Workshop Magazine Reporting on Business and Consumer Affairs, Berlin, Germany (Mai 2013) by DW Akademie

EYE ON BUSINESS A DW AKADEMIE WORKSHOP MAGAZINE

KNOCK-KNOCK: CHINA’S AT THE DOOR Egypt’s gray mobile phone market is booming. Cheap models from China are all the rage, and customers don’t seem to care that they are often counterfeit. European countries apply strong restrictions on the import of Chinese products. Take a look at two different strategies. TEXTHANAN ELGENDI PHOTOSMORITZ TSCHERMAK

owadays Chinese ladies carrying bags full of fake mobile phones and knocking on doors are a common sight in Egyptian neighborhoods. In shopping areas Chinese sellers promote and sell cheap, counterfeit mobile phones, often surrounded by large number of customers who usually end up with a phone and what they see as the best possible deal. „They are cheap and well designed.” That’s what many Egyptians will argue when asked why they buy fake phones made in China. The Chinese first entered the Egyptian market six years ago, posing big competition to other brands in the market. There is speculation that these fake devices carry health risks, for example through increased radiation. However, Egyptian customers do not seem to care about possible dangers and race to buy these products.

The price is certainly attractive to customers who have to make ends meet: A fake Chinese phone can be purchased for 150 Egyptian pounds (about 27 US dollars), while a registered mobile phone costs at least 700 Egyptian pounds.

Authority (NTRA), his organization last year tried to cut off the signal of all irregular Chinese phones devices. However, the NTRA did not succeed because of the enormous number of phones that would be affected.

While a number of consumer protection organizations are operating in Egypt, they do not have the capacity nor the market experience to fight the smuggling or selling of cheap Chinese products. Producers have been able to flood the market with counterfeit phones without any kind of repercussion. These goods have not been tested to insure their quality or safety - something European Union countries do to keep their citizens safe and to protect their markets.

Mr Badawy told the “Alalam Elyoum” business newspaper that many of these phones are difficult to detect because they do not have authentic serial numbers. He added that the government does not object to Chinese products in general. But in addition to the problem of many mobiles being fake, there is often also a complex assembly process: Some parts are made in China, the battery comes from Malaysia and yet another part of the phone has been produced elsewhere. Without a testing process the government can’t guarantee that these products are safe to use. ...continued on page 7

According to Amr Badawy, head of Egypt‘s National Telecom Regulatory

A CAR IS BORN Robots and cars: It sounds like a scene from the movies. The idea that the car you drive may have been made by a robot sounds far-fetched. But don’t be too quick to make the conclusion. Join us on a ride that reveals the relationship between the two machines. TEXTDOREEN WAINAINAH PHOTOSFORD COMPANY

sheet of metal is carried on a conveyer belt into a machine and a few noisy seconds later it appears on the other side, shaped like a car door. On the next conveyer the same process takes place, only this time the end product resembles the hood of a car. In a fluid motion that is almost humanlike, the robots feed the metal sheets into the press, one after the other without missing a beat. That is the first step in the creation of a car. When Henry Ford came to Germany in search of land for his production press, he set his sights on the prime land next to the River Rhine. The Rhine, according to my history books, was at the time the most important river in Europe, and the main transportation system for imports and exports between countries. The assembly plant, built in 1931, is now the heart of the production of the Ford Fiesta, one of the company’s top sellers.

The entire process of making a car, according to Elizabeth Kuhl from the Ford visitors centre, takes thirteen hours: from the large rolls of metal sheets that sit in the press room, down to the painting and polishing. Cruising on the Autobahn, the farthest thought on the drivers mind is how scraps of metal gave rise to one of the most popular means of transportation. The glossy finish on a new car, the upholstery and the purr of the engine are an aspect that drivers carefully examine when buying a car, but the work put into it is not one they worry about. We take a tour in a small open electric train through the factory with our honorary driver through the production plant is Roben Golombowski, also from the Ford visitors centre. The first stage of car manufacture at the plant is 95 per cent automated. With huge rolls of metal sheets sitting in

the cages, production is ready to begin. Using 950,000 tonnes of raw material daily, with the smaller press lines taking between 1000 tonnes and 5000 tonnes – and enough electricity to power the whole of Cologne – the process of producing 1650 vehicles is well underway. The now familiar sounds of hydraulic systems, crunching metal and pounding fills the room, a testament of the ongoing work. “All the work is done at ground level”, says Kuhl, “but the transport is done in on the conveyer system above”, she explains. A thick mesh covers the level above us. It acts also as a protection mechanism, squashing all fears of the parts crashing over our heads, as different parts that have been completed at this stage are moved to the next stage. Production essentially takes place in four different sections. Once the moulds have been finished, they are moved to the next stage where assembly begins.

