A De-Escalation of Folly

Jessica Wright — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:12:50 +0000

Author:

Jessica Wright

Paul Collier is a respected economist, Professor at the University of Oxford, and former director of the Development Research Group at the World Bank. Collier is a specialist in the economic, political, and development issues of poor countries, and last week took environmentalists to task in an article in the London Times. He calls environmentalism the "religion of our times", and says, "we are more inclined to moralise about nature than to understand the science and economics underlying it" (see article linked below for all quote references).

His important message comes down to the following points:

1. We can't afford to mess up agriculture because it... feeds us. He says, "... the moral high ground in the West has become occupied by romantic environmentalists, often aristocrats, who view modern scientific agriculture with distaste".

2. Developing countries can't afford romantic environmentalism. "While Europe shot itself in the foot (by banning GMO's or genetically modified organism technology), Africa copied the decision and duly shot itself in the heart. Faced by fast population growth and a deteriorating climate, Africa needs rapid crop adaptation more than any other region".

3. The "small is beautiful mythology" is false and dangerous. "For 40 years their efforts to raise the productivity of African agriculture have been exclusively focused on small farmers. Our non-governmental organisations tend to face both ways, wanting development without change; Africa’s peasants are to be preserved in aspic. Yet this is not how our own agriculture became more productive: our peasantry vanished for a simple reason — it was inefficient".

As he states near the end of the article, what we need is a "mutual de-escalation of folly".

Read the entire article here

(Photo from: guardian.co.uk)

70% Against an Ireland Bailout

Wolfgang Müller — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Amidst the ongoing recession and speculation about the extent to which EU member states can or will help each other out, the Institute for Free Enterprise in Berlin, in collaboration with Open Europe, published a new poll which shows that 70% of Germans are against using public money to bail out other countries that have gotten into financial difficulties. This is in spite of indications from the German government that it may be planning to offer financial help to some countries, particularly Ireland.

Voters were asked:

"In the course of the current economic and financial crisis, individual countries such as Ireland and Greece have got into financial difficulties. The German Federal Government has indicated that Germany would be prepared to financially support countries like Ireland "which have been hit quite hard by the banking crisis". With this in mind, which of the following comes closest to your view?"

24.8% agreed with the statement "I believe that German taxpayers' money should be spent on helping countries like Ireland or Greece."

70.9% agreed with the statement "I believe that German taxpayers' money should not be spent on helping countries like Ireland or Greece."

3.4% said they don't know.

A representative sample of 1010 people of voting age (18+) in Germany were polled between 8 and 10 June by German polling company Psyma.

Click here to see the results (Download in PDF)

Click here to download the press release in PDF

Wolfgang Müller from the Institute for Free Enterprise said:

"Germany is already Europe's sugar daddy. The poll confirms that Germany's taxpayers are not willing to accept an ever increasing fiscal burden. At a time when Germany's financial equalisation scheme between the federal government and the states is under increasing scrutiny, there is a need to reward the achievers and not to increase redistribution. Even if the economic and fiscal policy in most EU countries is just an average, we must reward good economic policy rather than punishing it. Ireland's bail out would send the wrong signals to the governments in the EU."

"We have to avoid that Germany's government starts providing generous support to Ireland, because every cent of this exercise will lead to higher taxes, more debt and will therefore endanger Germany's competitiveness - with higher unemployment and an even deeper economic downturn looming on the horizon."

"The silently mentioned plan to use the bail out to "buy" Ireland's Yes vote to the Lisbon treaty is a typical example of hypocritical policy-making and must be fettly rejected on the grounds of political hygiene."

Lorraine Mullally of Open Europe said:

"As the global recession limbers on, there's been a lot of talk about the possibility of fetter EU member states bailing out the weaker ones, but until now no-one has asked what voters think. Any plan to bail out EU countries depends on the willingness of German taxpayers to cough up - and this poll clearly shows they are not keen."

"In particular, there have been suggestions that Ireland will somehow be offered a lifeline in this crisis, if only they show their appreciation of ‘Europe' and vote in favour of the Lisbon Treaty. It's important that Irish voters realise there is no appetite among German voters for such a rescue package, which will make it very difficult to achieve in practice."

"To suggest otherwise is dishonest and very misleading."

Background:

• In recent months there have been increasing suggestions in Germany that countries struggling in the recession may need to be bailed out by other countries. Exactly how this would be done is not clear, but it is widely acknowledged that Germany would bear the lion's share of the costs involved.

