Sidéer  311 sorterade idéer

EU, europe, migration

Romanian and Bulgarian migrants buoy home growth

  Publicerad av Emanuel Sidea

“They all say that if they could earn in Romania even half of what they earn in Spain and elsewhere, they would come back. But there are no jobs here,” says the mayor.

Hundreds of mayors in Romania and Bulgaria are in the same position as the two countries prepare to join the European Union on January 1. So are many of their counterparts in Poland, Slovakia and the Baltic states, which were among the 10 countries that became EU members in 2004. (…)

Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu, Romania’s foreign minister, says he is happy to see young Romanians going abroad but – like the mayor of Feldru – hopes that one day some will return. “I know some Romanians think emigration is a brain drain but I don’t. Romanians living abroad maintain their identity. They work hard and bring Romania a good name. What would be really interesting would be in future to attract back people from abroad as investors.” (…)

For Romania and Bulgaria this gap is even larger than for the 2004 entrants. Average incomes in purchasing power terms are just 28 per cent of the west European level, compared with 45 per cent in central Europe. (…)

An estimated 2m Romanians are employed abroad – about 20 per cent of the working-age population. (…)

After lurching from crisis to crisis in the 1990s, the Romanian economy is now among the fastest-growing in Europe with an expected real increase in gross domestic product for 2006 of 7 per cent. (…)

Migrants, too, are playing a role in boosting the economy, contributing an estimated €3.5bn ($4.4bn, £2.3bn) to €4bn in remittances – enough to cover almost half the country’s 2005 current account deficit. (…)

But there is still a long way to go. Some 40 per cent of Romanian workers are nominally employed in agriculture (…)

Economists estimate that at current economic growth rates it could take 20 years before Romanians reach the living standards of today’s west Europeans. (…)

As the figures show, most migrants leave their children (…) usually in the care of grandparents. (…) school examination results have declined sharply, with just half of those aged 14 and 15 passing their year-end tests in 2006, compared with 80-90 per cent in the past.
FT.com

africa, EU, migration

The Mediterranean as the New Berlin Wall

  Publicerad av Emanuel Sidea

“Migration will be the first challenge for Europe in the years to come,” Franco Frattini, EU commissioner for justice and security issues, said in an interview. “Fortunately, for the first time there is a consensus,” he added, that European nations must work with Africa to address the issue effectively. (…)
The agreements (…) include pledges from European nations to provide more temporary work visas for African migrants and to make it easier for them to send remittances back home.
International Herald Tribune

EU, innovation

Behövs mer innovation i Europa

  Publicerad av Emanuel Sidea

EU-kommissionen har tidigare utsett en expertgrupp som ska avgöra på vilka områden Europa ska satsa på för att klara av globaliseringens utmaningar.

Rapporten gruppen lade fram 20 januari 2006, under ledning av Finlands fd premiärminister Esko Aho, kom fram till att viktigast är satsningen på forskning och innovation.

Förslaget är att anta en stategi som fokuserar på:

• skapa en innovationsvänlig marknad
• stärka området inom forskning och utveckling
• öka strukturell mobilitet
• och fostra en kultur av innovation.

Aho Group Report “Creating an Innovative Europe”