collsvs

Text Box

EUROPE 85

ln this issue...

A grant for the Royal Pavilion: Roy Stemman repons from Brighton

Why'harmonisation'still strikes a harsh note. By M. Schellinger

Commissioner Carlo Ripa di Meana: a blueprint for European TV

Wanted- 50,0fi) solar-powered freezers. By Peggy Crane

A new spirit in the European Parliament. By Michael $/elsh MEp

Holland's marathon on ice

How to get high-tech into the classroom

Europe foins the front-runners in the technolory race. By Adeline Baumann

An end to the pain in Spain. By Tom Burns

Portugal has a second date with history. By Diana Smith

Community reports

The sound of music -from 4,0(X) voices

A closer look at Lear. By Denis Thomas

Questions in the House

Abraham takes to the road

Letters

What's in the papers

EURoFoRUM is inset after page 12.

t0

ll

t2

l3

r5

17

l8

20

2L

22

23

Published by the Commission of theEuropean Communities, 8 Storey's Gate,London Sr0illP 3AT.TeL:01-2228122Editor-in-Chief: George ScottAssociate Editor: Denis ThomasPrinted by Edwin Snell,Yeovil, Somerset

Europe 85 does not necessarily reflect, in allparticulars, the opinions of the Communityinstitutions. Unsigned material may bequoted or reprinted without payment,subject to suitable acknowledgement.B e lfa st O flic e : Yl indsor House,9/l 5 Bedford Street, Belfast BT2 7EGTel. (0232)240708

C ardiff Offi c e : 4 Cathedral Road,CardiffCFl 9SGTel. (0222)371631

E dinburgh Offce : 7 Alva Street,Edinburgh EH2 4PHTel. (031)225 2058

Associated editions:Europe, 2\ffi M Srreer, Ntlf ,Suite 707, Washington DC 20037, USATel.202 8629500

Europe, 350 Sparks Street, Suite I I 10, Otrawa,Ontario, Canada K lR 7S8.Tel. (613) 238-6464Community Report, 39 Molesworth Street,Dublin 2, IrelandTe1.712244

i0 J ours d'Europe, 6 I rue des BellesFeuilles, 75782 Paris Cedex 16,France. Tel. 501 58 85

Comunitd Europee, Via Poli 29,00187 Rome, Italy.Tel.67897 22

E F -aoisenHajbrohus, @stergade 6 l,Post Box 144, 1004 Copenhagen K,Denmark. Tel 14 41 40/14 55 32EG M agazin, Zitelmannstrasse 22,5300 Bonn, rrXr. GermanyTel. 23 8041

Comunid,ad euopq Serrano, 4l-5 a plantaMadrid-1, SpainTel.474 ll99Europaiki Koinotis, 2 Vassilissis Sofias,T.K. 1602, Athens 134, Greece'1el.7439821314

E uropa-b eicht, E U R info,Archimedesstraat 73,1040 Brussel, BelgiumTel.235 4178Echos del'Europe, Bitiment lean Monnet,Luxembourg-KirchbergTel. 4301 IAompa, 15, Kuleli Sokak,Gazi Osman Pasa, Ankara, TurkeyTel:27 61 45/46

23

24

ROPE 85

zoazIoZU@

otaJIl

IL

Runningrepairs to the Royal PavilionIf he Royat Pavilion, Brighton, iras been a

I tourlst aiuacdon tbr aimost 2w years. InI tuzo, the Prince Regent liatlr KingI George IVI rented a'suf,erior l'armhouse:

and began converting it into a building that has

been described as 'one of the greatest show-

pieces ofEurope'.In March, I ioined the visitors to see some of

the results of recent restoration work - workthat has succecded in presenting the palace,

with its Indian and Chinese inlluences, in a

form that is close to its original splendour.But first I was taken to view a pan of the

Royal Pavilion that tourists do not see at close

quarters. I followed my guide, Barry Edwards,building conservation offrcer, up ladders and

across scaffolding until we were standing along-

side the famous onion-shaped domes, at rooflevel above the beautiful Music Room where

Queen Victoria used to sing with her family.The crumbling stonework and general de-

terioration are the result ofa host ofinlluences,from inherent design faults to the ravages ofsal-

ry sea air and car exhaust fumes. Past neglect

and lack offinance have conspired to make mat-ters worse, until now the only solution is a mas-

sive renovation prograrnme that will cost in theregionof !4million.

Most of the money for this work is coming

In Brighton, the most exoticof Britain's residences,

nowregarded as anarchitectural treasure, is

undergoing vital renovation- with help from a special

grant from Brussels.ROY STEMMAN reports

from the Government (for repairs only, not im-provements), from the English Tourist Board,and from Brighton ratepayers. But the impon-ance ofthe Royal Pavilion has also been recog-

nised by the European Community: it has iustannounced a f,20,000 (37,000 ECUs) grant to be

used on exterior improvements to the MusicRoom. The money will enable the owners to re-

place or repair its columns and filials in their ori-ginalmaterials.

The Brighton Pavi.lionis one of l0 chosen op-

erations, one for each member country, whichare receiving EEC financial aid from a special

conservation fl.rnd.Before I inspected the crumbling stonework,

Julian Rogers, principal keeper of conservation,

and Barry Edwards had oudined the scope ofthe total work and explained why this uniquebuilding has so many problems. The dome-

dominated palace certainly achieves the strikingeffect that George, Prince ofu7ales, hoped for.But its desigrr does not help the dispersal ofrainwater. Its royal creator also liked to alter it -with the result that external drains ended up onthe inside when additions were made. Soon, dryand wet rot and the spread of firngus infestationbegan to get a grip on the fabric ofthe building.

First signs of dry rot were detected as longago as I 827 - only five years after John Nash had

completed his royal commission. Julian Rogers

says that some of it has been spreading eversince, eating away at the timber-framed build-ing.

The visitor is largely unaware of the relentlessbatde thatis being waged behind the scenes by a

team of conseryation and maintenance staff.These experts know that it is going to be im-possible to eradicate certain of the problems, so

tiey concentrate on a policy oftreating and con-

taining the decay when it is discovered.The fomrnes of the Royal Pavilion have

changed enormously over tlte years. Those whowere responsible for building and decorating itcould not have anticipated that its survivalwould mean so much io us today. There was )

3

EUROPE 85

The Prince Regent builtthe Royol Povilion more for pleosure thon durobility. h is tokingollthe skills of restorers ond mosons to moke it, once ogoin, the pride of Biighton.

The 820,q00 grqnt isto be used on-exlerior

even a time when, due largely to public indiffer-ence, it seemed likely to be demolished.

Now, of course, it is regarded as Brighton'strademark: a glamorous reminder of the royalpatronage which the fashionable seaside resonenjoyed for so long. When the Prince of \Ufales

discovered it in 1783, though, it was still littlemore than a fishing rown - rhen called Bright-elmstone- to which had been added ballrooms,houses to rent, and gaming establishments.These amenities, plus the virrues of seawaterbathing and drinking, extolled by Dr Russell ofIrwes, helped make the town's fornrne.

The prince, aged 21, loved the sparklingatmosphere of Brighton and the company ofpeople of wit and style. \firhin tlree years hehad rented the farmhouse and began enlargingit: a transformation which took 35 years to com-plete. Soon, the het to the throne met MariaFizherben, a young widow whose Catholic re-ligion stood in the wayofmarriageto the Prince.Neverthless, they married secretly in 1785, andtook separate houses in Brighton.

Ten years later, however, the Prince wasobliged to take a royal wife, Caroline of Bruns-wick, because of his enormous debts. The mar-riage was a disaster: they were estranged evenbefore their daughter, Charlotte, was born.

By 1812, the Prince Regent (as he now was)decided to enlarge rhe pavilion, and John Nashwas commissioned to carry out the work. Theprince scrutinised every detail of his architect'splans, as well as influencing the grand design oft}te rooms'fittings and ornaments. But he wasalarmingly likely to change his mind. So Nashbecame more concemed with humouring hisclient than with ensuring rhat the buildingswould stand for centuries - particularly as it wasunlikely that the prince would have sufficientfunds to translate all his dreams into reality.

Nevertheless, Nash was an adventurousarchitect who used rhe work on the Royal Pavi-

4

lion to experiment with new building techni-ques and materials - not always successfully. Anearly example of the use of cast iron and lamin-ated timber is to be found in the roofs of theBanqueting and Music Rooms, both of whichare topped by domes.

Nash used fairly sound building methods inthese unusu.l structures, but his decision toapply Dihl mastic - a patented form of stucco -to provide a weathenight finish was a miserablefailure. By L827, water had seeped through,causing considerable damage, and the DihIfinish had to be replaced with steel plates, co-vered with copper.

The earlier work on the Pavilion had resr:.ltedin interiors decorated in exciting and fancifulChinese styles; but the Indian influence beganto creep in by 1803, and it was this style whichNash followed for the transformation and ex-tension. By 1822, two years after George be-came king, the Pavilion as it now stands wasfinished. A year later, the interior, with itssumptuous decorations, executed to a highstandard of craftsmanship, was completed.George IV is said to have cried for joy at the sightofit.

The King was now 63. For most of his adultlife he had been concerned with the creation ofthe palace. He had a powerful in{luence on mostof the present royal homes, including Bucking-ham Palace and ufindsor Casde; but the RoyalPavilion was his favourite.

Because of its relatively small size he had beenable to furnish it in a lavish manner, and withclose attention to detail. And he used it to enrer-tain on a grand scale. Yet, by the time his 'fan-tastic but stately dream' was a reality, hisreasons for building a palace at Brighton hadvanished with his youth. He had not bathed inthe sea for 16 years; he was grossly overweight,and plagued with gout and dropsy.

Just four years after the finishing touches

improvements to theMusic Room'

were made to the Royal Pavilion, George IVpaid his last visit. Three years later he died.Though the brother who succeeded him asKing, rtrTilliam IV, dismissed the art and de-coration of the Royal Pavilion as 'knicknack-ery', he was as fond of the place as George IVhad been. He visited it within two months of hisaccessionand itwashewho elevated it to the sta-tus ofroyal palace.

William added 36 rooms to accommodatevisitors, and did nor allow the building to de-teriorate during his seven ye:trs as king. On hisdeath, Victoria assurned the throne; and withinfour months Brightonians were welcoming herto the palace. She returned a year later, 1838,and again n 1842, when she spent a monththere with her children.

Later, she began to lose her affegtion forBrighton. Her visits were described as like anangel's - 'few and far between'. And, since near-ly 100 people (mostly servants) had sleepingaccommodation at the Pavilion, it was no sur-prise when the Queen decided to economise byselling it. The proceeds were to be used towardsthe f150,000 required ro extend and enhanceBuckingham Palace.

'\tr7hile the town argued about the Pavilion'sfuture, the Queen arranged for most of its con-tents to be removed. A surviving manuscriptlists I 37 loads ofclocks, china, furniture and de-corations, which were removed by a local firmbetween January 1847 and June 1848, and sixmore loads left before the end of the year.

The official guide also refers ro an affair thatbcame known as the Brighton Puzzle: '$(hilethe Lord Chamberlain's men methodically re-moved the contents, stripped the walls of their

ROP

Crumblinq slonework is o problem.Substiiutei hovinq foiled, tlie restorolion isbeing corried ouiwith troditionol moteriols.Riqht: the sumptuous Music Room now locksonTy finishing iouches. The ceiling (lop right) isond of the Pdvilion's olories.

canvas-backed murals and wallpapers, the cor-nices, doorways and pilasters oftheir fantasticgilt ornaments, and the cei-lings of their dazzlinggasoliers.

'!?'hile these employees left not a lookingglass or decorated door in position, nor even thekitchen tiling, those of the Commissioners of\7oods and Forests were executing the usual re-pairs and painting of the exterior - not easily ex-plicable where demolition was the expectedfate, and stoves, ventilation grills, and ball wireswere being ripped out for scrap.'

Eventually, in 1850, the people of Brightonsucceeded in buying the royal palace forf53,000. They then set about restoring some of

its former extravagant splendour and making ita public ameniry.

In modern times the work of restoration hascontinued to great effect - despite pressure, atone point, to turn the building into a casino.\W'ork on the Music Room became essential in1970, when a dangerous weakening of its ceilingwas discovered.

Vhen completed in 1975 it was regarded as

one of the great interiors of Europe. But it wasshort-lived: an arson attack in November 1975partly destroyed the east wall and other parts ofthe room. Now the work of restoring it oncemore is nearly complete.

Having almost recreated the original splen-dours of the Royal Pavilion's interiors, theteam's attention has now tumed to its exterior.The domes, minarets and other stone adom-ments are now totally shrouded in scaffoldingand plastic sheeting, as the delicate and pains-taking work of replacing and improving the fab-

ric of the building continues.The work includes replacing 14 minarets,

carved from new stone obtained from a Bathquarry, close to the source of the stone used byNash's builders. However, as recently as 1969-7 I some of the minarets were replaced with glassfibre versions, which, instead of absorbing wa-ter (as the stone ones did) threw it off, causingother problems. They also glistened when wet,appearing very different from their naturalstone companions. Now they are being re-placed.

\When the covers come off in 1986 and theRoyal Pavilionis once again revealeditwill be as

near as possible, in colour, texnrre and design,to its original 'royal magrrificence'. But the workwill not step there. For as long as people wish topreserve such unique examples of theirarchitectual heritage, the conservationists willcontinue their task ofmaking it fit fora King-

E5

and his people.

ROPE 85

Why' harmonisatron' stillstrikes aharsh note

armonisation of technical standardsshould contribute towards making theCommunity of Ten into a real CommonMarket. Alas, as everyone knows, the

reality is still far away.However, a new approach is now under way.

Recently proposed by the European Commis-sion, it has been given a favourable reception bythe Council of Ministers. It can be summarisedas follows: let the ministers and diplomats makethe policies, but leave the technical details to theexperts.

In the European C,ommunity, a Frenchmachine-tool manufacturer, for example, can-not sell his products in Germany because theydo not conform to the technical standards en-forced in German factories. Can we talk of aCommon Market in these conditions?

The member states have at their disposal a

whole arsenal ofrules and technical standardswhich are theoretically aimed at protecting thehealth or the security ofthe users ofeach pro-duct.

But in fact, these regulations often serve tokeep out of the home market, 'foreign' productscoming from other Community countries. This

'For mqny productsthere qreslil! nocommon stondords'

was shown once again last year by the aftair ofthe'pure beer' (Rheinheitsgebot) in Germany.

For many products there are still no commonor harmonised standards. In that case the onlyguarantee which a manufacturer in a memberstate has ofbeing able to sell his products in theother Community countries is the Treaty ofRome bans on any measure serving to restrictimponation.

The C,ourt ofJustice in effect considers as arestriction on imports the application by a mem-ber state of its national, commercial and tech-nical regulation to imports coming fromanother member state. If it wants to do this, the'protectionist'country must prove that vital in-terests, such as health or security, are at stake.But if a Belgian product, for example, has towait for a European Court judgement in orderto enter the Italian market. . .

In this climate of uncertainty, many indus-trialists tend to produce only for their nationalmarket. This prevents them from making theeconomies of scale which a market of 270 m:d-lion inhabitants would allow.

It would be unfair to give the impression thatnothing has been done. Since 1969 the Councilof Ministers has adopted nearly 180 directiveswhich set out, for the manufacturers of a wholeseries of products, especially in the carindustry,the technical specifications they must conform6

National regulations andprotective barriers continueto get in the way of a trulyCommon Market. The newCommission is alreadygettingdownto cases

But in this field, the Treaty of Rome itselfobliges the European ministers to take their de-cisions unanimously, which does not simpl$the problems. It takes on average l0 years tocreate a harmonised standard at the Europeanlevel! Needless to say, national authorities movemore quickly to crqrte purely national stan-dards. Indeed, technological progress, in manycases, is outstripping the work of the Europeanauthorities.