Each door is fitted to a corresponding body by the robot with such efficiency that I am tempted to think there is a human being inside the large metal limb. The painting comes after. The stark sterile room is used for the painting process. The nude walls and bareness of the room make one wonder how indeed the glossy finish is applied to the car. “Painting is done in batches. 30 cars at a go are sprayed with the same color”, says Kuhl. On the conveyer system above our heads, painted versions of the car are moved from one post to the next. This part of the manufacturing is done by both man and computer. The rubber panels, exhaust systems, fenders and bumpers and the bulk of the fittings is done at this stage. With over 1,250 employees at work in this station, assembly is a 24-hour job. The screeching of tires resounds in the factory. Zooming around one end of the room are the freshly assembled Ford Fiestas. “They are testing the braking system”, says Kuhl. As if to prove the point, a red version of the car shoots by before braking without much warning. This process is repeated over and over as different aspects are tested. The engine and doors are fitted by suppliers outside the main factory before the car is returned for final touches and testing. The cars are then taken through the test against nature. They are driven into a tunnel with water spraying onto the car at different intensity to test whether any water will leak into it. Once all the boxes on the checklist are ticked, the car is delivered to its owner. Ready with the new car scent, a gleaming dashboard and an exterior polished to bounce off the light in all the right angles, the cars are lined up in the showroom. Burgundy, gold, white… the masterpieces born from scraps of metal and odd bits are the subject of adoration and envy across board.

TUMBLING EURO HITS FORD Auto manufacturer stares at rear view mirror as consumer demand shrinks. TEXTJACKSON OKOTH PHOTOFORD COMPANY

ou cannot miss it. Sitting directly beside the River Rhine is a huge auto assembly complex that speaks volumes about the impact of ingenious American car engineering technology in Europe. The history of this gigantic Ford assembly plant in Cologne in Germany goes back to May 1931, when the first Ford model rolled off the production line. The plant has since survived numerous challenges including the Nazi regime during World War II. Today, Ford in Cologne has a new set of problems: low sales in Europe of its Fiesta models. In the wake of a biting recession in Europe, Ford has shut down its operations in Austria and is planning to scale down in other markets. As matters stand, Ford has some 65 plants and sells its units in 200 markets worldwide. “We have poor sales due to the economic crisis in Europe”, said Wolf-Peter Schmidt, Manager Sustainability Ford Europe. “Ford has excess capacity at the moment in Germany and is already restricting some of its operations.”

In Belgium, the company is already scaling down. Its operations in the UK are shifting to Spain. Ford’s plant in Cologne produces 1,650 units per day against a plant capacity of 1,800 units. “We are cutting down production in our manufacturing plants in Europe to cope with low demand”, said Schmidt. Apart from dwindling sales, Ford is faced with intense competition for a share of the European market from VW, General Motors, Toyota and Hyundai. And it is not only Ford Europe that is scaling down operations. Opel has also proposed closing a factory in Bochum at the end of 2016 in the first shutdown of a German car plant since World War II. Low demand has also prompted Peugeot to announce the first French car-plant shutdowns in decades. European car sales, including that of Opel, Vauxhall and the Chevrolet Marque, have been struggling. Sales by Fiat have also been falling. It is the same story for Renault, France’s second-biggest car maker after Peugeot. European registrations at

