Barcelona protests sucessfull
reuters | 23.03.2002 11:26 Barcelona EU
Riot-hit summit leaves EU leaders a headache
17 March, 2002 14:22 GMT
Reuters Photo
By Alastair Macdonald
BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) - EU leaders trying to square the circle between European traditions of social welfare and envy of America's dynamic, free market economy came under fire from all sides at a weekend summit marked by violence.
Though it would come as no surprise to the seasoned dealmakers running the European Union, the reactions of both anti-capitalist rioters and big business to their compromise in Barcelona on market reforms will remind them of the scale of a task that even some of their best friends say may be impossible.
Wim Duisenberg, the pragmatic Dutchman appointed by the EU leaders to run the euro zone central bank, said on Sunday that anyone who thought Europe could both keep its social safety nets intact and outstrip U.S. economic growth was deluding himself.
Yet that is precisely the goal of the EU reform project -- to maintain traditions of full employment while outstripping U.S. economic competitiveness by the end of the decade.
"I am resigned to thinking that perhaps we will never reach the level of the United States," the president of the European Central Bank told Spain's El Mundo newspaper in an interview.
Saying Europeans should simply accept that their linguistic and cultural diversity acted as a brake on matching America's dynamic flexibility, Duisenberg added: "On the other hand we will have advantages such as our system of social protection, very benign compared to that of the United States, but also very costly. Are we prepared to pay that price? The answer is yes."
At least quarter of a million Europeans flooded onto the streets of Barcelona on Saturday to protest against what they saw as an EU sell-out to U.S.-run global business and a threat to their social welfare systems.
A hard core of militants clashed with police after dark, smashing up banks and throwing missiles and petrol bombs while under fire from rubber bullets and fleeing from baton charges.
REFORM COMPROMISE
By then, however, leaders of the 15 EU states had left after a deal ending French resistance to breaking up its state electricity monopoly. They also reaffirmed commitments made two years ago in Lisbon to integrate and open up other key industries, like the railways, to competition as well as to shake up state welfare systems to get more people to work.
Among other -- rather vague -- accords was that people would have to work on average about five years longer than at present before claiming state old age benefits.
Police said on Sunday they had detained 98 people, 19 of them foreigners, during the two days of the summit. A total of 17 officers and 10 demonstrators were injured, police said.
"We're here to say 'no' to the European Union, which with each passing day is becoming a model for globalisation and is more and more and more like the U.S. in favour of arms and war," Ada Colau, a spokeswoman for the march organisers, told Reuters.
Though the scale of the largely peaceful march was a sign that the disparate anti-globalisation movement is still very much alive after its retreat from militancy in the wake of September 11, the violence was well short of rioting at the Genoa summit last July when Italian police shot dead one militant.
BUSINESS DISAPPOINTED
Despite anger on the left at Barcelona, business lobbies and liberal politicians lamented the EU deal for the opposite reason, saying free market reforms did not go far enough, fast enough.
For some it was the "manana summit".
"It is hard to see that we are any closer to the Lisbon goals," said Edward Bannerman of the Centre for European Reform, referring to the plan to overtake the United States by 2010.
"They did enough to claim the process was still on track but they must pick up speed. This was the minimum acceptable outcome and the delivery gap is still very wide."
"Declarations are all very well but they need to be implemented. And in the meantime, Europe continues to stumble along with relatively weak productivity growth and not a lot of change," said Julian Callow, chief European economist for the investment bank CSFB.
"The fact EU governments are addressing these issues is positive and yes, there has been some change. But it is not proving to be visible in growth and productivity."
Keeping happy both the people whose votes keep them in power and the people who run the businesses that keep their citizens employed was never going to be easy for the EU's leaders. And compromises like those in Spain will rarely be popular.
In riot-battered Barcelona on Sunday morning, one piece of fresh graffiti read: "People 1 - Politicians 0".
17 March, 2002 14:22 GMT
Reuters Photo
By Alastair Macdonald
BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) - EU leaders trying to square the circle between European traditions of social welfare and envy of America's dynamic, free market economy came under fire from all sides at a weekend summit marked by violence.
Though it would come as no surprise to the seasoned dealmakers running the European Union, the reactions of both anti-capitalist rioters and big business to their compromise in Barcelona on market reforms will remind them of the scale of a task that even some of their best friends say may be impossible.
Wim Duisenberg, the pragmatic Dutchman appointed by the EU leaders to run the euro zone central bank, said on Sunday that anyone who thought Europe could both keep its social safety nets intact and outstrip U.S. economic growth was deluding himself.
Yet that is precisely the goal of the EU reform project -- to maintain traditions of full employment while outstripping U.S. economic competitiveness by the end of the decade.
"I am resigned to thinking that perhaps we will never reach the level of the United States," the president of the European Central Bank told Spain's El Mundo newspaper in an interview.
Saying Europeans should simply accept that their linguistic and cultural diversity acted as a brake on matching America's dynamic flexibility, Duisenberg added: "On the other hand we will have advantages such as our system of social protection, very benign compared to that of the United States, but also very costly. Are we prepared to pay that price? The answer is yes."
At least quarter of a million Europeans flooded onto the streets of Barcelona on Saturday to protest against what they saw as an EU sell-out to U.S.-run global business and a threat to their social welfare systems.
A hard core of militants clashed with police after dark, smashing up banks and throwing missiles and petrol bombs while under fire from rubber bullets and fleeing from baton charges.
REFORM COMPROMISE
By then, however, leaders of the 15 EU states had left after a deal ending French resistance to breaking up its state electricity monopoly. They also reaffirmed commitments made two years ago in Lisbon to integrate and open up other key industries, like the railways, to competition as well as to shake up state welfare systems to get more people to work.
Among other -- rather vague -- accords was that people would have to work on average about five years longer than at present before claiming state old age benefits.
Police said on Sunday they had detained 98 people, 19 of them foreigners, during the two days of the summit. A total of 17 officers and 10 demonstrators were injured, police said.
"We're here to say 'no' to the European Union, which with each passing day is becoming a model for globalisation and is more and more and more like the U.S. in favour of arms and war," Ada Colau, a spokeswoman for the march organisers, told Reuters.
Though the scale of the largely peaceful march was a sign that the disparate anti-globalisation movement is still very much alive after its retreat from militancy in the wake of September 11, the violence was well short of rioting at the Genoa summit last July when Italian police shot dead one militant.
BUSINESS DISAPPOINTED
Despite anger on the left at Barcelona, business lobbies and liberal politicians lamented the EU deal for the opposite reason, saying free market reforms did not go far enough, fast enough.
For some it was the "manana summit".
"It is hard to see that we are any closer to the Lisbon goals," said Edward Bannerman of the Centre for European Reform, referring to the plan to overtake the United States by 2010.
"They did enough to claim the process was still on track but they must pick up speed. This was the minimum acceptable outcome and the delivery gap is still very wide."
"Declarations are all very well but they need to be implemented. And in the meantime, Europe continues to stumble along with relatively weak productivity growth and not a lot of change," said Julian Callow, chief European economist for the investment bank CSFB.
"The fact EU governments are addressing these issues is positive and yes, there has been some change. But it is not proving to be visible in growth and productivity."
Keeping happy both the people whose votes keep them in power and the people who run the businesses that keep their citizens employed was never going to be easy for the EU's leaders. And compromises like those in Spain will rarely be popular.
In riot-battered Barcelona on Sunday morning, one piece of fresh graffiti read: "People 1 - Politicians 0".
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