GHOST ISSUE 1 topic articles
11th National Session of EYP Poland in Bialystok
CONTRIBUTORS EDITORS
Timon Fahl Tua Malmberg
VIDEO EDITOR
Adam Borowski
JOURNALISTS
Elif Aydinlandi Anna Barkemeyer Aleksandra Bieluk Malgosia Giemza Zuzanna Gil Aaron Graham Vladislava Kachurova Giedre Kazokaite Lilpar Ă–zcan
EDITO
A LETTER FROM THE DEVELOPERS B
Dear participants of the 11th National Sesssion of EYP Poland, it is my greatest pleasur days, weeks and months we have worked on a concept, forming a team of stunning j experience of But, first of all, what is this specific Media Team doing at this session? The whole team Issue, entertain you, take pictures, create videos, to make the session visible and also Secondly, why “Ghost“? No, it should not refer to something transcedental, mystical or s are always present, ready to capture the moment, ready to As mentioned before, this Issue will be composed of topic articles, tackling problems an you might have thought of when yo
Give it a read!
Thus, on behalf of the whole Media Team, welcome t
ORIAL
BEHIND THIS COLLECTION OF TEXTS
re to present a collection of first articles - or rather the first Issue - to you. In the past journalists and most importantly preparing for you! Preparing to form and shape your Bialystok 2014. m will support you with an academic asset, e.g. in form of collected topic articles in this work on personal projects in order to fulfill, what their journalistic heart is burning for! surreal. It should rather decribe how we work. You might not see or perceive us, but we answer questions and ready to be there for you, the delegates! nd issues from different perspectives, offering various solutions and going beyond what ou read your topic for the first time.
! It is worth it!
to Poland, welcome to Bialystok, welcome to the EYP!
Timon Fahl
CON TENT
REGI
CITIES – SUBJECTS OF CONSTANT CHANGE
FEMM
8
BATTLE OF THE SEXES
10
OMITTING THE YOUTH - BELITTLING OUR FUTURE
12
VOTING, IS IT WORTH IT?
14
A EUROPEAN “PEACE PROJECT“
16
WHAT’S THE STORY, WHISTLEBLOWER?
18
THE INTERNET NEVER SLEEPS
20
YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT – A VERY EUROPEAN PROBLEM
22
LET THE CAPPING AND TRADING BEGIN
24
DEVE
AFCO AFET
LIBE l
LIBE ll
EMPL ENVI
PHOTO CREDITS
26
PAST PRESENT FUTURE
CITIES – SUBJECTS OF CONSTANT CHANGE For most people, a city equals opportunity. At least two thirds of the European citizens seem to think similarly; the urban population of our continent, as claimed by the EU’s 2011 Regional Policy Report. These numbers will only rise. But the growth of cities entail many diverse issues, starting from environmental, going on to spatial, social and many more. The opportunities of living in the cities, contrary to the appearances, are not infinite. The average city’s capacity to welcome new people and new buildings is increasingly limited - unless the growth is controlled. This is why our cities need to change. Whoever lives in a big city can constantly observe the tendency of urbanisation. People from rural regions and smaller towns inhabit the cities. They are aware that the urban life style is more expensive, that there is a great competition and that the air pollution is higher. Despite all that, citizens still aim for the cities. It is nothing new or strange – people ‘dream big’ and want to experience the best possibilities. But this is why urban migration is the factor responsible for the rising amount of homeless and unemployed in the cities. As the migration is something difficult to control, cities have to face the multiple challenges created by it.