Hyundai fell 3.3 percent to 26,499 cars in 2012. Available figures indicate that in the first quarter of this year, Ford’s performance was severely hit by poor performance in Europe compared to other markets. Financial results posted on its website paint a grim picture, with the company expecting a loss of about $2 billion this year. Ford’s outlook for the business environment in Europe remains uncertain. While it is possible that economic and industry conditions will begin to stabilize later this year, recent economic indicators are mixed. Despite the challenging environment, the company hopes to recover by the middle of the decade. For instance, to cope with low demand, the Ford plant in Cologne is planning to introduce new technologies, including hybrid and electric cars. “The idea is to enable Ford to meet EU carbon emissions regulations”, said Schmidt. “We are offering electric vehicles using premium technology at affordable prices”. The list of innovations lined up by Ford includes a traffic jam assistant that will enable a driver to switch the car to an autonomous driving mode. The technology provides relief to a motorist who is stuck in long traffic jams by eliminating the need to shift gears and step on the gas pedal. It still remains to be seen if more new innovations and models such as the classy Mustang or Ford Focus will salvage Ford from the impact of the Euro crisis.

FUNNY MONEY Euro counterfeiting is reduced step by step. TEXTTIGRAN KHACHATRYAN PHOTOMORITZ TSCHERMAK

ounterfeiting is perhaps the most ancient form of „civilized“ crime. Money, of course, was invented before there was counterfeiting. But the time difference between the two events is small. Once a sage compared money with a universal language that is spoken in world trade – and so of course there has always been a temptation to get hold of it by illegal means. Counterfeit money has appeared with the emergence of commodity-money relations and has continually been persecuted by the law as the most serious crime. In EU countries the number of counterfeit euro notes has gone down, which was mainly due to progressive withdrawal and the issuing of new banknotes by the ECB and national central banks. In 2012, of the circulation in the EU were seized more than half a million counterfeit notes, amounting to tens of millions of euros. And this is a decrease of 12 percent from 2011. It’s impor-

tant to note that 20- and 50-euro-note are the most popular notes used by counterfeiters. Their share in the total volume of fakes is 80 percent. The share of seized counterfeit coins in circulation, however, is increasing. Last year the figure was 184.000, or 17 percent more than in 2011. The most „popular“ fake coin is the two-euro-coin. But the strengthening of the euro as an currency makes it all the more attractive to counterfeiter groups. So the EU will not be able to relax soon. Recall that the euro was introduced in 2002. It is the official currency in 17 countries of the euro zone, and is also used in nine other countries. The signs of the authenticity of the euro include paper made of pure cotton, relief printing, watermarks, holograms, security thread, UV fluorescence, infrared tags, etc.

LIGHTS OUT IN EGYPT Can government and citizens learn from Europe about how to save energy? TEXTMOKHLES ABD ALHAY PHOTOAXEL WUMMER

y the summer of this year, the Egyptian electricity crisis reached a new high. There where repeated power cuts more than once per day for periods ranging from one hour to five hours per day. This caused a range of problems, and there was even at least one case of a premature baby dying in an incubator in a state hospital. The Egyptian Minister of Electricity, Ahmed Emam, asked citizens to ration consumption but did not give them instructions how to do it. In Germany and other European countries steps and ways to save energy in the home have been in place for some time, and Egyptians might be able to transfer some of these measures to their own country and help to reduce these frequent electricity outages.

Minister Emam admitted that there is a major crisis in the energy sector and warned that this summer there will be repeated blackouts for periods throughout the day. To save energy, the government even has decided to cut power at Cairo airport for four hours per day, and at the Presidential Palace for four hours daily. Many governmental institutions will also be affected. The spokesman of the Ministry of Electricity, Aktham Abou El Ela said there were several campaigns to raise awareness of strategies to ration consumption, for example to switch of light bulbs and cut reliance on air conditioning. There have been a few new devices, like solarpowered fans from China, to help save energy on a small level and help people while power is cut.

In Germany and several other European countries a number of organizations have educated consumers and raised awareness about ways to save energy in the home and save costs at the same time. Why not follow the same style on the part of civil society organizations working in the field of consumer protection if the Egyptian government is unable to do so? Media organizations could also help to raise awareness in this area.

