uit de grond gehaald daar zij deel zijn van onze ontwikkeling en welvaart. Volgens de United States Geology service worden er 2000 keer meer mineralen geëxploiteerd in vergelijking met 1970, de wereldbevolking is verviervoudigd in één eeuw en de wereldeconomie blijft boomen. China bijvoorbeeld is verantwoordelijk voor één derde van de wereldvraag. Tussen 1999 en 2006 is de gemiddelde prijs voor mineralen verdrievoudigd, in het geval van goud en koper bijvoorbeeld zelfs met een factor van respectievelijk 7 en 5. De 40 grootste mijnbedrijven rapporteerden een verhoging van de winst van 5 biljoen dollar in 2002 tot 45 biljoen dollar in 2005. Het moge duidelijk zijn dat het belang van de ontginning van deze natuurlijke grondstoffen niet onderschat kan worden. Dit reflecteert zich ook in de machtspolitiek.

 

De meeste mineralen worden ontgonnen in het zuiden waar een interessant financieel klimaat heerst en de overheidsregulatie niet zo streng is. Op sneltempo worden er bi- en multilaterale akkoorden afgesloten. Voor de bedrijven ligt hun motivatie in winstmaximalisatie, de politieke krachten wensen hun niveau van welvaart te verhogen. De geopolitieke krachtmeting zoals we het kennen bij olie, vind dus ook plaats op het vlak van mineralen en metalen. Voorbeelden zijn vooral te vinden in Afrika en Zuid-Amerika. Hier zullen we twee specifieke gevallen bespreken, met name de Democratische republiek van de Congo en Peru.

 

Peru

Peru is een ertsrijk land, 20% van hun grondgebied gaat naar deze buitenlandse investeringen en elk jaar nemen de concessies toe met 9,6%. Dit is echter niet zonder problemen.

De meeste van de lokale gemeenschappen in Peru leven op basis van landbouw. Landbouwgrond en water zijn dan ook de belangrijkste voorwaarden voor hen. Water en land zijn eveneens de twee voorwaarden die de mijnindustrie nodig heeft voor zijn activiteiten. Voor één ton erts is er meer dan 1000 liter water nodig. Het dient dan ook niet gezegd te worden dat landbouw en mijnbouw natuurlijke tegenspelers zijn. Te meer daar mijnbouw een werkarme industrie is. Wereldwijd geeft de mijnbouwindustrie slechts werk aan 0,5% van de actieve bevolking hoewel het toch een grote stukken land en water in beslag neemt. In het geval van Peru bijvoorbeeld wordt slechts 2,6% van de lokale bevolking tewerkgesteld. De mijnbouw is dan ook een belangrijke factor in de emigratie van platteland naar stad, veroorzaakt grote spanningen tot zelfs afrekeningen, versplintert gemeenschappen gepaard gaande met verlies van cultureel erfgoed en vergroot de kloof tussen rijk en arm.

Daarnaast is ook de ecologische impact van mijnbouw groot. Volgens het Worldwatch Institute is de mijnbouwindustrie verantwoordelijk voor 7 tot 10% van de wereldenergieconsumptie in 2007. Het World Resource institute rapporteerde dat niet minder dan 40% van de onbeschermde bossen in de wereld is bedreigd door mijbouwactiviteiten. Daarnaast veroorzaakt het ook schade in andere domeinen zoals: verzouting, verdroging, watertekort, vrijlating van zware metalen in het ecosysteem, ecologische passiva die achtergelaten worden enzovoort.

 

Het moge duidelijk zijn dat in Peru mijnbouwinvesteringen niet enkel een positieve economische kant hebben. De andere menselijke en ecologische kant van de medaille wordt maar al te vaak vergeten. Organisaties zoals CATAPA pogen dan ook de mijnbouwindustrie te overtuigen op meer een sociaal verantwoorde manier te investeren in bijvoorbeeld Peru.