We have to keep in mind that the rising number of inhabitants is an opportunity as well. It results with economic growth, cultural development and creative ideas for the cities. They thrive; new places arising and creative minds “invading” urban spaces initiate fresh situations and novel chances. Cities are a place of opportunities especially for young people. Innovative departments of universities, start-ups and companies opening their branches – this is the reason students and graduates look for their future in cities. Generally, it is a positive process, though fairly chaotic - this is why problems arise. At first glance, they may seem insignificant. After a while, they can turn into determinant social and ecological issues. There are processes taking place in European cities that create immense dangers for the urban future. A good, yet disturbing example is social polarisation and spatial segregation which often goes hand in hand. People arrive en masse to cities looking for jobs in the pursuit of profit. Some succeed, some do not. Some of these people end up on the streets, homeless or living in shelters. On the other side of the road there is a group that decides to separate from the poor and dirty part of the society by living in guarded estates. The growing economic differences between the citizens caused by the tendency of ’the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer’ is something that jeopardizes a safe and sustainable future. The conflict will be getting more and more tense in time. Unless the problem will be noticed and prioritised, every urban community may expect riots. Another huge urban problem is an uncontrolled ‘urban sprawl’. In the process of chaotic sub-urbanisation, people do not think about the future issues of high costs in providing services and the pending insufficiency in means of transport. Generally, people dream big about their possibilities and their property, but cannot think big of the influence their decisions have on the habitat. The most obvious example is the environmental issue; urban sprawl causes the waste of resources, which leads to higher than needful level of pollution. It is not difficult to avoid such damages by simply sustainable planning. At present, the actions done in the urban habitat show that things are changing as European cities introduce changes to make citizens aware about the need for sustainability. But this mission is very complex. It takes a lot of effort to make an efficient plan and to follow it through, especially in the changing surroundings of urban development. A city is of common good, and requires collective work as no other human invention. The sooner we realise this, the sooner we will be able to exploit our cities to their full potential. Malgosia Giemza
BATTLE OF THE SEXES
Gender inequality has existed for almost as long as the mankind itself and even though many provisions have been taken, the problem still have always been conformed to stereotypes. These stereotypical and traditional understandings of women and men claim that a man sho since these social norms were implemented, and women now are befitted to work just like men, and men can take care of their households still appear superior to women in our society, whereas women weak and always in the background. This causes some to believe that wome it might be under labor intensive activities, getting small amounts of cash in return.
These traditional meanings do not just keep the Member States of the EU from improving and modernising by not having specific requirem economic problems. To start with, most women do not have access to credit, education and other productive resources; therefore can not ful makes it harder for women to work at the same job, with the same conditions by getting lower wages and causes segregation in education a every single day. Every kind of harassment; sexual, physical, rape, harassment at work and genital mutilation is a serious issue that is agains system that involves violence against men, in some MS, such as Italy and the UK, the content, consequences and punishments of violence ar
There has been a lot of improvement in the past few years due to the published EU resolutions and reports, but the EU’s main goal is to in ting against poverty, providing access to education and health services and supporting women to take part in economy and decision making of EU’s and Member States’ policies, development of statistics, measuring progress and training programs for specialists. This way, involvem achieved by providing women the leadership positions, access to education, health care facilities and jobs. Moreover, supporting women t the involvement of women in the decision making process.
These steps can be taken on a European level; but in order to fully cope with the problem, since every Member State has a different legislatio example, monitoring Member States` policies and their progress on achieving an equal rate of women and men employment, equal payme also support and provide opportunities for trainings and education for women in every field, and EU and the Member States should work i of them have implemented laws on providing gender equality in the labour market, however even though they are aware and alarmed of t
remains in the society. Looking to the past, its is noticeable that due to social norms, such as traditional beliefs and religion, women and men ould be one who earns a living, whereas a woman should carry children and take care of their home. Even though many things have changed just like women; social norms that existed for years in the society are not easily eliminated. Because of this understanding, men appeared and en should not work nor get educated, which is a hard burden for society as well as the economy. Facts show that even when women do work,
ments expected from the Member States, such as respect to the basic human rights, but it also causes some serious social, ethical, political and lly contribute themselves to work, nor to economy or social life. From an economic perspective, the gender pay gap is a serious problem, which and in the labour market. On the other hand, one of the most important facts of the issue would be that women face violence and harassment st every human rights, and therefore strict measures on the issue need to be immediately taken. Even though most Member States have a law re never clear and therefore, need to be clarified.
