I left New Zealand mid-2003, bound for Istanbul and a new lif. After two years, a Belgian guy lured me into his world, deep in the heart of Europe. For a long time I was an in-process immigrant. One day we married. These days it's about photography, a little red wine and wandering ... and so the journey goes.
Monday, September 04, 2006
An article on the importance of bringing Turkey into the EU
I guess the questions of labour mobility have not yet been properly addressed in the EU, with many Belgians (and most Europeans) feeling threatened by cheap incoming "Eastern" labour and the ongoing relocation towards these "new" EU countries.
When eg Poland joined the EU the number of legal, working Polish immigrants doubled in Belgium, while many Belgian jobs were lost by companies relocating to the cheaper Eastern newcomers.
This fact would not be a problem, if these new EU nations had comparable wages or social security system.
Unfortunately, the new EU countries tend to be poor, have millions of more than willing economic migrants and attract multinationals with their huge pool of cheap labour.
Regardless of politics or religion, these economic issues should have been addressed before admitting new countries into the EU.
Hi Peter, I do enjoy when you pop over and comment :)
I'm intrigued by the way Belgium maintains the standards it maintains ... love it, obviously, but the backs of the unions were broken in New Zealand back in the early 80s.
And how the globalised workforce hasn't stolen work from Belgian workers also stuns me ... impresses me really, that you still have the car assembly factories here and good conditions.
I read an intriguing article the other day and posted it ... posted it comparing it to another article on the same topic (postive versus negative spin). The topic ... the invading hordes from 'other' new EU countries.
The postive story was in The Independent here http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article1221080.ece
Andrew Grice and Jonathan Brown wrote: 'The positive impact of the influx of migrant workers from eastern Europe on the British economy has enabled Gordon Brown to hit his growth targets, according to a new study.
Roland Rudd, chairman of Business for New Europe, said the rewards could be felt across the economy. "As well as Polish plumbers and property investors, the UK economy benefits from Hungarians in hospitality, Estonian engineers, Czech caterers and Slovakian scientists. This is because of our open labour markets following the EU enlargement of 2004. We have reaped the reward of this approach. We should abandon it at our peril."
Anyway, perhaps all of this is a moot point, the Turks are kind of tired of all the rubbish that is being thrown at them by the EU ... and living there two years gave me a taste of the actuality of their lives as compared to the ridiculous spin news organisations like CNN put on Turkish news items.
We were mixed group of nationalities there ... NZ, American, English and Scottish ... all disgusted by the 'news' and its spin ... laughing because it was so bad, and if we couldn't laughed ... we would have had to cry.
I don't know, I see your point but it's so much more important to the stability of the world and to the 'western construct or fortress' that Turkey is allowed to be all that she is.
I was riding the tram to the city this morning, thinking about your comment, hoping I could be lucid and clear in my response :) I hope I was.
Although I admire Turkey for succesfully separating religion and government, I still have my doubts about the enlarged "fortress Europe", especially when I take into account the numbers of local jobs that were already relocated towards the East during the past few years.
Belgium is a very small country. With an estimated 400,000 people out of work, the need for import labour is limited and must focus on those jobs no Belgians can be found for.
Indeed, Antwerp still has its car assembly plants and its large port (mainly due to location+high productivity), but the economy in Southern Belgium has virtually collapsed. Take a weekend to discover the bleaker site of Belgium by visting cities like Charleroi or La Louviere: the gloomy sight of endless kilometres with windy, closed down factories is frightening.
As long as W-Europe is battling high unemployment, taking care of ones own population should prevail.
I still strongly believe that simply opening the borders for the sake of a stronger Europe will result in more unemployment and local unstability.
A close friend of mine (an engineer, late 30s) lost his job when the whole plant relocated to Poland. One year later he's still working for an Antwerp home-delivery service, at a fraction of the wage he used to earn.
I know I focus heavily on jobs, but I'm sure the Turks think along the same economic lines.
4 comments:
I guess the questions of labour mobility have not yet been properly addressed in the EU, with many Belgians (and most Europeans) feeling threatened by cheap incoming "Eastern" labour and the ongoing relocation towards these "new" EU countries.
When eg Poland joined the EU the number of legal, working Polish immigrants doubled in Belgium, while many Belgian jobs were lost by companies relocating to the cheaper Eastern newcomers.
This fact would not be a problem, if these new EU nations had comparable wages or social security system.
Unfortunately, the new EU countries tend to be poor, have millions of more than willing economic migrants and attract multinationals with their huge pool of cheap labour.
Regardless of politics or religion, these economic issues should have been addressed before admitting new countries into the EU.
Some good points here. Thanks for the link.
Hi Peter, I do enjoy when you pop over and comment :)
I'm intrigued by the way Belgium maintains the standards it maintains ... love it, obviously, but the backs of the unions were broken in New Zealand back in the early 80s.
And how the globalised workforce hasn't stolen work from Belgian workers also stuns me ... impresses me really, that you still have the car assembly factories here and good conditions.
I read an intriguing article the other day and posted it ... posted it comparing it to another article on the same topic (postive versus negative spin). The topic ... the invading hordes from 'other' new EU countries.
The postive story was in The Independent here http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article1221080.ece
Andrew Grice and Jonathan Brown wrote: 'The positive impact of the influx of migrant workers from eastern Europe on the British economy has enabled Gordon Brown to hit his growth targets, according to a new study.
Roland Rudd, chairman of Business for New Europe, said the rewards could be felt across the economy. "As well as Polish plumbers and property investors, the UK economy benefits from Hungarians in hospitality, Estonian engineers, Czech caterers and Slovakian scientists. This is because of our open labour markets following the EU enlargement of 2004. We have reaped the reward of this approach. We should abandon it at our peril."
Anyway, perhaps all of this is a moot point, the Turks are kind of tired of all the rubbish that is being thrown at them by the EU ... and living there two years gave me a taste of the actuality of their lives as compared to the ridiculous spin news organisations like CNN put on Turkish news items.
We were mixed group of nationalities there ... NZ, American, English and Scottish ... all disgusted by the 'news' and its spin ... laughing because it was so bad, and if we couldn't laughed ... we would have had to cry.
I don't know, I see your point but it's so much more important to the stability of the world and to the 'western construct or fortress' that Turkey is allowed to be all that she is.
I was riding the tram to the city this morning, thinking about your comment, hoping I could be lucid and clear in my response :) I hope I was.
A pleaure paris parfait.
Di, thanks for the personal reply ;)
Although I admire Turkey for succesfully separating religion and government, I still have my doubts about the enlarged "fortress Europe", especially when I take into account the numbers of local jobs that were already relocated towards the East during the past few years.
Belgium is a very small country. With an estimated 400,000 people out of work, the need for import labour is limited and must focus on those jobs no Belgians can be found for.
Indeed, Antwerp still has its car assembly plants and its large port (mainly due to location+high productivity), but the economy in Southern Belgium has virtually collapsed. Take a weekend to discover the bleaker site of Belgium by visting cities like Charleroi or La Louviere: the gloomy sight of endless kilometres with windy, closed down factories is frightening.
As long as W-Europe is battling high unemployment, taking care of ones own population should prevail.
I still strongly believe that simply opening the borders for the sake of a stronger Europe will result in more unemployment and local unstability.
A close friend of mine (an engineer, late 30s) lost his job when the whole plant relocated to Poland. One year later he's still working for an Antwerp home-delivery service, at a fraction of the wage he used to earn.
I know I focus heavily on jobs, but I'm sure the Turks think along the same economic lines.
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