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МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ МУРМАНСКИЙ АРКТИЧЕСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ
В. Г. Пиксендеева
EUROPEAN ISSUES: POLICY, LAW and ECONOMY Учебное пособие
МУРМАНСК 2018 0
МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ МУРМАНСКИЙ АРКТИЧЕСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ
В. Г. Пиксендеева
EUROPEAN ISSUES: POLICY, LAW and ECONOMY Учебное пособие Рекомендовано учебно-методическим советом университета в качестве учебного пособия по направлениям подготовки бакалавриата: 43.03.02 «Международные отношения», 44.03.05 «Юриспруденция», 38.03.01 «Экономика»
МУРМАНСК 2018 1
УДК 811.111(0758) ББК 81.2Англ-923 П32 Печатается по решению Совета по научно-исследовательской работе и редакционно-издательской деятельности Мурманского арктического государственного университета Рекомендовано учебно-методическим советом в учебном процессе (протокол № 2 от 09.02.2017) Автор:
МАГУ
к
использованию
В. Г. Пиксендеева, канд. филол. наук, доцент кафедры иностранных языков МАГУ
Рецензенты: С. А. Виноградова, канд. филол. наук, зав. кафедрой иностранных языков МАГУ; И. А. Вдовина, преподаватель английского языка высшей квалификационной категории, председатель цикловой комиссии «Филологические дисциплины» Мурманского строительного колледжа им. Н.Е. Момота (протокол № 5 от 21.02.2018)
Пиксендеева В. Г. European Issues: Policy, Law and Economy В. Г. Пиксендеева. – Мурманск : МАГУ, 2018. – 95 с.
:
учебное
пособие
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Данное учебное пособие предназначено для студентов бакалавриата, обучающихся по направлениям подготовки 43.03.02 «Международные отношения», 44.03.05 «Юриспруденция», 38.03.01 «Экономика». Материалы данного пособия могут быть использованы на занятиях по учебным дисциплинам «Теория и практика перевода общественно-политических текстов» и «Профессиональная лексика в сфере международных отношений», «Деловой иностранный язык». Печатается в авторской редакции.
Пиксендеева В. Г., 2018 ФГБОУ ВО «Мурманский арктический государственный университет», 2018
ISBN 978-5-4222-0360-4
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ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ Специфика работы выпускников с политическими, экономическими текстами требует, прежде всего, сформированного умения понять содержание текста, способность передать его содержание на русском или английском языке, причем необходимо уметь это сделать как в сжатой, так и в развернутой форме. При работе необходимо учитывать и тот факт, что при переводе текстов политического, экономического и юридического содержания, специалист сталкивается с большим количеством терминов. Также актуальной является проблема выбора наиболее адекватного соответствия в русском языке. Основной упор при составлении пособия был сделан на подборе текстов, необходимых для обсуждения основных тем политического устройства Европы, экономического развития и европейского права. Аутентичные тексты не осложнены грамматическими конструкциями, соответствуют уровню владения английским языком Intermediate and Upper Intermediate. Именно поэтому внимание уделяется в первую очередь не столько переводческой технике как таковой, а анализу и накоплению словарного состава, необходимого для профессиональной работы с текстами политического, юридического и экономического содержания. Материалы каждого раздела содержат дополнительные тексты для обсуждения и перевода. Объем использования предлагаемых материалов может варьироваться в зависимости от степени общей языковой и специальной подготовленности слушателей/студентов. В целом пособие может быть использовано как для формирования переводческой компетенции, так и для обогащения фоновых знаний специалистов, изучающих международные вопросы в сфере политики, экономики и юриспруденции.
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PART I. EUROPEAN POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS TOPICAL VOCABULARY ветви власти исполнительная власть законодательная власть Палата Общин Палата Лордов Судьи по апелляциям архиепископы Лорд-Канцлер выступать с королевской речью перед Парламентом событие гражданские служащие, чиновники соглашение, договор юридическая сила оспорить, дать отставку судье округа в день выборов законодательный орган переговоры внедрять новую политику повестка дня вносить поправку
powers Executive power Legislative power The House of Commons The House of Lords Lords of Appeal Archbishops Lord Chancellor To read the speech Affair civil servants Treaty Validity to challenge constituencies on Polling Day decision-making body negotiating launching a new policy Agenda to amend
UNIT 1. THE ROYAL FAMILY Task 1. Read the texts. The Sovereign “Her Most Excellent Majesty Elizabeth the Second by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith”. The Queen is the official Head of State and, for many people, a symbol of the unity of the nation. For a thousand years England (and later the whole of the United Kingdom) has been united under one sovereign, a continuity broken only after the Civil War, by the republic of 1649 to 1660. The hereditary principle still operates and the Crown is passed on to the sovereign’s eldest son (or daughter if there are no sons). 4
The Queen has a central role in state affairs, not only through her ceremonial functions, such as opening Parliament, but also because she meets the Prime Minister every week and receives copies of all Cabinet papers. However, she is expected to be impartial or “above politics”, and any advice she may offer the Prime Minister is kept secret. Functions of the Sovereign: opening and closing Parliament; approving the appointment of the Prime Minister; giving her Royal Assent to bills; giving honours such as peerages, knighthoods and medals; Head of the Commonwealth; Head of the Church of England; Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. The Royal Family Many members of the Royal Family undertake official duties in Britain and abroad. Their various responsibilities reflect tradition, their own personal interests and Britain’s former imperial status. For example, among her many titles the Princess Royal (Princess Anne) is the Chancellor of the University of London, Colonel-in-Chief of eleven Army regiments, including the 8th Canadian Hussars and the Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps, and President of the Save the Children Fund. For whom she has traveled widely. The Royal Family’s money comes from two sources: government funds and their own personal wealth hand, which is considerable. On the one hand Queen is certainly one of the richest women in the world, while on the other her power is limited by the fact that so many of her expenses are paid for by government money. Parliament has had effective control of the monarch ’s finances since the seventeenth century. Task 2. Read the text. The Queen is really a figurehead representing the country, but she has the power to prevent any politician from establishing a dictatorship. The Queen and her family are a symbol that people can identify with. The British public is obsessed with the details of the royal family life, and when people feel that the Queen has problems with her children, or her sister, they see her as a “real person” with the same worries and anxieties as themselves. The monarchy has not always been popular. During the late 19th century there was a growing republican sentiment, but the personality and family image of the Queen, her father and grandfather have removed that feeling. The Queen is probably the wealthiest woman in the world, most of the money coming from family investments rather than the state. Her state salary (the Civil List) pays for 5
her servants and transport. In recent years the Queen has become a roving ambassador for Britain, and if we calculate the increase in trade after a royal visit abroad, the nation probably makes a profit from her activities, and that does not take into account the income from tourism in Britain generated by the monarchy and great state events such as royal weddings. Just how popular is she? In the late 1980s a newspaper conducted an opinion poll. People were asked, “If there were no monarchy, which would you vote as President?” More than 80 per cent chose the Queen. Prince Charles came second, closely followed by his father, Prince Philip. The prime minister of the day was the fourth – with 2 per cent of the votes. Task 3. Look at the chart. The Royal Family Numbers show order of succession to the Crown The Queen Mother