ncrease the female employment rate up to 75% by 2020. To fully tackle the problem, five steps need to be taken: gender mainstreaming, fighg process. Gender mainstreaming is the main strategy that is being used to provide equality between women and men. It includes application ment of men and the youth on the topic can also be supported. Fighting against poverty, on the other hand is a serious topic that can only be to take part in parliaments, national governments and large companies and monitoring the improvement on the issue is necessary to ensure
on system, rate of improvement and social background, some strict measures, especially on legislation, should be taken on a national level. For ent and working conditions; and present country specific recommendations to Member States should be done on a European level. EU should in cooperation with NGOs, through EU funding, to improve new strategies. Member States should also pay attention to the fact that almost all the violation of human rights, most lack a jurisprudence on the topic of violence and harassment against women.
Lilpar Ă–zcan
A vast majority of population in the developing countries, particularly African countries south of Sahara and SouthEast Asia, is comprised by the youth. These countries, are the main target of the Post-2015 Development Agenda, a United Nations driven framework for global development, succeeding the Millennium Development Goals the UN set in 1990. Of all initiatives suggested by these agendas and plans, only a few focus primarily on young people. That is exactly why the needs of the youth must be taken into consideration in the next development plan. As one of the most important stakeholders in this process, the European Union (EU) needs to step up and take action. The reason why youth needs to be regarded is that it is them who will shape the world in years to come. Young people will shape the future world and its societies. To omit them from these types of international action plans is to belittle this future. It is the youth that will drive their communities, politics and the economy. Engaging young people in civic life provides a fresh outlook on many matters, and pinpoints hardships that otherwise could be omitted. At the same time, such opportunities allow the youngsters to grow conscious, skillful and knowledgeable. This would truly be a ’win-win’ situation. The Millennium Development Goals for 2015 were to tackle most burning problems of poverty and hunger, lack of appropriate education, healthcare and inequality, as well as to ensure environmental sustainability and maternal care. Several targets have been met or are achievable by the deadline, such as halving the poverty rate, granting water access and remarkable achievements in the fight against malaria and tuberculosis. The efforts should be
continued to ensure the basic conditions for all and further decrease the rates achieved. Over the 25 years that this plan has been in place, new struggles have appeared. Conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, the recent Ebola outbreak, an increase in pollution, lack of electricity and growing disparities between the poorest and the richest are new challenges to be faced. Goals that are yet to be reached are for example providing sufficient education and employment, two crucial matters for young people worldwide as stated by the participants of the My World 2015 initiative, a global survey led by United Nations aimed at identifying the most important issues for people of all ages and nationalities. This survey has been launched as a channel to share ones stance on what should be given importance in the post2015 world. Other efforts in youth empowerment had been taken, such as the Conference of Youth for Rio 20+ and opportunities to become a youth delegate for the UN, which all are notable achievements aiming to establish a young international community that communicates its needs and hopes. Nevertheless, access to such activism must be first ensured, which primal struggles may undermine. Thus, youth empowerment must start at the stage of providing necessities, such as access to clean water, food and healthcare. This can be obtained through improvements that benefit other causes as well. For instance, introducing more sustainable farming or fishing or finding alternative sources of energy, which would create more workplaces in these sectors and equip those in need with skills and tools. Moreover, youth empowerment was successful in
OMITTING THE YOUTH BELITTLING OUR FUTURE
the fields of education, with a growth of over 50% in school enrollment and thousands of students participating in mobility schemes. The EU should therefore continue funding initiatives similar to those included in Millennium Development Goals, such as first-hand aid, but also strengthening the dialogue between the youth worldwide and policy in order to avoid spending funds on improper actions. The Post-2015 Development Goals should not change its core completely. The struggles acknowledged in 1990, when the previous Action Plan was adapted, still prevail. What needs to be taken into account when settling new goals is giving the youth a say in what is essential in their development, and in that way target the most burning issues that are to be tackled during their lifespan. With better perspectives and opportunities, they will be able to empower their own home countries and other generations to come. Let’s give the youth a chance. Let’s enhance the future that awaits us all after 2015, and not belittle it. Zuzanna Gil
VOTING, IS IT WORTH IT ?