• On 18 February 2009, German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said: "If one euro zone gets into trouble, then collectively we will have to be helpful." According to Der Spiegel magazine, "For German taxpayers, this would be no small sum. If Germany were to pay into a bailout based on its size relative to other euro zone countries, it would be forced to cover one-fourth of the entire tab."

• In February the Financial Times Deutschland quoted Peter Bofinger, Member of the German Council of Economic Experts, saying that a German bailout operation of other eurozone countries "could cost the taxpayer about 1.5 billion euro per year".

• According to Der Spiegel magazine, the German Finance Ministry has come up with several draft scenarios for rescue measures. One involves Germany issuing ‘bilateral bonds' to raise money for struggling countries; another involves groups of several member states collectively floating a bond; a third involves using a clause in the EU treaties which allows it to provide aid if a member state is facing extraordinary circumstances - which would mean the EU taking out its own loans on capital markets for the first time; and a fourth involves an aid package provided by the IMF.

• EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia sparked controversy in March when he said: "If a crisis emerges in one eurozone country, there is a solution before visiting the IMF. Don't forget we are equipped to interact politically and economically to face the crisis, but these kinds of things should not be explained publicly."

• In June, Times columnist Anatole Kaletsky wrote that: "Germany is at the heart of a huge plan to prop up crippled EU economies - not that the German people would ever know."

• In March, the Irish Times reported that: "Unofficially, leading figures in Berlin admit that assistance for several EU members, including Ireland, is all but inevitable."

• Indeed, specific reference has repeatedly been made to the possibility of helping Ireland. Peer Steinbrueck said: "We have a number of countries in the eurozone that are clearly getting into trouble on their payments", adding that "Ireland is in a very difficult situation". He said: "The euro-region treaties do not foresee any help for insolvent states, but in reality the others would have to rescue those running into difficulty."

• Shortly afterwards, these comments were echoed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a speech to the foreign press in Berlin. The Irish Times reported that: "In an unprompted reference to Ireland in the course of an address yesterday, Dr Merkel gave the fettest signal yet that Berlin may act under Article 100 of the Maastricht Treaty, allowing financial assistance to be given to countries experiencing ‘difficulties caused by natural disasters or exceptional occurrences beyond its control'."

• She said: "Of course there is a certain interpretative room to manoeuvre in the stability and growth pact and a country like Ireland that has been hit quite hard by the banking crisis is clearly in a different situation to a country like Slovakia with fewer banks. We have shown solidarity and that will remain so."

• Some people even appear to be implicitly link the outcome of the upcoming second Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty to the possibility of Ireland securing financial help from other member states.

• The main Irish campaign in favour of the Lisbon Treaty, Generation Yes, lists among its 5 reasons for voting yes: "Our best chance for an economic recovery: Ireland can't fight global economic forces on its own, in this financial storm the EU is Ireland's safe harbour."

• Similarly, on 25 June, German MEP Jo Leinen said the Irish must vote "Yes" if they wish to continue to benefit from the "protective umbrella" the EU provides.

• In March, the German Ambassador to Ireland, Christian Pauls, warned that Ireland would "throw away its future" if it voted No to the Lisbon Treaty for a second time. He said, "A second No would have horrific consequences for Ireland and I am not the first to say it. I don't think there is anything particularly new in that."

• Several commentators have expressed doubt about the possibilities for such a ‘bailout'. The Former Chief Economist at the ECB, Otmar Issing, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that it would be a catastrophe to water down the ‘no bailout' clause in the EU treaties, arguing that it would spell an end to "the political stability of the monetary union". He said that in order for financial discipline to prevail every member state must be responsible for its own debt and deficits: "without this there would be no end", he said.

• Current ECB Chief Economist Jürgen Stark has said "the ban preventing the EU and its member states from taking responsibility for the debts of partner countries is an important foundation needed for the currency union to function."

• Karl Otto Pohl, former President of Germany's Bundesbank, said that if Germany decided to bail out other members of the eurozone it would open a Pandora's Box, adding "It would be like jumping in a swimming pool without water".

Notes for Editors

1) For more information, please contact Lorraine Mullally on 0044 207 197 2333, Pieter Cleppe on 0032 25408625 or Wolfgang Müller on 0049 30 6920 80030.

2) Open Europe is an independent think-tank calling for reform of the European Union. Its supporters include: Sir Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman, Marks and Spencer plc; Sir Crispin Davis, Former Chief Executive, Reed Elsevier Group plc; Sir David Lees, Chairman, Tate and Lyle plc; Sir Henry Keswick, Chairman, Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd; Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover KG, Life President, J Sainsbury plc; Sir John Egan, Chairman, Severn Trent plc and Lord Kalms of Edgware, President, DSG International plc.

