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Highlights

LOCUSTS? PRIVATE EQUITY AND HEDGE FUNDS AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE MARKET ECONOMY AND THE LABOUR MARKET

The role of private equity and hedge funds as well as their impact on the economy and the labour market was the topic of the 7th British-German Trade Union Forum held in Manchester on July 16th and 17th. The event was organised by the Trade_Union_Congress_(TUC), Deutscher_Gewerkschaftsbund_(DGB), Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation, Hans-Böckler-Foundation and the Anglo-German Foundation.

	Gabriele Bischoff (DGB)

In addition to recent virulent discussions comparing private equity and hedge funds to “locusts” descending upon their innocent victims like a biblical plague, the continuing rise of these new actors in the economic and financial realm provided the background for the dialogue forum. Speakers from trade unions, relevant research institutes and affected companies met for an exchange of experience, drawing on the British and German perspectives. They focused on the following issues: First, the implications of this development for the state economies, specifically the German model of social market economy and the British model of corporate governance. Second, if and how policy makers should react towards this challenge on a national, European, and international level. Third, policy levers to enforce regulation of private equity and hedge funds.

Roland Schneider (TUAC)

The discussion was enriched by practical case studies of one British and one German company, both now in the possession of finance investors – highlighting especially the negative effects on the company and the employees alike. It became clear that the challenges posed by private equity firms and hedge funds to individual companies as well as to the state economy as a whole had become a major field of action for unions in both countries. This once again marked the importance of bilateral consultations between union members and leaders of both countries, as such meetings facilitate not only the exchange of experience and the discovery of similarities as well as areas of interest and work, but also the sharing of best practice. 

A detailed report on this event will soon be available for download here.

PEACEMAKING IN NORTHERN IRELAND: A MODEL FOR CONFLICT RESOLUTION?

Peter Hain

8 May 2008 saw the first anniversary of the devolved government in Northern Ireland. Its reestablishment as such was noteworthy per se, but the fact that the two once so acrimonious enemies of the republican Sinn Fein and the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party came together to form a coalition, rightly deserves the term historic. This development has sealed the progress made in the Northern Ireland question since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which was to a significant degree owed to the political priority given to the conflict by Tony Blair’s Labour government. With the experience gained during the peace process, Peter Hain, former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, explores the key factors and expands on the question, whether the lessons learnt in the resolution of the conflict in Northern Ireland can be transferred to ongoing conflicts world wide.

Please click here for the English_version and the German_version of this article.

NETWORK FOR DIVERSITY AND INTEGRATION - A PROJECT OF THE PARTY OF EUROPEAN SOCIALISTS

Gary Titley

With progressing globalisation, the traditional notion of nation states as ethnically, religiously and culturally homogenous entities is turning more and more into a relict from the past. For reality already looks very different: to an ever greater degree, diversity will become the dominant structural characteristic of most European societies. Before the backdrop of this development, Gary Tiley, MEP and chair of the PSE’s “Diversity and Integration Network”, reports on projects and possible solutions in Europe that aim at facilitating the entrance and the participation of minority groups in societal and political life and, by these means, head towards a society which no longer defines itself along ethnic and religious criteria but by common social aims and values.

Please click here for the English_version and the German_version of this article.

THE BRITISH CITIZENSHIP DEBATE                

Anne Bostanci

In an attempt to overcome the historical-legal complexity of the concept citizenship in the context of the UK, the present Labour government has got caught between a longstanding yet newly rediscovered understanding of its social bonding function and a policy approach based on and pervaded by the outdated view of citizenship as a reward for assimilation. It needs to separate out two completely different discourses in order to be able to formulate coherent policies – both regarding long-standing citizens and newcomers.

Please click here for the English_version and the German_version of this article.