The Commission believes that it is bothnecessary and possible to move much faster.Until now, the political authorities - the minis-ters, diplomats and high-level officials of themember states - have included in the direcrivesthey have drafted all the technical details neces-sary to the manufacture of the products. In onesector alone, that of low-voltage electrical mate-rial, a different method was followed: the minis-ters set out only the basic, general requirementsapplicable to the products, from the points ofview of securiry, health, consumer protecdon,defence of the environment etc. As for the pre-cise technical specifications, they left it to thepossibly European, otherwise national, stan-dards to define these.

This way of proceeding proved effective. Theministers and their representatives treat thequestions of a political nature and the expertsfrom the different industrial sectors resolve thetechnical problems. It should be stressed thatthese experts, engineers representing the Ten,decide by majority, unlike the ministers. TheEuropean Commission is proposing to themember states that from now on they systemati-cally respect this division of tasks in the field of

standardisation.Specialised European standardisation agen-

cies do exist, such as the European Committeefor Standardisation and CENELEC in the fieldof electriciry. According to the Commission'sproposal, these committees would elaboratetechnical specifications according to the basicrequirements set out by the ministers. Thesespecifications would not be compulsory, unlikethe basic requirements of the directives.

But products manufactured according to thesame specifications could pass freely from oneCommuniry country to another, since all themember states would consider them a priorityas conforming to the directives. On the con-trary, a manufacturer who did not respect thecommon specifications would have to prove thathis product conforms fully to the criteria of therelevant directive.

To illustrate its ideas the European Commis-sion drafted a model of the new-look directive.This would cover a whole range of products -eventually several dozen - instead ofonly one as

at present.It would set out the basic requirements for

securiry, health etc which the products coveredwould have to fu1fil; and it would oblige themember states to allow in imported productswhich were accompanied by a certificate of con-formiry to these requirements.

The member states would keep the option ofbanning a product which did not, in fact, cor-respond to the requirements laid down by thedirective. After verification by the Commissionand a special committee, the product in ques-tion wor:Id even be banned throughout thewholeCommunity.

In the absence of Communiry technical spe-cifications, national standards could play thesame role, in so far as they respected the require-ments of the relevant directive. This conformitywould be checked by the European Commis-sion with the help of a permanent special com-mittee composed of representatives of the Ten.

The Commission intends to inaugurate thisnew approach in three sectors: mechanical en-gineering, especially machine-tools, building

'Member sltltes wouldkeep the option ofbonninq qbroductwhich did riotcorrespond to the lqid-down iequirements'

materials, with a priority on their reaction tofire, and, finally, electrical appliances.

In mid-February, theministers of the Ten re-sponsible for the internal market and consumerprotection gave a fairly positive reaction to theCommission's'new approach'. They considerthe matter to be 'urgent', and they have sent itfor immediate consideration to their permanentrepresentatives in Brussels.

to, at the European level.

M. SCHELLINGER

EUROPE 35

A BLUEPRINT FOR EUROPEAN IELEVISIONCarlo Ripa di Meana, EEC Commissioner for information policy and cultural affairs,

outlines his proposals for TV programmes aimed at the entire Community for anintegrated European television service

pontaneous internationalisa-tion of television program-mes in Europe, from nowuntil the year 2000, could

well have a 'Europeanising'effect onviewers - they will be able to choose

between an increasingly large rangeof progtammes of many differentorigins. At the same time, it is desir-able for the Commission to stimulateinitiatives which go beyond this'Europeanisation by accident', bycreating a new European dimensionas regards origination, broadcasting and targets. A programme whichis looking for Community backing must be planned and created by a

multi-national European team; aimed at the entire public covered bythe broadcasting range of European satellites; and multilingual, so

that all viewers can follow the programmes in their own languages.

In 1983 the Commission said that it was prepared under certain

conditions 'to support the initiative of the EBU and its members' ,

aimed at creating a European television channel. At the beginning ofMarch a programme of this kind, Olympus, co-produced by fourEuropean networks, was broadcast for the first time from the NOSstudios in Hilversum, and relayed all over Europe by the EuropeanCommunication Satellite. From next autumn, Olympus plans tobroadcast for 40 minutes per day. This will then be extended to fivehours of programmes for young people, news programmes and lightentertainment, which must be financed entirely through advertising -a total of about 25 minutes of advertising slots each evening.

During the take-offperiod of *ree to five years, after whichOlympus must be able to stand on its own tvrro feet, all costs will be

borne by the organising television networks, the four foundingcompanies, and any eventual new members. At the moment, theCommission and the main contractors of Olympus TV are workingout the methods and the kinds of Community support.

As regards methods, the Commission must not simply make a

financial contribution. Its support must be on the lines of financingparticularly complex and innovatory structures, such as those

necessary for simultaneous broadcasting in several languages,

working out pilot-prograrnmes and producing others which convey

the multiple aspects of the cultures of all Europe's regions. Also, itseems to me that the Communiry institutions are in a good position toguarantee the independence of multinational programme editingfrom all outside influence, whether national, political, professional orsocial.

As to the scale of financial suppon that the Commission would liketo give to Olympus, that depends on our budgetary positions for 1985

and the following years, which have not yet been fixed. Everyoneknows that we have serious problems at the moment, and that we

depend entirely on the decisions of the European Parliament and theCouncil of Ministers in this regard. In my opinion, Communitysuppon must be sigrrificant, so that it can have the desired effect onEuropean television: to strengthen the proiect and guarantee itsessentially European character.

Last year the Commission was asked to give material support tohelp another TV project get offthe ground- a non-stop news

channel, proposed by the TV news agency Visnews. This is a

valuable initiative, which is worth looking at. The programme willconsist ofaudiovisual reports, grouped as far as possible around a

'main event' illustrated in about l0 minutes. The complete news

bulletin, of about 15 minutes, will be repeated without intemrptionfrom 7 o'clock in the morning to 3 o'clock in the afternoon,continually updated and, when necessary, interrupted bynewsflashes.

This will all goon without an announcer - as in Olympus, in fact -to allow the programme to be made in different languages withouthaving an original language and problems of dubbing. It is an

interesting proiect, and has become even more so since Visnewsreformulated its application. It is no longer asking for financialsupport, but for concrete political backing from the Commission.The agency will itself cover all its costs during the take-off period ofthe project, which should begin next September.

The idea ofa support system for audio-visual production in Europeis very important to us. The cinema and television industries are nowfinding themselves in a position of inferiority by comparison withtheir American and Japanese competitors. According to our statistical

forecasts, in 1990 there will be a demand for about 500,000 hours peryear for film-type prograrnmes (essentially fiction). Of these, some

125,000 hours should be covered by European productions ifwewant to keep a certain balance in our prograrnmes.

However, the present production capacity ofour audio-visualindustries does not exceed 10,000 to 1 5,000 hours a year. So in 10 or15 years this sector must be able to produce l0 times more. But thisseems impossible in the present state of affairs - a fragmented marketand inadequate financial, technical and professional resources. So

there is a serious danger that the European audio-visual area will be

'lllle oropose to qet rid of the leqtllond'ecohomic oEstqcles which-hinder the free movement of TVprogrqmmes in Europe'

almost entirely dominated by non-European progrilnmes. For thisreason, the Commission has prepared a draft regulation for a system

offinancial assistance for cinema and television co-productions,which should be presented to the Cultural Affairs Council on 28 May.No quick decisions, however, are expected.

The Commission wants to act as a catalyst, to stimulate contacts

between the different organisations interested in this profect. Inaddition, we propose to get rid of the legal and economic obstacles

which hinder the free movement of television programmes inEurope. This will be fust step towards a more ambitious obiective -harmonisation in the Community on the basis of agreed principles.

The Community has no precise competence in the cultural sector,

according to the Treaties. But the Commission, consideringtelevision as a service industry, believes that it can act in this field.\fith the publication last year of the Green Paper on 'televisionwithout frontiers', the out-going Commission opened a legal and

economic debate which is of prime importance for the future oftelevision in Europe.

I believe that we must work out general principles which will be

valid and accepted in the whole Communiry. The basic idea is,

naturally, to guarantee equal treatment for Euopean citizens in the

whole Community. This is merely an inevitable application of theprinciple of freedom of movement and establishment, al-ready

guaranteed by the European Communities' Treaties.

7

ROPE 85

f,f!-*e"^^X

Wanted: SO r000sola r-powered lreezersI! he UK is hardly Apollo's - the Sun God's

! - favourite country. So it may haveI seemed strange to the uninitiared that, inI Ap.it, **. 5it0 p.ople tiom ztO countries

gathered in Kensington Town Hall, London,for the sixth European Photovoltaic SolarEnergy Conference to discuss the creation ofelectricity from the sun.

The aim was to bring together solar cell spe-cialists in research and development, and thosewho produce and market solar energy products.Sponsored by the European Commission, Un-esco, the Royal Borough of Kensington andChelsea, the European Photovoltaics Industry,and specialist British firms such as Pilkingtonsand SPK Engineering, the conference waslargely technical. But the politics ofsolar energyare very significant.

While this system of energy creating is likelyto remain marginal in industrialised countriesequipped with national electricity grids andother fuel resources, in poorer and developingcountries solar energy could be a major replace-ment for wood, where today forests and wood-land are decimated for burning.

As in otherfields, however, whereas Americaand Japan are investing seriously in the applica-tions of solar energy, the European Commun,ity, with some exceptions, has shown compara-tively little interest in the new technologies. To8

An important meeting of F.C. Treble, who chaired the Kensington con-ference, is clear that, without help from theEuropean Community, the industry could nothave progressed as far as it has.' In fact, Community R&D programmes on

photovoltaics started in 1975, and the Councilof Ministers adopted the third such programmeto run from 1985-88 last December. Althoughthe EEC's financial contribution is probably notmuch more than 5 per cent of all public spend-ing on photovoltaic developmept among theTen, the money has been well directed on re-search and demonstrations, such as theMarchwood power station at Southampton,funded by the Community, the Department ofIndustry, and BP Solar Systems Ltd.

Photovoltaic solar generation is based on theconversion oflight to electricity. Light, accord-ing to a BP solar systems operator's handbook,is a form of electromagnetic wave, like a radio ortelevision signal.

Light may be likened to particles or photons,which can be imagined as 'packers of sunlight'that carry the energy to earth.

\7hen brought to bear on electrons, photonscreate a voltage which can be transmined bywires as an electrical charge. lVhen light falls onthe solar modules that make up the solar array,the electricity produced passes through thewires to batteries, where it is stored. The array

solar researchers in London,part-sponsored by the

European Commission, hascome up with some useful

applications of the newscience of photovoltaics.PEGGY CRANE reports

try to remedy this situation, the Conferenceestablished the European Photovoltaic IndustryAssociation - EPIA - representing the majoriryof the photovoltaic companies operating inEurope, including such names as Interatom Sie-mens from West Germany, BP Venture andSolapak from the UK, and Photowatt fromFrance.

The aim is to gain public, government andEuropean Commission support for develop-ment of solar energy systems, and to provide in-centives for this youngindustry tomaintain andincrease its world market share.

Although solar energy can be produced inseveral ways, the photovoltaic industry is a spin-offfrom satellite development, and its productsare still largely innovative and experimental. Mr

ROPE 8

a.:,

"1fl -

:-' .. i

4.** '# .?

J

ID MLeft: the solor orrov oi Morchwood PowerStotion, Southompion. Above: o solor-powered refrigerotor in Niger slores voccinelo protect cotlle trom rinderpesl.

can be f,rmly fixed to a stable base, which maybe built at ground level or on a strong, flat roof.Properly cabled, and with an electronic controlunit, it can deliver a continuous charge during thehours of daylight,irrespective of temperarures.

The Commission's Energy Directoratepoints out that, up to 1982, most of its spon-sored demonstrations were based on thermaluse ofsolar energy concerned with heating, andthat photovoltaic projects only started to be

significant in 1984. At present, there are some16 experiments going on throughout theCommunity, mostly in remote areas whereelectricity is unavailable.

Three marine lighthouses, for instance, twoin Greece and one in Italy, currendy using gas,

will be equipped with pv (photovoltaic) arrays,which will make them fully automated, andhelp to solve a sulf problem. It has apparentlybeen very hard to find people willing to work inabsolute isolation in a lighthouse bui-lt on a smallrock in the Mediterraneanl

In the French Alps, 12 mountain refuges,

standing at heights of over 2000 metres, ale pvsolar projects. In Tuscany, the public will soon

be able to see two Etruscan tombs made visibleby pv plates.

Another array will replace a noisy diesel en-gine on a small bird sanctuary near the GermanNorth Sea coast. The old engine disturbed the

bilds'wild life; the new one wi.ll be silent, allow-

ing better scope for scientific activities on theisland.

There are also experiments in hand to assess

the use of pv in supplying electricity to remote

'The photovoltqicinduirry is o spin-offfrom sqiellitedevelopmenl,

houses or shepherd shelters in the Pyrenees, as

well as grid connected proiects such as

Marchwood. But perhaps the most excitingpotentialities lie in the developing countdes. MrTreble warns that a great deal of work has yet tobe done to reduce installation costs. But, thatsaid, a normal pv array would probably lastfrom five to l0 years, providing energy equiva-lent to a small diesel engine but with little or nomaintenance.

BP - one of the several oil companies in-terested in solar energy - has produced a solarpv refrigerator designed to store vaccines.through its subsidiary, Solar Systems Ltd.Solar-powered refrigerators being field-testedin Ghana, Niger, Egypt, Tanzania, Kenya andAlgeria, have been widely welcomed by the\(orld Health Organisation, which estimatesthat, under its 'Cold Chain' proiect to controldisease in developing countries, some 50,000 re-frigerators - a large number of them solar-powered - will be requied in the near future.

Photovoltaic systems could also be used for

pumping, irrigation, street Lighting, and poss-

ibly rural elecuiflcation. But, at present,according to Mr Palz of the Energy Directoratein Brussels, funding agencies such as the UN,the World Bank. national govemment agencies.and even the European Commission, have notshown themselves fully aware of the potentiali-ties of pv in developing countdes. And localefforts, such as ones made under the auspices ofthe West African Development Bank, and inMali, have not so far proved very successfirl.

In the UK, where government spending onsolar R&D is about f 1.5 million a year, the maininterest has been on energy conservation,directed at buildings and building fabrics. Fieldtrials at Milton Keynes, for example, haveshown that houses built to new designs have anet heating requirement of about ha.lf of that of aconventional design built to current regula-tions, while solar water heating systems in reha-bilitated houses in London's East Dulwich havealso proved successful

Compared, however, with France, which,within its overall energy programme, allocatesfunds and supports demonstrations on solarenergy, and Italy or Greece, the UK program-me is very minor.

Opening the Kensington conference on 15

April, David Hunt, Minister for RenewableEnergy Sources, emphasised the importance ofprivate enterprise in the photovoltaics business.Companies, he said, could now stand on theirown in developing the equipment and the mar-ket. It is a view that the EPIA might wish to

KI9

cha.llenge.

EUROPE 85

Anew intheE Parliamenthe second directly elected European

Parliament met for the first time last JuIy,uneasily aware that it had much to do tobolster its public image and prestige.

Direct elections had produced reduced turn-outs in most member states, and the differentnational campaigns had been fought primarilyon domestic issues increasing the sense of con-fusion and apathy.

Nonetheless, one should not forget that themere fact that the second election was held is anachievement.

The European Parliament is the fust electedlegislature in history to bring together repre-sentatives from l0 different countries, with dis-tinctive cultures and political traditions, lessthan 40 years after the last fratricidal war. The63 political parties represented in the assemblycover every conceivable strand of Europeanpolitical thought from neo-anarchists on the leftto neo-fascists on the right. They are organisedin eight umbrella groupings of varying degreesof homogenity and operate in seven official lan-guages.

The difficulties of organising this polyglotassembly into a cohesive institution with a clearidentiry and political purpose are obvious, butthey should not be allowed to obscure the scaleof the endeavour and the loftiness of the vision.The European Parliament frequently may seemfeckless and ridiculous, but everything it does isan experiment, and the survival ofliberal demo-cratic values and principles in the next mi-lle-nium will depend in largemeasure on how it de-velops.