Climate Change Reconsidered

Jessica Wright — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:00:00 +0000

NIPCC Report

The Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) released an 880-page book challenging the scientific basis of claims that global warming is man-made and has harmful effects. This extensive rebuttal of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), three years in the making, was released in June 2009 by The Heartland Institute. Coauthored by S. Fred Singer, PhD and Craig Idso, PhD, the report provides an independent examination of the evidence available on the causes and consequences of climate change. It includes many research papers ignored by the IPCC, plus additional scientific results that were made available after the IPCC deadline of May 2006.

If you would like to read the NIPCC book, you can buy the full 800 page report in commercial bookshops or download the full text from the NIPCC website here.

Climate Change Reconsidered
by: S. Fred Singer and Craig Idso
ISBN: 13-978-1-934791-28-8
$154 USD paperback

Calls for a Referendum on the Lisbon Treaty

Jessica Wright — Thu, 28 May 2009 21:21:02 +0000

Project with Open Europe

On 30 June the German Constitutional Court ruled on the compatibility of the Lisbon Treaty with the German Constitution. Ahead of the decision, the Institute for Free Enterprise in collaboration with Open Europe published a new poll which shows that 77% of Germans want to be given a say on the Lisbon Treaty in a national referendum.

Voters were asked:

"Do you think that German voters should be given the opportunity to have their say on the new EU Treaty in a national referendum?"

77.3% said yes, 20.7% said no, and 1.9% said they don't know.

A representative sample of 1010 people of voting age (18+) in Germany were polled between 8 and 10 June by German polling company Psyma. Click here to see the results: http://www.openeurope.org.uk/research/psymaen.pdf

Open Europe Director Lorraine Mullally said:
"This poll clearly shows that it is not only the Irish who want to be consulted on the Lisbon Treaty. This Treaty transfers significant powers from the national to the EU level, and German voters want to be given a say."

"Politicians claim they want to see more debate about the EU at national level, and yet they have conspired to deny voters a say on the Lisbon Treaty. Research shows that referendums on European issues significantly improve the public's interest in and knowledge of the EU - so referendums should be encouraged, not avoided at all costs."

"If politicians want people to connect with the EU, they should give them a say on the big issues like Treaty change. The public are crying out to be consulted - it is time to stop pretending that politicians know best, and inject some democracy into EU politics."

Background

There have increasingly been calls in Germany for a referendum on major EU issues, including on transfers of powers to the EU level.

The 2009 European election manifesto of the CSU party, which is part of the current governing coalition, said: "We want to connect citizens closer to important questions on Europe's future by making more use of referendums in the decision making process. This will be the case, when important competences of the member states are transferred to Europe or when the European family is enlarged with more member states".[1]

Bavarian Minister-President Horst Seehofer has said: "We want the population to be asked before German competences are irrevocably transferred to Brussels. The population should also be asked before more member states enter the EU."[2]

Gesine Schwan, the Social Democrats' nominee for the German Presidency has said: "a renewal of Europe is possible with referendums".[3]

Silvana Koch-Mehrin, leader of the German liberals in the European Parliament, said: "Without a referendum in Europe the growing gap between the EU and its citizens will keep on growing."[4]

Although the German Constitution only permits referendums at the local level, Article 146 suggests a referendum may be called if the constitutional order in the country is changed to the detriment of Germany's constitution. According to German newspaper Suedeutsche Zeitung this means the Court could ask for a referendum on the Treaty.[5]

The German Constitutional Court is currently considering whether or not the EU Lisbon Treaty is compatible with the German Constitution. It is expected to rule in favour of Lisbon. However, German press agency DPA reported this week that "nobody expects a complete 'No'" from the judges, adding that "a 'yes, but' is considered a possibility."[6] During the proceedings several judges have made some very critical remarks about the Treaty. Reporting Judge Udo Di Fabio said: "One has to ask soberly: What competences are left with the Bundestag (the German parliament) in the end?"[7] He also bluntly asked "whether it would not be more honest to just proclaim a European federal state".[8]

On the transfer of powers to the EU, he said: "Is the idea of going ever more in this direction not a threat to freedom?"