Voter turn-out has been dropping steadily in European Parliament elections since the first vote was held in 1979. Despite the European Parliament gaining in power and importance following each new treaty, at the last European elections only 42.5 % of people turned up to vote, almost twenty percentage points less than in the first elections. Voter participation has proven to be especially low in countries that joined the EU more recently, however it is considered to be alarming in nearly all member states. This state of affairs begs the question, why do EU citizens abstain from voting in European Elections. Voter turnout issue has been highlighted after every European Election in the recent past. Experts on voter behavior studied it and seem to have reached a consensus on causes of the problem. Namely, if we compare the voter turn-out in national elections with the voter turn-out of the European, we can see that the participation in the former is notably higher than in the latter, meaning that the pool of people in any given member state politically aware enough to vote, is bigger than the European Elections constituency. So where from does the turn-out gap originate ? Simply, from the perceived ’weight’ of the elections. National elections are seen by the public as more important, because they are subject to bigger publicity and they end up with the formation of government , which is sensed by the people as deliver of change (positive or negative). Lack of an equally explicit process in the European Parliament creates a perception that there is nothing at stake in the European elections. Its so called voter alienation, groups of people feeling that the benefit they can get from voting for either political party, is lower than cost of voting. In other words, standing up from the couch and going to the booth is not considered to be worth it: it’s simply just not worth it, to vote. For now, all the attempts to increase voter participation undertaken by the EU have been unsuccessful. They see the problem, nevertheless they do not invest enough effort to solve it. Most of their endeavors were centered around medium sized information campaigns, about how the EU impacts people lives, how important it is to vote and so forth. The committee of Constitutional Affairs, had an interesting plan to to raise the popular legitimacy of the European Parliament by creating an additional 25 MEPs that would be elected from transnational lists during the elections to the European Parliament. Each EU citizen will thus have two ballots, one for national lists and the other one for EU-wide lists. It was supposed to turn the EU parties into
campaigning organizations and encourage the candidates for the European Commission to seek support beyond their own member state. However, it was never put up for vote. Though, unsuccessful this effort showed that they see the solution in the electoral reform. Member states also seem to have hard time dealing with it, most of them experienced drooping voting rates, in case of Poland it was shockingly low 23%. Nonetheless, its wasn‘t really a big concern for them, up until far right parties proven that when elections have a low turn-out, a small party can achieve disproportional success just by rallying their base. Belgium and Luxemburg have compulsory voting, but very few would call it something that can be applied universally. Increasing voter turn-out fundamentally requires the EU to make people change their minds, and that has proven to be an enormously difficult task. However, difficult tasks require smart and innovative solutions. The steps European Parliament has to take have to go beyond announcing another media campaign or cooperation with NGOs, they have to be a comprehensive solution which deals with the problem not only from different angles, but most importantly, from its roots. Aaron Graham
A EUROPEAN “PEACE PROJECT”
The European Union has, at its core, always been a project ensuring that people from many different cultures can live side-by-side peacefully. The current crisis in the Ukraine may be described as the most serious threat to this peace since the founding of the European Union. European spokesmen and women have continually strongly condemned Russia’s actions in eastern Ukraine. This has, however, had little effect on the overall situation. Europe has to take up a strong stance, in form of action, against Russia’s actions without unnecessarily further provoking Putin. However, European leaders have struggled to find a common stance on how to further proceed. Many have raised concerns about Europe’s dependency on Russian gas and that as long as this dependency prevails all other forms of sanctions will have little effect on Russia. The EU imposed the first travel bans and asset freezes against Russian and Ukrainian officials on 17 March 2014 and since then more sanctions have followed. On 30 July the EU issued further sanctions, which for the first time targeted Russia’s state