EYE ON

BUSINESS

Publisher: Deutsche Welle Akademie With financial support from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Editors: Jutta vom Hofe, Sigrun Rottmann

Photography and Design: Moritz Tschermak Reporters: Melanya Barseghyan, Mokhles Abd Elhay Farghaly Boualak, Hanan Hassan Mohamed Elgendi, Tigran Khachatryan, Kenneth Patrick Otiendo Kwama, Petar Milosavljevic, Jackson Omondi Okoth, Vahe Sarukhanyan, Elza Tsiklauri, Doreen Wahu Wainaina Printed by: Bunter Hund, Berlin

THE BIG SPENDERS Saving energy and electricity in the household. An interview with Thomas Mueller. INTERVIEWELZA TSIKLAURI

aving energy means saving money and protecting our environment. But how to save energy in the household? Thomas Mueller from the German consumer organization Stiftung Warentest has some suggestions on how to lower our electricity bills. What is better, to buy new devices or to use the old ones? It depends how old your appliances are. A good machine works well for three to five years. Of course, such a new machine won’t need as much energy like an old one. On the other hand you have to take into account that the production of a device is energy-consuming as well. So, it’s hard to tell. Sometimes, it’s better to replace or to repair an old one which might work for another ten years and some-

times it is better to buy a new fridge or washing machine. If someone doesn’t have enough money, what should he or she do? That’s a problem. If you don’t have enough money to buy new appliances, you have to pay much money for electricity. Which appliances consume the highest amount of electricity in the house? In the typical household the refrigerator is the biggest spender. But also other devices like phone chargers, TV sets and heating need a lot of electricity. This is very expensive. Especially, because electricity prizes have been increasing over the last ten years. In Germany now one kilowatt of electricity costs 0,27 euro. Ten years ago it was only 0,11 euro. Two or three years ago there was a big discussion in Germany among consumers about the raising energy prices. In spite of the high costs

the number of appliances per person is increasing and thus the energy spending. What is better, if I buy an energy saving washing machine class A+++ at 500 euro or machine class A+ for 200 euro in terms of saving money? That may not be worth it in the long run because in ten years you may only have saved 50 euro. But for the environment it is definitely a good idea. And what do you think about energy saving bulbs, how much energy can be saved by using them? By using these bulbs you can save between 80 to 85 percent. Other bulbs produce more heat than light. If we change bulbs, refrigerators and other appliances, how much of our budget will we save? I cannot give an exact answer, but on an average it might be 20 to 40 percent.

CHINESE MOBILES FLOOD EGYPT ...continued from page 1

European Union countries do not struggle with such problems, as the EU applies restrictions on the import of Chinese goods after a huge number of complaints received by RAPEX, a rapid alert system notifying member states of risks to the health and safety of consumers. Tamas Andras Molnar, EU adviser on international consumer issues, said that “58 percent

of all notifications sent to RAPEX in 2012 were related to Chinese goods”, with the high share due to the significant market penetration of the Chinese. Although a slight increase from 2011, this still remained in the range of the average observed over the last few years, Mr Molnar said. He added that products imported by EU member states are checked according to stringent safety requirements regardless of their origin, usually on the basis of typical risks associated with the product category. The fact that contacts with Chinese authorities and businesses are getting stronger had helped to

improve product identification and traceability, the adviser said. He also explained that the EU commission in 2005 established European Consumer Centres, a network that provides information to consumer on their rights when shopping abroad in another EU country. There are such centres in every EU member state as well as in Norway and Iceland (http://ec.europa. eu/consumers/ecc/index_en.htm), and they provide advice free of charge. According to Mr Molnar, European consumers should feel as confident when shopping in another EU country as they would do at home.

IN THE STIFTUNG WE TRUST

More Germans trust consumer organization Stiftung Warentest than the courts and the church. TEXTMELANYA BARSEGHYAN PHOTOSSTIFTUNG WARENTEST

ianah Karapetian from Armenia, who has been living in Berlin for seven years, says that before buying anything she checks whether there is the word “Test” on the goods. If a product has been graded as “sehr gut” (very good) or “gut” (good), it doesn’t at all mean it’s the most expensive one, but has satisfied all the requirements of a testing group. And as the results are trustworthy, people don’t hesitate when buying this or that thing. The testing is provided by Stiftung Warentest, an organization which represents the interests of German consumers. It is not comparable in any way with Armenian organizations of this kind, which never carry out tests and don’t have any reliable advice for consumers. Stiftung Warentest is testing goods and services such as computers, washing machines, lipsticks and insurances. The results are presented to the public on a website, in magazines and books. People are informed which bicycles are the best, or which face cream is up to the highest standards, which cell-phone has the best price-quality ratio or which tour opera-

