euro|topics - Werner Balsen

04/12/2008

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Balsen, Werner

3 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.

Frankfurter Rundschau - Germany | 03/07/2008

EU Commission's social package under attack

The left-wing daily Frankfurter Rundschau is annoyed at Germany's criticism of the new package of social measures presented by the European Commission: "For fear that the free market could be restricted the EU's key players have allowed social Europe to fall by the wayside. The EU Commission has finally taken measures to remedy this, but of all countries Germany, with its 'social market economy', fiercely opposes the package. ... German critics in particular are using the bureaucracy argument to attack the Brussels initiative. As if every socio-policy law since Bismark had not caused problems for companies. ... The EU Commission's social package must be protected against exaggerated criticism from Germany. This is not to say that there are no problems whatsoever with Brussels' plans. For all those who believe the Commission's promises to bolster the information rights and the right to have a say of employee representatives, there is certainly room for improvement as far as the law governing European works committees is concerned. ... Yet it is nonetheless commendable that the Commission is taking steps to complement single market rights with standardised social regulations. It should not stop at this."

Berliner Zeitung - Germany | 21/11/2007

Cutting Europe's farm subsidies

Werner Balsen praises the draft proposals put forward by the EU Agriculture Commissioner, saying the timing "could hardly have been better". "Many farmers from Lapland to Andalusia are now better off than ever thanks to the rise in milk and grain prices. Therefore it's a good time to open a debate about the EU's instruments for pampering farmers. North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg have just revealed who receives what of the funding from Brussels - and often enough it's the larger farms and foodstuff companies. ... Fischer Boel's proposals are forward-looking because they would cut subsidies for large agricultural operations and use the money to back a more environmentally friendly type of agriculture that can meet the challenges of climate protection and the protection of endangered species. ... Berlin's almost knee-jerk reaction is therefore unjustified - even if the underdeveloped region of eastern Germany would be hard hit by the changes in Brussels."

Frankfurter Rundschau - Germany | 14/09/2007

A Blue Card for qualified workers?

Werner Balsen welcomes Franco Frattini's Blue Card proposal in principle but maintains that it leaves many questions unanswered. "For instance it remains unclear how Frattini intends to reach a consensus on the Blue Card among 27 EU countries with different immigration policy interests... particularly as they're competing with each other to attract skilled workers from Asia and Africa. In this context an English- or French-speaking country is considerably more attractive for people from Africa than, for example, Finland. It's unfortunate that Frattini is focusing exclusively on middle and high qualified workers. After all, Spain's agricultural sector would collapse without workers from the Maghreb states on the other side of the Mediterranean. The Commissioner's initiative would be more plausible if he had tried to take this fact into account when drawing up his scheme."

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