NBB / LBBAN193 G3 EU5
Home assignment
2013 spring
1. Fill in the gaps in the text with the adequate words. (A warm up exercise…)
GMOs in Barroso’s basket
attendant
estimates
subsequently
business
conflict
green-light
officially
transgenic crops
crossbreeding
organisms
vacuum
deadlock
pest-proof
discretion
reluctant
The newly-appointed European Commission has just started getting down to ______________ and is
already re-opening the debate over genetically modified _____________, which remains a bone of
enduring contention between member states, pressure groups and Brussels.
European Commission president José Manuel Barroso, whose team was ___________ approved just
last week on 9 February, has already set out to sow the Union’s fields with genetically engineered
crops. However, his plans to force through the authorisation of "mutant foods” have met with criticism
in the press and staunch opposition from some of Europe's member states.
Launched back in 1996 as highly ______________ “miracle produce,” transgenic crops have caught
on with US consumers, but not with their Continental counterparts. Nonetheless, the Commission
President is hell bent on pushing through legislation to ____________ mass farming of transgenic corn
and potatoes. Under pressure from the US and Germany, Mr Barroso is prioritising the authorisation
of at least two varieties: MON810 corn produced by American biotech titan Monsanto — a product
that is currently only accepted in Spain — and the Amflora potato "sponsored" by German industrial
giant BASF, which is under experimental cultivation in Germany. Needless to say, the financial stakes
are considerable: BASF ___________ its annual returns on Amflora could come to between €30m and
€40m.
Member states may decide
Against this backdrop, the news agency Reuters believes that the replacement of Environment
Commissioner Stavros Dimas, who is openly opposed to ________________, with the less influential
former Research Commissioner Janez Potočnik will make things easier for Barroso. However, the new
Environment Commissioner will still have to grapple with _____________ national governments.
Barroso already suffered a stinging political defeat, when 22 of the 27 member states voted against his
request last year to authorise transgenic produce. More recently, a meeting of the European science
committee to discuss the odds of approving transgenic corn on 10 February failed to break the
____________ on the issue. Although 13 EU member governments are currently in favour of
transgenic produce, 11 remain categorically opposed. Ultimately, the question of GMO may end up
being left to each member state’s ______________.
When it joined the EU on 1st January 2007, Romania was obliged to submit to Community legislation
and give up its GMO soy-growing business. Only four GMO species — two types of corn and two
types of carnations— are currently authorized for cultivation in Europe, which with the exception of
Spain and Germany, does not grow or buy GMOs — a position that has led to a latent diplomatic
____________ with the US, the world’s biggest GMO producer and consumer (72% of world
production). In 2004, the Commission imposed a moratorium on certain transgenic crops – and
required that GMOs be labelled as such.
In spite of the EU ban
GMOs contain genetic material obtained by other means than natural _______________. The first
"mutant" vegetable was a tomato, which first hit European markets in 1994 in the form of tomato
paste. Genetically engineered soybeans and corn followed in 1996, then potatoes, rapeseed, wheat and
rice. From 1997, US companies took advantage of a legal _______________ on the issue in Romania
to introduce a series of GM hybrid strains of corn, soybeans, beets and potatoes. For financial reasons,
Romanians accepted the produce without worrying about any ____________ risks. The inner circle
divvied up the profits, leaving Romanian consumers in the dark as to what exactly they were eating,
and the country was ________________ accused of playing into the hands of the US and letting
GMOs into Europe through the back door.
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NBB / LBBAN193 G3 EU5
Home assignment
2013 spring
Over in Bulgaria, on 10 February parliament debated the prospect of legalising transgenic crops. Prime
minister Boïko Borissov pledged “there would be no GMOs in Bulgaria” – albeit conceding that his
country would be bound by Community law, whichever way it falls.
2. What are the benefits of economic integration? The following passage offers some clues to
this:
According to the European Commission, the single market has created 2.5 million new jobs
since 1993 and generated more than EUR 800 000 million in extra wealth, through abolishing
tariffs and quotas, as well as technical and administrative obstacles to free trade. (Europe in
Figures – Eurostat yearbook 2008, p. 96)
3. The present-day population of the EU is nearly 500 million people – what kind of
advantages does this provide from the point of view of the economy?
4. What does the following figure reveal about the economy of the EU in general?
5. Assess the economic role of agriculture in the EU with the help of the passage and the
figure below.
According to the FSS, the equivalent of 12.7 million people worked full-time on the 14.5
million agricultural holdings in the EU-27 in 2005. Among the Member States that joined the
EU in 2004 and 2007, there was a period of land restitution in the runup to accession. This led
to large State farms being divided up and handed back to private individuals, leading to a
substantial rise in numbers of farms and workers. Over a quarter of agricultural holdings (29.4
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NBB / LBBAN193 G3 EU5
Home assignment
2013 spring
%) in the EU-27 were located in Romania and one fifth (20.4 %) of the agricultural workforce
in 2005. (Europe in Figures – Eurostat yearbook 2008, p. 318)
6. What are the main aims of the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy? The following
paragraph offers some important points of reference:
Farmers are no longer paid just to produce food. Today’s CAP is demand driven. It takes
consumers’ and taxpayers’ concerns fully into account, while giving EU farmers the freedom
to produce what the market needs. In the past, the more farmers produced the more they were
subsidised. From now on, the vast majority of aid to farmers is paid independently of how
much they produce Under the new system farmers still receive direct income payments to
maintain income stability, but the link to production has been severed. In addition, farmers
have to respect environmental, food safety, phytosanitary and animal welfare standards.
Farmers who fail to do this will face reductions in their direct payments (a condition known as
‘cross-compliance’). Severing the link between subsidies and production (usually termed
‘decoupling’) will enable EU farmers to be more market-orientated. They will be free to
produce according to what is most profitable for them while still enjoying a required stability
of income. (The Common Agricultural Policy Explained, p.5)
7. What does the following paragraph reveal about the challenges for the energy policy of the
EU?
In 2004 the EU-27’s net imports of energy were greater than its primary production of energy,
witnessed by its dependency rate just exceeding 50 %. In 2005 the dependency rate increased
again to reach 52 %. Energy dependency ratios were highest for crude oil and petroleum (82
%), although the dependency on non-member countries for supplies of solid fuels and natural
gas grew at a faster pace in the last decade than the EU’s dependency on oil (which was
already at a high rate). Net imports exceeded primary production of natural gas in 2002, while
the same situation occurred for hard coal in 2004. Among the Member States, energy
dependency in 2005 varied from the only net exporter among the Member States Denmark
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NBB / LBBAN193 G3 EU5
Home assignment
2013 spring
(which recorded a negative dependency ratio) and low ratios in the United Kingdom and
Poland, to ratios of upwards of 80 % in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Luxembourg, Cyprus
and Malta. (Europe in Figures – Eurostat yearbook 2008, p. 436)
8. What does the following passage indicate about the patterns of economic development in
the EU?
The structure of the economy evolves through time as certain sectors become more important
and others decline. Based on SBS data, employment in EU-25 Services grew by 12 % overall
from 2000 to 2004 compared to 6 % in the non-financial business economy as a whole and -5
% in Industry. The latter is especially explained by the automation of tasks, the relocation of
industrial activites to countries with lower cost bases, and the increased use of outsourcing by
enterprises calling on external service providers for non-core activities (eg. transport,
accounting or marketing services) or even for production (eg. through temporary labour
provision services). (Main features of the EU-27 services sector, p. 4)
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