Prince Philip The Duke of Edinburgh
The Queen
Prince Charles The Prince of Wales 1
Prince William 2
Princess Diana The Princess of Wales
Prince Henry 3
Princess Anna The princess royal 8
Captain Mark Philips
Peter Philips 9
Zara Philips 10
Princess Margaret
Prince Andrew The Duke of York 4
Princess Beatrice 5
Sarah Duchess of York
Prince Edward
Princess Eugenie 6
Task 4. Answer the questions. 1. What powers does the Queen have in government? 2. Who is next in line to the British crown after Prince Charles? 3. How can Parliament control the Royal Family? 4. What connections can you find between the Royal Family and the world outside Britain? 5. Which member of the Royal Family has the highest number of public engagements? 6
UNIT 2. THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT IN GREAT BRITAIN Task 1. Read and translate the texts. Remember as many details as you can. Render the texts. Great Britain is a monarchy, but the Queen of the Great is not absolute, but constitutional. Her powers are limited by Parliament. The power is hereditary, and not elective. The constitution has three branches: Parliament, the government, and the Law courts. Parliament has two parts: the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The House of Lords consists of the Lords Temporal and the Lords Spiritual. The Lords are the Archbishops of York, and Canterbury, together with twenty-four senior bishops of the Church of England. The Lords Temporal consists of hereditary peers who have inherited their titles; life peer who are appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Government for various services to the nation; and the Lords of Appeal (Law Lords) who become life peer on their judicial appointments. The latter serve the House of Lords as the ultimate court of appeal. This appeal court consists of some nine Law Lords who hold senior judicial office. They are presided over by the Lord Chancellor. Members of the House of Commons are elected by the voters of 650 constituencies. They are known as MPs, or Members of Parliament. The Prime Minister, or leader of the Government, is also an MP. Each session of Parliament is usually opened in the House of Lords by the Queen (King), who is attended by heralds, officers of the Court and members of the Diplomatic Corps. The peers sit comfortably on their red leather benches as the MPs stand awkwardly huddled together below the bar while the Queen reads the throne speech which outlines the Government’s programme of legislation for coming session. The Prime Minister is usually the leader of the Party that has a majority in the House of Commons. All the affairs of the state are conducted in the name of the Queen (or King), but really the Prime Minister is responsible for every measure submitted to Parliament. He is the virtual ruler of the country, presiding over the meeting of the Cabinet, which are always secret. The Prime Minister is advised by a Cabinet of about twenty other ministers. The Cabinet includes the ministers in charge or major government departments or ministries. Departments and ministries are run by civil servants, who are permanent officials. Unless there is a Coalition Government, the members of the Cabinet belong to one party only. They may include the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who has charge of the Treasury, that is, the nation’s money; the Foreign Secretary, the Minister of Health, the Minister of Education, ect. The most important job of the political parties is to provide Cabinet ministers. For whatever Parliament may do, it is on these twenty men that the week-to week running of the country depends. The Cabinet has no legal existence, be7
yond the powers of the ministers of the Crown. It is merely a Committee, whose very existence was originally secret, formed form the majority party of the House, to carry out the business of Government. The system of British Government Sovereign The Queen is head of government, she makes laws with Parliament and she is head of the courts
PARLIAMENT
GOVERNMENT
HOUSE OF LORDS CABINET
CHAIRMAN: PRIME MINISTER
MINISTERS
CHAIRMAN: CHANCELLOR
HOUSE OF COMMONS
CHAIRMAN: SPEAKER
MP’s (650 MP’s)
LORDS TEMPORAL LAW LORDS (20 lords) SPIRITUAL (24 bishops)
The Prime Minister in the Cabinet is officially no more than “primus inter pares” – just one member of a committee. But in fact, apart from his political advantage, he has a strong hand. He is Chairman of the Committee: he appoints it, summons it, guides it, and can eventually dissolve it. Cabinet-making is probably the most important part of a Prime Minister’s job. A cabinet remains very much the expression of a Prime Minister’s personality. In Great Britain at the present day there are two great political parties – Conservative and Labour. That party which obtains the majority of seats in the House is called the Government, and the other the Opposition. The Opposition criticizes, attempts to amend or directly opposes the Bills introduced by the Government. If they succeed in defeating the Government on any important Bill, 8
or carry a vote of “no confidence” in Government, the latter resigns, and the Queen calls upon the leader of the Opposition to form a new Government. 1. What activities are the queen, lawmakers, the Prime Minister the members of the opposition and ministers involved in? назначать
to appoint to determine to delay to revise to examine to vote to draft to sign to pass to rule to oppose to approve to challenge
определять откладывать пересматривать рассматривать голосовать составлять подписывать принимать управлять выступать одобрять подвергать сомнению
a government programme a bill a new law the country the royal assent the policy/policies the government the government policy
2. Which words come from the sphere of politics? законодательный ветвь исполнительный власть ответственный перед/за большинство представлять представитель избирать неизбираемый
legislative a branch executive power responsible to/for majority to represent a representative to elect non-elected
3. What functions do representatives of power perform? Use the scheme to find the correct statement. 1) A. The Queen votes on the bills. B. The Queen signs the bills. 2) A. The Queen has mostly representative functions. B. The Queen rules the country in fact. 3) A. The government represents the legislative branch of power. B. The government represents the executive branch of power. 9
4) A. The Cabinet is responsible for government policy. B. The Cabinet Ministers revise bills from Parliament. 5) A. Parliament represents the legislative branch of power. B. Parliament represents the executive branch of power. 6) A. The House of Commons controls the government. B. The government controls the House of Commons. 7) A. The House of Lords has the power to delay bills for one year. B. The House of Lords opposes the decisions of the House of Commons. 8) A. The Cabinet coordinates the work of the government departments. B. The Cabinet makes laws. 4. Answer the following questions. Do people elect the Prime Minister directly? What does each brand of power and each institution do? Which institutions exercise the power of the people in Great Britain? What functions did the monarch and Parliament have at different historical periods? 5. The idea of democracy plays a great role in politics. What do you think “democracy” means? People do what they want. People rule the country. People do what they want within the framework of law. People elect their representatives to rule the country. People elect the head of state directly. People say what they think. People can live in any place they choose. The head of state guarantees the rights of citizens. Task 2. Answer the questions. 1. Which of these people are not elected: a peer, an MP, a civil servant, the Prime Minister? 2. What is the difference between life peers and hereditary peers, Lords Temporal and Lords Spiritual? 3. What are civil servants in the UK? 4. Which areas of government do these people deal with: the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Home Secretary, the Lord Chancellor?