For all that, the new Parliament, by compari-son with its predecessor, is hearteningly pro-saic. Many of us who took our seats in July 1979had literally no idea ofwhat was expected ofus,let alone of how the institution was going towork. Indeed, the fint two years largely weretaken up with a complete re-casting of the rulesofprocedure.

This time, there is a much greater sense of ex-perience and professionalism, not least becausemany of the great names - Brandt, Debr6, Ber-linguer, Rey - which added lustre to the digniryof the fust Parliament are no longer there.Although it was a privilege to sit in an assemblywhich included nine former Prime Ministersand many other distinguished statesmen, it isrefreshing to find that most members now havetheir careers and their reputations to establishand they see the European Parliament as theirnatural forum.

If the institution is to flourish, it must be be-cause it numrres its own breed of Europoliticanand does not simply inherit the grandees of a

formerepoch.Politically, there are some sigfficant differ-

ences. The election of a number of 'Green mem-bers' from the Federal Republic of Germany,Belgium and the Netherlands has significantlyexended the width of the spectrum. For themost part, they belong to the far left and have

l0

MICHAEL WELSH, MEPfor Lancashire Central andchairman of the Parliament'ssocial affairs andemployment committee,detects significantdifferences between thecurrent assembly and itsimmediate predecessor

their roots in the student proresrs of 1968. In-deed, the enfant terible of the last Parliament,the Italian radical Marco Pannella, now seems a

curiously establishment fl gure.The Greens have formed themselves into the

whimsically named'Rainbow Group' and havetheir counterpart in the new Group of the Euro-pean Right, which is dominated by the formid-able Frenchman Jean-Marie le Pen. They standfor traditional values, including the rolling backofpermissive society.

It is noticeable that few, if any, of these newMembers have yet found their bearings or cometo terms with the nature of the institution. Formany of them, the Parliament is a convenientpladorm from which to harangue their fellowcountrymen at home, and, because it has littledirect power, there is an abiding temptation toindulge one's favourite obsessions to the full andlet off steam.

If past experience is anyrhing to go by, theabler members will quickly become absorbed inthe detailed work of committees and begin to

'There is q much

enjoy the scope for constructive inJluence andaction which is available to the Members of theEuropean Parliament. The others will gradrrrllybecome sidelined.

This process already is getting under way, rhemore so because the political balance of the newParliament is by no means clear. Formerly, thenon-Socialist groups had an overall maiority of50 which could be relied on to detver on mostsubstantial issues. This has now shrunk to 17.Although the centre parties succeeded in elect-ing the urbane and much respected PierrePflimlin as President, with a handsome plural-ity on the second ballot, the Parliament is almostperfectly poisedl and this purs a premium oncooperation between the political groups and re-solute opposition to those who seek to disruptthe Assembly and prevenr it from doing itswork.

There is much work to be done. At the Janu-ary session Jacques Delors, the new President ofthe Commission, presented his outline pro-gramme and asked for a vote of confidence, in it-self a significant extension of Parliament's inJlu-ence.

He got his vore amid a feeling of cautiousoptimism that perhaps rhe immabili.sme of thepast four years is behind us and that themember-state governrnents have been panickedinto realising that, with steadily rising unem-ployment and deteriorating competitiveness,they had better act together or they will surelyperish separately.

Completion of the internal market,leading tothe establishment of complete freedom ofmovement for people, capital and goods, is ev-erybody's prioriry, followed closely by the de-velopment of the European Monetary Systemand a common European crurency. Then, atleast, we will not be passive victims of the vagar-ies of US fiscal and monetary management.

In December, the Parliament delivered aparting kick at the outgoing Commission by re-fusing discharge for the 1983 budget, andserved notice on the Council of Ministers that itwas not to be taken for granted by refecting thedraftbudgetfor 1985.

Unlike the last time this happened, :ui.1979,there is no sense of crisis, simply a feeling thatMEPs generally should not accept a budget thatwas manifesdy inadequate to cover &e Com-muniry's commitments, and that we are notprepared to allow Europe to be run by inter-govemmental agreement.

This brings us to the heart of the issue, whichseems likely to dominate the next four years. Itseems increasingly clear that the maloriry ofEuropeans have concluded that thei interestswill be best served by rapid progress towardscloser European union, including an updatingof the Treary of Rome establishing the Com-munity and devolution of increased powers tothe European institutions.

!(ith three exceptions, the Heads of Govern-ment seem to have accepted this, and a special

greqter sense ofexperience qndprofessionqlism'

ROP

cornmittee is currendy examining ways inwhich the treaties might be revised.

The European Parliament is at the heart ofthis process. The first directly-elected Euro-pean Parliament, under the leadership ofAltiero Spinelli, produced a draft treaty of un-ion which has been submitted to the differentnational parliaments and is Iikely to be the basisofany change.

Not everyone is happy with the details of theSpinelli draft. Some of its proposals seemmechanistic and misconceived, and, signi-ficantly, it makes no attempt to deal with the ex-ceptionally difficult area of the rights of nationalparliaments which, after all, will be expected topass the new treaty into law. But there is noquestion that it was the Parliament's initiativewhich triggered off the process, and that in sodoing it was responding to a deeply felt popularneed.

The fact is ttrat the European Parliament isthe only institution which is capable of produc-ing the kind of instrument of union which canachieve manifest public consent. The very di-versity of our membership means that everyconceivable viewpoint can be discussed andtested, and the difficulry of constructingmafori-ties means that only those aspects for whichthere is a broad consensus will be adopted.European union will not come about by anagleement between Heads of Govemmentmeetingin secret and attempting to re-enact theConcert ofEurope. It can only be delivered by a

popularly elected assembly, representing andresponding to the will of its electors.

'ln December,thePorliqmenl serednotice on the Councilof Ministers thqt it wqsnoi to be tqken forgrqnted'

There is, of course, a massive risk. Sitting as

we do in Strasbourg and Brussels, much of ourtime is spent away from home, and it is only tooeasy to lose touch with our own grass roots.There are times when the debating chamberdoes seem to be detached from realiry and whenMEPs seem to be responding more to dictates oftheir institutional ego than to the aspirations ofthe people outside.

If the European Parliament is to deliverEuropean union, it must become a genuinelypopular body leading people in the direcrion inwttch th4t want to go. It must not try to forcethem into an ideological suaight-jacket. Other-wise, the process will be devalued and the idealitself compromised.

The last Parliament achieved many goodthings, but it signally failed to capture the pub-lic imagination and to rally popular support andenthusiasm for its collective belief. Ifthe Euro-pean experiment is to succeed, the new Parlia-ment must rise to this challenge. It is too early tosay if it will, but our fingers should be firmly

6

Holland's marathon onice

or a national sporting event, Hol-land's'Elfstedentocht' takes somebeating. For one thing, it only hap-

pens once every 20 years or so, when wintertakes a grip on the country fierce enough tofreeze the whole place over. It's an event no-one can be too sure will happen in his able-bodied lifetime. And when it does, the entirepopulation drops everything.

It happened again- the first time since thegreat freeze-up of 1963 - on 2l February.Suddenly, the eleven townships of theancient province of Friesland, in the north-ern Netherlands, were totally iced in. TheElfstedentocht was on.

ln a country where skating is the nationalspon, there is no shortage of people wantingto take part in this unique ice marathon, 200kilometers long. If you want to win it, thereis rto time for stops or refreshment. It's a

long, long way, and competition is fero-cious.

This year, 250 people entered the race it-self, and a firrther 16,000 lined up for the hellof it. They turned out for a six o'clock start in

the freezing darkness, to push offon whatmust be - if you take it seriously - an endur-ance test as tough as any yet devised in thename of sport.

No wonder 3,000 of the starters neverfinished. And where else in the world wouldthe other 13,000 have made it?

The winner of the race, Evert van Benth-em, a farmer, became an instant nationalhero. His name will be carved on the monu-ment of the Elfstedentocht in I-eeuwarden,the capital of Friesland, where it will iointhose of other winners in the long history ofthe event.

He could make a fomrne out of it. But, hesays, he wants none of it. He owns 4O cows;and they, he says, are enough for him.

And the population at large? They re-mained glued to their TV sets for the 14

hours ofthe event - unless, that is, they wereamong the half million or so who massedalong the canal banks to cheer the heroes on.Not much work was done in Holland thatday. But then, nobody knows when - oreven if- they will ever get the chance again.

llcrossed.

Et,..lFlffi$:,fr l'i5

How to $et high-tech into theclassro omo help the modern generation of school-

children to master such innovations as

microprocessors, videotexts, and interac-tive videodiscs, the Commission has in-

troduced a new programme, which is outlinedin a document titled 'New Information Tech-nologies and the School Systems in the Euro-pean Community' (Com 84 7 22).

It looks first at the introduction of new in-formation technologies (NITs) into teachingpractices and the school curriculum, where themost obvious issue is the nature of the lessons

which teach children how to use the new tech-nology. What should the teaching involve?Should the lessons be compulsory or optional?At what level are lessons to be geared? Shouldcomputer lessons simply cover technologicalknow-how, or should they also include the morecontroversial issues of the impact of these newtechnologies on our society?

NITs, however, are not only used in the com-puter studies lessons. Just as they are alreadyimpinging on social aspects of life, as well as onscience and technology, so they can be a

teaching aid in mathematics, science, history,geography, economics and language lessons.

Manuals are therefore being prepared on NITsin secondary schools, and on their use at prim-ary school level.

NITs are said to make it easier to understandbasic concepts like time and numbers. There istherefore a special investigation into how far,and in what way, they actually help ch.ildrenlearn by themselves. A more specialised studyexamines how NITs can help in the education ofhandicapped children, the deaf and blindespecially.

Iflhen introducing NITs into schools, thelogistics of the problem must also be consi-dered. Soon, schools will not simply have one ortwo microprocessors - they will also be equip-ped with computer rooms, simulation facilities,intemal and external data bases giving access toprogramme libraries etc. How is time to befound to supervise the new equipment, andwhere is the extra.space to come from? Anumber of case studies are currently beingconducted to look into these organisationalproblems.

The second mafor difficulty in introducingNITs into schools lies with the teachers, whomay have had only limited experience in thefield. They will not only need to learn the tech-nical aspects, but will also have to acquire the re-levant teaching skills. To overcome the prob-lem in the most cost-effective way, exchanges

for teacher trainers are being arranged.It is not, however, only the teachers who need

assistance and information on introducingNITs to school. Manufacturers also requte in-formation on gearing their products to the class-room. What son of software, 'courseware' -computer-speak for educational software - andhardware are suitable for educational use?

Investigation into these aspects will tie in with

t2

The latestinformationtechnologies are makingtheir way into business andindustry. But their use inschools poses problems ofmethod and accessibility. Anewly-announced EuropeanCommunity programme setsoutto help

work being done in the Esprit prograrnme.Again, in what languages should the NITs be

programmed? At the moment, the BASIC lan-guage is generally used for teaching; but as thiscomputer language was originally developed tofacilitate scientific calculation, teachers andstudents with little interest in technical andmathematical matters find it stodgy andesoteric. A revised computer language needs tobe worked out, especially as other computerlanguages, such as LOGO, are often daunting.

The Commission wants to introduce someson of quality control on courseware whichwould facilitate exchanges. If the coursewarewere ofa consistendy high standard, it would bepossible to set up 'didactheques'- coursewarebanks. Similarly, costs could also be kept downwith the introduction of a single computer lan-guage, as the use of so many computer lan-guages makes the transferring of coursewarefrom one installation to another very expensive.

Discussions with industry will also be held onwhat sort ofhardware is suitable for education.The market is being flooded with new compu-ters for the home and the small business, butthese are not always ideal for teaching.

So far, little has been done to consider NITdesiga from the educational viewpoint. TheCommission, in its desire to change this situa-tion, is looking at the possibilities of enlargingman-to-machine communication - talking tothe computer through acoustic signal recogai-tion, using touch screens, and other means ofbringing the technology within the competenceboth ofteachers and children'

'ARAH Foor

'A revised computer longuoge needs to be worked out.'

Tounq people qskthemsEfves whql ourolonelwill look likein 50 yeors...'

Hovrto overcome 'Euro-sclerosis': a reBor[ on tfreDavos $yrnBos[m

European leaders and heads ofbusiness, meeting at Davos,have been debating the best way to deal with the economicdisease dubbed'Euro-sclerosis'. Experts, politicians andbusinessmen all have their own approach. But they all amountto the same thing: the entrepreneurial spirit mustbereawakened ever5rwhere.

'Losl rreo/sossufionce ofoplimism hqs been

*tp"d byrhewill

Schwab, President and founder of theEWF Foundation, underlined at theopening: 'Last year's assurance ofoptim-ism has been replaced by the will to act.'

In the first place, it is clear that theworld economic climate has distinctlyimpmved. Thanks to the vigorous Amer-ican recovery all the Western economiesare doing better, with increased growthand reduced in{lation. Even the develo-pling countries are e:rperiencing im-proved growth.

However, there are still disturbingimbalances. The budget, trade and pay-ments deficits in the United States arereaching dimensions which bode ill forthe future. Japan's large trade surplus isalso worrying. These imbalances are aserious threat to free trade, and increasetensions and temptations to protection-

Europeans are starting to emergefrom Euro-pessimism, now they mustemerge from Euro-sclerosis'. This for-mula of Herbert Giersch, President ofthe World Economy Institute of Kiel@est Germany) summarises very wellthe questions which dominated the lastSymposium, organised by the EWFFoundation (Economy-World-Forum)and chaired by Raymond Bame.

Davos, at the end ofJanuary and be-ginning of February, represents a padi-cularly important moment in therhythm of Euopean and internationalpolitical and economic life. Nearly 1,000participants and guests came, amongthem about 100 prime ministers, includ-ing Chancellor Kohl, ministers andleaders of large international organisa-tions, and some 150 representatives ofthe world media. Among the guests wasthe new Commissioner,Willy de Clercq,and several Comrnission directors.Above all, an unusually intense reflec-tion, exchange ofideas and all kinds ofcontacts took place in an exceptionallyinformal environment.

By comparison with previous yearsthe Symposium opened in a more opti-mistic atmosphere. As Professor Klaus

ism. Insidiously, protectionist measuresare on the increase ever5rwhere.

More than ever, the United Statescontinues to play an economic role ofcrucial importance. In view of its ownvery strong economic recovery, the US iseven less hesitant about moving forwardon the conviction and strength of itsdynamism.

Simultaneously, Japan is alsoadvancing with its extraordinary gift fortransforming its problems into opportu-nities. Thus, today, Tokyo is trying to be-come one ofthe world's leadingfinancialcentres.

Faced with these developmentsEurope is improving but it is still heldback by sclerosis. Both its structures andits attitudes are in great need of mod-ernisation. As much in the area of supp-ly as of demand, the European marketremains fragmented and is still not atrue market. Europe must reinforce itsmonetary cohesion, as Karl Otto Pohl,Governor of the West German CenhalBank, emphasised. It must enlarge itsrole and consciously back research andinnovation.

Cutting down on regulations andstate control, which has been stimrilatedby the American example led by hesi-dent Reagan, followed by Mrs Thatcher,is on the increase throughout the world.All governments are becoming aware ofthe importance and the necessity of theentrepreneurial spirit. From now ontheirnewrole will be to createthe condi-tions which will guarantee maximumbusiness dynamism.

So ChancellorKohl hastaken a standagainst 'the cultural pessimism which ismuch too rampant in Europe'. For him,also, the moment has come to try'Schumpeterism'. For him, the futurelies with four basic principles. First, asociety cannot consume more than itproduces. This is a truth which has toooften been forgotten. Second, state in-tervention must be reduced, both quan-titatively and qualitatively. Renewedprivatisation and'de-bureaucratisation'must be aimed at. Third, performancemust be encouraged and rewarded. Itmustbe recognised on the psychologicaland the material levels, notably by taxcuts: 'democracy needs elites based onperformance and competence'.

