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IN NOVEMBER LAST YEAR European stock markets witnessed the biggest-ever hostile takeover as the U.K. mobile telephone company Vodafone-Airtouch battled for control of Mannesmann, a long established and widely respected German engineering firm. The bid was met with almost universal hostility in Germany which extended to politicians and trade unions as well as the Mannesmann board. The company was characterised by the system of co-determination whereby workers' representatives sat on a supervisory board and this complemented the 'social market' of so-called 'Rhenish capitalism' in which long term economic benefits for the community were sought from commercial enterprises. Strong social institutions maintained a balance between clients, employees, shareholders, towns, regions and other stakeholders.
One thousand works' councillors came together to make a declaration which demanded that 'Mannesmann shareholders continue with a planned, long-term oriented, and socially acceptable....company strategy', that 'politicians outlaw hostile takeovers' and that 'Vodafone give up its confrontational strategy against Mannesmann'. German politicians were also quick to condemn the move: finance minister Hans Eickel called, in the Financial Times for new takeover rules to 'avoid a culture clash between Anglo-American capitalism and the consensual German model'. Chancellor Gerhard Schröder stated that a hostile takeover would 'damage the corporate culture' and 'underestimates the virtue of co-determination'. However there were some voices raised in approval of the bid, the General Secretary of the BDI (German CBI) Ludolf-Georg von Wartenberg said that politicians should not influence the bid which should be left to the economic actors and Prime Minister Tony Blair stated that 'we live in a European market today where European companies....are taking over British companies, and vice versa'.
The outcome of the battle was that Vodafone raised the offer at the last minute to secure an agreed deal, with the Mannesmann chairman and chief executive becoming deputy chairman of the new company. This would tend to suggest that the German model is at least changing under pressure from globalisation and now includes the acquisition of foreign companies in which German owners do not behave very differently from Vodafone (compare to the BMW / Longbridge situation) . On the other hand, the opposition of unions and employees may be a sign that workers are beginning to question a doctrine which gives them no say in economic decisions which affect their jobs and rights.
IN FEBRUARY, AFTER A LONG period of deadlock following an election, the far-right Freedom Party entered the government in Austria. Although a junior partner in coalition with conservatives, the party's record and in particular some of the pronouncements of its leader Jörg Haider, which were seen as sympathetic to the Hitler regime of the second world war, made EU leaders react strongly. At a meeting of the other 14 Member States a joint statement was issued by Portugal, the current holder of the EU presidency, stating that the governments of the 14 member states 'will not promote or accept any bilateral official contacts at political level with an Austrian Government integrating the FPÖ[Freedom Party]'. British officials said they felt nothing needed to be added as public condemnation of Mr. Haider was helping nothing but his opinion poll ratings. The European Commission issued a statement pledging to fulfil the EU's treaty which stipulates that it can suspend the rights of a Member State that violates its principles of liberty, democracy and respect for human rights but, speaking after an emergency meeting in Brussels, Mr Prodi said he would not exclude Austria from participating in European institutions.
There followed actions such as French and Belgian ministers walking out of a European Union meeting in Lisbon in protest at the presence of the Freedom Party Social Affairs minister, Elisabeth Sickl, the recall of the Israeli ambassador and the snub to the Austrian Foreign Minister of not being invited to the opening of the Centre on Racism and Xenophobia in Vienna (she attended anyway). However matters did not seem to escalate, helped by the resignation of Haider, until, in April, Finland broke ranks with other member-states and called for an end to the ban arguing that it is counter-productive and hampering key policy decisions. The French Government which takes over the presidency of the EU in July said it would stand firm on the sanctions policy until it judged that Austria was living up to the ideals of the European Union.
IN DECEMBER LAST YEAR, the last month in which comparable figures are available for most EU countries, unemployment levels declined slightly from the previous month and by about 1% from those of late 1998. However the numbers are still much worse than those of the EU's chief competitors, and member states such as Italy and Spain have deep -seated problems especially in the under 25 age group.
Country |
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED UNEMPLOYMENT RATES (%) |
Country |
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED UNEMPLOYMENT RATES (%) | ||
|
|
Total |
Under 25s |
|
Total |
Under 25s |
|
Luxembourg |
2.2 |
5.9 |
Belgium |
8.7 |
23.6 |
|
Netherlands |
2.8 |
5.1 |
EU average |
8.9 |
16.8 |
|
Austria |
3.6 |
4.7 |
Finland |
10.3 |
22.7 |
|
Portugal |
4.1 |
7.8 |
France |
10.6 |
21.6 |
|
Ireland |
5.2 |
7.0 |
Italy |
11.2 |
32.2 |
|
U. K. |
6.0 |
12.9 |
Spain |
15.2 |
28.1 |
|
Sweden |
6.8 |
11.8 |
|
|
|
|
Denmark |
8.6 |
8.9 |
U.S.A. |
4.0 |
9.6 |
|
Germany |
8.6 |
8.9 |
Japan |
4.7 |
9.5 |
|
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