finances, arm’s sector and energy. The EU will no longer export equipment for military use in Russia and a wide range of oil industry technology, although the gas remains unaffected, and Russian state banks, such as the Bank Rossiya, are banned from raising long-term loans in the EU. In addition major Russian companies and high ranking officials have been targeted with asset freezes and travel bans. Asset freezes go beyond pure bank freezes - meaning that the targeted officials can no longer access their bank accounts but also no longer sell any property to the European market. The travel bans prevent the banned from entering any European countries and also all transit zones within the EU. The conflict reached a new stage of escalation after the crash and aftermath of the Malasiya Airlines flight MH 17 on 17 July. Allegedly, the missile which caused the crash had been fired by rebels who in turn had been supplied by the Russians. Albeit this the Russians denied all accusations and blamed the Ukrainians. As a result of this further sanctions were imposed. Russia in turn has imposed its own sanctions on European countries, such as stopping imports of many food products, affecting some countries more than others. During times of war emerging so closely to European borders the expression, of the European Union being a peace project, is suddenly faced with a many new problems and thus takes on a whole new dimension. The outcome of this crisis will be exceptionally meaningful for Europe’s future and hopefully prove that the European Union truly is a peace project. Anna Barkemeyer
WHAT’S THE STORY, WHISTLEBLOWER?
Who exactly are whistleblowers? Courageous defenders of justice and fairness or mindless exposers of inevitable misconducts in the systems of global scales organisations? Relentless fighters struggling with inevitable flaws of human nature or greedy little creepers impersonating greed, vice or primitive envy? The issue revolves around many shades of morality; loyalty in the context of a superior or internal organizational issues vs. one’s sense of fairness. There is a variety of non-obvious causes behind any act of whistleblowing, and as many approaches to them. Edward Snowden, one of the most prominent whistleblowers, who revealed NSA classified information in 2013, has been described as a patriot and hero but also designated as a dissident and traitor, all because of the data he exposed. He was forced to leave the USA and currently resides in Russia. The European Parliament has created and developed a legal instrument protecting individuals who reveal controversial information about omissions as well as deeds causing harm to public good. That is the official definition of a whistleblower. Most recent legal regulation on the issue was The Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)7 of the Committee of Ministers to Member States on the protection of whistleblowers, adopted on 30 April 2014. That step being undertaken shows that the European Parliament is a significant legal supporter of revealing confidential, but potentially dangerous data. The EP definitely recognises the importance and usefulness of the controversial role of the whistleblower. Everything would be nicely taken care of if only designing an individual as a righteous whistleblower would be that easy, and by a whistleblower I mean an optimistic vision of a fair-minded, noble individual, saving the world from corruption and depravity of evil forces and straying bullets of weak character. The word ‘confidential’ used to mean secret and not meant to be publicly disclosed. One might call oneself a whistleblower, and claim the right to speak of any data they would consider as harming. Or, in some radical cases, even without a serious cause. Privacy and secretiveness is seriously endangered. There are reasonable acts of whistleblowing, but the word might be used to justify striving not towards public, but personal good. Who is to decide? Aleksandra Bieluk
THE INTERNET NEVER SLEEPS BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. Orwell once wrote phrase during BIG BROTHER IS this WATCHING YOU.a period of time where there was no internet yet, still he managed to capture one of mankind’s greatest in the 21st century - the digital The Orwell once wrotefears this phrase during a period of timeera. where fear massnosurveillance. fictional ‘telescreens’ which can thereof was internet yet,Hisstill he managed to capture onebe of found in every 1984fears apartment seeing, hearing and observing mankind’s greatest in the 21st century - the digital era. The everything in surveillance. their dystopian to have become realifear of mass Hisreality, fictionalseem ‘telescreens’ which can be tyfound after in nearly yearsapartment after the book’s every701984 seeing,publication. hearing and observing everything in their dystopian reality, seem to have become realiOn the 8th of 70 April 2014 thethe European Court of Justice declaty after nearly years after