Clowns and Mafiosi

At this hour, the results of the Italian general elections are not yet clear. But what is obvious is that a large segment of the country’s population leaves in a strange planet. Those who voted for two men that are far from being serious – Berlusconi and Grillo – have not yet realised that Italy needs a deep transformation and modernisation. Populism and cronyism of the Silvio’s fashion are just the continuation of the road towards bankruptcy, more corruption and chaos. Grillo’s anti-establishment platform will, in the end, lead to almost the same results: bankruptcy, chaos, street politics and political instability. 

Italy is an example of what can happen to a major economy when the rule of law is replaced by the rule of political favouritism and the rule of the mafia groups. Let the situation go on for decades without being tackled and see what you get: clowns and Mafiosi being voted into office. 

One single Europe...

In 2012 European car sales in South Korea have increased significantly, as a result of the Free Trade Agreement signed the year before.  Volkswagen’s sales recorded 48% growth. Audi’s figure, plus 46%. BMW’s growth was 21% and Mercedes –Benz, just over 4%.

Curiously all these makes come from one single country within the EU…

What about the French, Italian, Swedish and other car makes? 

South Korea in the EU

Yesterday I could notice how strong the group that represents South Korea’s interests is in Brussels. They are very well connected with the European External Action Service and with the Universities of Brussels and Leuven as well as with other think tanks. It is true that South Korea is considered a strategic partner of the EU. It is also true that Europe is a bit confused sometimes and calls a number of countries “strategic partners”, which makes the concept weak. EU cannot have a strategic partner in every street of the world, it makes no sense. Strategic for what?

Trade is a major area of focus for the partnership between the EU and Korea. A Free Trade Agreement has been under implementation since July 2011. That has seriously boosted the exchanges between the two sides. But, as expected, on the European side it has been Germany the main winner of the new opportunities.

On the political front, South Korea would certainly like to see the EU playing a more vigorous role towards North Korea. The fact of the matter, however, is that Pyongyang is far away from Brussels’ limited outreach in East Asia. EU is no real power player in that part of the world. 

Afghan women and human rights

Afghan woman leaders are very worried about the country’s situation post-2014. They have very little or no information about the on-going secret dialogue that is gradually taking place between the Karzai people and the Taleban leaders and they fear that the priority that is given to peace at any cost will have a very heavy cost as far as women’s rights are concerned. They believe that there is a trade-off on the table that will buy the Taleban in and will place the women out…

The women are also very surprised that the big partners of Afghanistan seem more interested in “sustaining” peace – a way of showing that the many years of military intervention have achieved durable results and that the operational assistance was therefore worth the sacrifice and the money – than on protecting the human rights gains.

These are very legitimate concerns. They are even more justified when one looks at President Karzai’s increasing silence about women's issues. 

Good governance in Afghanistan

I spent part of the afternoon in a public discussion about the future of Afghanistan after the departure of ISAF, the international military deployment. End 2014 is around the corner and security remains a major challenge. But some of the Afghan participants told us that more important than the security transition – the transfer of responsibilities from the NATO-led force to the national army – is the political transition that is scheduled for next year. In about 14 months there will be presidential elections and a new leader will take over from President Hamid Karzai. The credibility of those elections is still a matter to be addressed. And, more importantly, as the NATO representative in the discussion said: “we need a good, honest government in Kabul”.

Well, this is indeed a big challenge.

Men and diamonds

Eight men have shown, last night, that diamonds are not just girls’ best friends. These men love them too. They dressed for the occasion, with clothes roughly cut as police uniforms, and rather inelegantly cut through the chicken wire that surrounds part of the Brussels airport perimeter and drove in two cars to the footsteps of a commercial airliner bound to fly to Zurich. This was a scheduled flight, ready to take passengers and also a few boxes containing many shining stones.

The fellows took the stones and left the area through the same hole in the wire. The catch’s worth is estimated at 50 million dollars. Not bad for a five-minute job. 

All that happened at 20:00 hours, not in the middle of the night. At the international airport of Europe’s capital.

Fortunately, they did it for the beauty of the stones. Imagine they were a terrorist group intended at attacking the airliner and a couple of VIP passengers…

One should feel very concerned.

 As for the airport authorities, they should also feel very embarrassed. 

To be frank, they do not seem to be getting the message. Or at least, they pretend to ignore its gravity. They tell us there are three types of police forces at the airport, so we should consider ourselves safe. But that is exactly the point. When we have different forces in charge of bits of the security of a key facility there is also a serious risk of poor or no coordination among them. In addition, there is too much concern about passenger control and too little about perimeter security. Lack of resources cannot be an acceptable explanation. It is just that the emphasis is too much on checking if I carry any soft cheese – I love Camembert – and not enough on men crazy for diamonds. 

Paris and the young Japanese

I spent many hours walking the avenues and also the little streets of Paris. It was a sunny day, a beautiful day after so many awful days of grey. Paris is always a delight particularly when the weather is fine. It is a city that was conceived by people with great sense of ambition and personal glory and that transmitted that to the many palaces, monuments, squares and gardens that make the place an architectural wonder.

Just a first impression after a very long day: one sees plenty of young tourists from Japan in Paris. As I walked the avenues I was asking myself if visiting Paris is a rite of passage for the young men and ladies of today’s Japan. And then I thought, maybe this will make the youth of that far away land a bit more romantic and more interested in love…I am told they desperately need to boost the romanticism in the Japanese society…

To be prepared for the right questions

Yesterday’s question – the key question a leader should prioritise and try to respond to – raised a number of reactions among the blog’s readers. That was, actually, the whole point of the question: to get people to think about the possible answers to it. Because quite often we tend to forget the important questions and give answers to matters that are not particularly relevant.

The many leaders I met – the true ones – where people that new how to ask questions. They would look at you and raise a point for you to respond to. And many times I felt embarrassed because I had not thought deeply – or at all! – about it and had no good answer to provide. I would then feel dwarfed by my interlocutor. And that is a feeling you cannot allow people to get you to experience if you have aspirations and want to been perceived as a match.

An incomplete question

Is it a good time, on a Saturday evening, to remind all of us that the key question a leader should ask himself/herself is ….?

Today's word in Spain

There is one word in today’s Spain that has plenty of currency among the ordinary people. It is a word that expresses the disgust and displeasure of almost everyone with present-day politics and the politicians. It is also an indication that the crisis in Spain is much deeper than the economy, the banking situation and the skyrocketed rate of unemployment. No need to guess. The word is … corruption!