assignment 5.

Evaluation European Policies Minor

In September I started the minor European Union Policies. I didn’t really orientate about what I wanted to do but it sounded attractive. When I went to the first meeting I was surprised when I heard which subjects this minor covers, I expected a sort of organizational scan on all EU institutions. Of course the first few tasks indeed covered this subject but after this introduction a number of other, very interesting subjects is treated. Subjects like; the monetary policy, the free movement of workers, discrimination, the agricultural policy and mergers and acquisitions.

All these subject are treated in different tasks. At the beginning of each week you have to read a task about a certain subject, this task is discussed in the tutor group session. Enduring these sessions the group talked about the content of task, which parts of the task are of importance for our learning process and we write down learning goals for the next tutor group session.

The objectives of the tasks were further explained in training session and background lectures, if you didn’t understand the subject of a certain task you could get the explanation enduring the TS and BL.

These training sessions and background lectures could be economical- or law-focused.

Next to the subjects in the tasks we also get skills classes. The first three weeks were all about negotiation, we had to watch a video about negotiation and we had to negotiate ourselves about certain subjects.

The next three weeks we had classes about business ethics. Here we learned how to be moral responsible towards employees and how business cultures can differ in different countries.

The last three weeks were all about debating. The first week we divided the class into groups of four persons and we had to come up with different statements which were debated in the weeks after. We also had to write a jury report and we had to coach the other debating groups.

Enduring the minor we got assignments. These assignments were about the topics that were in the tasks. The assignments were for example about different policies of the EU, policies in the member states and if these policies were in line with EU Law, structural funding and regional policy or mergers and acquisitions. These assignments were group work.

To evaluate if we understood all tasks we were assessed on the base of midterm tests, these tests exist out of 15 multiple-choice questions. This was also a pet topic for the written test at the end of the first 6 tasks and for the oral exam at the end of the minor. The written exam was a large exam with cases and open questions about those cases. The oral exam was about a individual paper we had to write about a certain EU related topic and some general background knowledge.

In my opinion this minor was a lot of fun, the topics were well chosen, the teachers had a lot of knowledge about the subjects and the invitation of expert guest speakers and the trip to Brussels, Strasburg and Luxemburg were really of added value. After all I can really recommend the EUP minor!

Assignment 4.

Solidarity in times of crisis

The Netherlands is a country which sometimes can be a bit hypocrite. People most of the time try to act like they are loving and compassioned with their follow citizens, doesn’t matter if it is family, friends, a colleague or even the neighbor. When everything goes well it is very easy to be compassioned and understanding but what if this family member, great friend, good colleague or neighbor is hit by the financial crisis? Who will be the first one to reach a helping hand? Most people do not stand in line to help a unfortunate victim of the crises. No, it is more important to stay as far away from such people as possible, you wouldn’t want to get yourself in trouble?!

The same counts for companies. In times of prosperity companies are very kind for their employees, some companies even have whole departments concerned with the physical and mental wellness of their employees. Of course, if a employee feels happy and comfortable it pays off for its employer.

The situation changes in times of crisis, the only health that matters then is the health of the company and/ or owner itself. Reorganizations and dismissals are daily businesses and it seems normal that employees who spend 2/3 of their lives working for a company, get fired before they know what is actually happening. Kindness and employee support is far away at these moments, especially for the ‘elderly’ employees.

People within their late forties, early fifties get fired from one day to another and will probably never work again. This means not on their own level. People who first had a function as manager of a healthcare company now sweep floors within another company in the same branch, people who 30 years ago adopted their lifestyle to their income now have to cut their expenditures and maybe even have to move to another neighborhood because they cannot pay their mortgage anymore. And all this time the only thing their former employer does is making sure it has to pay as less severance pay as possible.

In this view an economical crisis reveals the darkest sides of our modern society, saving your own situation is top priority. It is time for companies to stop being hypocrite and help the employees that served them al those years also when business isn’t going as prosperous as usual. And even if companies are forced to reorganize and have to fire a number of employees, the way they handle it makes a huge difference.

Assignment 3.

The Milk Price Council

The beginning of October characterized a lot of disruption in Brussels, almost thousand farmers blocked he roads in and around Brussels. Why? Because the milk price is too low. Farmers nowadays only get 0.20 cents for a liter of milk! Alarm! For most farmers it is unbelievable the way the European Union treats them, they have been abandoned! After all, the EU has never paid any attention to the agricultural sector (the 70% EU budget money each year not taken into account).

It is true, the milk price has never been so low before in the history of the EU. The farmers complain that this will lead to the bankruptcy of many agricultural companies, of course this is a disaster for a lot of families; money has to be earned and mouths have to be fed. But from a economical point of view it is not so strange at all. If we look at the capitalistic market which prescribes the automatic interaction between supply and demand it is more strange that numbers of agricultural companies still exist nowadays! All because of years of EU support.

The agricultural sector has always been a source of sorrow and conflict, started with the introduction of the intervention price, farmer-aid subsidies and external barriers; First problem (external): these intervention prices and subsidies for EU farmers lead to numbers of conflicts with the WTO who stands up for the right of other, poorer countries and strives for fair competition worldwide. Second problem (internal): the amount of money spend on agricultural policy dramatically increased in the past years, farmers can produce all they want, even if there is no demand for their milk. After all, they still get a minimum price for it!

There is a really good solution for these problems and finally also the EU has figured it out; no more intervention prices, subsidies and get rid of the external barriers. This leads to a higher external competition, fair chances and only the strongest EU farmers will survive. The market mechanism will start working again and the surpluses disappear, which is very conductive for the EU budget.

This is why the milk-council in Brussels which is finally on the right track shouldn’t be worried about the disruptions, it has to focus on the long-term economy and therefore it is necessary to be harsh for the EU farmers because in the long-term they will see this new policy also works in their advantage.