 

Congo: wapens, geld en GSM’s

10000 dollar voor één kilogram.
Neen, het gaat hier niet om cocaïne of zuivere opium. Het gaat hier over tantalium, de nieuwe economische drug. Verfijn coltan en je krijgt een hoogst resistant metaalpoeder die tantalium wordt genoemd. Voor de high-tech industrie, tantalium is een magisch poeder, de sleutelcomponent voor bijna alle van GSM’s, computer chips tot stereo’s en Dvd-spelers.

 

De grootste bronnen voor coltanontginning vindt men in Australië, Canada en Brazilië maar door de boomende high-tech industrie was er een nieuwe, meer sinistere markt opgebloeid tijdens de Afrikaanse wereldoorlog in de Democratische republiek van Congo. Rivaliserende rebellengroepen vanuit vooral Rwanda en Uganda exploiteerden Coltan om een bloedige oorlog mee te financieren. Deze tweede Congolese oorlog, ook wel Afrika’s wereldoorlog genoemd duurde van 1998 tot 2003 en koste 3,8 miljoen mensen het leven, een zelfde aantal zijn gevlucht. Volgens Human rights watch is er een directe link tussen de exploitatie van grondstoffen in de DRC en deze oorlog.

 

De link tussen coltan en bloedvergieten is oorzaak van verhoogd alarm bij high-tech producenten. Langzaam begint het door te dringen dat de mogelijkheid er is dat hun producten bedorven vruchten bevatten van een burgeroorlog. Er was een gelijkaardige controverse in 1990 rond diamanthandel die mee de burgeroorlogen in Angola, Liberia en Sierra Leone financierde Deze veroorzaakte strengere regulatie op de diamanthandel, strengere import- en exportvoorwaarden waren het gevolg. Bij tantalium ligt dit echter heel wat moeilijker. De markt voor metaal is gebaseerd op geheime handelsrelaties zonder al te veel internationale regulaties. De VN riep echter toch op tot een handelsembargo voor de import en export van coltan en andere mineralen van en naar Burundi, Rwanda en Uganda.

 

Het eerste en vooralsnog belangrijkste signaal kwam in april 2001 van de VN met het vernietigende rapport over de “illegal exploitation of natural resources and other forms of wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Na zes maanden onderzoek had een panel van experten hun rapport voorgelegd aan de veiligheidsraad van de VN. Deze bevestigde duidelijk de link tussen de mijnbouwontginning en de staat van oorlog. De rebellengroepen financierden er niet alleen de oorlog mee maar hadden op die manier ook een direct belang bij het niet-beeïndigen van de oorlog, integendeel. Tot op de dag van vandaag, vijf jaar na de burgeroorlog, vind men nog steeds grote groepen buitenlandse rebellen in Congo die de economische belangen aldaar verdedigen. Daarnaast wees dit rapport ook met een beschuldigende vinger naar enkele mijnbouwbedrijven als medeschuldigen aan de oorlog. Onder andere vier Belgische bedrijven (Forrest-groep, ASA DIAM, e.a.) werden in dit rapport vernoemd als directe schuldigen. Maar ook grote internationale bedrijven zoals Fortis, Umicore, B.B.L. of Bayer werden genoemd als indirect bij betrokken. Hierna is er ook in België de senaatscommissie van de grote meren opgericht die als doel had deze zaak verder te onderzoeken. Deze commissie van de grote meren kwam tot enkele interessante conclusies die het rapport zeker het lezen waard maken.

Een medaille heeft twee kanten

De economie boomt, nog nooit zoveel is er zo’n ongekende welvaart in de wereld en steeds minder mensen leven in armoede. Het zijn zaken waar we terecht trots op mogen zijn en die moeten worden gestimuleerd. We mogen echter niet blind zijn voor de andere kant van de medaille. Deze economische groei heeft ook negatieve externaliteiten die men niet mag vergeten of verwaarlozen. Het situatie van mijnbouw in Peru vraagt om ecologischere en humanere investeringen in natuurlijke ertsen. De exploitatie van natuurlijke rijkdommen in de Democratische Republiek van Congo bewijst dat men met zorg moet omgaan waar grondstoffen vandaan komen. Zowel het geval van Peru als van Congo tonen aan dat acties moeten worden ondernomen om moreel onwenselijke situaties te vermijden.