Lastly, everything which is possibledoes not necessarily suit human beings.Young people ask themselves, withreason, what our planet will look like in50 years: the arms race, genetic en-

MAY1985 (i)

gineering, the environment, are prob-lems which must be taken into account.

Chancellor Kohl also emphasisesEuropean unification once again. Forhim 1985 will be a decisive year: a foeetrade zone is not enough, the impetusmust be accelerated. But is everyoneready to participate, he wonders? Cer-tainly, Chancellor Kohl does not envis-age excluding anyone. But for him it isnot possible, either, to wait until every-one makes up their minds. Political in-tegration must really move forward.

For Mr Kohl, flnally, reducing regula-tions means an increase in the responsi-bilities of management. The managers'first task is to manage their businessesand make them effective.

Thus today, every country must con-sider itself a 'developing' country. Theaccepted priorities are lightening theadministrative bureaucracy and theregulations, reducing the tax burden onindividuals and businesses, renderingeconomic and financial mechanismsmore supple and dynamic. LotharSpath, Prime Minister of the state ofBade-Wurttemberg, laid great stress onthese points.

Yet in many countries these conceptsremain at the level of words andspeeches, and have great difficulty beingtranslated into decisions and concretefacts.

Beyond the state, the entrepreneurialspirit must spread everywhere, eveninto businesses. Businessmen often tendto proclaim freedom and competitionwhen it suits them, and then reject themifthey are in danger ofbeing hamperedby them. Opening up of markets andcompetition must work both ways.Japanese dynamism is to a large extentdue to very lively competition betweenJapanese businesses themselves. Theentrepreneurial spirit must also spreadinside businesses ofall sizes. Businessesmust'de-bureaucratise' explains JohnAkers, President of IBM Corporation(United States).

The entrepreneurial spirit also im-plies confldence between people. Delega-tion, decentralisation and flexibilitymust become the guiding rrles for rrn-ning a business. This implies puttingconfidence in people, recognising theirright to make mistakes and meet set-backs, and giving them a second chance.This approach must permeate allbusinesses at all levels. It is the essentialprecondition for motivation, dynamismand success in big as well as smallbusinesses.

Small and medium-sized entreprises(SMEs) also play a major role at thisstage. It is, above all, SMEs which arecreating jobs and innovating, as BertT$aalfhoven, President of NV Indivers(Netherlands), has shown. They are the

'Businesses must notforqet their sociqlresponsibility vis-q-vts young peirple'

ceftainly be creative, innovative in itsproducts, marketing, organisation, peo-ple. But the state must also be inventivein its policies, its taxation system, its in-itiatives. Innovation is at once technolo-gical, economic, financial and social.

Certainly, businesses must not forgettheir social responsibility vis-d-visyoung people, the unemployed, the en-vironment and the Third World. This iswhat the former British Prime Minister,Edward Heath, and again Carl Hahn,President of Volkswagenwerk AG (WestGermany) urged forcefully.

On the whole, the Syrnposium's presi-dent, Raymond Barre, said, if Europe isto escape from Euro-sclerosiswe need in-novative and dynamic businesses.States must create an environmentwhich is stable and stimulating forbusinesses. They must also be careful tocreate clear international rules of thegame which can lead to stability in eco-nomic, financial and commercial rela-tions. This requires will-power Ilom eco-nomic decision-makers and govern-ments.

PHILIPPE HF]YMANN

driving force of competition. It is impor-tant to recognise their role, and do every-thing possible to encourage and stimu-late them. Europe's backwardness islargely due to its inadequacies in creat-ing and developing SMEs.

In addition, a new race of entrep-reneurs and leaders must emerge. The'Schumpeterist' businessman must setan example. A businesses' success relies,flrst and foremost, on the leadershipqualities of its management. To have aclear, foresighted vision of their objec-tives, to know how to communicate theirbelief, to be voluntarist, reliable, cohe-rent and a 'winner'are the main qual-ities necessary for leaders.

In fact, inventiveness and creativitymust win in all sectors. Even if we aretalking about a state enterprise, it must

Feeding thehunmr: thefacts about theCommunityprosarnmeAt a press conference on28 February, Vice-PresidentLorenzo Natali, theCommissioner responsible forco-operation anddevelopment, sought to refutecriticisms of the Community'said programme to the SudanandEthiopia.

He pointed out that in mid-Februarythe Council of Ministers had approvedthe 'Dublin' plan of aid to the droughtand famine stricken regions of Aflica.The plan was proposed by the EuropeanCouncil meeting in Dublin last Decem-ber, and included an offer of 1.2 milliontonnes of cereals to the hungry coun-tries, already supplemented by a further255,000 tonnes. About two-thirds of the1.2m tonnes will be supplied by the

Community itself, and the remainderoffered bilaterally by member states.

Mr Natali said that growing deser-tification represented a major cause offamine in Africa and one to which Lom6III was paying special attention. Newtechnologies, such as satellite surveill-ance, would make it possible to detectand combat drought more easily, hesaid, and Spanish permission to allow anAmerican observation satellite to beplaced in the Canaries would be ofgreathelp.

The Lom6 Convention, he added, wasconfirmation of Community interestand concern in the area. The damagingeffect of the present drought would,however, not easily disappear.

The Community has been concernedwith drought problems in Allica sinceApril 1984, Iong before TV brought thehorrors of famine to the eves of the

( ii)

Western world. In recent months it hascontributed to the stricken areas in com-pany with other international agenciesand a host of non-governmental orga-nisations (NGOs).

On a recent visit to Sudan, however,Sir Anthony Kershaw MP found muchto criticise in the Commission's work,complaining that Community aid lag-ged behind that ofthe USA, and sufferedfrom inefficiency and 'arthriticbureaucracy'. Mr Dietrich Frisch,Director-General of the Community'sdevelopment division, swiftly pointedout that at the end of 1984 the Commun-ity made a special effort 'to draw allavailable means ftom all corners of theCommunity budget' for emergency aid,and that so far it had allocated 430mECU (over€260m) to a special program-me, of which Ethiopia will receive aboutf90m and the Sudan over f30m in theshape offood and other emergency aid.

As far back as April 1984 the Com-munity launched an 83m ECUs(f51.5m) emergency and food aid prog-ramme, followed in October 1984 by afurther 60m ECUs €37.2m) which, be-sides money, offered about 20 countriesallocations of cereal, skimmed milkpowder and butteroil. These contribu-tions could be expected to feed 3 millionpeople until the end of last December,MrNatali said.

'The Dublin plonwqs lounchrid to stepurr Communitvc6reol ollocotions'

At the European Council meeting ofheads of state and governments in De-cember, the Dublin plan was launchedto step up Community cereal allocationsto 1.2 million tonnes. Despite some earlybudgetary fears, the cost to the Com-munity budget is expected to be 175mECUs (f108.5m), of which 80m ECUs(f49.6,) will come from the Lom6 Con-vention and 95m ECUs (f59m), by Com-mission decision last December, fromthe 1984 budget. The plan involves500,000 tonnes as Communtiy emergen-cy aid, 300,000 tonnes as normal EECaid, and 400,000 tonnes furnished by theTen. The figure has since been enlargedby 255,000 tonnes to take account of 20African countries listed by FAO asaffected by drought.

The addition is despite the fact that in1984 drought-stricken countries rang-ing from Benin to Mozambique receivednormal food aid from the Communtiyamounting to 126m ECUs (f78m), withfurther special aid to Mali, Mozambi-que, Ethiopia, Niger and Kenya intro-

duced between the April and Octoberplans.

Mr Frisch felt that Sir Anthony'scriticism of the Commission's 'arthriticbureaucracy' in the Sudan was'veryhard to accept'. He pointed out that in1984 delivery delays had been cut to theminimum. He could prove that in cer-tain cases there was a period of only 40days between the decision to send in foodand its arrival at Ethiopian ports. Whensea transport alone occupies about 30days, he reckoned the Community'sachievement would be hard to chal-Ienge. The Community also had a teamof very committed civil servants whowere workinghardto make the aid effec-tive, but there were continual difficul-ties at ports and with transport.

Regarding the Sudan, Mr Frischnoted that the US was making a specialeffort to help the Sudan for its ownreasons, so that it was sensible for theCommunity to concentrate its resourceselsewhere. Even so, in 1984 the Com-munity delivered 12,000 tonnes of

Community aid to the main drought suf-ferers can be summarised as follows:

Ethiopia: a grant of about 147mECUs (f91m) for victims of drought, re-fugees and repatriates, of which 64.84mECUs (f40m) was allocated in 1984 and82.15m ECUs (f51m) will be im-plemented in 1985. Under normal foodaid programmes the country has re-ceived over 100,000 tonnes of cereals,5,150 tonnes of milk powder, 2,290 ton-nes ofbutteroil, 100 tonnes ofsugar and2,400 tonnes ofbeans. A further 45,000tonnes of cereals will be sent in 1985,with 2,000 tonnes ofbeans, and quanti-ties ofbutteroil, dried fish and sugar.

Under emergency aid of some 23mECUs (f 14.3m) the Community has sentmoney to UNHCR for refugees in Gam-bella and repatriates in Haraghe; toUnicef for the purchase of tarpaulins,blankets, utensils, grinding mills andstoves; to the Red Cross for medical prog-rammes; to several NGOs like Oxfamand the Catholic Secretariat for trans-portrelief; andto UNDRO (UN DisasterRelief Organisation) for the local purch-ase ofseeds and for inland transport ofgrain.

Eritrea-Tigray: A grant of 10.5mECUs (€6.2m) in 1984-5, channelledthrough the Red Cross (ICRC) andseveral European NGOs, such as DutchInterchurch Aid, Via Caritas Germani-ca and Oxfam. The money has suppliedover 15 tonnes ofcereals, 130 tonnes ofskimmed milk powder, 2,400 tonnes of

'Eoch member sloleis free to hqndlebiloterqlqid inits own woy'

cereals to the Sudan, and some 42,000more tonnes are to delivered in the nextfew months. On top of that, about 20mECUs (f12.4m) has been allocated toNGOs, the Sudan government, and asfar as the refugees are concerned also tothe UNHCR (UN High Commission forRefugees).

Mr Frisch corrected the view thatmember countries were inhibited fromsending their own contributions becauseof Community aid. The UK, and everyother member, he said, is absolutely fteeto handle bilateral aid in its own wayabove that sent by the Community, butpreferably in co-operation on a broadIlont.

beans, 150 tonnes of vegetable oil, 100tonnes ofsugar, and 100 tonnes offish.

The Sudan: A total of 52.75m ECUs(some f33m) has been granted for vic-tims of drought and refugees, of which14.5m ECU (f9m) was allocated in 1984and 38.6m ECUs (f24m) will be spent in1985. Under normal food aid Sudan hasreceived 12,000 tonnes of cereals andover 3,000 tonnes of dried skimmedmilk. As noted the Community has alsosent funds to the Sudan government, theUNHCR and several NGOs to assistwith medical and feeding programmes.Aid in 1985 will include a further 66,000tonnes of food supplies.

Mozambique: A total of 43.5m ECUslL27m) has been allocated to helpdrought victims, of which 21.3m ECUs(f 13.2m) was spent in 1984 and 22.2mECUs (f13.8m) has been allocated for1985. Apart from 50,000 tonnes ofcere-al, Mozambique has also received quan-tities of skimmed milk powder, butter-oil, and rice, with 100 tonnes of sugarand 50 tonnes of haricot beans to be in-cluded in 1985. The Community has alsohelped to fund the purchase ofsuitableseeds from Swaziland and Zimbabweand to equip medico-nutritional prog-rammes.

The Community has also providedboth normal and emergency aid inMauritania, Niger, Chad and Mali. Acertain amount of this help has beendirected at drought control, the pur-chase and transport of local seeds, andmedico-nutritional development.

( iii)

EII{.i,O tr'OR,IIM

Youflr Forum callsfor iobsThe Youth Forum of the EuropeanCommunities, which representsyouth organisations throughout theEEC, has called for an increase inthe European Social Fund andgreater emphasis on job creation foryoungpeople.

The Forum, which held its sixthGeneral Assembly in Luxembor:rg inMarch, also demanded the establish-ment of an'integrated policy for educa-tion, training and employment'to mark1985, the IIN's International YouthYear.

Special measures for young people inthe areas oflegal rights, housing, health- including action against drug abuse -and efforts to improve the situation ofyoung women, immigr:ants and ethnicminorities were also needed, it claimed.

Other proposals include demands forthe creation ofthe EEC Youth Exchangeprogramme, proposed by the EuropeanParliament in 1983, and greater parti-cipation by youth groups in the decision-making processes of the Community.

Old tyres for oil?Community-funded scientists at aFrench research institute havedeveloped an industrial process toget fuel oil from old t5res. Theproject is one of a numbersponsored under the Community'sresearch budget, according toEuropean Commission vice-president Karl-Heinz Narjes.

The project, which is jointly financedby the French Petroleum Institute andthe Commission, consists of a pilot fac-tory to'depolymerise' used tyres.

According to the scientists, the recipeis fairly simple. You put between 100and 300 kgofusedtyres in a special reac-tor, together with about 600 litres ofhealy oil. You then heat it up to about300 degrees, so that the rubber melts.And - hey presto - you have fuel oil. Allthat is left are the metal rims, which canalso be recycled and re-used.

The process, which was first thoughtup about ten years ago at the Universityof Compidgne, was first tested in a pilotplant in 1979. Its success led to the set-ting up of a second full-scale plant, sup-ported by a French t;n'e-maker and apublic body, the National Agency forWaste Recovery.

According to EEC estimates, Europeaccumulates about a million tonnes ofused tyres a year. About 4,000 tonnes ayear could be processed in a single fac-tory; and if the whole million tonnes

were recycled, we could save the equiva-lent of between 70,000 and 150,000 ton-nes of oil a year. Commercial plantscould be operating in four years, EEC of-ficials say.

The transition to commercial opera-tion will be assisted under the next re-search and development programme inthe field ofenerry saving. The program-me, which runs from 1985-88, and wasrecently approved by the Council ofMinisters, comprises six similar pro-jects, and will cost about 175 millionECUs.

lron ore is in declineEurope's iron ore mining industry isdyingout, and the Ten are now80per cent dependent on foreignimports of the ore, aecordingto areport drawn up by an MEP.

Iron ore production in Europe has fal-len to about 17.4 million tonnes, 14 mil-lion of which are produced in France'sLorraine Basin, from 113 million tonnesin 1960, says Ernest Muhlen, who drewup the report for the European Parlia-ment's Industry Committee.

The low iron content of Communityores - between 25 per cent and 40 percent compared with the 60 per cent con-tent of imports from Brazil and Austra-lia * means that the trend in EEC ironore production is economically irreversi-ble.

But some mines adjacent to iron andsteel industries, as well as being morereliable sources ofsupply, are alsoecono-mically viable and should get EuropeanCoal and Steel Community aid to im-prove their competitivity, the reportclaims.

Since the closure of mines in Luxem-bourg and on the Italian island ofElba,only four EEC countries now produceiron ore. The bulk of it comes from 13mines in the Loraine region of France.Other French mines are located in Nor-mandy and the furenees.

The United Kingdom has threemines, located near Scunthorpe, Alker-ton and Bekermet; the Federal Republicof Germany has one at Leonie Auer-bach; and Greece operates one at Larym-ma. All the mines are'captive' ratherthan'commercial', supplying adjacentblast furnaces, says Mr Muhlen.

But interest in investing in the minesmay be limited in the light of fallingworld demand and prices, and the mas-sive reserves available. Last year oreprices fell 10-15 per cent. And in recentyears new extraction methods, togetherwith the discovery of huge open-castmines in Brazil, South Afi:ica, Australiaand Mauritania, means that estimatedreserves now exceed 100 years'output,he admits.

h!Television in Europe: qualityand values in a time of change.By Anthony Pragnell. MediaMonograph 5. Europeanlnstitute for the Media,University of Manchester.Latest in a series of reports onaspects of European culture,especially relevant following theCommission's Green Paper,'Television Without Frontiers'. ltrecommends'f air' competition ;

new kinds of domestic TVprogramming; licence fees gearedto quality of programmes ratherthan audience size;andsponsorship, in the form ofpatronage, to help with the costs.