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UNIT 3. ELECTIONS IN GREAT BRITAIN Task 1. Read and translate the texts. Remember as many details as you can. Render the texts. Members of parliament in Great Britain Each Member of Parliament (MP) represents one of 650 constituencies in the UK. British elections are usually fought between political parties, not individuals. Therefore, people who want to be elected to Parliament need to be nominated by one of the main political parties. There is nothing to stop unconventional candidates from standing for election, however. A candidate has only to put down a deposit of 500 pounds and collect ten signatures from residents in the constituency where he wants to stand. A candidate who gets less than 5 per cent of the total votes loses his deposit. For somebody who is standing for election for publicity purposes, this is a small price to pay. Although MPs will support a political party, they are not controlled by that political party and theoretically do not have to vote with their party in Parliament. MPs represent everyone in the constituency, not just the people who voted for them. A lot of MPs’ work has nothing to do with voting in Parliament. There are hundreds of things MPs have to deal with in the day-to-day business of constituency life, such as housing or health care. MPs are there to help people and to try to make sure their rights under the law are not violated. Some MPs hold an advice bureau in their constituencies, where people can go for advice. Anyone who feels that he has been unfairly treated by the central government can complain to their local MP who will do his best to see that the problem is solved. Members of Parliament have been paid salaries since 1911. The rate has lately been nearly twice the average industrial worker’s wages. Since 1965 the allowances for travel, living in London, and paying part-time secretaries and research assistants, have all been increased. Still many MPs insist that they need to have outside earnings, through journalism, work in the law courts or businesses, to enable them to live up to the standard they expect. The British government is elected for up to five years, unless it is defeated in Parliament on a major issue. The Prime Minister chooses the date of the next General Election, but does not have to wait until the end of the five years. A time is chosen which will give as much advantage as possible to the political party in power. Other politicians and the newspaper try very hard to guess which date the Prime Minister will choose. About a month before the election the Prime Minister meets a small group of close advisers to discuss the date which would best suit the party. The date is announced to the Cabinet. The Prime Minister formally asks the Sovereign to dissolve Parliament. Once Parliament is dis11
solved, all MPs are unemployed, but government officers continue to function. Party manifestos are published and campaigning begins throughout the country, lasting for about three weeks with large-scale press, radio and television coverage. Voting takes place on Polling Day (usually a Thursday). The results from each constituency are announced as soon as the votes have been counted, usually the same night. The national result is known by the next morning at the latest. As soon as it is clear that one party has a majority of seats in the House of Commons, its leader is formally invited by the Sovereign to form a government. Task 2. Read the text. The Election Timetable The British government is elected for up to five years, unless it is defeated in Parliament on a major issue. The Prime Minister chooses the date of the next General Election, but does not have to wait until the end of the five years. A time is chosen which will give as much advantage as possible to the political party in power. Other politicians and the newspapers try very hard to guess which date the Prime Minister will choose. About a month before the election the Prime Minister meets a small group of close advisers to discuss the date which would best suit the party. The date is announced to the Cabinet. The Prime Minister formally asks the Sovereign to dissolve Parliament. Once Parliament is dissolved, all MPs are unemployed, but government officers continue to function. Party manifestos are published and campaigning begins throughout the country, lasting for about three weeks with large-scale press, radio and television coverage. Voting takes place on Polling Day (usually a Thursday). The results from each constituency are announced as soon as the votes have been counted, usually the same night. The national result is known by the next morning at the latest. As soon as it is clear that one party has a majority of seats in the House of Commons, its leader is formally invited by the Sovereign to form a government. Task 3. Find in the text the English equivalents for the phrases below. избирательный округ правящая партия вопрос первостепенной важности дать кому-либо преимущество сформировать правительство широкое освещение предвыборной кампании в прессе объявить дату выборов 12
объявить результаты выборов иметь большинство мест в палате общин распустить парламент подсчитывать голоса потерпеть поражение в парламенте Task 4. Read the text. Political Parties The main parties in the UK are the Conservative party (right wing), The Labour party (left wing) and the Liberal Democrats (center). The Conservative party goes back to the Tories, Royalists, who originated in King Charles’ reign (1660–1685). The Tories were the party that supported Church and King; the other main party at the time were the Whigs, who were a group eager for political reform. The Tory party gave way to its successor, the Conservative party, in around 1830. The Conservative party believes in free enterprise and the importance of a capitalists economy, with private ownership preferred to state control. In 1899 the Trade Union Congress summoned a special conference of trade unions and socialist bodies to make plans to represent labour in Parliament. The proposal for such a meeting had been formed in 1893. The conference met in February 1900 in London and has always been looked on as the foundation of the Labour Party. The Labour party believes that private ownership and enterprise should be allowed to flourish, but not at the expense of their traditional support of the public services. There has been a Liberal party in Great Britain since 1868 when the name was adopted by the Whig party. The Whig party was created after the revolution of 1688 and aimed to subordinate the power was created by 24 Labour MPs. It was called the Social Democratic party, and soon formed an alliance with the Liberal party. They formed a single party which becomes the Liberal Democrats after the 1987 election. The Liberal Democrats believe that the state should have some control over the economy, but that there should be individual ownership. There are other political parties within the UK. The Green party offers economic and industrial policies that relate directly to the environment. The Scottish Nationalist Party wants independence for Scotland within the European Community. Plaid Cymru – the Welsh Nationalist Party – is determined to preserve the Welsh language and culture and the foundation of a distinctive Welsh identity within the UK. Its radical wing has resorted to arson attempts as a means of protest.
