ENLARGING THE EUROPEAN
UNION AND THE FUTURE OF EUROPE
Basic idea of the conference was to
inform journalists about the opportunities and challenges that will be brought about by
enlarging the European Union and motivates them to report more about this. in as such as
the structures and relations of countries towards one another will change fundamentally as
a result of this process, gaining an understanding of each other is especially important.
Without this mutual understanding, opening of
markets, harmonizing policies, and transferring government responsibilities would
encounter reservations and rejection among people in the candidate countries as well as in
the EU member states.
The former European Economic Community will
be based on shared values that offer the young democracies of Eastern Europe security and
stability, give them access to an open common market, and help them enjoy common values
and standards as they participate in the political system of an enlarged EU made up of
nearly 30 countries. Then Europe's position in a globalized world will be quite prominent.
In order to carry out successful public
relations efforts in this direction, it will be necessary to involve everyone concerned
more strongly in a public on the future of Europe aimed, on the one hand, at reducing
reservations and fears, and, on the other, at making clear the great opportunities held
out by the European Union for a common future.
On April 1, 2001, conference participants
were given an opportunity to see the development the German Capital, Bonn, has undergone
in recent years. The way, in which challenges posed in creating new common structures in a
city that was divided for decades, the enormous volume of building activity and the
emergence of a new political identity made a strong impression the participants.
Foreign office State Secretary Gunter Pleuger
opened the conference by informing the attending journalists of the German position
regard8ng EU enlargement to the east and the status of negotiations after the summit
conference in Nice. Despite much criticism, Pleuger expressed his conviction that the
strategic objective had been achieved at the Nice summit, which is paving the way for EU
membership by the candidate countries.
Within a year it will be possible to start
negotiating with the frontrunner candidates on when they will become EU members. In this
context, there is a need to clarify the question as to whether the candidates for
membership should be grouped together or whether they should be admitted to the EU
individually.
In the EU there is agreement the Poland as a
country with a large population and dynamic economic growth, will be one of the candidates
for early EU membership. Pleuger said this was very important for Germany, given the close
relations it has with Poland.
A discussion dealing with potentials for
deepening the European Union, for example through increased cooperation in the legal and
security policy areas, was followed y a paper given y the deputy director of the European
Union Representation in Berlin, Hans-Georg Gerstenlauer, on the subject Prospects for and
Status of the Enlargement Negotiations from the Standpoint of the European
Commission."
Gerstenlauer regards lack of European public
opinion as a deficit. He says we stand before a historical opportunity of completing
European unification, a process, which explicitly provided for accession by the Eastern
European countries in the Treaties of Rome, signed in 1957.
Like Pleugher, Gerstenlauer thinks the Nice
summit brought the progress needed to make the EU ready to admit new members by 2002.
Gerstenlauer emphasizes the economic advantages that would arise for the EU by creating a
common internal market.
He dismisses widespread fears that eastward
enlargement of the EU could lead to "major migratory movements," saying that
analytic forecasts did not confirm this. an influx of immigrants in the countries of
western Europe is seen as desirable as a result of the demographic situation. A
"fortress Europe" will not be created, since EU will continue to intensify its
relations with Russia and Ukraine.
"Freedom of Movement for workers in the
context of EU Enlargement" was the focus of Woplfgang Husemann, Coordinator for EU
Enlargement at the Federal Ministry for Labor and Social Affairs. He asks whether current
regulations on immigration are adequate in view of forecasts predicting large-scale
improvement of the employment situation in Germany by 2011. "The country needs
immigrants", Husemann says and advocates "flexible transition periods with
regard to freedom of movement for workers for new member countries".
Steffen Kern, Senior Economist for Economic,
Banking and European Policy at Deutsche Bank research in Frankfurt (Main) sees the
prospect of enlarging the European Monetary Union (EMU) as not being realistic for another
six years. Due to the close trade relations between the EU and the candidate countries,
the conditions for this are already given in some cases.
Markets of some candidate countries have
already been deregulated to a large extent. Eastern European countries in question have
made "considerable progress in fighting inflation and with regard to long-term
interest rates".
According to Kern, income equality is
"not an absolutely necessary prerequisite for accession". He says regional
income differentials exist in the EU at present and also in the United States, adding with
a confident tone that second half of this decade".