Has the Cavalry Arrived? Areport on trade liberalisationand economic recovery. TradePolicy Research Centre, e3.00.A pithy paperback bringingtogether contributions by a studygroup, chaired by Brian Scott,arising from the Seoul TradeConference, and outlining ways toa less restrictive trade policy bythe major mercantile powers.

Ten European Elections. Editedby Karlheinz Reif. Gower,916.00.Analysis of the campaigns andresults of the lirst direct electionsto the European Parliament in1979181 . The Conservatives'domination of the incoming UKgroup is attributed to the election'sfollowing hard on the heels of theirvictory at the General Election.Only 32.1 per cent turned out,which the report calls 'derisory'.

The Times Guide to theEuropean Parliament. Edited byAlan Wood. Times Books,t15.00.An up-to-date reference book onwho's who in the EuropeanParliament, with photographs andbiographies of the MEPs electedlast June, accounts of thecampaigns in the memberstates,breakdowns of the voting, andreviews of where the politicalparties stand on the issues facingthe new Parliament,

(iv)

ROP

Atlast -Europe;'oinsthelront-runners rnthetechnolo$y race

There is nothing wrong withEurope's scientificbrainpower. What has beenlacking is co-operation on ascale that matches that ofJapan and the United States.Now, with the electronicgiants of Europe gettingtogether with the EEC, the! n adopting the Esprit programme, the Com-

I muniw has well and truly ioined the biotech-

I no,ogr* .r.e. At ,,st lt nas a slrategy woruyI ofthlname.

At the moment, information technologies(IT) are in the lead. The current objective is to'tame' the microchip. This is why the Espritprogramme is important, since it aims at restor-ing Europe's competitivity compared to the Un-ited States and Japan.

In ten years, the technological gap should beclosed. Around the year 2000, economists pre-dict that IT will be replaced by biotechnology.The focus will then be on domesticating en-z!rynes ahd micro-organisms, and it is on thistechnological batdeground that the industrialnations will confront each other. Thanks to thebiotechnology prograrnme adopted by theCouncil of Ministers on 19 December 1984, theCommunitywill beon the scene.

Esprit will swallow up some 750 millionECUs between January 1984 and December

1988, and biotechnology only 55 million ECUsin five years (from January 1985 to December1989). But, even allowing for this dispropor-tion, imponant similarities can be observed be-

tween the two prograrnmes. Both aim essential-ly at increasing t}le slmergy of European efforts,and at producing a 'multiplier effect'. Apartfrom their role as catalysts, they must also give a

transnational dimension to actions carried outwithin the Communiry.

The second common point is that Esprit andthe biotechnologies programme both resultfrom close collaboration between industrialistsand the Community: a good sign for their iointfutures.

Do these initiatives indicate the end of the

'technological nationalism' which has beenEurope's main handicap? It is too early to iudge;but if the spirit of Esprit extends to all economicsectors, Europe may remain master of its owndestiny. The two progmmmes are of the typewhich could change behaviour in the economic

picture has begun to change.ADELINEBAUMANNreports

sector, since they should encourage breakingdown barriers in the European market, adopt-ing common technical standards, and openingup markets.

The first results are said to be encouraging.But the programme is, first of all, 'a way of orga-nising Europe', said Michel Carpentier, Direc-tor of the Task Force Information technologiesand telecommunications on 24 January.'We set

up the framework. It is up to the contractingpanies to do the rest.'

For 1984, 104 proiects with ioint fundingwere approved. The Communiry's financialparticipation amounted to some 180 millionECUs, to which was added the equivalent sumput in by the conracting parties - research insti-tutes, universities, small businesses, and big in-dustrial groups from the member states. Acting-as go-between, the Community encourages thecreation of transnational profects. A kind ofmarriage bureau helps partners with commonaims to get in touch with each other. On aver-

age, the 104 projects bring together five part-ners from different European countries. In tot-al, more than 500 people are already working inthe programme: they will reach an estimated1,000 at the end of 1985 and 2,000 next year.

There are five technical areas on the agenda:

advanced microelectronics; technology; adv-

anced treatment of information; office technolo-gy; and computer-aided manufacturing. At pre-sent, the Community only holds l0 per cent ofthe world market and 40 per cent of its own in-ternal market. The toll of non-European com-petition can be measured also in terms of loss ofiobs. Between 1970 and 1980 the United States

created 19 million jobs, Japan 5 million and the

Community barely 2 million. Unl-ike their maincompetitors, the Ten did not back the creationof new products which meet new needs soon

enough, according to Etienne Davignon, Euro- )

'A kind of morriogeburequ helps pqrtnerswith common trims to

fli,[?J"uch with eoch

;i

ntliiI]:ii.. .. . r,: ,

1; "'i;":.

1,...

,t,l:it,i.

1'1,':,,:'l,]ii, ,

lil'i:ii i.].r.,., i;:t i, r;i;il':.i,i,i,,i,.

I

[Itlliilt

lri$*i*$iniliniliilii11ff

..i...:..i l'.,.lirllrlrllltl;lilili:lllirrl ' j

lt. I..r"r.,i ill,: ilrlitjllr,.,, :,r i., i,,,i,:,i.:,i,i,i,i,i,r,:,:;.,,, :il!t,iri,.i,,iti::i,,,;r,,,,ii,rr,ri1,

. , i,i:i:::l : : :iii:ri ili::rirjli;i,iti:lill , : ,,, iiritilr:l:Illl

I I |l L,L,i ,!:t I lrl

' t', ! :. il'lr,'r ,r lirLlrlrlriri

',' l]'lLlll'rl| 'llt, :,.r,i,L,i,r]ii.,lrt'.lr ,rrrtrlillrr,til

, I i,i,i,,,l,i,i,l,l,l,i,,r!i!'r,lr'!i,r'i'l'l

., r,r r:r t'r :rlrirrr ilrl: i,,',.i.1 i,i i'i'..i,i,],i

],i i . r'r,'r ! ",,'lrlrlrirt/l: .i : I r: "rr:ilil 'rl i rril'rIl lllrlrlrl

. rrll ,:,r,i liirrrr lrlrrrlllrirl

xfrilffiiIfiiiilililffiilililil

The currenl obiective is to "tome" the micro-chip.'l3

ROPE 85

'Must we accept that apan is the UnitedStates' only serious Gompetitor in biotechnology?'

pean Commissioner responsible for industryand research in the previous Commission. Oneresult is that the Community has just passed thelevel of 13 million unemployed.

Conscious of the need to reinforce the tech-nological base of the old Continent, 12 big Euro-pean companies in the electronics sector - Sie-mens, AEG, Nixdorf, CGE, Thomson, Bull,Olivetti, STET, Philips, GEC, Plessey andICL, sponsored the Communiry initiative fromthe beginning.

The success of the first call for proposals,launched in March 1984 by the Community au-thorities, is a sigrl of the interest the Europeanprogramme has aroused. In reply to the 7,000information packs sent to potential participantsin Esprit prograrnmes, 441 transnational re-search projects were sent to Brussels. After eva-luation by independent experts, 114 projectshave been chosen for Community backing.

'When the Ten pool their resources of intelli-gence and know-how the results_are immediate.In September the Esprit 'technical week', orga-nised by the Commission, brought togethermore than 500 people. It was an occasion fortaking stock and presenting the results ofcoop-eration: a new silicone compilor and the settingup of a common programming environment.

Parallel to the Esprit prograrnme, a new sys-tem for exchanging information was born.Eurocom is a nenvork which electronically con-nects the 500 participants in the programme. Ifit is applied to internalCommunity commercialtransactions, this technology could bring abouta considerable reduction in both costs and time,it is believed in Brussels.

As for the 1985 work programme, it wasapproved onl9 December 1984 by the Minis-ters for Industry and Research of the Ten. The

Esprit oims otrptimising reseqrch,

rr-iducinq ioste ondduplicol-ed effor{'

gramme. Karl-Heinz Narjes, European Com- ing production in industrialised countries ismissioner responsible for the industrial sector, biological in nature, and that biotechnologicalshares his predecessor's enthusiasm for the evolution should influence and transform this.Community initiative. 'Esprit allows the intro- A future driving-force for innovation, this sec-duction of the European dimension into the tor is already a testing ground for intemationalmanagementofbusinesses,'hesaidduringare- competition. The stakes are high, since in thecent interview, underlining the need to perfect year 2000 the biotechnologies markets will rep-the internal market. There is no disquiet about resent a volume of 50 to 100 billion dollars.the future of Esprit: the only uncertainry comes ln this area, American activity far outstripsfrom the communiry's budgeury difficulties. all Europe's. And l0 years ago Japan launched a

Must we accept that Japan is the United specificprogrammeonlifesciencisandtheirin-States' only serious competitor in the biotech- dustrial and medical applications.nological field? This severe judgement came The community's main handicaps in thefrom a repon of October 1983, made for the biotechnological race are a fragmented market,American Congress. So as not to remain a neg- lack ofqualified researchers, an inadequate sci-ligible factor, the Community has just adopted a entific infrastructure, over-expensive agricultu-cofirmon research prografirme, Esprit's little ral products.brother. These factors are suffrcient to explain the

The decision, which was taken on 19 Decem- wretched European performance - reduced ex-ber 1984, takes the form ofa five-year program- changes and fewer patents taken out than in theme (1985-89) in which thermonuclear fusion UnitedStatesorJapan.will get the lion's share - some 690 million These specffically European constraints areECUs out of a total budget of 1,225 million. also the underlying cause of the 'brain-drain'Among the sectors which will benefit from across the Atlantic, since the US offers resear-Community support are biotechnologies, re- chers a much more favourable environment. If

ffi:ffi*"fi 1l:tiffl'Jffi';manasement, I t i s rh e B riti s hBacked by a budget of 55 million ECUs over GOVefnment WhiCh iS

ffi Jffi ''T",i:gi'H[*.:ffi ,:'Tfl,ffi mosrconcerned-q-iroutremedy the main weaknesses of Europe.of the ScigntiStS' emigfqtiOn,Tet, by setting up a research and training in-frastructure adopted to the needs of newbiotechnologies by encouraging the transfer ofknowledge gained to industry and analysing fu-ture developments in the sector.

Biotechnology is the multi-disciplinary fieldpar excellence. According to the EuropeanBiotechnology Federation's definition, it con-sists of the 'combined used of biochemistry,microbiology and engineering', and aims at ex-ploiting the capacities of micro-organisms andofcells from cultivated tissues and their consti-tuents.

Enzymes and micro-organisms at the serviceof humaniry, programmed bacteria - thesebiotechnologies will one day solve rhe mostburning problems of our era: sickness, mal-nutrition, pollution, the energy equation andmany others. Once again it will be important totranslate the promising results ofpure researchinto industrial products.

For the Communiry, 'a strong biotechnologytakes on a decisive strategic importa:nce in orderto guarantee the competitiveness of agricultureand industry and to improve people's quality oflife and natural environment.' Concretely, itsapplication will make possible the selection ofcultures and micro-organisms, to create new liv-ing entities, to perfect bio.industrial methodsand to produce new vaccines and other anti-bodies.

It is estimated that 4O per cent ofmanufactur-

the report mentioned above is to be believed, itis the British govemment, and to a lesser extent,the German, which is most concerned about sci-entists' emigration.

At present, the Ten have pure research ofavery high level - the best in the world, it is said.In effect, all the member states have taken in-itiatives to reply individually to the challenge ofmodem biotechnology. Currently going on inthe big national laboratories are cloning oil-palm cells (Unilever, UK) and production ofsemi-synthetic penicillins (Bayer, \trflest Ger-many).

Rhdne Poulenc (France) is the world leaderin the production of vitamin Bl2; Gist-Brocades (Netherlands) the main Europeanproducer of penicillin; and Novo (Denmark)dominates the world market in industrial en-zymes.

C,o'operation, however, is lagging. So from1985 to 1989 the Community will carry out jointactions, in the form of ioint-funded proiectswith the European laboratories. The efforts willrelate to research in the srict sense, collabora-tion across frontiers, access to primary productslike sugar and starch, setting up a regulation forfood and pharmaceutical products, and forfoods destined for animals and patents laws, aswell as training of scientists and financial aid for

Community has significandy increased itsfinancial commitment for the 1985 phase: 215million ECUs, compared with 180 million for1984.

As in the past, Esprit aims at optimisingEuropean research, reducing waste and dupli-cated effort and maximising the return on in-vestnent. The main innovation for 1985 will bethe priority given to projects oriented to indus-try. This should redress one of the structuralweaknesses of the Community's research anddevelopment sector, ie the difficulty in uanslat-ing the knowledge acquired by research intoindustrial production.

The ransition to the new Commissionshould not have a major impact on the pro-t4

Elaboratories.

ROPE S5

'Lo Morcho'iokes over in Modrid.

An end to the painin Spain! t was fitting that Spain should have applicd

I rbrmallv ro, EEC entrv shorrJy atler demo-

lcratic elections were ireld in 1977. ThoseI elections, held 18 months aftcr the death ofFranco, represented the fust free vote held inSpain since a shortlived experiment with repub-lican government in the 1930s.

Prior to the 1977 vote, political parties andtrade unions, banned during the franquisrutperiod, were legalised, and electoral law that en-sured universal suffrage within a proponionalrepresentation system was drawn up. The elec-tions paved the way for the framing of a demo-cratic constitution by the newly-created two-chamber parliament in 1978. With the advent ofdemocracy, Spain moved swiftly to consolidateits ties with the European Community.

The Spanish transition from dictatorship todemocracy was marked by general euphoria,both within and outside Spain. The whole pro-cess was held to be a model of political tolera-tion. Public opinion in Spain believed that, nowthe country had shown its democratic creden-tials, it would be welcomed with open arms intothe European Community.

This belief had at least two components:Spain had a right to take its place in Europe, andEurope had an obligation to accept Spain. Gov-

Clearance to entertheCommunity was a long timecoming. But it found Spainbetterprepared than if shehad been invited to ioin themoment the Franco yearsWCrC OVCr. TOM BURNSreports

erning the enthusiastic pro-Europe movementin Spain was the interaction between the themesof democracy and dictatorship and of mem-bership of the Communry. Franqutsmo hadbarred Spain from its rightful place among thedeveloped, Western societies, and the onset ofdemocracy had rcmoved the barriers. Therewas, in addition, a sub-theme. Membership ofthe European Communiry could serve to shorcup and consolidate the democratic process.

With the benefit of hindsight, it appears thatmuch of the ensuing anguish in Spain, as nego-tiations to join the EEC became interminablybogged down, resulted from the initial political

implications and perceptions with which Spainapproached the membership issue. From thebeginning, the emphasis was on political union.The economic complexities were never clearlyexplained to the Spanish public, nor, much less,

understood. If French farmers, for example,blocked the entry of Spanish produce, this was

interpreted as an attempt to keep Spain in back-ward isolation.

The economic complexities posed by Span-ish entry were considerable from the start. Itwas not completely understood in Spain thatthey were of a two-way nature. Overall, tierewas excessive stress on the competition thatSpanish honicuitural produce would involvefor Community members, and in particularFrance; while it was often forgotten that theCommunity would itself makes inroads onother sectors of Spanish agriculture.

The complexities were, however, of a doublenature, particuJarly because European entry in-volved the tearing down of the protectionist sys-

tem which formed the very basis of Spanish pro-ductivity. The prevai-ling view in Spain in theearly years of the negodarion process, once itwas digested that membership was not auto-matically assured along with democracy, wasthat Europe was stalling on Spanish entry be- )

l5

ROPE 85

'lf French fqrmersblocked Soonishproduce, it wosinterpreted qs qnottemotto keep Spoinin bockword isblqiion'

cause it feared the impact of Spanish produce.Informed opinion in Spain knew perfecdy

well that the delays were due to the Commun-ity's own budget problems. But even when thiswas admitted there was usually an aggrievedtone amongst Spanish officials, who argued thatthere was litde use in Brussels sorting out theproblems of the Nine or of the Ten if the Com-munity was to consist of 12 members.