book’s publication. red the 2006 Data Retention invalid. The massive data retention was said8th to endanger the fundamental citizensdeclaand On the of April 2014 the Europeanright CourtofofEUJustice residents to privacy and datainvalid. protection. The advocates of the red the 2006 Data Retention The massive data retention Directive, however, argued that these rules for was said to endanger the fundamental rightwere of EUnecessary citizens and authorities investigate and protection. prosecute organised crimeofand residents totoprivacy and data The advocates the terrorism. Directive, however, argued that these rules were necessary for authorities to investigate and prosecute organised crime and Nevertheless, terrorism. people fear being completely exposed to the state, which is people the casefear withbeing masscompletely surveillance. Of this,toOrwell’s Nevertheless, exposed the staprotagonist’s desire hidemass from surveillance. the omnipresent eyesOrwell’s of Big te, which is the casetowith Of this, Brother is a perfect the need of eyes the right to protagonist’s desireanalogy to hideemphasising from the omnipresent of Big privacy. argueanalogy that programmes, PRISM, BrotherCritics is a perfect emphasisingsuch theas need of theblatantly right to violate right,argue by currently storing farsuch too much identification privacy.this Critics that programmes, as PRISM, blatantly data forthis far too violate right,long. by currently storing far too much identification data for far too long. Ultimately, one has to try and strike a balance between personal rights, publicone order Ultimately, has and to trysecurity. and strike a balance between personal rights, public order and security. As of now, the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of thethe European Parliament resolution the As of now, Committee on Civilpublished Liberties,aJustice and on Home 4th of July 2013European on the USParliament National Security Agency surveillance Affairs of the published a resolution on programme, surveillance various Security MemberAgency States and the 4th of July 2013 on bodies the US inNational surtheir impact on EU citizens‘ privacy. Simultaneously, it progressiveillance programme, surveillance bodies in various Member vely works the impact implementation of theprivacy. so-calledSimultaneously, „European DiStates andontheir on EU citizens‘ gital Habeas Corpus” both, resolution andofthethe“European it progressively works– on thethe implementation so-called Digital Habeas Corpus” aimCorpus” at protecting fundamental rightsand of „European Digital Habeas – both, the resolution EU in thisDigital digitalHabeas age, such as theaim right respect private thecitizens “European Corpus” at to protecting fundalife and rights communications, of expression, mental of EU citizensfreedom in this digital age, suchthe as presumpthe right
tion of innocence and the right to an effective remedy. The resolution also addresses numerous surveillance activities within the EU. It calls for more transparency and control by certain EU Member States over their intelligence communities and their cooperation and involvement with US surveillance programmes. One of these respective programmes is ‘Tempora’ by the systems of the UK intelligence agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). It raises serious concerns in the EU, due to allegiance to PRISM; furthermore, it refers to the allegations of ‘hacking’ or tapping into the Belgian telecom firm Belgacom systems by GCHQ. Keeping in mind the uncertainties created by the aforementioned situation, the EU should try and strive for a common European solution on this matter. The UK, France, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Poland in particular should clarify the allegations of mass surveillance activities and their compatibility with EU laws. The European Parliament acts as the „EU citizens’ rights advocate“, monitoring the implementation of the aforementioned. The Committee stresses that in democratic and open states based on the rule of law, citizens have a right to know about serious violations of their fundamental right, including those involving their own government. On the other hand, one can and should not undervalue the benefits of the internet in our digital era; the added value and proportionality of such programmes especially with regard to the fight against terrorism. Concluding, one can say that if we don’t want to realise Orwell’s ‘1984’ and live in a society where mass surveillance is the standard, where no one can hide from the secret eye of the internet, and where the right to respect privacy is neglected, we have to start acting – now! Elif Aydinlandi
Youth Unemployment a very European Problem Youth unemployment- it is something almost everyone thinks about at some point in their life. Most commonly this problem is considered on a personal level, while young people think about their own future, and not necessarily on a European or even global level.