Ulrike Guerot of the German Council of
Foreign Relations in Berlin saw the "real problems" for the candidate countries
less in economic matters and more in the process of adapting their legal and
administrative systems to bring them in line with EU standards. Hermann Ribhegge speaks
about the effects of enlargement of the eastern German states and their border regions.
The professor of economy at the European
University Vladrina in Frankfurt (Oder) predicts considerable effects on the local job
market caused by some 200,000 cross-border commuters. His conclusion with regard to
eastward enlargement: "Both sides will win, but there will be winners and losers ion
both sides". He says European consumers will be major winners in an enlarged Europe
due to expected drops in consumer prices.
Bernhard Welschke of the Federation of German
Industries in Berlin says German industry hopes to gain access to markets as well as
skilled labor in the candidate countries. With regard to freedom of movement for workers
from these countries, the Federation of Germany Industries favors a flexible plan for
creating a deregulated job market.
"We must not rely on defensive
protective measures", Welschke says. He indicates that with regard to environmental
standards there is a need for "transition periods with clear-cut requirements".
At a reception given at the Hungarian
Residence in Berlin on Monday, the Ambassador of the Republic of Hungary, Gergely Prohle,
presented his country's policy in the frame work of the current negotiations on accession
to the European. He makes it clear in this context that it is an urgent objective for the
Republic of Hungary to achieve EU membership at the earliest possible point in time.
He indicates that acceptance of EU membership
in the Hungarian population was more than 70 percent, adding that Hungary's economic
situation is stable and future-oriented and that the unemployment rate is low. He says
there has been strong support for EU membership since 1990 and that he hopes it will now
be possible to complete accession procedures in the course of the next two or three years.
Professor Karl Schlogel of the European
University Vladrina in Frankfurt (Oder) presented a paper on the subject Cultural Benefit
of EU Enlargement for Europe's identity; the cultural historian sees in the European
experience of the past 10 years an " experimental field for testing new
policies". What is needed now is an analysis of the cultural effects of the changes
that have taken place. Schlogel:"We are witnessing a process of
deprovincialisation" and the rise of "new Europeanism".
At the Federal Ministry of Consumer
Protection, Food and Agriculture in Berlin, Parliamentary State Secretary Gerald Thalheim
presented the German position on agriculture and consumer protection in the accession
negotiations. He notes that enlargement will involve risks for the agricultural markets,
but could also create opportunities. Decisions resulting from efforts aimed at improving
food security and the next WTO round "will prepare us for eastward enlargement,"
Thalheim says.
After that, participants had an opportunity
to talk with foreign policy adviser Michael Steiner at the Chancellery on the German in an
enlarged Europe. Steiner says he sees winning the support of the people as a key
prerequisite for enlargement to the east. He indicates that in Germany efforts will be
made to ensure that "no one will be able to misuse the issue for the election
campaign next year". Steiner notes he is optimistic, because there has been a change
in thinking in the countries of southeaster Europe. Whereas two or three years ago the
opinion still predominated that northern European counties stood to profit most from
enlargement, now the conviction is widespread that it could also lead to growth in
southern Europe "simply because the market is bigger".
The last scheduled event in the conference
was a visit to the German Press and Information Office. Deputy Director of the Press
Office, Peter Ruhenstroth-Bauer, presented the functions it carries out and the media
strategy it pursues.
Competent comments made by conference
participants showed they are well prepared to report more actively on this subject in the
future. They view the journalistic work on the enlargement of the European Union as an
important challenge. Berlin correspondents and press attaches from eastern and
southeastern European countries attended the conference as guests.
Text courtesy: Made In Germany, volume
XIX, Number 3, 2001, Embassy of Germany, Kathmandu.
ALAIN CONNES, MATHEMATICS
AND FRENCH EXCELLENCE
Sophie BARRAU, France
On 26th September, Alain Connes will receive
the Crafoord 2001 prize from the hands of His Majesty the King of Sweden. This prize
awarded by the Royal Academy of Sweden, honors researchers whose subjects are not rewarded
by a Nobel Prize. The fact that it has been given to a French mathematician once again
emphasizes the extraordinary vitality of the French School of Mathematics.