Such attitudes reflected both Spanish impati-ence and an ignorance, albeit an understandableone, of Community procedures. There wereother blind alleys as well. For a time there was avirrual blind belief in goverrrment circles thatFrance represented the main hurdle to entry,and that this obstacle could be circumvented bySaining the good offices of \tr7est Germany,which would, metaphorically, slip Spainthrough by the back door.

The attempted diplomatic liaisons, seriouslyargued by senior officials, were, at the veryleast, reckless. They rested on two main mis-conceptions: tiat France was the obstacle thatMadrid held it to be, and that lVest Germanywould willingly forego an understanding withFrance, which was, after all, a cornerstone ofpost-war European diplomacy. It was not untilDecember 1982, when a socialist governmenttook office in Spain, that a measure of realismwas inlected into Spain's relations with itshoped-for Communiry partners. At this point,the new administration rurned the diplomaticwheel by 180 degrees, and decided that, ifSpainwere ever to eRter Europe, it would be withFrance making the introductions.

The long negotiating process, blamed on theCommunity as a whole or on France in particu-lar, was certainly frustrating for Spain - therewere innumerable false starts, with hopes sud-denly raised only to be quickly dashed as the en-try taryet date was forever pushed back. But itwas, at the same time, a blessing h disguise.The slow approach to the doorstep in theoryallowed Spain to prepare itself fully in advanceof reaching the Community's threshold.

The need for preparation was not an issuethat could be ueated lightly. Had Spain enteredthe EEC, as was widely hoped and expected, inthe wake of the 1977 elections and the formal re-quest for membership, the effect could havebeen shanering on several levels. The effect ofvalue-added tax, for one, wodd have sentearth-tremors through the Spanish financialstructure, as it was not until the first democrati-cally elected governments began a thorough-going overhaul of the fiscal system thatSpaniards began to pay tixes in a manner com-parable to other European societies.

Unfornrnately, the early years of the nego-tiating process coincided with the progressive

16

consolidation of Spain's democratic transition.It could hardly have been otherwise, since thetwo were intimately linked. In practice, thismeant that there was high political premium inSpain on industrial peace, and that necessaryrestructuring and austeriry prograrnmes wentby the board. Public money was poured in tomaintain'smoke-stack' industries; the govern-ment and the private sector fought shy of forc-ing ftroggh layoffs; and wages skyrocketed,

an inflationary spiral that peaked atyear-to-year increases ofclose on 30 per cent.

It is, in realiry, only in the last two years thatdetermined attempts have been made to stream-line the Spanish economy, and have it in shapefor Europe. The budget policy ofSpain's social-ist government has tackled the deficit and theinllation index with a strict monetaristapproach. The deficit has been contained, andeven brought down by halfa percentage point,despite a sharp rise in expenditure. Revenue has

risen, due more to increased measures againstfraud than to further fiscal impositions. Realincome has dropped as wages were pegged tobelow the inllation rate.

On the *reshold ofEuropean entry, and af-ter two years of austerity, a case could be madefor a degree ofpreparedness. In December 1984

the inflation rate stood at 9.5 per cent - downfroml2.2 per cent the previous December andfrom 14.4 per cent in December 1982, when thesocialist government took office. This was a keypsychological victory. It was the first time thatSpain had had single digit inflation since themid 1970s.

There were other optimistic indicators. Atthe end of last year Spain enioyed a crurentaccount surplus of two billion dollars. This wasa stark contrast to a 2.3 billion dollar deficit atthe end of 1983, and it was in fact the first timeSpain had recorded a clurent account surplussince 1979. The improved extemal account,together with an inIlow of foreign investmentand tourism income up by I billion dollars onthe previous yeiu, meant that reserves rose bysome 4.6 billion dollars to stand at 15.7 billiondollars. Spanish finance ministry officials claimthat the reserves at the end of last year repre-sented 50 per cent of the total foreign debt andthat this was the highest ratio within the Orga-nisation of Economic Co-operation and De-velopment.

There are less satisfying indicators, however.The chiefamong them is an unemployment tot-aI of 2.8 million, which is nearly 500,000 up onthe end of 1983 figure and represents the stag-gering statistic of just over one in five of theIabour force out ofwork.

The jobless total has meanwhile been aggra-vated by tough, albeit necessary, streamliningin loss-making sectors, particularly those in thesteel and shipbuilding industries. Reduced in-flation and a clampdown on wages, however,have failed to trigger domestic investmentamong Spaniards- and, indeed, one of the moredistorting and dangerous characteristics overallof the Spanish economy is that government br-rowing requirements to meet the deficit havetended to soak up an evidently surplus liquid-ity. The deficit has been contained, and even

marginally reduced; but it remains a cancer eat-ing on Spanish economic health.

A consequence of Spain's depressed domes-tic market is that Spanish producers have beenforced to export as never before. They havebeen helped in this by the slide of the peseta

against the dollar; but more than half of Spain'sexports go to the EEC, and the peseta has re-mained mosdy stable against ttre \tr7est European currencies. Spanish exports last year roseby 20 per cent in real terms.

The competition for expon markets has hadan undoubted beneficial effect on Spanish busi-ness, all the more so since the collapse of thecounry's traditional expon market in I-atinAmerica meant that Spanish exporters gearedthemselves to tradingin uncharted waters.

'Only in the pqstlwoyeqrs hqvedetermined effortsbeen mqde toslreomline theSponish economy'

Spain genuinely wanted to join Europe fromthe very moment its political system nrrned itinto a bona fida candidate for entry. It wanted tojoin because Spaniards had a deep-rooted desireto break out of isolation, and become anaccepted member among developed societies.More than fust a formidable geographical bar-rier, the Pyrennees mountain range forms apsychological block that Spaniards alternativelyhide behind or yearn to break out of.

But, in the process, Spain has had to undergomajor adjustrnents in its economic strucrures.This was inevitable given the protectionist char-acteristics of the economy. Spanish industry hasgrown in the greenhouse ofprotectionism and,according to the European Commission's owncalculations, Spain's acceptance of the Com-mon Extemal Tariffand ofVAT will be equiva-Ient to halving the present effective level oftradeprotection for Spanish products.

The more visionary of Spain's economistshave in the past years stressed the growingurgency for adiustrnents. A radical overhaul ofthe economy was crucially necessary as world-wide recession a decade ago brought the so-called Spanish economic miracle to a sunmaryhalt. Fornurately, the necessity coincided withthe application for European entry. This meantthat a direction and a purpose were lent to thewhole adjustment process.

In retrospect, the delays were all to Spain'sadvantage; and it is unfornrnate, if explicable,that Spain did not use the opportunity to greatereffect. Spain cannot afford to waste any moretime during the transition period if it is to holdits own in the Community and avoid a situationin which, as one Madrid wit puts it, 'Spaindoesn't enter the Common Market, the Com-mon Market enters Spain.'

! Tom Burns is Nezoseefr ardlVashington Postcorrespondent in Maddd.

OPE 85

Portu$al hasa seconddatewithhistory

for rVest - the west of their realm.The land is richly varied. The coast is marked

by white sands, capes, and hills rolling to thesea. The hinterland is crossed by rivers andmountains scattered with boulden. There aretiny farms still worked by ancient implements,vineyards and wheadelds, olive and corkgroves, and pine forests intenpersed witheucalyptus groves.

Pornrgal became independent 840 years ago,when noblemen, aided by the Crusaden,ousted the Moors. But for 500 years after ttratPomgal was obliged to ward off Castile, withthe help of Europe's oldest alliance, signed withBritain in 1383. The Alliance did not save Por-tugal from annexation by Spain from 1580 to1640 or Pornrguese forests from being deci-mated to build the Spanish Armada.

That blow to national pride, and the tolltaken by an Inquisition introduced in 1520 thatdrove Christian and Jewish thinkers, artists andmerchants into exile, left scars on the nationalpsyche that still show.

Strewn over hills, old Lisbon houses friend-Iy, sturdy people who have outlived disasrers,wars and revolutions with obstinate resilience.The oldest quarters, kaleidoscopes of litdehouses draped in washing, geraniums and cagedbirds, crammed along steep lanes and steps,team with people, cats, dogs and poultry, darktavems and overstuffed shops.

They are as complex as the ethnic music, thefado,svr;ig to two guitars by men or women withpowerftl voices. The/ado speaks of disappoint-ment and survival, pain and the past - marks ofa nation that has never been sure ofits future.

Habits are also changing through more expo-sure to the modern world. Younger Portugueseare into blue jeans, pop music and rock groupsrather than the traditional three-hour lunches.

'Hqbits qre chqngingthrough moreexposure to themodern world'

With a total population lessthan London's, but with apast that helped to changethe map of the world,Portugal is well qualified toioin the Ten in an enlargedCommunity of equals

celebration in omate stone of Pomr-guese navigators who charted newworlds in the l5th and 16th centuries,the cathedral of Jeronimos looms near

the River Tagus - t}te waterway that rises inSpain, meanders across Pornrgal's higtrlandsand flatlands and lust west of Lisbon spills intothe Adantic, the ocean that shaped Pomrgal'sdestiny.

Lisbon, the capital, sits like Rome on sevenhills. Like Rome, too, it was once the hean of anempire - one that spread even further over theglobe than the outposts ofthe Caesars. Jeroni-mos, symbol of that empire, shelters the tombof a hero of the golden age, Vasco da Gama.

Driven to seek an identity independent oftheir domineering neighbour, Castile, andmoved by the energies of Europe's Renaissance,avid for riches not to be found within theircountry's modest boundaries, Pomrgal's navi-gators opened routes which were later to be ex-ploited by more powerfirl European nations.

Nevertheless, by the late 18th century Por-tugal ruted a dominion with huger resourcesthan those of the motherland. From Brazil,

whose gold and coffee paid for stately Pomr-guese palaces, across the Atlantic via the islandsof Cape Verde and Sao Tom6 into Africa, overthe Indian Ocean to Goa, on the Indian subcon-tinent, to the doors of China and Macao, south-east to the island of Timor, Pornrgal held sway.

The empire is gone. But the Portuguese lan-guage is still spoken bymillionsin Brazil, whichchose independence in 1823; in Africa, whereformer colonies battled for independence froml96L to 1974; in parts ofAsia; and on all conti-nents where five million emigrant Pomrgueselive and work.

By the 1960s, Europe's post war boom anderuption of war in Africa had heightened thelure of the old continent. Able-bodied men andtheir families poured into France, the LowCountries, Germany and Scandinavia, seekingjobs - modestly-paid by European sundards,but lucrative for labourers used to much less athome. Some 1.5 million Pornrguese now live in'!tr7estern Europe.

This migration, and the overthrow in 1974 ofa 50-year-old dictatorship depending on colo-nial power, strengthened Pomrgal's Europeanpersorut. Today Portugal has l0 million inhabi-tants - fewer than Greater London - and a fall-ing birthrate affected by migrations and stricterbirth control (despite the Catholic Church's dis-approval). The language is Latin, laced withArabic - a heritage of Roman and Moorishoccupations that also fashioned structures,cities and industries. Roman marble quarriesand clay potteries still work; Moorish palaces,and polychrome tiles and architectural features,still adorn areas from the centre ofthe countryto the southern Algarve - 'Al-garb', the Arabic

They are also freer-spoken and more adventur-ous in the arts and business than those ofa gen-eration ago.

Professionalism is creeping into workinghours. Competition, understood as providingbener goods and services rather than undercut-ting rivals, is gradually taking root. Again, likeother nations the Portuguese seek distractionfrom their worries: three-quarters of themwatch two TV channels, serving up a potpouriof domestic and imponed material.

The Pornrguese have evolved a quirkyhumour, and a talent for ironic political anec-dotes and graffiti, that have been safety-valvesfor centuries. The humour has permeatedworks of such witty observers as Ega de

Queioz, and left its legary in a 1975 graffito inLisbon: 'The lndians were red, too. Rememberwhat happened to them.' What happened toPornrgal led democratic leaders to ask for thekey to Europe.

DIANASMITH

t7

EUROPE 85

The Ten areimportingmore coalCoal imports by the Communityrose sharply last year. Aid toEurope's coal industry alsoincreased per tonne ofcoalproduced, according to Eurostat,the EEC Statistical Office.

A key factor in the decline was thefact that EEC coal was more expen-sive than competing coal from theUS, South Africa, Australia and Po-land, partly because of the Britishminers'strike.

Coal imports from third countriesrose to 80 million tonnes in 1984, 30per cent more than in 1983. EEC pro-duction fell by about 30 per cent,creating increased demand for im-ported coal.

The decline in production was notsolely due to the miners' strike.although British production didslump to 49.3 million tonnes from116 million tonnes in 1983. Germanand French production also fellslightly to 84.3 million tonnes from89.6 million in the FRG and to 16.6million from 17 million in France.Belgian production, on the otherhand, rose slighdy, to 6.3 milliontonnes from 6.1 million.

All the member states with the ex-ception of Ireland increased theirnon-EEC imports. The UK nearlydoubled its imports from third coun-tries in response to the miners' strike,with supplies of imported coal risingby 97 per cent.

The Netherlands increased themby 4l per cent, Belgium by 40 percent, Denmark by 34 per cent, Lux-embourg by 3l per cent, France by29 per cent and Italy by 2l per cent.All six countries normally buy Brit-ish coal.

European production costs,already high by world standards,continued to rise. Consequendy, theEEC allowed member states to ex-tend existing subsidies. In 1984 stateaids to the industry amounted to 2.7billion ECUs, or 17.4 ECUs per ton-ne of coal produced, compared withabout 3.2 billion ECUs, or 13.8ECUs per tonne, in 1983.

R&Dto getmore cashThe EEC is to spend 1.225 billionECUs (f,757 million) overthe nextfive years on seven research anddevelopment programmes.

The programmes, which includemaior efforts in the fields of biotech-nology and nuclear fusion, will make'a vital contribution'to Europe's eco-nomic growth and future competi-tiveness, according to Industry andResearch Commissioner Karl-HeinzNarjes.

Speaking to iournalists in Brus-sels, Mr Narjes said that approval ofthe programmes by the memberstates showed an acceptance of theneed to carry out and finance re-search activities at Community level,which, while they may be costly, areconsidered indispensable.

But he noted that the programmeeventually adopted by cost-consciousministers was markedly lower thanthe 4 billion ECUs originally prop-osed by the Commission.

Fair dosfor theKangaKrcsA number of member states importfairly large quantities of kangaroomeat from Australia. According tothe European Commission, therelatively humane way in which theanimals are killed is not sufficientgrounds to ban imports.

Reiecting calls for a ban fromDutch Socialist MEP Eisso Woltjer,officials said that, in 1983/84, theFederal Republic of Germany im-ported only 80 kilos of kangaroomeat, while France imported 22.8tonnes. The previous year the Ger-mans imponed 344 tonnes and theyear before that over 1000 tonnes. Inl98l/82 the Dutch also importedabout 135 tonnes.

Most recent estimates of Austra-lia's kangaroo population are in the

region of 20 million. rWhen the cli-mate is right, they breed extremelyfast and, according to farmers, cancause serious damage to pasture andgrazing land. Culls are necessary tocontrol numbers, according to theauthorities.

There are 48 different kinds ofkangaroo, only seven of which areculled. None of the seven is a

threatened species. The culls are car-ried out by licensed hunters, who sellthe meat and the skins to commercialfirms.

Opposition to the cull from ecolog-ist groups and the general public,who do not like the idea of killingAusralia's national symbol, meansthat the government does not direct-ly intervene at the taxpayers' ex-pense.

This year the authorities set a cullquota of just under 2 million - downfrom 3.1 million in 1983. Meat forhuman consumption is separatedfrom meat destined to become pet-food, before it is exported.