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Task 5. Explain the meanings of the following words and expressions. free enterprise to flourish at the expense of to subordinate environment Task 6. Answer the questions. 1. What are the origins of the main political parties in Great Britain? 2. What political priorities do the main political parties in Britain have? Task 7. Complete the following sentences with the words from the box. with
for
against
to
in
between
(a) I voted ______________ the Liberal candidate. (b) Put your voting papers _____________ the ballot box. (c) He’s very right-wing, so he’s _____________ the socialists. (d) She belongs _____________ the Communist Party. (e) The Liberals formed an alliance _____________ Social Democrats. (f) There’s split _____________ the two parties. (g) There’s a split _____________ the party. Task 8. Complete the following text with the words and expressions from the box. proportional polling day by-election canvassing representation Member of Parliament
eligible
call an election
secret ballot
campaigns
House of Commons
constituents
turn-out
stand for election
constituencies
General Election
polling stations
Middleford. Election Result. No. of registered voters: 100,000 Mr G. Smith (Labour) Mrs R. Green (Conservative) Miss L. Jones (Independent) Mr W. Woods (Communist)
30,000 votes 25,000 votes 10,000 votes 5,000 votes 14
A (a)_____________ has just taken place all over the United Kingdom. These must take place every five years unless the Prime Minister decides to (b)_____________ earlier. Above id the result in Middleford, one of the approximately 650 (c)_____________ into which the country is divided for this purpose. (d)_____________ was last Thursday, when the election (e)_____________ and door-to-door (f)_____________ stopped and the people of Middleford went to the (g)_____________ to make their choice, in a (h)_____________, from the four candidates (anyone over the age of 21 can (i)_____________. Voting is not compulsory and the number of people (j)_____________ to vote in Middleford (everyone over 18) was 100,000, so the (k)_____________ was 70 per cent. Now Mr. Smith will become the (l)_____________ for Middleford, which means he will represent the people of Middleford in the (m)_____________ in London. If he should die or be forced to give up his seat, the people of Middleford will have to vote again, in a (n)_____________ to replace him. It is a very simple system and Mr. Smith will try to represent all his (o)_____________ fairly, whether they voted for him or not. However, the fact remains that most voters in Middleford voted for candidates (and parties) other than Mr. Smith, and their votes are now lost. It is seats which are important in Parliament, not votes, and it is easy to see why smaller parties would like a system of (p)____________, in which the number of votes they won was reflected in the number of seats they received in Parliament. Task 9. Explain the meanings of the following words and expressions. a figurehead obsessed with a growing republican sentiment a roving ambassador an opinion poll Task 10. Complete the following text with the words and expressions from the box and translate them into Russian. сabinet coalition
alliance majority
right-wing left-wing
prime minister opposition
split one-party states
In most countries, expect (a) _________, there are several different political parties. The one the (b) _________ of seats normally forms the government, and the parties which are against the government are called (c) _________. 15
Sometimes no single party wins enough seats, and several parties must combine together in a (d) _________to form a government. The principal ministers in the government from a group are called the (e) _________. The leader of this group, and of the government, is the (f) _________. Of course, there are many different kinds of parties and governments. A socialist or communist party is often described as (g) _________. A conservative party on the other hand, is usually said to be (h) _________. Political situations are always changing. Sometimes in a party of between two parties there is a big argument or deep difference of opinion. This is called a (i) _________. When, on the other hand, two parties work together, this is sometimes called an (j) _________.
UNIT 4. THE EUROPEAN UNION INSTITUTIONS AND BODIES Read and translate the texts. Remember as many details as you can. Render the texts. “The Union is founded on the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law, principles which are common to the Member States. The Union shall respect fundamental rights, as guaranteed by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms signed in Rome on 4 November 1950 and as they result from the constitutional traditions common to the Member States, as general principles of Community law. The Union shall respect the national identities of its Member States. The Union shall provide itself with the means necessary to attain its objectives and carry through its policies”. The UC Treaty There are five principal institutions mentioned in Article 7 of the EC Treaty (as amended by the Single European Act, the Maastricht Treaty and the Treaties of Amsterdam and Nice) which are entrusted with carrying out the tasks of the Community: the Council, the Commission, the European Parliament, the Court of Auditors, and the Court of Justice. Each of these institutions has powers specifically assigned to it by the Treaty and shall act within the limits of powers conferred on it by the Treaty. There are a number of other bodies established: e.g. the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, the European Central Bank, the European Investment Bank, the Economic and Financial Committee, the European Social Fund, the Committee of Permanent Representatives, the European Environmental Agency. 16
An institution can ‘act’, that is like generally binding decisions. The other bodies, on the other hand, operate in specific fields and have either a purely advisory role or take decisions which are not generally binding. The Council of the European Union and the European Council The Council of the European Union (also known as the Council of Ministers) is the EU’s main decision-making body. When it meets at Heads of State or Government level, it becomes the European Council whose role is to provide the EU with political impetus on key issues. The EU member states take it in turns to hold the Council Presidency for a six-month period. Every Council meeting is attended by one minister from each EU country. Which ministers attend a meeting depends on which topic is on the agenda: foreign affairs, agriculture, industry, transport, the environment, etc. The Council has legislative power, which it shares with the European Parliament under the ‘co-decision procedure’. In addition to this, the Council and the Parliament share equal responsibility for adopting the EU budget. The Council also concludes international agreements that have been negotiated by the Commission. According to the Treaties, the Council has to take its decisions either by a simple majority vote, a ‘qualified majority’ vote or unanimously, depending on the subject to be decided. The Council has to agree unanimously on important questions such as amending the Treaties, launching a new common policy or allowing a new country to join the Union. In most other cases, qualified majority voting is used. This means that a Council decision is adopted if a specified minimum number of votes are cast in its favour. The number of votes allocated to each EU country roughly reflects the size of its population. A minimum of 255 votes out of 345 (73,9%) is required to reach a qualified majority. In addition a majority of member states (in some cases two thirds) must approve the decision, and any member state may ask for confirmation that the votes cast in favour represent at least 62% of the EU’s total population. The European Council meets, in principle, four times a year. It is chaired by the president or prime minister of the country holding the presidency of the Council of the European Union at the time. The President of the European Commission attends as a full member. Under the Treaty of Maastricht, the European Council officially became an initiator of the Union’s major policies and was empowered to settle difficult issues on which ministers meeting in the Council of the European Union fail to agree. The European Council also deals with pressing international issues through the common foreign and security policy (CFSP), which is intended to allow the EU to speak with one voice on diplomatic questions.
