In The News

Budapest, the Next Bangalore? New EU Members Join the Outsourcing Race

Stefan Wagstyl September 21, 2004
American companies have become the world's leaders in outsourcing services to regions with low labor costs. Western European firms, previously slow to follow this global trend, have now begun outsourcing labor to central and eastern European countries, whose advantages include geographical proximity and language proficiency. Despite early optimism, a few obstacles lie ahead. First,...

France Hopes to Block the Wave of Globalization

A. Sheshabalaya September 20, 2004
Job outsourcing has figured prominently in worldwide economic discussions, and the French government has taken a decisive, though controversial, step to address the phenomenon. In an effort to protect domestic employment, Prime Minister Raffarin announced a large subsidy for companies refraining from relocation. Honorable intentions aside, writes global Ashutosh Sheshabalaya, France may be...

Dutch Have a Kinder, Gentler Plan

Frida Ghitis September 14, 2004
Despite scattered threats from terrorist groups, the environment in Amsterdam continues to appear peaceful. The Dutch government's approach to national security, in direct contrast to US policies, underscores protection of civil liberties and adherence to laws. In an effort to prevent a culture based in fear, the Netherlands has resisted alarmist measures common to other Western societies...

Turban Chaos

Ranvir Nayar September 14, 2004
France’s 5,000 to 25,000-strong Sikh population joins French Muslims in protesting the controversial Law of Secularism, which bans the wearing of religious symbols in public schools. Upon returning to school campuses, Sikh students wearing turbans were denied access, despite previous assurances from French authorities that they would be the exception to the rule. Defiant parents are preparing to...

Wedding Vows Can Lock Danes Out of Their Homeland

Richard Bernstein September 10, 2004
Even if it is love at first sight, beginning a life together in Denmark is a lengthy, maddening ordeal for mixed Danish-foreign couples. New immigration laws which, opponents argue, are the strictest in the European Union, have barred over 1,000 recently married couples from living in the country. Many of these couples have opted to live across the bridge in Malmo, Sweden. This was not the...

European survivors of 9/11: Torn 2 ways

Katrin Bennhold September 10, 2004
Tomorrow, three years will have passed since Europe stood beside the US in the aftermath of the most traumatic event ever to occur on American soil. Today, after European outrage over the US-led invasion of Iraq and American jabs at the cowardice of "Old Europe," the former allies are drifting ever further apart. Painfully stranded in the middle of this rift are three European survivors...

Anchor the Black Sea Region to the West

Ronald D. Asmus September 8, 2004
Recent violence in the Black Sea region has highlighted the urgency of the area's political instability. Geographically situated at the intersection of Europe, Eurasia, and the Middle East, this region is invaluable to the West, both economically and politically. For this reason, argues policy expert Ronald D. Asmus, both NATO and the EU must reach out to Black Sea countries, bolstering...