In the member states, rules onkangaroo consumption vary widely.In Britain it has been banned since1972. ln the Benelux countries it isbanned for human consumption forveterinary reasons; and in Germanythere are no restrictions on its sale oruse-

MEPshave calledfornewmeasures to protect seals. Theyinclude anunlimited extension ofthe existing EEC ban on imports ofseal-pup furs, and measures tosave the European monk seal fromextinction.

The import ban, which was agreedby EEC ministers in March 1983 andcame into effect in October of thesame year, appears to have been ex-tremely effective. Seal-pup huntingstopped almost immediately in Nor-way and by this year club-wieldingCanadian hunters have also given updue to the lack ofcustomers preparedto buy the white furs.

But the ban expires in October ofthis year. And, according to a reportdrawn up by Dutch MEP HemmoMuntingh, if Europe reopens itsmarkets to the pelts the killing willbegin again. MEPs voted unani-mously foran extension of the ban foran unlimited period.

The Muntingh report also con-demns the hunting ofadult harp andhooded seals for their pelts, andwarns that in European waters cer-tain species face extinction.

According to the repon, therewere over 15,000 common seals in

Seals arcstill indanger The honey

businessgets stung

the Baltic in 1900 - now there arebarely 200. In Dutch waters therewere 3,000 seals in 1930 - and nowthere are only about 750, it claims.

The European seal most at risk isthe Mediterranean monk seal, says

Mr Muntingh. Although it is alreadyclose to extinction, its fur is still soldin Greece. The last recorded monkseal in Sardinia was killed last year,he claims.

The European Commission hasalready set up information program-mes in the Greek islands and coastalareas, to make people aware of themonk seal's plight. Studies are alsounder way to set up conservationareas for the seals.

The European Parliament calledfor renewed efforts to save the anim-als, and for permanent EEC fundingfor conservation schemes. It also cal-led on the French and Greek govern-ments to set up conservation areas as

soon as possible.

Beekeepers have appealed to theCommission to speed up itsinvestigation into ways ofcombating the varroa mite, aparasite that is attaclrjng growingnumbers ofbeehives.

According to officials, the para-sites are already in evidence through-out Greece and most of Italy, exceptthe north-rJflest. Damage to hives inFriuli-Venezia Giulia and Lazio isconsiderable, and honey productionin Tuscany, Campania, Sardinia andSicily has also been affected.

Most of France has been affectedto a limited extent; and about a quar-ter ofhives in the Federal Republic ofGermany, with the exception of theNorth and South East of the country,have been hit by the disease, accord-ing to the European Commission.

Concern about the problem led theCommission to set up a meeting be-tween interested groups in 1983,which in turn led to a joint researchproject, involving 12 research insti-tutes, from member states.

EUROPE s5

Gomputer-basededucation'disastrous'Europe can profit from thecomputer revolution in education,but the shift away from generaleducation it implies could be

'disastrous', according toEducation and Social AffairsCommissioner Peter Sutherland.

Speaking to a British seminar ontraining in new technologies, he said

that young people 'are now beingpressured into thinking that without"hands on" knowledge of compu-ters, they have litde hope of employ-ment in their adult life.'

'It would be disastrous if educa-

tion and uaining systems begin to see

tiemselves responsible for turningout custom-built man- and woman-power, ready-trained at an early age

to slot into the iobs being created inthe growth sectors of the economy,'he said.

'Not only does industry have itsown responsibilities for uaining spe-

cialised personnel, but educationsystems have continuing responsibil-ity to ensure that the whole popula-tion receives the broad-based generaleducation necessary for survival in an

increasingly complex society,' theCommissioner added.

Germanimpoilenson thin iceA German skate manufacturer'scomplaint that cheap skates werebeing durnped on EEC markets bY

Eastern bloc producers has beenthrown out after Commissionofficials discovered that it wassslling the imports itself.

LICO, which is the EEC's biggestskate manufacturer, claimed thatcheap skates from Czechoslovakia,Yugoslavia, Rumania and Hungarywere being sold at below cost price

and damaging its business.An investigation showed that

LICO was importing Czech skates

and selling them in EEC memberstates at the same cut-prices as otherimporters, undercutting its ownskates. It also revealed that LICOdoubled its market share between1980-83, the period when it claimedits business was being underminedby the Eastern Europeans.

Who'd bea batterychicken?Battery chickens, known to resortto cannibalism because oftheircramped living conditions, shouldget a 12.5 per cent increase in livingspace, according to EEC vets.

About 240 million of the estimated290 million hens in the ten memberstates currendy live in battery cages

that average 400 sq cm a bird.According to the Commission, thearea should be increased to an aver-age of at least 450 sq cm, whilst scien-tists investigate the possibility of im-proved cage design and equallyefficient but more humane methodsofegg production.

Up to now the adoption of an EECcode stipulating larger cages has been

resisted by farm ministers, because

the extra space would mean a related12.5 per cent increase in costs forbuilding, equipment and land,amounting to about 1.3 ECUs (or 65pence) per hen place.

Currendy only three memberstates - Denmark, France and tieNetherlands - have minimum cage

sizes for battery hens laid down bylaw. Denmark offers the best condi-tions, allowing between 600 sq cmand 900 sq cm per bird. The Nether-lands allows 425 sq cm and France400.

Other member states apply volun-tary codes that vary according to thesize and weight ofeach bird.

Belgium, Luxembourg and Ire-land allow between 400 and 450 sq

cm. The Federal Republic of Ger-many and the United Kingdom allowbetween 420 and 450 sq cm. Italy has

a recommended minimum cage area

of 400 sq cm. Information on thesituation in Greece was not available.

But, although a more humane sys-

tem is desirable, officials admit thatreforms will be difficult to imple-ment without increasing egg prices.The battery system has been de-veloped over the years as, they say,the most effrcient way of producingcheap eggs for the consumer.

Dutch arcout of stepover TVBelgians should be allowed towatch Italian TV programmesoffered on cable, and Dutchviewers should be offered the samechoice ofany European cablechannel, regardless ofits countryoforigin, according to theEuropean Commission.

In recent weeks, Industry andNew Technology CommissionerKarl-Heinz Narjes and Informationand Arts Commissioner Carlo Ripadi Meana have both defended theprinciple of freedom to broadcast inEurope, in the light of EuropeanCourt of fustice rulings.

But rules adopted last July by theDutch Government appear to begoing in the opposite direction. Thelegislation banned all'foreign' TVchannels using Dutch sub-tides, andadvertising specifcally aimed atDutch viewers. Under the rules,foreiga channels will also have to betransmitted to all cable subscribers ornone at all.

In a written reply to a parliamen-tary question from Dutch Euro-MPGijsbert de Vries, Mr Naries said thatthe new Dutch rules completely con-uadicted the EEC treaties. TheTreaty of Rome specifically bans res-

trictions on the freedom to provideservices in the ten member states. In1980 the European Court of Justiceruled that services included televi-sion broadcasts.

MerchalttFleet is onthe slide

clude draft legislation that wouldgive the EEC powers to maintaincompetitivity in world markets,whilst enabling it to police abuses

such as the use of flags of conveni-ence to employ sub-standard shipsand crews.

Gommutingis bad foryour healthJostling to and from work oncrowded trains and buses,negotiating frustrating traffic iams,and dealing with noise and exhaustfumes are things that millions ofEuropean commuters put up withevery day.

But, according to a repon issuedby the European Foundation for theimprovement of Living and'{forkingConditions (EFILTUflC), they couldbe a key factor in employee sickness,absenteeism, lob dissatisfaction andfamily problems.

The EFILVC study, based ontwo surveys carried out in Italy andthe Netherlands, describes commut-ing as 'potentially stressful and dis-ruptive', particularly for workers un-able to make trade-offs between thestrain of commuting and the advan-tages of living in better surround-ings.

According to the study, an esti-mated 71 per cent of workers in themember states live within 10 km oftheir work. About 22 per cent have totravel between l0 km and 25 km and7 per cent have to go more than 25

km . Some 75 per cent ofworkers takeless than half an hour to get to work;20 per cent take. less than an hour;and 5 per cent take over an hour.

Commuters questioned com-plained of a far higher incidence oftiredness, irritability, lack of concen-tration, sleeplessness, headaches,

digesdve disorers. backache, motionsickness and general discomfon thannon-co[lmuters, the survey showed.

Inefficient transport systems thatrequire several changes ofvehicle, airpollution and a frequent lack of sea-

ting, all contributed to greater press-

ures on commuters.

A European Commission reportthat identifies the threat to lleetsposed by the recession, and catlsfor improved cooperation betweenemployers and unions, could save

iobs, accordhg to TransportCommissioner Stanley ClintonDavis.

Commenting on the proposals, hesaid that, for merchant shipping tosurvive in Europe, there had to be a

strengthening of the dia.logue be-tween employers and unions. 'Theindustry is made up of shipowners,shippers and seafarers. Each has tocomprehend the problems of theother; each has to be mutually sup-portive', he said.

The proposals touch on key areas

that could halt the slide of the Com-munity's merchant fleet. They in-

Thesoundof music-from4,OOO voices

! n Strasburg this summer. lrom I7 to 28 July,! choirs from allovcr Europe will takc part in a! fesrival ol sung - 'Europa-Cantat'. 'l-hc

I tnu,,r. ar m..moers or tne Europcan rcd-eration of Young Choral Singers, mect cvcrythree years. This time, they are bcing joined b1,

choirs from America, Asia, Africa and Oceaniaas well.

Coinciding as it does with Europcan MusicYear, this vear's event includes special perform-ances of works by Bach, Handel and Scarlatti,whose tercentenaries are currently beingcelebrated, as well as works by I'enderecki,Xanakis, Halter, and other contemporarycomposers.

Every morning, from 50 to 300 choristers willrehearsc under the direction of the leadingEuropean choir-masters: Picrrc Cao (Luxem-bourg), Jean Sourisse (France), Willi Gohl(Swiuerland), Oriol Martorell (Spain), HelmutRilling (Germany), Josdf Maklari (Hungary)and others. Every afternoon, the participating

20

One of the biggest events inthis, European Music Year,will be'Europa-Cantat', tobe held in Strasbourg inJuly

choirs wi.[ give concerts - more rhan 100 prog-rarrunes in all. Every day, as a choir of 4000voices, they will sing together thc choral master-pieces ofEurope, both traditional and classical.In thc cvenings, in the enornous Rh€nus HallinStrasbourg, which has bcen transformed intoa concert hall by the ciry ofStrasbourg, they willgive concert performances.

The Federation was set up as a legal entity inBonn in Februalv 1963, in response to promp-tings from European choirmasters and choralsocicties in France and Germany, all of whomhclieved in the value rrl'such an enterprisc in en-couraging closer understanding berween peo-ples through choral performances by young sin-

gers. 'lhe F-ederation promotes exchanges be-tween choirs, organises musical wecks, semi-nars from choir-masters and compnsers, andhelps familiarise people with the cntire Euro-pean repcrtoires.

'lhe Fcderation draws its support fromnational organisations. Its mcmber-chots be-long to 19 European countrics, from both Wcst-ern and Eastem Europe. It also has associatemembcrs in Argentina, Israel, Japan and theUnitcd States. Its exccutivc eommittee meclsseveral dmes a year, and carries out the resolu-tions and the programmcs approved by theGeneral Assemblv, which is held every thrceycars.

This year's vcnue, Strasbourg, svmboliscsEuropean Music Year. In Strasbourg Cathed-ral, in public squares, in the town's main build-ings, around the monuments, in thc templesand churches, on the banks of the Rhine , in thesurrounding villagcs - for ten days the best ofEuropean choral culturewill resound in song.E

ROPE 85

A closerlookatLear...The mqn who letr hismqrk on literqture qs qhumouristwqs Elsoone of the foremostwqtercolour qrtists ofhis time

Ior a man who combined so many talents

F*r:rs*i#trt"*U,:'r.,*only has to consider the intensely private perso-naliry that was his defence against the world - hesuffered from epileptic fits - and his uniquelynative type of humour.

It would take a genius to translate, say, 'TheJabberwock' into any other tongue (though ithas been tried). And there is no character in anyforeign culture whom university professors ofcomparative literature can liken to the Quangle\Wangle, the Dong with the Luminous Nose,the Atery Squash, the Bisky Bat, and othermembers of Lear's immortal menagerie.

His humourous poems and drawings (inwhich there is often an underlying pathos, bornofhis own wretched childhood) have given himan undisputed place among the great Victo-rians. But the talent he valued most, and whichprovided him with his living, was for painting.Stafiing at the age of 15 as a commercial artist,he showed such aptitude for illusuating birdsand animals that the Earl of Derby invited himto his country seat, Knowsley Hall, to paint thecreatures in his private zoo.

In the evenings Lear would amuse the chil-dren of the household with the made-up rhymesand verse-stories later published as his Book ofNonserse.It should have made him rich (it wentthrough 19 editions in his lifetime); but he hadsold the copyright for a pittance.

He was invited by Queen Victoria, in duecourse, to give her drawing lessons. But thepaintings from his foreiga travels were slow tosell. Undaunted, he would set off again, goingeverywhere on foot, braving bandits and lesserdiscomforts, in parts that rarely saw a visitor, letalone one who was stout, short-sighted, ill-equipped, and given to sitting on rocks to paintcrumbling antiquities in desolate - though tohim beautiful - landscapes.

Luckily for later generations, for every one ofhis big, worked-up landscapes in oils there havesurvived hundreds of small drawings or water-colours. It is in them that Lear's true genius as

an artist lies- discounting the pot-boilers whichhe sold for ready cash, as his only means of sub-sistence, to English visitors to the conventional'sights'.

At his own expense he published bookscovering his travels in Italy, Greece, Albania,and Corsica. Hemet Alfred Tennyson, attachedhimself briefly to the young Pre-Raphaelites

Right: Amol{i, 1838. Victorio ond AlbertMuseum. Below: MountAthos, Greece. YoleCenterfor British Arl, Poul Mellon Collection.

and late in life eamed the good opinion of JohnRuskin - though for his writings rather than hisart.

In his last years, living in San Remo with hiscat, Foss, for company, he occupied himselfwith a series of drawings illustrating Tenny-son's poems.

Foss died, and Lear soon followed. In one ofthe last entries in his diary he wrote:

Heonly said'I'm very weary,The rheumatiz'he said.He said, 'It's awful dull and dreary,I think I'11go to bed.'His plan was to publish 200 such illustra-

tions, rather as Turner had done with his 'LiberStudiorum'. But he could never be satisfiedwith the way his drawings turned out as printedplates, however hard he tried to draw them inways that would enable the printer to do themjustice. A mere 22 of them were evenrually pub-lished in a limited edition, each signed by theeminent poet and inscribed 'for the sake of myold friend, Edward trar'.

DENISTHOMAS

! An exhibition of the work of Edward Lear, inthe Private Rooms of the Royal Academy, Lon-don, continues until 14 July.

ii,li:r' .,.:. ,

ROP

Poul Moller, Denmark:Can the Commission state whetherthe provision contained in Article48(4) of the Treaty of Rome. timitingfreedom of movement of labour inthe Community in connection withemployment in the public service,entitles the French authorities todiscriminate against, for example, a

Danish primary school teacherwishing to take up a teaching job inFrance on the grounds that Frenchnationality is a condition of employ-ment?Answer by Peter Sutherland onbehalf of the Commission:Paragraphs l, 2 and 3 ofArticle 48 ofthe EEC Treaty lay down, amongother things, the principle of equalEeatment for workers of the memberstates as regards employment withinthe Community. These provisions donot, however, apply to employmentin the public service.

This principle is normally appliedin France in private schools, whereFrench nationality is not required.However, it is a condition for access

to jobs in the State education sector.The derogation from the rule on

freedom of movement for employ-ment in the public service has been

the subiect of two Court of Justicefudgments in Case 149179 (lndg-ments of 17.12.1980 and 26.5. 1982).