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UNIT 5. THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT Read and translate the texts. Remember as many details as you can. Render the texts. The European Parliament is the elected body that represents the EU’s citizens. It exercises political supervision over the EU’s activities and takes part in the legislative process. Since 1979, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have been directly elected, by universal suffrage, every five years. The European Parliament normally holds its plenary sessions in Strasbourg and any additional sessions in Brussels. It has 20 committees which do the preparatory work for plenary sessions, and a number of political groups that usually meet in Brussels. The General Secretariat is based in Luxembourg and Brussels. The Parliament takes part in the legislative work of the EU at three levels: Under the ‘cooperation’ procedure, introduced by the Single European Act in 1987, the European Parliament can give its opinion on draft directives and regulations proposed by the European Commission, which is asked to amend its proposals to take account of Parliament’s position. Since 1987, there has also been the ‘assent’ procedure, under which the European Parliament must give its assent to international agreements negotiated by the Commission and to any proposed enlargement of the European Union. The 1992 Treaty of Maastricht introduced the ‘co-decision’ procedure, which puts the Parliament on an equal footing with the Council when legislating on a whole series of important issues including the free movement of workers, the internal market, education, research, the environment, trans-European networks, health, culture, consumer protection, etc. The European Parliament has the power to throw out proposed legislation in these fields if an absolute majority of members of Parliament vote against the Council’s legislation in these fields if an absolute majority of members of Parliament vote against the Council’s ‘common position’. The Treaty has made provision for a conciliation procedure. The European Parliament also shares, with the Council, equal responsibility for adopting the EU budget. The Parliament can reject the proposed budget, and it has already done so on several occasions. When this happens, the entire budget procedure has to be re-started. The European Commission proposes the draft budget, which is then debated by the Council and the European Parliament. Parliament has made full use of its budgetary powers to influence EU policymaking. Last but not least, the European Parliament exercises democratic supervision over the Union. It has the power to dismiss the Commission by adopting a motion of censure. This requires a two-thirds majority. It also supervises the day-to-day management of EU policies by putting oral and written questions to the Commission and the Council. Finally, the President of the European Council reports to the Parliament on the decisions taken by the Council. 18
The European Commission The European Commission, which is the main executive body, is the third part of the institutional triangle that manages and runs the European Union. It has the right to propose legislation and ensures that EU policies are properly implemented. Its members are appointed for a five-year term by agreement between the member states, subject to approval by the European Parliament. The Commission is answerable to the Parliament, and the entire Commission has to resign if the Parliament passes a motion of censure against it. Since 2004, the Commission has been made up of one Commissioner from each member state. The Commission enjoys a substantial degree of independence in exercising its powers. Its job is to uphold the common interest, which means that it must not take instructions from any national EU government. As ‘Guardian of the Treaties’, it has to ensure that the regulations and directives adopted by the Council and Parliament are being implemented in the member states. If they are not, the Commission can take the offending party to the Court of Justice to oblige it to comply with EU law. As the EU’s executive arm, the Commission implements the decisions taken by the Council in areas such as the common agricultural policy. It has wide powers to manage the EU’s common policies, such as research and technology, overseas aid, regional development, etc. It also manages the budget for these policies. The Commission is assisted by a civil service made up of 46 directorates-general (DGs) and services, which are mainly based in Brussels and Luxembourg.
UNIT 6. FUNDAMENTIAL HUMAN RIGHTS Read and translate the texts. Remember as many details as you can. Render the texts. The Court’s first tentative recognition of fundamental human rights as part of EC law was prior to Internationale Handelsgesellschaft, in the case of Stauder v City of Ulm (case 29/69). Here the applicant was claiming entitlement to cheap butter provided under a Community scheme to persons in receipt of welfare benefits. He was required under German law to divulge his name and address on the coupon which he had to present to obtain the butter. He challenged this law as representing a violation of his fundamental human rights (namely, equality of treatment). The ECJ, on reference from the German court on the validity of the relevant Community decision, held that, on a proper interpretation, the Community measure did not require the recipient’s name to appear on the coupon. This interpretation, the Court held, contained nothing capable of prejudicing the fundamental human rights enshrined in the general principles of Community law and protected by the Court. 19
The ECJ went further in Internationale Handelsgesellschaft. There it asserted that respect for fundamental rights forms an integral part of the general principles of law protected by the Court – such rights are inspired by the constitutional traditions common to the Member States. One point to note here is that the ECJ is not comparing EC law with national law but with the principles of international law which are embodied in varying degrees in the national constitutions of Member States. A failure to make the distinction between general principles of international law (even if embodied in national laws) which the Community legal order respects and national law proper could erode the doctrine of supremacy of Community law vis-a-vis national laws. The International Handelsgesellschaft judgment can be taken as implying that only rights arising from traditions common to Member States can constitute part of EC law (a ‘minimalist’ approach). It may be argued that if the problem of conflict between Community law and national law is to be avoided in all Member States it is necessary for any human right upheld in the constitution of any Member State to be protected under EC law (a ‘maximalist’ approach). Where certain rights are protected to differing degrees and in different ways in Member States, the Court will look for some common underlying principle to uphold as part of Community law. Even if a particular right protected in a Member State is not universally protected, where there is an apparent conflict between that right and EC law, the Court will strive to interpret Community law so as to ensure that the substance of that right is not infringed. The role of international human rights treaties Following Internationale Handelsgesellschaft the scope for human rights protection was further extended in the case of J. Nold KG v Commission (case 4/73). In this case J. Nold KG, a coal wholesaler, was seeking to challenge a decision taken under the ECSC as being in breach of the company’s fundamental right to the free pursuit of business activity. While the Court did not find for the company on the merits of the case, it asserted its commitment to fundamental rights in the strongest terms. As well as stating that fundamental rights form an integral part of the general principles of law, the observance of which it ensures, it went on to say: ‘In safeguarding these rights, the Court is bound to draw inspiration from constitutional traditions common to the Member States, and it cannot therefore uphold measures which are incompatible with fundamental rights recognised and protected by the constitutions of those States. Similarly, international treaties for the protection of human rights on which the Member States have collaborated or of which they are signatories, can supply guidelines which should be followed within the framework of Community law’. 20