tor has the best available offers. Stiftung Warentest enjoys a high degree (74 percent) of confidence among the German population. In comparison, 40 percent trust the courts, 32 percent trust the church, and only 14 percent trust the parliament. This degree of confidence is due to the independence of the organization from industry and politics. The foundation is self-funded; it finances 90 percent of its budget through the sale of its publications. 10 percent come from the government in order to replace the lack of advertisement in publications. The testers never ask companies to send them any goods in order to make sure that they don’t get any “special” or audited products from the companies. They just buy what they want for testing like ordinary customers in ordinary supermarkets. Since its establishment in 1966, Stiftung Warentest has delivered more than 7000 tests examining more than 100,000 goods. Or in other words: The

Stiftung provides comparative tests of about 100 products yearly as well as investigations of about 25 general and 75 financial services. “Of course, over these years some companies have complained about ‘wrong’ test results and the damage caused to their company’s reputation”, says Ronnie Koch, press officer of Stiftung Warentest. “Some even took us to court. But it was always us who won.” This is due to the fact that the Foundation uses scientifically proven methods. During the tests goods undergo a rather “cruel” treatment, from burning to breaking, putting them under pressure or attacking them with chemicals. As a result of those extreme challenges, people get reliable information about which products are “very good”, “good”, “sufficient” and even “bad”. Like Lianah Karapetyan: She shows her shiny and healthy hair and says that she has used only one kind of hair color in the last four years. “I bought it for the first time when I saw the label ‘sehr gut‘ on it. And I am still happy with my choice”.

CONSUMER PROTECTION IS PARAMOUNT

COMMENTARYKENNETH KWAMA PHOTOMORITZ TSCHERMAK

nyone who has ever bought bread at the supermarket and kept it overnight only to realize it is past its sell-by date during breakfast understands why consumer protection is vital, especially in so-called “third world countries” like Kenya. The tribulations millions of consumers undergo on a daily basis as a result of problem goods and services often evoke the question of what consumers should do to assert their power. A cursory look into different countries shows how governments and organizations are working to protect consumers. In Germany, Stiftung Warentest (which loosely translates to Foundation Product Tests), has been carrying out tests on consumer products to determine quality. It regularly issues reports on various products for consumer use. With an approval rating of over 70 percent in Germany, Stiftung Warentest has distinguished itself as the most trusted public institution ahead of Parliament and churches because of its independence from the government and industries. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of its counterparts, especially in countries like Kenya. Its equivalent in Kenya is the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KBS), which unfortunately does not

enjoy much public approval because of the leaky manner it handles its duties. It has allowed counterfeits and substandard products to reign freely in the Kenyan market. Consumers find this besetting. There is some form of consumer protection legislation in countries like Armenia, Serbia, Georgia and Egypt, although enforcement is sometimes not guaranteed. To succeed in the quest for better consumer protection, there is need to formulate proper laws and back them up with proper enforcement and institutions with capacity to perform oversight roles. Politicians too need to commit themselves to this course. The main purpose of these laws is to protect the consumer from exploitation by unfair trade practices and to provide a speedy, simple, timely and inexpensive re-dress to consumer disputes and complaints. No doubt, the EU has fulfilled its objectives to a considerable extent since its formation and various positive steps such as the lowering of mobile call rates across EU countries have been taken to promote the consumer movement. But in spite of all the measures the fact that sub-standard goods still find their way to the EU shows that consumer protection still remains a challenge.

In Germany, one of the issues that have dominated public discourse in the past few days is the death and injuries of thousands of garment workers in Bangladesh who were subjected to inhuman working conditions. Germany is a big consumer of clothes manufactured in Bangladesh and the tragedy, which was occasioned by the collapse of a building that houses a big garment factory has raised the question of how German and other European consumers might assert their power to change appalling working conditions in Bangladesh. Already, initiatives like the “clean clothes” campaign are yielding positive outcomes. Other options discussed in Germany, among them, the boycott of clothes manufactured in Bangladesh would probably put out the thousands of workers who work in garment factories out of work. It would deprive some of the poorest workers of jobs and income that provide a step up from farming or manual labour. But this does not mean the efforts should stop. It is incumbent on every one to do all they can to promote consumer protection because in the long run, all these efforts amount to self protection.

