Probably not many people waking up next Sunday 21 March will be aware that it is the International Day of Forests — but they should be.
Continue readingTag Archives: Central and Eastern Europe
Pay emerging markets to help stop climate change
Among developed countries investors, there are various interpretations of the strength of the commitment to environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in emerging markets, ranging from the cynical to the idealistic.
The cynical view would be that there can be no “real” ESG in emerging markets because too often they are plagued by corruption, therefore investors cannot trust what companies in these countries report.
The idealistic view, on the other hand, would see every little step towards introducing ESG as a wonderful sign that these countries are finally deciding to adopt the same values as Western democracies.
While both extremes are wrong, sadly even the moderate take misses the main difference between emerging markets and developed ones: the effect of development itself on ESG — and in particular on the “E”.
Brexit is not the only attack on EU freedoms
Brexit may be the most prominent attack on the European Union’s four freedoms, but it is by no means the only one. Subtler attacks are multiplying. If they are allowed to continue unchallenged, the EU will eventually crumble.
Increasingly authoritarian Romania takes over EU presidency
If Brexit does happen on March 29 this year, it will happen under the strangest possible presidency of the European Union: the Romanian presidency. While the role of president of the EU is all about openness, transparency and a love of democracy, the Romanian government seems to increase its preference for the opposites of these features.
The European Union’s most corrupt countries
A study about corruption published in December puts forth an interesting, and troubling, conclusion: some countries in the European Union perceive themselves as less corrupt than they actually are.
Emmanuel Macron’s ‘posted workers’ reforms smell of populism
French President Emmanuel Macron went to Central and Eastern Europe recently to ask officials there to support his plan to change the legislation regarding posted workers, to prevent it being abused.
In essence, the posted workers’ directive allows one company in a member state of the European Union to send its workers to work on projects in another member state, but still pay them less than local workers. This is because, while the company has to abide by local minimum wage rules, things like tax or social security payments are still made in the country of origin.
Romanians show the world the dangers of voting for populists
There were massive protests in Romania against a return of times when acts of corruption went unpunished. The protests lasted for two weeks, the biggest the country had seen since the 1989 revolution that culminated with the execution of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
Europe must learn how to share
I once heard a very funny story about how a little girl learned about sharing: her mother, after giving her a chocolate bar, asked her to give a quarter of it to a friend. “This, Mary, is sharing. It is important that you learn how to do it,” the mother said.
The mother then turned to a friend she was having a conversation with. They continued chatting, but were soon interrupted by the daughter’s crying. “Sweetie, what’s the matter?” asked the mother, astonished. Big tears running down her cheeks, the little girl answered: “Mary is learning to share!”
The Eastern European scapegoat proves the EU is working
I was reading the other day on the blog of excellent Bucharest-based economist Radu Craciun his latest article: “Is Eastern Europe the EU’s scapegoat?” When I read the headline, I thought the article was about Brexit; but in fact, Radu writes about how some experts in the EU claim that the single currency was created as a way to maintain the unity of the Union after it expanded “too rapidly” to the East.
Well, that’s new. I didn’t realise that, besides causing English people to behave irrationally against their own interests and vote to leave the world’s biggest trading bloc, Eastern Europeans are also guilty of inspiring what could turn out to be the world’s least successful currency union.
Emerging Europe consumption at highest since 2008
Emerging markets have been in the doldrums recently but one region, which had been hard hit by the eurozone crisis, seems to be getting ready for a brisk upturn now.