The reasons for this inclusion of principles of certain international treaties as part of EC law are clearly the same as those upholding fundamental constitutional rights; it is the one certain way to guarantee the avoidance of conflict. In this context, the most important international treaty concerned with the protection of human rights is the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms 1950 (ECHR), to which all Member States are now signatories. The Court has on a number of occasions confirmed its adherence to the rights protected therein, an approach to which the other institutions gave their support (Joint Declaration, [1977] OJ C103/1). In R v Kirk (case 63/83), in the context of criminal proceedings against Kirk, the captain of a Danish fishing vessel, for fishing in British waters (a matter subsequently covered by EC regulations), the principle of non-retroactivity of penal measures, enshrined in Article 7 of the ECHR, was invoked by the Court and applied in Captain Kirk’s favour. The EC regulation, which would have legitimised the British rules under which Captain Kirk was charged, could not be applied to penalise him retrospectively. Thus, it seems that any provision in the ECHR may be invoked, provided it is done in the context of a matter of EC law. In Mannesmannrohren-Werke AG v Commission (Case T-l 12/98), the CFI emphasized that although the ECHR has special significance in defining the scope of fundamental rights recognised by the Community, because it reflects the constitutional traditions common to the Member States, the Court has no jurisdiction to apply the ECHR itself. The CFI therefore rejected arguments based directly on Article 6 ECHR in relation to an application to annul a Commission decision, but allowed the application on other grounds. Relationship between the EC/EU and the ECHR in the protection of human rights All Member States of the EU have signed the ECHR, and in most Member States, the Convention has been incorporated into domestic law. (It was incorporated in the UK law by the Human Rights Act 1998, which came into force in October 2000.) When it is so incorporated, the Convention’s provisions may be invoked before the domestic courts in order to challenge national rules or procedures which infringe the rights protected by the Convention. Even without the Convention being incorporated into domestic law, the Member States are bound by its terms and individuals, after they have exhausted national remedies, have a right of appeal under the Convention to the European Court of Human Rights. The ECJ has done a great deal to ensure the protection of human rights within the context of the application of Community law, whether by Community institutions or by Member States. But, as the ECHR has not so far been incorporated into Community law, its scope has been limited and the relationship between the ECHR and the Union legal system is somewhat unclear. 21
The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights There has been a debate about whether the EC/EU should accede to the European Convention on Human Rights. In 1999, the Cologne European Council set up a Convention, under the chairmanship of Roman Herzog (a former German Federal President), to produce a draft Union charter as an alternative mechanism to ensure the protection of fundamental rights. This was completed in time for the 2000 European Council meeting at Nice, where the European institutions solemnly proclaimed the charter (published at [2000] OJС364/1 – hereinafter EUCFR). At the present time, the EUCFR does not have legal effect. The Treaty of Lisbon, in Article 6(1) TEU provides that EUCFR ‘shall have the same legal value as the Treaties. The provisions of the Charter shall not extend in any way the competences of the Union as defined in the Treaties’. Despite some contention about the status and impact of the Charter, the ECJ has already mentioned the EUCFR in a number of judgments by way of reference in confirming that the European legal order recognises particular fundamental rights, where the Court observed that ‘the right to property, is recognised to be a fundamental human right in the Community legal order, protected by the first subparagraph of Article 1 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”) and enshrined in Article 17 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union’ (para. 144, emphasis added). However, there has been no judgment to date in which the ECJ has based its judgment on the EUCFR. Article 52(3) deals with the complex problem of overlap between the ECHR and the EUCFR. It specifies that those rights in the EUCFR which correspond with ECHR rights must be given the same meaning and scope as the ECHR rights. EU law may provide more generous protection, but not a lower level of protection than guaranteed under the ECHR and other international instruments (Article 53). Currently, the EUCFR has only declaratory status and it remains to be seen whether it will become legally binding. If this were to happen, some thought would need to be given to the relationship between the ECHR and the EUCFR and the role of the ECJ in interpreting the fundamental rights contained in the EUCFR. Task 1. Read the text and choose the best options to fill in the gaps. Human Rights Day On 10 December 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which has become a (1) … standard for defending and promoting human rights. Every year on 10 December, Human Rights Day marks the adoption of the Universal Declaration which states that “Human beings are born with (2) rights and fundamental freedoms”. 22
In 2006, Human Rights Day focused on (3) … poverty as a matter of obligation, not of charity. Poverty is (4) … by human rights violations. The links between human rights and poverty should be obvious: people whose rights are (5) … are more likely to be poor. Generally they find it harder or impossible to participate in the labour and have little or no access to (6) … services and resources. Meanwhile, the poor in many societies cannot enjoy their rights to education, health and housing simply (7) … they cannot afford them. And poverty affects all human rights: for example, low income can prevent people from accessing education, which in turn inhibits their participation in public life and their ability to influence the policies affecting them. Governments and those in a position of authority must (8) … responsibility for dealing (9) … poverty. The realisation of human rights – including the fight against poverty – is a duty, not a mere aspiration. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
А whole А similar A fighting A caused A lessened A simple A so that A make A on
B universal B same B saving B led B broken B basic B but B support B about
C complete C equal C encouraging C resulted C decreased C unimportant C because C take C over
D typical D identical D breaking D made D neglected D extra D as D contribute D with
Task 2. Answer the questions. 1. Do you have any rights? Complete the table with your answers. Rights at home
Rights at university or college
Rights in the street
2. What other rights would you like to have? 3. What would you do if you saw one of your classmates cheating? 4. Do you think it’s a good idea to give money to homeless people in the street? Why? / Why not? 5. Some teenagers won’t accept someone who looks different or who is of a different ethnic origin. How do you feel about this? How would you react? 6. What would you think of someone who dyes their hair blue just to look cool? 7. Do you always agree with what your teacher / parents tell you to do? Why? / Why not? Give an example. 8. Can you remember a story from the news which you’ve heard recently? What was it about? Why do you remember it? What did you feel about it?