ABOUT EUROPE, LOVE AND HATE What exactly is the European Union? Is it just a collection of rich countries, or is it a fight between Angela Merkel and Francois Holland? Is it high politics, resolving the economic relationship with the USA and while at it grabbing Kosovo from Serbia? No, it’s a state of mind. TEXTPETAR MILOSAVLJEVIC ICONSTHE NOUN PROJECT

ifty percent of Serbs think that the EU is heaven on earth, the land of milk and honey, where at every corner you can find a pot of gold, and that it is the fault of the other half of the Serb population that Serbia is not in EU. And that other half of the population is absolutely convinced that the EU has grabbed Kosovo from Serbia and would rather go to the tenth circle of hell than the EU. In this case, like on many other occasions in the last 500 years, a the Serbs are mistaken. Here comes a story of Serbian misconceptions:

“Europe has grabbed Kosovo from Serbia.” Not true. Who has a brain slightly larger than a chicken will recall that the first Albanian demonstrations with the “Kosovo Republic” request broke out in the former Yugoslavia in 1966. Without going further into the past: Maybe someone should ask Slobodan Milosevic who was grabbed Kosovo from Serbia. But Milosevic now is residing in areas where he can not answer and he is, you could say, unavailable. Europe has nothing to do with it. After all, some EU member states have not recognized Kosovo‘s independence.

“We’ll have a better life in Serbia as soon as we join the EU.” We will not. To be included we should first fulfill some minor criteria. One of them is that Serbia has to be a stable and serious country, with a system that works and people who say “you are welcome” when someone else says “thank you”. This can be illustrated by my favorite example: When you come into Berlin subway station, the display tells you that the train

will come in three minutes. The train arrives in three minutes indeed. After a week, it is quite normal that you believe the display. In other words, it means that you believe the state, and the state is there to provide you for decent conditions for normal life. In return, the state requires you to regularly pay taxes, to not rob and slaughter people in the streets and to not throw grenades around. And then, you and your country, just because you trust each other, live happily ever after. End of this story.

“The EU will fall apart, we need to turn to Russia, Brazil, China ...”. Silliness. The EU may be dissolved. Bet let me remind you, that more than two billion euros in investments, projects and grant loans have been transferred from Germany to Serbia in the last ten years. Since the end of Milosevic’s criminal regime, the EU has sent more than ten billion euros in aid and investment. It is lovely and sweet that Mother Russia has not recognized Kosovo‘s independence, but you can’t buy bread for that. And for two billion euros from Germany you surely can. Incidentally, Croatia in July will join the EU, Montenegro already has a date for the start of negotiations, and Serbia, with poor Bosnia – with which it seems no one knows what to do – can become an isolated desert island with about seven million lunatic Robinsons on it. And it would be really good to know that a lifeboat certainly will not come from Rio de Janeiro or Beijing. Especially not from Moscow.

“In the EU, journalists have large salaries and drive expensive cars.”

Idiocy. Some journalists and “journalists” anywhere in the world have high salaries, as well as in Serbia. But most journalists in the EU are not earning enough to survive, again the same as in Serbia. And as far as the car is concerned, my German friend Jutta once told me: “You know, I really do not need a car here. Public transport works just fine.” (See point 2 about confidence in the state).

“The EU will re-introduce visas for Serbs because the EU hates Serbian people and Serbian Orthodox faith.” (This is my favorite one). The problem with this theory – except that it is quite in line with the Serbian abnormal perception of international relations as well as issues of love and hatred, and emotions in general – is that Serbs need visas if they want to travel, for example, in Thailand. I do not remember that anyone of the “wise Serbian intellectual elite” ever said that the visas were introduced to Thailand because Thais, who probably have no idea where Serbia is and what that spooky place is, hate Serbs. The EU may well re-introduce a visa regime for Serbia. Not because of hatred for the people, but because of bunch of idiots with Serbian passport who think they can fuck the EU so as to seek political asylum in Germany or France or Belgium and then for three months – until the authorities reject the request and return them to Serbia – live on social benefits. And then those idiots think: “Wow, THAT was smart.” No, it was not, stupid.

