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We left the merry band of 34 McColl-ites just as they left the European Parliament where they had heard from a very passionate and articulate woman about the challenge of the only directly elected, political body in the European Union structure. The weekend just past had been the Parliamentary elections. The good news was that the body now would amount to 732 delegates from 25 nations after the May 1st addition of ten new members. The bad news was that election turnout was very low (14%–39%) especially in some newly admitted Eastern Block nations emerging from communist rule.
There are five or six major party organizations ranging from the far left to the far right and a jumble of unattached delegates. Politics plays a big role in how the Parliament might operate. Lots of controversy as many voters used the elections for the European Parliament to send a message to their reigning home governments.
Sidebar: As we left, a Summit of the European Council (the elected heads of all the European Union governments) was underway with very spirited debates and negotiaitons around the new European Union Constitution. The Germans and French seem to think that Britain is asking for too many compromises on the structure of the constitution for the federation of nation states.
Tuesday Evening we went en masse to a separate room at the Maison Kammerzell, one of the oldest and most unique restaurants in Strasbourg. The occasion was a special dinner sponsored by the McColl Graduate School of Business featuring duck foie gras, lamb, and a dessert tray that would put your sugar count into orbit... great food, great fun, great conversation, and great atmosphere.
On board the bus at 8:00am for a day trip to Basel. Student topic presentations this day included a superb update on Switzerland from Will Lee and Ron Blevin. Touching on Switzerland's decision (via direct democratic referrendum) to stay out of the European Union, the duo pegged three reasons for staying out and three reasons why the Swiss might be encouraged to join... eventually... say in ten or twenty years.
Not being in the EU, the Swiss do not use the Euro. Arrival at the Bahnoff (the central train station) meant trundling into the station to find a way to exchange Euros for Swiss francs, purchase a Basel Map, and setting off to find the Munster Cathedral. The Cathedral, once Catholic, now Evangelical Protestant, sits on a bluff above a dramatic bend in the Rhine River. Powerful look over the whole of the city on the East Bank of the Rhine. Dates to 1100 AD... restoraion underway. Off to lunch and back to the bus for the trip to Muttenz (a suburb of Basel) to visit Clariant Limited... parent of Clariant Corporation of Charlotte. (Many of the spouses and significant others took the opportunity to stay in Basel and adventure further.)
Clariant Limited is a 6-billion-Swiss-franc specialty chemical company with operations world wide. We heard from their Corporate Communications group about the company as a whole, from the Chief Consul about the impact of the EU on Clairant strategy, and from human resoources on the challenge of global management development, and toured the plant led by the Chief Operating Officer.
Side-bar... the Chief Counsul hit the same notes as Ron and Will on the future of the Swiss–EU relationship.
Two themes are emerging... one is the the lack of OSHA style safety rigging in most plants... the other is the level of passion and enthusiasm that the people in all of these organizations display. Even allowing that you wouldn't put someone in front of the group who is overly downbeat, there is still a sense that the level of intensity that people bring to their professions is unusually high.
Back to Basel to pick up the adventurers and a ride back to Strasbourg... punctuated by a stop at the McDonalds in Selestat. You can get beer here... and a Royal or a Royal with Cheese (...not "Le Big Mac" as John Travolta would have you believe in Pulp Fiction).
Morning at the Sonoco Paper Plant in Schweighouse Sur Moder. The COO of the plant led half of the group on tour while the Director of Operations led the other half. One started with a discussion and then toured and one started with the tour and ended with the discussion. The mill takes paper "garbage" and recycles it into useable paper products. The Alsace Region recycles 75% of all its paper waste. The plant is a real, old-time, hard industrial factory with a MINIMUM temperature in the operating areas of 86 degeree farenheit... the plant features a 11 million Euro water treatment facility that allows natural enzymes to clean up the plant water in three days (would take three weeks in the river) and return water to the Moder River that looks cleaner than it was when it came into the plant.
Again we see the lack of sophisticated safety systems... however, the plant had one injury accident last year (down from 20 six years ago before the Sonoco acquisiiton)... and the leadership is very enthusiastic about their saftey record and their commitment to the environment.
The other theme, great passion and enthisiasm, continues and the frank and open discussion of the issues associated with being foreign owned and under the European Union rules was terrific.
Lunch at a local hotel was superb and we headed for the Council of Europe... confusing isn't it. European Council, the European Commission, the Council of Ministers, the European Parliament... for a good read, try Understanding the European Union (Second Edition) by John McCormick)...
The Council of Europe has membership form all of the nations of Europe, whether they are in the European Union or not. This is a deliberative body that allows issues, especially complex issues, to be discussed, debated, and/or studied by one of the 165 committees between plenary sessions. This gives Europe a body to discuss and deliberate issues with broad representation without having the pressure of immediate political action looming over them. Wonder how issues get debated in the US that aren't ready to be on the political agenda?
Deputy Director of Finance and Administration for the permanent secretariat led us on a wonderful exploration of the Council.
The Council of Europe is charged with protecting individual liberty, political freedom, and the rule of law. Its portfolio is expanding to include issues of diversity and the environment. The Court of Human Rights, which gives any citizen the right to sue government for vioations, is under their jurisdiction.
Our day ends at the Lucien Brand Winery in rural Bas Rin (Lower Rhine) with a lesson in proper wine tasting techniques and an opportunity to stock up on superb white wines of the region.
More to come tomorrow...
— Dr. David Rudd
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