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Task 3. Read the report and check your guesses. Derry young wronged over rights April 21, 2004 As young people, we were shocked when we recently found out about our official rights as children through a UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Also as young journalists, we believe there is one right that is more important to us than others and that is the right to have our voice heard. Beyond this right, however, young people have almost 50 rights in total, according to the UN Convention. After completing a number of interviews across the city we discovered that three out of ten children didn’t know anything about what rights they had and most had never even heard of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This made us ask the question, why? What we need are ways to enforce these rights and make sure that every child knows them. If we do this, then we believe children will feel better about themselves and so will treat one another better. Instead of perhaps boring you with the full list of rights, we, as a group of young people in Derry, decided to compile a list of our ten top favourite rights. If you want to find out more, check out the website www.unicef.org As a young person: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
You have the right to live (obvious but important!). You have the right to choose your own religion. You have the right to an education. You have the right to be with your parents if they are what’s best for you. You have the right to be protected from abuse and neglect. You have the right to express the views you have and your views to be listened to in anything that affects you (teachers take notice). 7. You have the right to a decent standard of living. 8. You have the right to choose your friends and hang out with them. 9. You have the right to be protected from all forms of cruelty, exploitation and torture. 10.The government must uphold your rights. Task 4. Read the text again and guess the meaning of the words given in the box. decent
abuse
neglect
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torture
uphold
Task 5. a) Explain in English the following expressions: equal
rights
human
rights
animal
rights
b) Read the dictionary Translate the phrases into Russian and complete the sentences below. Make necessary changes. right – something that you are morally or legally allowed to do or have: have a / no right to do something, give someone a right to do something. be in the right – to be morally or legally correct in what you do or believe. be within your rights (to do something) – to have the moral or legal authority to do something. responsibility – 1. a duty that you have to do because it is part of your job or position; 2. a moral duty to behave in a particular way. responsibility to / towards, have a responsibility, a sense of responsibility, take responsibility for something, under your own responsibility – when you are doing something because you think it is right and you ready to take responsibility if something wrong happens as a result Task 6. Give synonyms and synonymous expressions for the following. To assign powers; an advisory role; to hold the Council Presidency; codecision procedure; co-operation procedure; ascent procedure; Common Foreign and Security Policy; universal suffrage; draft directive /regulation; consumer protection; to throw out proposed legislation; to adopt a motion of censure; subject to approval by the European Parliament; Guardian of the Treaties; offending party. Task 7. Translate the following words and phrases into English. Наделять полномочиями; решения, обязательные к исполнению; руководящий орган; выполнять законодательные полномочия совместно с Европарламентом; совместно нести ответственность за; осуществлять политический/демократический контроль; процедура выработки компромиссного решения; отклонить предложенный бюджет; отправить Комиссию в отставку; подать иск в Суд ЕС на страну; соблюдать право ЕС. Task 8. Discuss with your partner the following questions. 1. How do the EU institutions differ from the EU bodies? 2. What is the composition of the Council of the European Union and the European Council? 3. Who presides over the EU Council? 25
4. What are the functions of the EU Council? 5. When are decisions taken unanimously / by a qualified majority / a simple majority vote? 6. What are the powers of the European Parliament? Task 9. Complete the following text with the words and expressions form the box. election campaign; support; polling day; ballot box; vote; predict; opinion poll; polling station; candidate People sometimes try to (a) the result of an election weeks before it takes place. Several hundred people are asked which party they prefer, and their answers are used to guess the result of the coming election. This is called an (b). Meanwhile each party conducts its (c) with meetings, speeches, television commercials, and party members going from door to door encouraging people to (d) their party. In Britain everyone over 18 is eligible to (e). The place where people go to vote in an election is called a (f) and the day of the election is often known as (g). The voters put their votes in a (h) and later they are counted. The (i) with the most votes is then declared the winner.
SUPPLEMENTARY READING TEXT 1 Career Scope, Autumn 2001 The SNP’s journey began in 1934 when the Scottish Party and the National Party of Scotland merged to the Scottish National Party. The SNP was founded on a commitment to restore Scottish independence. The SNP’s first parliamentary seat was secured in the Motherwell and Wishaw by election in 1945, which saw Robert McIntyre winning over 50 per cent of the vote. The party’s next victory was in 1967, when Winnie Ewing stormed to success in a Hamilton by-election taking a huge swing of the vote from Scottish Labour. Her campaign slogan ‘Stop the world, Scotland wants to get on, was inspirational to party activists and members. In 1974 the SNP won 11 Westminster seats, with a share of the poll rising beyond 30%. This result brought the issue of Scotland’s self-government to the fore, however it wasn’t until 1997 when plans for a Scottish Parliament were endorsed in a referendum. The Scottish Parliamentary election of 2011 was a turning point in the history of Scottish politics and the Scottish Parliament. In a truly momentous elec26
tion win, the SNP won an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament with 69 seats – a feat made more significant by the fact that the electoral system was specifically designed to prevent any party gaining overall control of the parliament. With a majority government, the SNP were able to legislate for an independence referendum, which took place on September 18th 2014. The referendum inspired an extraordinary level of enthusiasm and energy in Scotland, with many people getting involved and casting their vote for the very first time. The referendum also saw 16 and 17 year olds voting to have their say on Scotland’s future, and they were some of the most engaged and inspiring voices in the debate. The turnout of 84,5% set a new record for any election held in the UK since the introduction of universal suffrage in 1918. Politics was transformed in Scotland by the referendum and in the immediate aftermath of the referendum the SNP saw a significant increase in membership. At 5 pm on Thursday 18th September 2014, we had 25,642 members – a year on from that day our membership stood at 112,208. The weeks following the referendum and surge in SNP membership also saw Nicola Sturgeon become the new SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland. She pledged to be the most accessible First Minister ever, going on a sell-out tour of Scotland, holding regular Facebook question and answer session with members of the public, and holding meetings of the Scottish Cabinet outside Edinburgh every two months. With hundreds of thousands of new members and a strong team of MP candidates from a wide variety of backgrounds, the SNP entered the 2015 general election campaign in excellent spirits. With Nicola Sturgeon’s inclusion in televised debates in London as well as in Scotland, the SNP’s anti-austerity, progressive platform garnered support from across the border and beyond. The SNP recorded an historic landslide general election victory in Scotland in May 2015. SNP MPs are making Scotland’s voice heard at Westminster and standing up for the progressive policies. TEXT 2 The Treaty of EU, Lisbon The current institutional structure of the Communities was established for a system with a more limited membership; originally there were only six Member States. Since 1957 membership of the Communities (and then the Union) has more than quadrupled and significant policy areas, such as monetary union, have been added to the Community’s remit and there is also the impact of the introduction of the Union itself and the issues included in the other two ‘pillars’ (FSP and JHA). Prior to the ToA, it was generally accepted that the current institutional structure was unable to function effectively in the modern Union and that institutional problems would only be exacerbated by further enlargement. 27
