Economy, revenue and the environment

The January issue of Europe Infos is mostly devoted to economic and fiscal issues, with the op-ed by Frank Turner and the news report by Jean Letitia Saldanha (CISDE) on FTT (Financial Transactions Tax). Anna Echterhoff reports on the Directive on the representativeness of women on Boards of major enterprises, while Fr. Alois Riedlsperger provides a reflection on the future of democracy. The EU and the Conference on climate change, EU and Palestine, EU and Balkan Countries, are also themes addressed by the monthly of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conference of the European Community. Women on supervisory boards. Viviane Reding, vice-president of the European Commission, responsible for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, has assumed overall leadership regarding the imbalance in the gender ratio in the highest decision-making committees of companies in the EU. She promoted the draft "Directive on improving the gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges and related measures", published on 14 November 2012. The document should have been released in October, however, as referred by Anna Echterhoff, member of COMECE Secretariat, "the route of the draft on the way to publication was fraught with difficulties", marked by controversial debates. "The declared objective is a substantial increase in the proportion of women on management boards of companies listed on stock exchanges by 2020", (currently representing 15%). "There is a broad consensus that women on management boards exert a positive influence on corporate governance, as team performance and decision-making quality are improved due to different ways of thinking and attitudes to colleagues, which open up new perspectives and lead to more balanced decisions, according to the Commission", while "Insufficient use of the skills of highly-qualified women causes potential for economic growth to be lost". Some Member States have begun their subsidiarity check. The period for submitting any subsidiarity objections ends in mid-January 2013. If the check goes through, the legislative process will continue its path. EU and the poor. The Financial Transactions Tax (FTT) envisages a tax ranging from 0,01% to 0,1% on share and bond trades and on other transactions. It is suggested that the new FTT revenues could amount to 32 billion euros per year, but questions still remain about how these revenues will be used, said Jean Letitia Saldanha (Cidse). President van Rompuy suggested this amount could then be deducted from national contributions to the annual EU pot; other suggest that the revenues could be used to cushion a future meltdown of financial institutions in the EU which however would not curb excessive speculation on financial markets. Others still suggested investing the sum for development and climate change. Over the past years NGOs such as CISDE "lobbied hard for FTTs to be one of the pillars of financing a new era of development", "an integral part of a social market economy, a means to bind freedom of the market with the principle of justice and the commandment to love of neighbour". In concrete terms, FTT revenues could provide the EU with the much-needed money to fulfil unmet commitments to eradicate poverty and tackle climate change, "to fill its share of commitments to the Green Climate Fund. In so doing the EU would show the world that it is a reliable global partner which keeps its promises". The future of democracy. "From "Occupy" to "Stuttgart 21" in Germany, "Uni Brennt" in Austria, and also "Tahirplatz" and "Indignados" – several movements have emerged in recent years that are united by a core demand: democracy. New forms of political participation, non-representative and non-hierarchical, are being tested and tried out", said p. Alois Riedlsperger sj (Austrian Catholic Social Academy), such as the European citizens’ initiative or "Open Petition" and "Demokratie braucht Bildung" ("Democracy needs education") in Austria. As explained by sociologist Colin Crouch, "there have been few periods" when "demands for openness and transparency have been expressed so forcefully as now; the treatment of the "big players" is critically supported by an incredible plethora of citizens initiatives, journalists and scientists, while new electronic forms of communication support the establishment of critical publicity channels in a great many areas of society". Nonetheless, "the hearts and minds of many citizens no longer really support the political system of representative democracy" since – especially at a time of crisis – their interests are no longer represented. Thus democracy will need to show its ability to resist and integrate "ideas, concepts, internal attitudes and principles associated with bodily perceptions, personal experiences and memories", social equality, attitudes towards people and the significance of emotions – democracy as a "matter of the heart".