Growth, jobs and more

The world is in a transition from industrial and information economy into conceptual economy. Value is in meaning, not in function. The resource of this economy are talents. They are empowered by information and communication technologies.  The game is how to make use of all this talent. Businesses do open innovation, governments should do open government. It does not end with transparency, it is about how decision-making in a society would rely on as many good brains as possible. You do this by (a) letting people, individuals, not governments decide and (b) when government has to make decisions, it should do it in an open way – provide a platform for reaching decisions and agreements among stakegolders. Governments must take steps to support this conceptual economy. They should (a) create, attract, retain and empower talent, (b) provide technical infrastructure (internet for all) such that does not stifle innovation and competition and (c) think what kind of intellectual property ...

  On his blog,   Daniel Pink is writing   about the   CNN poll   that is finding, that people have a much more positive view on their personal situation than on the state of economy in general. And concludes: If enough people think everyone else is doomed, eventually they’ll doom themselves. How true. A Eurobarometer study reports the same story as the CNN survey. Note the huge discrepancy between the perceived financial situation of a household (64% at least rather good) and that of the economic situation in the World (only 20%), the EU (33%) and the home country (29% very good or rather good). This crisis is a result of many different factors and it will not be resolved by a single silver bullet. Many things will have to be addressed, in a coordinated way. The general fear and pessimism is one of them.

Since the young in the West take peace between Germany and France for granted, and the young in the East got used to democracy without a fear of communism, the European Union and its institutions seems to be running out heroic missions. To be relevant to the “citizen” the EU needs to provide useful services that are making life easier for the businesses and improving the quality of life the people rather than make history. The European institutions are permanently looking for ways to present themselves useful and relevant to the citizen, so that he or she would eventually improve its attitude towards the European project and look up to Brussels with a similar admiration as when the idea of a common market helped the continent out of the ashes. And there are plenty of ways being offered by all kinds of NGOs, pressure groups and lobbysts. A few days ago  Euractiv reported  on dangers of iPods: Consumer groups have asked the Commission to “revise existing safety standards” to pro...

In a  letter to Michelle and Barack Obama, NASA’s Jim Hanson  makes some valid critique of the “cap and trade” approach to the reduction of CO2 emissions that we also embraced in Europe: Policies being discussed in national and international circles now, which focus on ‘goals’ for emission reduction and ‘cap and trade,’ have the same basic approach as the Kyoto Protocol. This approach is ineffectual and not commensurate with the climate threat. It could waste another decade, locking in disastrous consequences for our planet and humanity. “Cap and trade” generates special interests, lobbyists, and trading schemes, yielding non productive millionaires, all at public expense. The public is fed up with such business. The physics of the matter, together with empirical data, also define the need for a carbon tax. Alternatives such as emission reduction targets, cap and trade, cap and dividend, do not work, as proven by honest efforts of the ‘greenest’ countries to comply with the Ky...

In a letter to Michelle and Barack Obama, NASA’s Jim Hanson makes some valid critique of the “cap and trade” approach to the reduction of CO2 emissions that we also embraced in Europe: Policies being discussed in national and international circles now, which focus on ‘goals’ for emission reduction and ‘cap and trade,’ have the same basic approach as the Kyoto Protocol. This approach is ineffectual and not commensurate with the climate threat. It could waste another decade, locking in disastrous consequences for our planet and humanity. “Cap and trade” generates special interests, lobbyists, and trading schemes, yielding non productive millionaires, all at public expense. The public is fed up with such business. The physics of the matter, together with empirical data, also define the need for a carbon tax. Alternatives such as emission reduction targets, cap and trade, cap and dividend, do not work, as proven by honest efforts of the ‘greenest’ countries to comply with the Kyoto Pro...

Recently I have been appointed the secretary general of the Reflection group. Chaired by Felipe Gonzales (ex Spanish prime minister) and co-chaired by Vaira Viķe-Freiberga (ex Latvian president) and Jorma Ollila (of Nokia fame) it was given the task to " identify the key issues and developments which the Union is likely to face and to analyse how these might be addressed. This includes, inter alia: strengthening and modernising the European model of economic success and social responsibility, enhancing the competitiveness of the EU, the rule of law, sustainable development as a fundamental objective of the European Union, global stability, migration, energy and climate protection, and the fight against global insecurity, international crime and terrorism. " These are perhaps the most important issues to address about the future of Europe. I was quite hesitant, should the Secretary General of the group blog about it or anything, for that matter? Any misplaced word, opinion, id...

I'm keep getting questions about the (success) of Slovenian presidency of the EU ( PDF ). So now, from a "historic" perspective of 5 months after, lets try to summarize: Context in which Slovenia took over the presidency: Three years after membership, one year into the Eurozone. Lisbon treaty signed. Optimism about the future role of Europe in the world. Possibility to look outward, now that internal issues seem to have been resolved. However, risks that treaty is not signed in some countries. Refrain from doing anything that would put signing of the treaty in danger. Global uncertainty (Iraq, Afganistan conflicts; US/China trade, US interest rates). Global warming at its warmest. What did we achieve: Confirming the European Perspective of the Western Balkans . Kosovo declared independence, but peace was maintained, and, moreover EU perspectives of all former Yugoslav republic significantly improved (stabilisation agreements with Serbia and BiH). Lisbon Strategy . The up...