Among other things, the Court feltthat the derogation should be inter-preted in a restrictive manner andcould not apply to all public sectorppsts. In particular, the Court statedin its interim judgment of17.12.1980, that the provision refer-red to above applied only to posts

which involve direct or indirect parti-cipation in the exercise of powersconferred by public law and dutiesdesigned to safeguard the interests ofthe Sute or of other public authorities.

The Commission is currently car-

rying out a detailed examination ofthe exacl scope of this interpretation,and is devoting particular attentionto the specific problems of teachers inthe State education system who havethe status of civil servants in almostall Member States. Only on the basis

of the results of this examination willthe Commission be able to give a findruling on whether the French legisla-tion in question is compatible withCommunitylaw.

Hugh McMahon, United Kingdom :

Two constituents of mine opened a

shop selling Scottish goods in Lipp-stadt in rVest Germany. As a result ofincompetence and malpractice of theGerman Legal system in the area,

their rent contract was termiaatedand their German partners gainedcontrol of the business.

Vhat measures is the Comm.issiontaking to safeguard the interests ofCommunity citizens openingbusinesses in the German FederalRepublic and will the Commission

give an indication ofhow many cases

involving foreign businesses havebeen held in the Lippstadt area ofrffest Germany?Answer by Lord Cocldeld onbehalf of the Commission:Articles 52 (freedom of establish-ment) and 59 (freedom to provideservices) of the EEC Treaty are

directly applicable in all memberstates, who are obliged to treatnationals of other member states inthe same way as their own. The Com-mission has no information thatcould lead it to believe that these pro-visions are not being respected in theLippstadt area.

It however, the HonourableMember considers that there has

been a breach of*tese provisions, inlaw or practice, by German publicauthorities, and can furnish theCommission with sufficient details, itwill willingly investigate.

Mrs Mariike Van Hemeldonck,Belgium:Could theposition itUEFA on

Commission state whathas taken in the talks withfreedom of movement for

of possible legal bases for the intro-duction of directives in the field ofhealth. Thus, national measurestaken in the field of health, which'directly affect the functioning of thecommon market, may be harmo-nised under anicle 100/EEC. Otheranicles of the EEC Treaty could alsoprovide a legal basis in appropriatecircumstances.

Although the protection of healthand life of humans is mentioned as a

ground for exception to the rule ofthe free movement of goods, andalthough public health is a ground ofexception to the principle of freemovement of persons, these excep-tions do not create an area ofreservedcompetence for member states - a

position confumed in the Council'spractice and in the Court ofJustice.

The Euratom Treaty expresslyprovides, in article 30, for the Com-munity to lay down basic standardsof protection against ionising radia-tion applicable to the general publicas well as to workers. The Councilhas already adopted directives onthese bases. Thus, the Commissioncannot provide the confirmation

sought by the Honourable Member.

Dieter Rogalla, Germany:Is the Commission aware that ex-traordinarily large numbers of bor-der officials enter trains travelling be-tween Belgium and the Federal Re-public of Germany? On 23 Novem-ber, eight border officials (six mem-bers ofthe Federal Border Police andtwo customs officials) mounted theexpress train from Ostende to Kolnat Verviers. Vas this some kind oftraining exercise?Answer by Lord Cocldeld onbehalf of the Commission:The Commission was unaware of thefacts reported by the HonourableMember. It naturally expects thatmember states will extend the systemof spot checks referred to in the Re-

solution of 7 June 1984 to trarns as

well. The proposal for a Directiveadopted by the Commission on 4

January 1985 (l) also makes provi-sion for the easing of controls intrains.

Mrs Vera Squarcialupi, Italy:Can the Commission say what stagehas been reached in the GATT nego-tiations designed to combat the coun-terfeiting of scores of products, notonly articles such as designer clothesbut also chemicals for agriculturaluse, spare parts for cars and medi-cines which, apart from constirutinga fraud because of the forging of original trademarks, can endanger hu-man beings and the environment?And what sanctions will be imposedon the countries - mostly in thePacific Ocean area- which are paniesto such fraudulent activities, ifthey donot undenake to put an end to them?Answerby Willy de Clercq onbehalf of the Commission:The Commission is aware of the se-

rious threat to legitimate producers,exporters and importers, as well as

the health and other risks to consum-ers and environment, which thegrowth of international trade incounterfeit goods presents. Thethreat is, unfortunately, not confnedto the sectors referred to by the Hon-ourable Member, and there are fewareas of manufacturing which can

claim to be immune from the prob-lem ofcounterfeiting.

For this reason the Communityand its member states have workedhard to achieve greater internationalcooperation within GATT on thisissue.

As a result, at the Annual Session

of the GATT Contracting Panies ofNovember 1984, agreement was

reached to set up a special ExpertGroup to pursue as a matter ofurgen-cy the examination of the issue. TheDirector General of \tr7IPO (WorldIntellectual Property Organisation)will also be invited to nominate an ex-pert to participate in the work of theExpbrt Group. The Group has a

mandate to report back to the Con-tracting Parties within the year on theresults achieved.

This indication from the Com-munity's partners in GATT that theyare now prepared to cooperate in a

multilateral examinadon of the prob-lem is welcome progress.

The obiective is to achieve a muchgreater deterrent to internationaltrade in counterfeit goods. The pre-cise methods by which this isachieved are naturally matters fordiscussion with the Community'strading partners. However, the Hon-ourable Member will wish to knowthat the Commission recendy trans-mitted to the Council a proposal for a

regulation in this field, also desigrredto combat imports of counterfeitgoods.

QUESfl0NSIN THE HOUSE

oY:

footballers as regards the role otagents in the transfer of star footbal-lers, exorbitant and completely un-controlled transfer fees, and the factthat the players themselves have nosay in these transactions?Answer by Peter Sutherland onbehalf of the Commission:At the meeting of the Commissionand the UEFA on freedom ofmove-ment for footballers, the questionsreferred to were not discussed.

Jens-Peter Bonde, Denmark:\Xrould the Commission confirm thatthere is no basis in the Treaty ofRome for the inuoduction of direc-tives in the field of health?Answer by Jacques Delors onbehalf of the Commission:The EEC Treaty provides a number

22

ROPE 85

Abraham takes to the rcad

lettersDenmarkleads

It was interesting to read the article dealingwith uansport of dangerous drugs in the

January/February issue.

It is well known in the industry thatDenmark possesses an extremely expensive,modern and sophisticated treatment centre forflammable and toxic wastes, thus counteringfears that small countries cannot make suchcommitments. It may well be leading in theEEC in the transport of hazardous wastes, with-a network of collection sidings and rail tankersprovidinga safe and efficient service toindustrial waste producers.

David HodgsonStiling

Europe's second language ?

The single customs document referred to inyour March issue must be very welcome totraders. No doubt, however, the problem oflanguage will be troublesome.

Why not let the text be in the language of theissuing country and let each question beaccompanied by a translation in Esperanto, toact as a reference point?

The use ofthe neutral language Esperantowould make iteasy to compare an English andEsperanto text with, say, a Danish or Greekand Esperanto text. There would be nonecessity for users to be able to speakEsperanto.

\(2.J. NesbittAmbleside, Cumbria

High-tech English?

I am always pleased to receive my copy ofEURopE. It is always informative, interestingand, above all, fairly easy to read.

However, as a non-economist, probably likethe great number ofreaders, I get bogged downby some of the economic terms relating toEurope that are bandied about in the press,such as 'the Snake', 'green pound', 'basket ofcurrencies','European Monetary System'.

Many people like myself need tounderstand, in simple language, what theseterms actually mean. In future issues, couldyou include, in a fairly modest-size paragraph,an explanation ofsuch terms, please?

VivianP. ThomasSeaMills, Bristol

! \7e do our best to keep technical iargon outof the magazine. But, alas, it would beimpracticable to provide a glossary whenevernecessarily technical terms appear in articlescontributed by specialists.

out of a total Dutch population of 14.5million people, ll.5 million own a

bicycle, according to official statistics.Riders range from three-year-old tots

to nonagenarians. Dutch bicycle manufacturersproduce about I million a year, a quarter ofthem for export.

Bicycles are produced in various sizes andshapes, but none so far with the nonagenarian inmind. In addition to conventional bicycles withupright handlebars, the Dutch make spon andracing bicycles - elongated versions where therider is crouched over - as well as small ones forchildren.

Now, a new model, the'Abraham', namedafter the Old Testament patriarch, has come onthe market. It is aimed at the 2.4 million Dutchmen and women over 60 whose knees iue get-ting rusty, and whose reactions are no longer asquick as they used to be.

The new bicycle is the idea of Hans Bakker, a

country doctor who advises his patients to bicy-cle for exercise. After some of his patients hadcycling accidents, he got together with techni-cians and designed a specially adapted bicyclefor the elderly.

The result is a bicycle with the saddle placedfarther to the rear, although it remains the samedistance from the pedals. In addition, the saddleis mounted low enough for the rider to be able to

place both feet on the ground, while remainingseated, when he comes to a stop. The bicyclealso has battery-operated tum signals and head-Iights, which stay on even when the bicycle isstopped.

Book of the monthThe amount ofinformation producedby, for, and about the EEC amounts to averitable word-mountain. A newcompendium, detailing sources of suchinformation and how to reach them,contains a wealth of valuable material, ofpractical use to the reader, confibutedby specialist writers who know thesystems and sources inside out.

The first pan includes chaptersexplaining the policies and practices ofthe EEC institutions. The second partconcentrates on the users ofsuchinformation, notably groups withinbusiness; local authorities; universities;and polytechnics. The book, EroopeanC orunmitations I nformation; its use andruers, is edited by Michael Hopkins, andpublished by Mansell Publishing Ltd,prjcr-f22.50.

21

EUROPE 35

u{HffirE

$NEN

New laws to curb experiments onanimals are being prepared by theCommon Market followingdemands by British Euro MPs.

Draft plans will be presented tothe European Parliament during thesummer, Brussels officials have toldSir Jack Stewart-Clark.

'It's wonderful that action is at lastbeing taken,' said Sir Jack, ToryEuro MP for Sussex East.

'Vhile some experiments arenecessary, it is terrible that too muchpain and distress is caused toinnocent animals when possiblyother methods could be used.'

Brussels will now examine allpossible steps that can be taken inthe use and sale of animals forexperiments and factory farming, headded.

-Daily Express

Duty-free shopping may not bemade available to users ofa Channeltunnel or bridge, the British andFrench Governments sayin a

warning to promoters of the variousschemes to be considered later thisyear.

They are being told that two setsof estimates of traffic and cash flowmust be submitted when they applyto build a fixed crossing.

One includes income from duty-free shopping, and theotherexcludes it. On traditional ferries,the sale ofduty-free goods accountsfor about 20 per cent ofincome,

, making it a very significant fattor.

-Daily Telegraph

In February, EEC ministers agreedto a new directive enabling subsidiesfor agriculture to be switched toprotect the landscapeand toencourage alternatives to farmingsuch as crafts and tourism. The helpwill go mostly to the'less favouredareas', mainly land over 800 feetabove sea level. This covers 75 percent of Scotland, 70 per cent ofrifales, 6l per cent ofNorthemIreland and 14 per cent ofEngland.

But'environmepta lly sensitiveareas'can be anywhere. The resultcould be the biggest extension ofrural conservation since thedesigaation ofnational parks andareas of outstanding natural beauty,now covering 20 per cent ofEnglandand I7ales in the 1950s.

The subsidies are likely to be flat-rate ones, more acceptable thanthose available under the[urnagement agreements set upunder the 198 I Countryside Act,which involved compensatingfarmers for hypothetical loss ofprofits from not destroying thelandscape.

-Economist

Milk production in England andI7ales at the end ofthe second weekofthe new quota year (to April 13)

was running about 2 per cent belowthe dairy quota set by the EEC,accordhg to the Milk MarketingBoard.

Cumulatively, the shortfallagainst quota from April I to April13 is estimated at 8 litres or l.7 percent. In the final month ofthe firstquota year output was l, 172.4mlitres, 4 per cent lower than theprevious year's figureof lr221m.Output for the year as a whole was7.2 per cent lower than in 1983-84 atl2,60l.lm litres.

Sales of milk for manufacturing inMarch, at 646.4m liues, were 5.9per cent lower than the previousyear. Liquid sales of524.7m litreswere 1.4 per cent lower, but for thewhole yearwere down by I per centon 1983-84 at 6,077m liues.

-Financial Times

India is seeking EuropeanCommunity support for a massive'cow lift'- a transfer ofdairy cattle tofarms on the Asian sub-continent.

This follows behind-the-sceneslobbying by Princess Irene ofGreece, the follower ofan Indianguru, and a sister ofQueen Sofia ofSp"ir,.

Ifthe cow lift is approved, up to200,000 European cows could besent to India by the end ofthis year.The Indian authorities have let it beknown that 20,000 can be acceptedimmediately, most of them for dairyfarms near Bhopal, where there werehuge losses of animal life after thegas leak from the Union Carbidechemical plant.

France, $7est Germany, Belgiumand Holland have so far agreed togive sympathetic consideration tothe Indian request.

-Observer

Nearly half of the Common Marketareas listed as having the mostserious regional problems are inBritain, and include NorthernIreland, the Government disclosedyesterday.

The list, given in a Commonswritten reply by Foreign OfficeMinister of State Mr MalcolmRilkind to Labour Foreign Officespokesman Mr George Foulkes,includes depressed industrial areassuch as Northern Ireland,Merseyside, most of Scodand,rJfales, the north-east ofEnglandand the west Midlands.

However, also appearingalongside Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica,Campania and other Europeaneconomic blackspots are Englishshire counties, including Avon,Gloucestershire, l7iltshire,Herefordshire and \[orcestershire,Lincolnshire and Shropshire.

-Belfast Telegraph

In Britain, the water authorities donot recogrrise aluminium as a risk tohealth.

New European limits on thepresence of aluminium in tapwater,which British authorities say are setfor'aesthetic' reasons, are widelyexceeded. In Yorkshire more than20 per cent of the water supplied tohomes breaches the limit of 200micrograms of aluminium per liueofwater.

In many parts of northern Britain,water contains more than 1000micrograms per litre. Publishedwater-quality records show sampleswith up to 28,000 micrograms, morethan 100 times the EEC limit.

At many water-treatment workstheproblemis made worse becausealuminium sulphateis added tomoorland water during itstreatment.

-New Scientist

More than 1,450 dairy farmers rnEngland and rWrales have decided toleave the industry because ofCommon Market milk quotasimposed a year ago.

Encouraged by the Government,they will take compensation andtheir quotas will be re-distributedamong other herds to make themmore profitable

Britain's 45,000 dairy farmerswere ordered to cut production lastApril by 6 per cent, or one milliontonnes a year, in order to curb EECfarm spending.

The Government then set up af50 million compensation fund totry to persuade smaller producers toleave the industry.

-Guardian

Of the l0 EEC countries, only theNetherlands, Ireland and the UKprovide no parental leave.Internationally, the most impressiveprovision is outside the EEC - inSweden, which now offers 12

months' paid parental leave for eachfamily, the last six months of whichmay be taken as part-time leave atany time until a child is eight.

\tr7orking parents are also entitledto 60 days'paid leave each year foreach child under 12, to care for sickchildren, take them to medicalappointments, visit nurseries andso on.

Ifadopted by the Council ofMinisters, the draft EEC directivewould set minimum standards ofleave for all EEC states. Thedirective is a priority forimplementation by the ItalianGovernment during its current spellas president ofthe Council.

A House of Lords committeehassupponed paid parental leave,because 'it will promote equaloppornrnities for women and willalso improve child-care.'

-Guardian

The British Government must stopinsisting that certain manufacturedgoods be labelled with their countryoforigin, the European Court ofJustice ruled yesterday.

!(/est Germany, France and theIrish Republic had complainedabout the labelling requirement onsuch goods as shoes, clothes andcudery.

The European Commission hadsaid that the regulations putimporters at a disadvantage andprevented free trade, which is one ofthe fundamental principles of theEEC-

-TheTimes

24