Alain Connes, who is considered as one
of the best mathematics in the world and who is professor at the prestigious Institut des
Hautes Etudes Scientifiques (Institute for Higher Scientific Studies) and at the College
de France as well as being a member of the French Academy of Sciences and the National
Academy of Science in the United States, has once again been rewarded at the highest
level. The Swedish Royal Academy of Science has indeed awarded him the Confoord 2001 prize
<for his important work in the area of the theory of the algebra of operators and for
having been one of the founders of non-commutative geometry>. Let us remember that,
geometry as it has developed since Descrates is based on the idea of points defined in
systems of co-ordinates. Geometric properties are reflected by the properties of functions
whose variables are represented by points in space. The algebra's which are built in this
way are generally <commutative>. An operation is said to be commutative when its
result is independent from the order of the variables making it up. Ordinary
multiplication provides a good example of this: A*B=B*A.
Alain Connes, who was born in Draguignan in
the Var Department on 1st April 1947, studied at the prestigious Paris Ecole Normale
Superieure College from 1966 to 1970. In 1979, he was given the chair of Leon Motchane at
the IHES located in Bures-sur-Yvette, near Paris. He also holds the chair of Professor in
analysis and geometry at the College de France. In the 80s, Alain Connes revolutionized
the theory of the algebra of operators and solved most of the problems posed in this area.
As a result, in 1983, he was awarded the Fields medal, which is the equivalent of the
Nobel Prize for mathematics. It was at this time that Alain Connes started to develop
non-commutative geometry. The results of his work will be officially honored on 26th
September. The King of Sweden will present the Crafoord prize to him during a ceremony at
the Swedish Royal Academy of Science. On that occasion, Alain Connes will receive a gold
medal and a sum of 500,000 dollars. This news once again attests to the excellent
situation that the land of Pascal, Fermat and Poincare holds on the world mathematics
scene.
It is not just by chance that France has
received seven of the 42 Fields medals which have been awarded in just over half a
century. France is now the third world power for mathematics after the United States and
Russia. Participation in international conferences and publications by researchers confirm
the vitality of the 2,500 to 3,000 French mathematicians. At the opening of the 3rd
European mathematics conference, which was held last year in Barcelona, 10 young
researchers aged under 32 were selected by the jury for their promising work. The French
mathematics society congratulates itself that four of them were French. In the Paris area,
there is a special, prestigious place where mathematicians can develop and give concrete
form to their research in complete freedom. It is the prestigious Instyitut des Hautes
Etudes Scientifiques (IHES) (Institute for Higher Scientific Studies). Nestling in 12
hectares (30 acres) of parkland in the Essonne departement, this temple of knowledge and
scientific meditation seems to withdraw into a sort of fertile fulfillment. Yet this
institute is not closed up on itself. It was created in 1958, based on the famous Advanced
Studies at Princeton, founded by Robert Oppenheimer in 1930 and whose first tow permanent
professors were Albert Einstein and John von Neumann. The IHES came into being as the
result of the desire of one man, Leon Motchane, the son of a Russian and Swiss family, who
had emigrated to France after studying mathematics and physics. He started out by running
a company and then, at the age of 54, defended his thesis in mathematics. Leon Motchane
had the idea for the present institute from 1949 and he met Robert Oppenheimer about this.
a close up of the director (appointed for eight years), the permanent professors, and a
small number of scientists all of whom are co-opted by the former for six years. In
addition to Alain Connes, the permanent teaching staff at the IHES forms an impressive
portrait gallery. The illustrious figures include Rene Thom (winner of the Field medal in
1958) famous for his theory of catastrophes, Pierre Deligne (winner of the Field medal in
1982), Louis Michel the first physicist recruited, David Ruelle the inventor of strange
attractors, Thibault Damour a specialist in general relativity and Mikhael Gromov, a
geometer. More than 1000 researchers have passed through the IHES between 1978 and today.
From Sudan to Vietnam and including Greece, the listr of nationalities is long. The only
frontier recognised by the IHES is the one between pure and applied mathematics. In the
French daily Le Monde, Alain Connes declares, <There is no mathematics, which are
better than others>. For Alian Connes, mathematics is <a quest for truth in its most
secret recesses>. |