“If Serbia joins the EU I will be able to work everywhere I want because there are no borders.” No borders, that‘s right. Travelling from Berlin to Brussels, you realize you‘re not in Germany only when you see that the signs are written in French and Flemish. On the German-Dutch and GermanBelgian border, nobody asks for a passport or identity card. Nobody checks your car or charges customs. But you will not be able to do whatever you like to do where you want because for that kind of action you need the already mentioned pot of gold. But you can’t find it, simply because there are no pots of gold in the streets. Euros do not grow on trees, and nobody will donate money to you. Last but not least, there‘s something called economic crisis.

“In Europe people are cold, hostile, unfriendly, selfish, arrogant, etc.” Nonsense. You are lost somewhere in Düsseldorf, you don’t speak German and you know only the address of the hotel – so you ask someone who speaks nothing but German, and this person will do all he can to explain, even if he has to draw a picture for you. In the subway or street, for no explainable reason complete strangers will give you a smile or just say “Hallo”. (This also can happen when you meet someone for the first time in your life, and after walking through a gentle spring rain you talk as if you have known each other for a thousand years. The troubles begin when you suddenly notice that she’s unbearably beautiful and start to seriously hurt when you realize that you will never meet her again, never and nowhere. Life sucks, but actually that has nothing to do with the EU).

So: the EU is not only German cars, Belgian chocolate, French cheese, Italian wines and Spanish ham. The EU is also Romania, Bulgaria, poor Greece, there is “our” Slovenia, there is the potential collapse of the euro zone, maybe a referendum in the UK. Europe, the same as any other monster, has hundreds of faces - sometimes cruel, sometimes indifferent, sometimes lovely and cute, sometimes furious and wild. Sometimes it looks like a deep black water where you are about to drown. But sometimes it looks just like a woman you love. The choice is yours.

FRANKENSTEIN FOOD

While the scientific debate regarding the risks of genetically modified (GM) food on humans continues unabated, measures have already being taken to minimize a potential threat. TEXTVAHE SARUKHANYAN PHOTOTHOMAS KOLLMER

n the US labelling of GM food is not mandated, while in European Union countries any product containing more than 0.9 percent GM content must be labelled as such. This is because Europeans are more sensitive to this problem and a lot of people don’t want to use modified food. But each EU member country also has its own regulations on GM food. Austria is a country completely free of genetically modified organisms (GMO), where in addition to the introduction of the national bans on the cultivation of transgenic crops, all nine federal provinces of the country have declared themselves GMO-free. Tamas Andras Molnar from the Health and Consumers Directorate-General of the European Commission, says the EU generally avoids producing and importing GM food because it has not been proven that there are no negative effects. GMF production is a fast-growing sector of the food market. Thus, US scientific research leading to the creation of new genetically modified organisms is also developing apace, even though the work involved is quite expensive. Modification supporters such as genetically modified food companies,

some governments, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) stress that GMOs can help solve the problem of world hunger because they increase productivity and food quality. But the opponents are still not convinced. They argue it is too early to talk about GMO being safe for humans and that more scientific research is needed. Otherwise, they say, future generations might feel the negative effects of modified foods. Unlike the EU Armenia, a country in the Southern Caucasus and a member of the Eastern Partnership project, does not have legislation on GMOs yet. But in the end of 2012 the Armenian Government approved regulations on this issue that the Parliament has to vote in the course of this year. Starting in July 2010, a research laboratory belonging to the organization Standard Dialogue began to study the issue of GMOs in Armenia. It is the only lab of this kind in the region and its head, Karen Darbinyan, says that it looks at animal and plant derived food

both imported and locally produced. He adds that the lab detected genetically modified products in a research study that was comprised of some 40 percent of consumer goods found on Armenian store shelves. These included both imported and locally grown products. Darbinyan says that some 15 percent of the meat products tested showed GMOs. The experts found out that one portion of the meat was genetically modified and GM ingredients were found in another portion of these products. It means that GM feed was also used for animals. Despite of the absence of laws on GMOs, some food labelling regulations exist in Armenia that ask producers and importers to use the label „genetically modified food“ on GM foods. And the new legislation seeks to regulate the import and domestic sale of products containing GMOs and monitor their possible effects on humans and the environment. It is really important to find out if genetically modified food is really secure or not for us and our generations. And besides it everybody has right to know what he or she eats.