NEXT STEP The one and only isssue of Next Step - Mini-Session of EYP Russia at RANEPA
February 2014
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EDITORIAL
Dynamic Future – Creative Youth I may remind you is the official motto of the Mini-Session of the EYP Russia in RANEPA. But what does this vague phrase mean? The uniqueness of this slogan lies in its dual nature. On the one hand dynamic future would ensure and serve as a precondition for the development
of creative youth and on the other hand creative youth has the power to build this future. As a matter of fact this is what the EYP is all about. It is a place where the people that will lead Europe to prosperity in 20 years meet on regular basis at sessions and other EYP-related events, gaining the necessary experience
in understanding opponents’ point of view, debating with them and personally growing in a wide variety of ways. That is why dear delegates I encourage you to make the best of this exclusive opportunity and expand your horizons using this chance to learn, to debate and to have fun.
Dmitry Vyskrebentsev (RU) Elina Mikhailova (RU)
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LIBOR: A
O
bviously, the LIBOR scandal is the event that everyone is talking of in the last year. But why does everyone feels so involved in this mess? The parties affected can be classified in two large groups. On the one hand there were various financial institutions and institutional investors that lost profits because of the artificially low interest rate tied to the aforementioned index. On the other hand there were average consumers that benefitted from such a situation dew to consequently lower rates for small business loans, student loans and credit cards. However, their gain came into question once the issue of redress had been raised. And, of course, there was the third party in this scandal that came up with a scheme to manipulate the rate and actually profit from it and that was the traders. As the investigation goes, it appears that they had insider information about the future rates since they had been in direct contact with the banks’ employees
involved in the process of drawing up the LIBOR. But is there a way to avoid such situations in future? In order to answer this question one must thoroughly examine the causes that led to such a crime. And among others one would point out inconsiderate conduct of the banks’ employees that felt free enough to enrich themselves by impoverishing others. Though it is evident that heavy fines levied from Deutsche Bank, Société Générale, Royal Bank of Scotland, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup are likely to influence how these organisations will carry out their business in the future. Nevertheless, the glitch looms deeper than it seems and it is not easily wiped out by public outrage or regulatory pressure and that is corporate culture. Change is needed from within and that is quite a time-consuming process that requires action not only on behalf of companies but also on behalf of those who built today’s economic system.
FAULTY SYSTEM?
SAFETY OR IMPRISONMENT
E
very day an increasing number of people around the world are connected by arguably the greatest invention of the XX century: Internet. At the same time the world faces a risk that future users of internet the ones that have no access right now will establish a connection to an internet of strict control, an internet that will be used only against them to gather personal information primarily by means of social networks. This internet will be at the service of a total-humankind-control world. But how possible is this scenario from the point where humankind is right now? Unfortunately, the odds are not in the favour of the freedom of speech. That is why today it is of the utmost importance for ordinary citizens to deliver their wants and likes to the
government in order to avoid an anti-utopian future described once in the Equilibrium movie showing a Fascist future where all forms of feeling are illegal. This may sound a little far-fetched but one cannot be too complacent about this burning issue. With the new laws allowing banning of sites without court ruling regulators as well as the governing parties are receiving a carte blanche allowing them to turn into ashes any website that they might consider not safe for the public, thus jeopardising the freedom of speech. Though the supposed aim of the new laws is to protect children from exposure to pornography, etc., it is clear that the new legislature is failing to do so, making one to remember the good old saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Undoubtedly the new laws are half-cooked solutions that need revising from clear definition of websites subject to the law to the procedure of blocking them, not to mention that some clauses should be passed by as independent laws.
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SCO STA W TO ND TH UP EC HA LLE NG E
L MO
WIL
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iving in Europe’s most populated city is not easy especially if one needs to travel to their workplace, school, university, favourite theatre for an hour one way or if the city’s infrastructure has not seen change until recently for the last 30 years. Few people are actually aware of the fact that the density of roads needed to serve an average city can be found only within the Third Ring Road of Moscow, while the rest of the districts are connected with each other by rather narrow streets that had been once used to commute between the small
villages that have now become a part of the capital and turned into large residential areas. And that appears to be the main challenge that Mr. Mayor is to solve. Not an easy task to get to grips with. However, transformation is underway; the current urban development plan has already cancelled the erroneous proposals of the previous mayor such as the construction of the Fourth Ring Road of Moscow and outsized apartment buildings in central areas, etc. Nevertheless, the damage of previous incompetent urban planning has been done. That is why one of the key challenges today is to minimise that damage and ensure that a balanced devel-
opment strategy is implemented. It seems that one of the healthiest way to do so would be to shift from current concentric city structure to a polycentric one. This could be reached by further development of the so called New Moscow or by building new centres of attraction in the capital’s suburbs. Though, this might sound costly it is an approach that could ensure steady long-term development of the city. Unfortunately, such ideas did not find much support within the current city governors, leaving Muscovites in the usual darkness of uncertainty regarding their future as a city.