Looking at the numbers it becomes very clear that we all have to think about this issue on a European level. Over 7.5 million people between the ages of 14 and 25 are unemployed and not in education or training, meaning that in this age group the rate of unemployment is twice as high as that of all people of working age. With unemployment rates ranging from 10Â % or less in Austria and Germany to 64.2Â % in Greece, it is clear that a single plan of action will not suffice and that many small plans have to be combined to create a system which offers help to everyone, no matter which situation they are in. Special emphasis should also be laid on assisting disadvantaged groups of young people. The youth guarantee is a combined approach from national governments and the European Union to improve the outlook for young people leaving formal education. The idea behind the youth guarantee is based on youth guarantee systems which have been successfully implemented in Finland, Sweden and Austria for the past few years. The aim is to offer tailored assistance to all people in this age group, be it in the form of genuine further education, apprenticeships, traineeships or jobs. In many cases this assistance can be as simple as labour market information, CV trainings or universal vocational orientation. However, many young people need more intense and long term forms of help and coordination.
As the youth guarantee scheme combines all the national youth guarantees, a major issue is the coordination between European, national and regional levels and other important stakeholders, such as social partners, employment services, training and education authorities, individual employers, NGOs, and in particular also student and youth organizations. Additionally, all the different parties involved are aiming to pursue their own ambitions and interests. With this amount of different parties and interests involved it can be very difficult to find solutions which are satisfying for all. The youth guarantee scheme is primarily funded by national governments. The EU will top up the national budgets with funds from the European Social Fund and the Youth Employment Initiative if the rate of youth unemployment is higher than 25%, making twenty countries eligible. By January 1st 2014 the Youth Employment Initiative and the associated money were supposed to be made fully functional. However the first national plan was only approved in June this year, making it a very slow process at the time when Europe is in dire need of fast action. France is the first country to receive money from the Youth Employment Initiative, while the UK has still not fully decided on whether it should join the European efforts to tackle youth unemployment. Many national youth guarantee schemes have not excluded unpaid internships, which are often criticized by or-
ganisations and branded as “cheap labour�, making them open to abuse and major criticism. Another major issue has been actually implementing the youth guarantee. There is a fear that even though the youth guarantee may create jobs these might be of poor quality, meaning that the number of unemployed young people may decrease while at the same time the number of people employed in precarious work situations with little to no guarantee of long term employment will increase. Another problem which is linked to this issue is that it is not always possible for people to find employment in their field of expertise. Both situations frequently have grave effect on the mental health of people affected.
The demands of the labour market are constantly changing, but educational systems often only adapt to changes very slowly, with the result that many young people feel unprepared, and are unprepared, for the labour market and many jobs are vacant while unemployment rates stay high, as skills mismatch is a common occurrence. Additionally, housing costs in large cities have sky rocketed in the past few decades making it nearly impossible for young people to afford their own living space. A result of this is that many have to commute long distances in order to get to their place of work or study. It is time for everyone to start looking and thinking beyond the rim of their own little cup and see that youth unemployment is a very European, if not even global, problem which can only be tackled by cooperation and hard work from all parties involved. Anna Barkemeyer
LET THE CAPPING AND TRADING BEGIN
To avoid a catastrophic climate change, a decrease in emissions of carbon dioxide by one trillion metric tons between today and 2050 will be needed. In other words, there is only room in the atmosphere to burn or vent less than one quarter of the currently known oil, natural gas, and coal reserves. One of the main issues faced at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNCCC) is an absence of a carbon dioxide permit trading market on an international level. The carbon dioxide permit trading market, in other words the “cap and trade” scheme, is the most environmentally and economically sensible approach to controlling greenhouse gas emissions, the primary cause of global warming. This year, the objective of this conference is to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on the cap and trade scheme.
