Battle for Europe
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Someone in the local expat forum, pointed to this documentary from BBC. It is an excellent documentary about the debate in European Union between Anglo-Saxon and Franco-German reforms. I guess the real issue is about the rebate that Britain gets in its payment to EU, which it negotiated in 1984. The rebate is to the tune of 5.2 bn Euros. France and the new member states from Eastern Europe want this rebate to be abolished. France and Italy pay more than half of this rebate and new member states say that Britain is not as poor as it was in 1984.
The crux of the issue is EU budgetary support to agriculture, which leaves Britain as net contributor while Greece, Spain and Portugal net gainer. The disadvantage of Britain can be mitigated if this allocation is reduced, which now is 30 bn Pounds amounting to 40% of EU’s budget.
The negotiations are going on between EU member states on this issue and this documentary is more about reduction in subsidies for agricultures. There were few interesting things in this documentary.
Christine Lagarde, the French trade minister, bluntly said that Tony Blair is talking about reform as it is fashionable and he is looking for scapegoat. She vehemently wants to preserve the 248 kinds of cheese that France produces, something which it’s then Prime Minister Charles De Gaulle, referred to emphasize diversity in France.
One of the woolen mills in Bradford, UK which got shut down due to market forces has changed itself to producing hi-tech goods. It is manufacturing satellite television equipments.
France is the most subsidy driven economy in the developed world. French labour law requires a person to work for only 35 hours a week.
Volkswagen workers in Germany work for only 28 hours a week, and are in top most brackets of wage.
The documentary refers to Finnish model (rather Nordic model) as the alternative to Anglo-Saxon and Franco-German model.
There was discussion with ex PM of Finland Esko Aho. He had to lose his job as PM, in the subsequent election, after he started the reforms to pull Finland out of the great depression of 1990. Speaking on this he said “In politics there are many reason to lose, this was one of the good reason”.
Someone in the local expat forum, pointed to this documentary from BBC. It is an excellent documentary about the debate in European Union between Anglo-Saxon and Franco-German reforms. I guess the real issue is about the rebate that Britain gets in its payment to EU, which it negotiated in 1984. The rebate is to the tune of 5.2 bn Euros. France and the new member states from Eastern Europe want this rebate to be abolished. France and Italy pay more than half of this rebate and new member states say that Britain is not as poor as it was in 1984.
The crux of the issue is EU budgetary support to agriculture, which leaves Britain as net contributor while Greece, Spain and Portugal net gainer. The disadvantage of Britain can be mitigated if this allocation is reduced, which now is 30 bn Pounds amounting to 40% of EU’s budget.
The negotiations are going on between EU member states on this issue and this documentary is more about reduction in subsidies for agricultures. There were few interesting things in this documentary.
Christine Lagarde, the French trade minister, bluntly said that Tony Blair is talking about reform as it is fashionable and he is looking for scapegoat. She vehemently wants to preserve the 248 kinds of cheese that France produces, something which it’s then Prime Minister Charles De Gaulle, referred to emphasize diversity in France.
One of the woolen mills in Bradford, UK which got shut down due to market forces has changed itself to producing hi-tech goods. It is manufacturing satellite television equipments.
France is the most subsidy driven economy in the developed world. French labour law requires a person to work for only 35 hours a week.
Volkswagen workers in Germany work for only 28 hours a week, and are in top most brackets of wage.
The documentary refers to Finnish model (rather Nordic model) as the alternative to Anglo-Saxon and Franco-German model.
There was discussion with ex PM of Finland Esko Aho. He had to lose his job as PM, in the subsequent election, after he started the reforms to pull Finland out of the great depression of 1990. Speaking on this he said “In politics there are many reason to lose, this was one of the good reason”.
posted by greensatya @ 11:45 PM
4 Comments:
At 6:14 AM,
Y said…
Your post makes me think what Ronald Regan said:
Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
At 8:49 AM,
greensatya said…
Lol, Yogi that was a good one. "If it keep moving, then regulate it"..so true...
At 9:05 AM,
XVSA013 said…
isnt battle for europe too wide a title for this post? i was thinking some story from WWII ... Napoleanic wars ...
governments have been known for "if it moves - stop it"
At 12:40 PM,
greensatya said…
Veera -> oh man, your obsession for battles and mountains :p
Well I borrowed the title from the documentary. It does deal with whole Europe, France, Britain, Germany, Lithuania and Finland. It deals with issue plaguing Europe today.So I guess the title....
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