Judge Dietrich Murswiek said, "The Treaty cannot be understood by anyone". He added: "It is a gigantic camouflage. Words evoking a European state are carefully avoided, just so that France and The Netherlands don't start complaining that they are not allowed a referendum".[9]

EU politicians talk a lot about wanting to "listen to citizens", but are increasingly hostile to the idea of giving people a say on EU issues through national referendums. This is because they fear a growing tendency to reject further EU integration, as seen in the recent French, Dutch and Irish 'no' votes.Irish Europe Minister Dick Roche said in the aftermath of the Irish 'no' vote that "the first thing to learn about referendums - is to avoid them."[10] Former Commission President Jacques Santer added: "A referendum is good for democracy; it is not always good for a country. We need to make a distinction between democracy and what is good for the country."[11] The author of the original EU Constitution, former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, has explained the reason why it was renamed the Lisbon Treaty, saying: "Above all, it is to avoid having a referendum."[12]

Ireland is the only country that has been allowed to vote on the Lisbon Treaty, despite a clear majority in favour of a referendum in every single EU country. A March 2007 poll of voters in all EU countries found that 75% of people across the EU want a national referendum on any new treaty which gives more powers to the EU .[13]

Research shows that referendums on EU issues result in significantly higher levels of interest in and knowledge about the EU. A 2007 report by Matt Qvortrup, Professor of Government at the Robert Gordon University, found that citizens' knowledge about politics is higher in countries that allow more citizen participation. It found that according to polls taken in countries that have held referendums on European integration, such as Ireland, France and Denmark, respondents could answer twice as many questions correctly about EU institutions as could respondents from Germany, Italy and Belgium - countries that had not held referendums on the EU. In fact, a representative sample of Danish voters during the 1992 referendum campaign on the Maastricht Treaty showed they actually knew more about the treaty than the average backbench MP.[14]

Professor Qvortrup found that voters in Switzerland were more enlightened about the EU than their opposite numbers in Germany, despite the fact that Germany is a founding member of the European Communities, while Switzerland is outside the EU. Professor Qvortrup concluded that this is a more or less direct result of the frequent use of referendums in Switzerland.In the recent elections to the European Parliament, Ireland had one of the highest turnout rates of all member states, with a greater proportion of voters turning out in Ireland than in some countries where voting is compulsory - such as Greece. Turnout was 58.6% in Ireland, compared with an EU average of 43%.[15] It cannot be a coincidence that Ireland recently held a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
Notes for the Editors
1) For more information, please contact Lorraine Mullally on 0044 207 197 2333 or 0044 7817 027911.2)
Open Europe is an independent think-tank calling for reform of the European Union. Its supporters include: Sir Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman, Marks and Spencer plc; Sir Crispin Davis, Former Chief Executive, Reed Elsevier Group plc; Sir David Lees, Chairman, Tate and Lyle plc; Sir Henry Keswick, Chairman, Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd; Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover KG, Life President, J Sainsbury plc; Sir John Egan, Chairman, Severn Trent plc and Lord Kalms of Edgware, President, DSG International plc.

For a full list, please click here:http://www.openeurope.org.uk/about-us/supporters.asp

End Notes
[1] See : http://www.csu.de/dateien/partei/beschluesse/090509_europawahlprogramm.pdf
[2] Bayernkurier, 06 June 2009 http://www.csu.de/seehofer/aktuell/meldungen/15511099.htm
[3] AFP, 11 February 2009 http://www.finanzen.net/nachricht/Gesine_Schwan_regt_Volksentscheide_bei...
[4] FDP press release, 20 May 2009 http://www.liberale.de/webcom/show_websiteprog.php?wc_c=730&wc_lkm=167&w...
[5] http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/195/457851/text/ Translated by EUobserver: http://euobserver.com/9/27586
[6] 23 June http://www.eiz-niedersachsen.de/19.html?&tx_ttnews%5btt_news%5d=8438&cHa...
[7] Euractiv, 12 February 2009 http://www.euractiv.com/en/future-eu/german-court-wary-eu-treaty-power-s...
[8] FAZ, 11 February 2009 http://www.faz.net/s/Rub594835B672714A1DB1A121534F010EE1/Doc~E0B300679EF...
[9] FAZ, 10 February 2009 http://www.faz.net/s/Rub99C3EECA60D84C08AD6B3E60C4EA807F/Doc~E0FF68103C5...
[10] Speech at the European Commission conference "35th anniversary of the Eurobarometer", Paris, 21 November 2008
[11] Speech at the European Commission conference "35th anniversary of the Eurobarometer", Paris, 21 November 2008
[12] EUobserver, 29 October 2007 http://www.openeurope.org.uk/media-centre/article.aspx?newsid=2036
[13] See: http://www.openeurope.org.uk/media-centre/pressrelease.aspx?pressrelease...
[14] See: http://www.iwantareferendum.com/publication/qvortrup.pdf[15] See: http://www.elections2009-results.eu/en/turnout_en.html