Currently, the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is the only successful carbon trading system in the world. The scheme was launched in 2005 as a means to combat climate change and is a major pillar of the EU’s climate policy under the „cap and trade‘ principle. The “cap” sets a limit of the amount of pollution that can be released, measured in billions of tons of carbon dioxide, or other equivalent gasses, per year. The “trade” creates a market for carbon allowances, helping companies to find innovative ways of meeting or even undercutting their allocated limit. The system is based on the economic principle/incentive of ’the less one emits, the less one pays’.
Trading leads to investment and innovation Trading lets companies buy and sell allowances, leading to more cost-effective pollution cuts, and incentives to invest in cleaner technology. Greenhouse gas emissions are not only tightly linked to climate change but also to energy security. The modern world relies on a vast energy supply to fuel everything from transportation to communication, security and health delivery systems. Perhaps, most alarmingly, peak oil expert Mike Ruppert has claimed in his interview for the Energy Bulletin that for every calorie of food produced in the industrialised world, ten calories of oil and gas energy are invested in the forms of fertiliser, pesticides, packaging, transportation, and equipment for running farms. Threats to energy security include the political instability of several energy-producing countries, the ma-
nipulation of energy supplies and the competition over energy sources. Energy plays an important role in the national security of any given country as a fuel to power its economic engine. All this considered/ Taking all this into account, the EU should stress that an international ETS is needed to ensure a safer tomorrow for all, during this year’s UNCCC. As all CO2 emissions travel to the upper atmosphere, they thus have a global - not a local - effect. Therefore, it does not matter whether the factory polluting the environment is located in Boston, Bialystok or Berlin. Wherever the factory, which is cutting its emissions is located, it will be helping to cut emissions globally. And, if global emissions are reduced, the amount of energy usage will decline as well, leading to lower energy dependence and in turn to a remission of global warming. Giedre Kazokaite
PHOTO CREDITS Cover www.heise.de/imagine/WQa00r2DowhykoqCasOkdy9G7Io/gallery/Zeit-der-Pusteblume Content www.wandtattoos.de/images/product_images/original_ images/533_1_wandtattoo_pusteblume REGI www.1.bp.blogspot.com/-1zABnYVd9dE/ULniNDJA_OI/ AAAAAAACDbc/8fTBgQSBBPo/s1600/London+in+Color+Photographs+in+1960+and+1961+(19) www.static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/01/New-London-Architecture-Londons-Growing-Up-skyscraper-Hayes-Davidson_dezeen_ss1 www.relentlesslife.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/future-london-skyline-1 www.media.salon.com/2012/07/junglecityrect01-460x307 FEMM www.rollingplanet.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/ symbol-mann_bg www.ollingplanet.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/ symbol-frau_bg DEVE www.thepoke.co.uk/2011/10/12/cameron-youth-unemployment-is-great-for-business/ AFET www.blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/files/2014/03/ukraine22
www.static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/1/28/1390936084347/Vladimir-Putin-in-Brus sel-011 LIBE l www.bilder.t-online.de/b/69/24/08/92/ id_69240892/610/tid_da/demonstranten-bekunden-mit-plakaten-ihre-zustimmung-fuer-edward-snowdenLIBE ll www.static.tuoitre.vn/2013/06/077ViJWu EMPL www.i.huffpost.com/gen/676941/thumbs/o-YOUTH-UNEMPLOYMENT-facebook ENVI www.media1.s-nbcnews.com/i/newscms/2014_19/424936/climate-change-china_71c086f6f3dab67389656ef8444c69d9 www.larvatusprodeo.net/files/2011/07/cracked-earthsmaller-for-email1
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