首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
考研
The European Union’s Barcelona summit, which ended on March 16th, was played out against the usual backdrop of noisy "anti-globa
The European Union’s Barcelona summit, which ended on March 16th, was played out against the usual backdrop of noisy "anti-globa
admin
2009-04-26
29
问题
The European Union’s Barcelona summit, which ended on March 16th, was played out against the usual backdrop of noisy "anti-globalization" demonstrations and massive security. If nothing else, the demonstrations illustrated that economic liberalization in Europe—the meeting’s main topic—presents genuine political difficulties. Influential sections of public opinion continue to oppose anything that they imagine threatens "social Europe", the ideal of a cradle-to-grave welfare state.
In this climate of public opinion, it is not surprising that the outcome in Barcelona was modest. The totemic issue was opening up Europe’s energy markets. The French government has fought hard to preserve a protected market at home for its state-owned national champion, Electricite de France (EDF). At Barcelona it made a well-flagged tactical retreat. The summiteers concluded that from 2004 industrial users across Europe would be able to choose from competing energy suppliers, which should account for "at least" 60% of the market.
Since Europe’s energy market is worth 350 billion ($309 billion) a year and affects just about every business, this is a breakthrough. But even the energy deal has disappointing aspects. Confining competition to business users makes it harder to show that economic liberalization is the friend rather than the foe of the ordinary person. It also allows EDF to keep its monopoly in the most profitable chunk of the French market.
In other areas, especially to do with Europe’s tough labor markets, the EU is actually going backwards. The summiteers declared that "disincentives against taking up jobs" should be removed; 20m jobs should be created within the EU by 2010. But only three days after a Barcelona jamboree, the European Commission endorsed a new law that would give all temporary-agency workers the same rights as full-timers within six weeks of getting their feet under the desk. Six out of 20 commissioners did, unusually, vote against the measure—a blatant piece of re-regulation—but the social affairs commissioner, Anna Diamantopoulou, was unrepentant, indeed triumphant. A dissatisfied liberaliser in the commission called the directive "an absolute disaster".
The summit’s other achievements are still more fragile. Europe’s leaders promised to increase spending on "research and development" from its current figure of 1.9% of GDP a year to 3%. But how will European politicians compel businesses to invest more in research? Nobody seems to know. And the one big research project agreed on at Barcelona, the Galileo satellite-positioning system, which is supposed to cost 3.2 billion of public money, is of dubious commercial value, since the Europeans already enjoy free access to the Americans’ GPA system. Edward Bannerman, head of economics at the Centre for European Reform, a Blairite think-tank, calls Galileo "the common agricultural policy in space".
选项
A、A review of EU’s Barcelona summit.
B、About merits of a EU’s summit.
C、A survey of Europe’s competitors.
D、About the achievements of the EU.
答案
A
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/vpjRFFFM
0
考研英语一
相关试题推荐
Themainideaofthefirstparagraphisthat______.Itcanbeinferredfromthepassagethat______.
Theword"this"(Paragraph1)probablyrefersto______.Thepotentialforhazardousweedsdevelopingfromgeneticallymodified
Theword"this"(Paragraph1)probablyrefersto______.Thatgeneticallymodifiedcropscouldhaveharmfuleffectscanbededu
Animportantfactorofleadershipisattraction.Thisdoesnotmeanattractivenessintheordinarysense,forthatisabornqua
Itisobviousthat______ofabout40%willbeattractiveifthedollarreallystabilizes.
ManyAmericansregardthejurysystemasaconcreteexpressionofcrucialdemocraticvalues,includingtheprinciplesthatallc
WilltheEuropeanUnionmakeit?Thequestionwouldhavesoundedstrangenotlongago.Noweventheproject’sgreatestcheerlead
OlympicGamesareheldeveryfouryearsatadifferentsite,inwhichathletes【1】differentnationscompeteagainsteachotherin
My______wouldreallytroublemeifIworeafurcoat.
Inthefirstyearsofthe21stcentury,noareaoftheAmericaneconomyhasexcitedmoreemotionthanthepropertymarket.First
随机试题
下列氨基酸中哪一种不能提供一碳单位
王先生初到美国,在住房和交通问题上遭遇挫折,萌生了返回家乡的念头,这种情况属于文化休克发展过程中的
Mowry阿尔辛蓝过碘酸希夫(ABPAS)染色法常用于显示
甲、乙公司均为网络公司,都在从事反病毒软件的开发和推广。甲公司向法院起诉,指控乙公司挖走了其研发主管及技术人员十余名,乙公司发布的08版反病毒软件与甲公司07版反病毒软件实质相似,甲公司的老客户已有1/3成为了乙公司的新客户,请求法院认定乙公司侵犯了甲公司
《建设工程质量管理条例》规定,在正常使用条件下最低保修期限为5年的是( )。
国际工程中承包人质量管理通常由( )主管。
甲企业对县国税局(所在地:A区)作出的罚款决定不服,向所在市国税局(所在地:B区)申请行政复议,甲企业对行政复议决定仍不服。根据行政诉讼法律制度的规定,下列说法正确的有()。
中国近代史是一部屈辱史,又是一部抗争史。先进的中国人为了寻求救国救民的真理,不断向西方学习,开始了中国的近代化。为中国的近代化开辟了道路的历史事件是()。
有甲、乙两块含铜量不同的合金,甲块重6千克,乙块重4千克。现在从甲、乙两块合金上各切下重量相等的一部分。将甲块上切下的部分与乙块的剩余部分一起熔炼,再将乙块上切下的部分与甲块剩余部分一起熔炼,得到的两块新合金的含铜量相等。则从每一块上切下的部分的质量是多少
法治思维不仅认为法律是治国理政的手段和工具,更强调法律是治国理政的最高准则,治国理政必须奉守法律至上原则。法律的至上性,具体表现为()
最新回复
(
0
)