Obviously, expanding the Community’s competence itself increases the number of tasks the Community institutions have to perform, but increased membership brings further problems. It may be more difficult to reach agreement within the institutions: not only is it more difficult to reach agreement between a greater number of representatives, but with eastward expansion the Member States reflecting a greater diversity of interests, traditions and languages. In addition to the sheer weight of numbers, there will be a risk of fragmentation as the Union becomes less cohesive. The current Member States were aware of this problem even before the ToA, resulting in a Protocol being annexed to the ToA regarding proposed institutional reform. Although this document envisaged a two-stage approach to reform, to commence negotiations with more than 10 candidate countries, it was decided to commence full-scale institutional reform foreseen by the second stage of the ToA Protocol. The result was the treaty of Nice. To what extent has it dealt with institutional problems identified prior to and immediately after the ToA? In contrast to the TEU, Nice was not a treaty aimed at creating a momentus constitutional change to the EU structures. Instead, it aimed to revise the way the institutions worked, to prepare the Union for enlargement. On one level the treaty can be seen as successful: difficult points of principle, such as the composition of the Commission and the issue of qualified majority voting in Council, were agreed. Given the tension between the large and small nations, it is commendable that a balance between these different interests was found. On the other hand, one could argue that many changes to the internal workings of the institutions, such as the strengthening of the role of the President in the Commission, added little, if anything, to the revised working practices already in place following the reviews of 1999. Although points of principle have been agreed, many difficulties, such as the rotation of Commissioners, remain. Implementing these decisions may give rise to problems. Nice may have taken steps to prevent all the institutions turning into ‘deliberative assemblies’ but some issues relating to efficiency, such as the need for multiple translations, the six-monthly rotating presidency of the Council and democracy were not resolved. The institutional provisions in the Treaty of Lisbon largely replicate those in the EU Constitution. Certain aspects of the new institutional regime are relatively uncontroversial. The increase in the power of the EP is clearly warranted, as is the decrease in the size of the Commission. There is nonetheless greater room for differences of view concerning other institutional provisions. Those who favoured unified executive power built around the Commission President will be disappointed. So too will those who advocated a parliamentary regime. To be sure the power of the EP over legislative acts and non-legislative acts was increased. However state interests exercised through the Council and European Council were also reinforced through, for example, the creation of the longer-term Presidency of the European Coun28
cil, and the European Council’s retention of ultimate control over the choice of President of the Commission. The reality is that the EU Constitution and Treaty of Lisbon embody a regime in which executive and legislative powers are shared between the European Council, Council, EP and Commission. The sharing of such power has been a principal theme of the Community, and in this respect the EU Constitution and Treaty of Lisbon represent continuity with the past, rather than, some radical new departure. Thus while the powers of the President of the European Council are increased, the Commission, and its President, are still central to the new constitutional scheme. It is, for example, the Commission that is given power to initiate annual and multi-annual programming with the aim of securing interinstitutional agreement, and the Commission President co-operates with the President of the European Council in ensuring the preparation and continuity of the work of the European Council. What Political System Does Russia Belong To? Each political system has its peculiarities. We live in the Russia Federation which adopted (приняла) its Constitution in 1993. THE PRESIDENT
THE FEDERAL ASSEMBLY
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
the Federation Council 2 representatives from each federal subject
the Chairman of the Government, Ministers
the Duma 450 deputies
THE SUPREME COURT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION THE PEOPLE All men and women over 18 29
1. What political system does the Russian Federation represent according to the Constitution? 2. What is special about political system of the Russian Federation? 3. What political institutions represent power in the Russian Federation? (understanding a scheme)? 4. Can you explain how the branches of power interact (взаимодействуют)? HOW MANY WORDS DO YOU REMEMBER? legislative branch/powers judicial branch executive branch party whip party caucus standing committee select (or special) committee joint committee conference committee constituency constituent a bill to initiate a bill to reject a bill to amend a bill to approve a bill to pass a bill to enact laws to expedite a bill to veto a bill to consider a bill to refer a bill to ... to submit a bill to the to elect to elect by (secret) ballot to elect by roll call to elect by voice vote to vote vote, n. direct vote to have no vote to cast one’s vote to put a question to a vote
законодательная власть (полномочия) судебная власть исполнительная власть партийный организатор (закрытое) собрание партийной фракции постоянный комитет специальный комитет объединенный комитет согласительный комитет избирательный округ избиратель (житель данного избирательного округа) законопроект вносить законопроект на рассмотрение отвергать, отклонять законопроект вносить поправки в законопроект одобрить законопроект принять законопроект (законодательным органом) принимать законы ускорить принятие законопроекта накладывать вето (на законопроект) рассматривать законопроект передавать законопроект в ... представить законопроект на подпись выбирать, избирать избирать тайным голосованием голосовать по списку (поименное голосование) устное голосование (голосование путем опроса присутствующих) голосовать право голоса, голос прямое голосование не иметь права голоса голосовать ставить вопрос на голосование
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PART II. THE EUROPEAN JUDICIAL SYSTEM AND THE LAW-MAKING PROCESS TOPICAL VOCABULARY to assign objectives the principle of subsidiarity by reason of the scale to make regulations to issue directives to take decisions to make recommendations to deliver opinions to ensure to observe the law the Court of First Instance to sit in chambers
the Grand Chamber the Statute of the Court of Justice to provide for in the Statute to sit as a full Court to act with complete impartiality to make reasoned submissions to review the legality of acts to produce legal effects vis-à-vis third parties to bring an action on grounds lack of competence infringement of essential requirements misuse of powers court of Auditors natural/ legal person to institute proceedings decision addressed to a person
определять цели принцип субсидиарности в силу масштаба принимать регламенты принимать директивы принимать решения давать рекомендации давать заключения гарантировать соблюдать закон суд первой инстанции рассматривать дела в составе палаты (из 3, 5, 7 судей) / образовывать Судебные палаты Большая палата / расширенный состав Суда (11 судей) Устав Суда ЕС предусматривать в Уставе Суда проводить заседания в полном составе (Суда) действовать с полной беспристрастностью представлять/вносить мотивированные заключения контролировать законность актов порождать правовые последствия в отношении третьих лиц предъявлять иск на основании отсутствие полномочий нарушение существенных требований злоупотребление властью счетная палата физическое / юридическое лицо обратиться с иском решение, принятое в отношение какого-либо лица 31
UNIT 1. THE LEGAL SYSTEM OF THE UK Read and translate the texts. Remember as many details as you can. Render the texts. Government responsibilities The UK judiciary is entirely independent of the Government and is not subject to ministerial direction or control. Responsibility for the administration of justice rests with the Lord Chancellor, the House Secretary and the secretaries of State for Scotland and Northern Ireland. Also concerned is Prime Minister, who recommends the highest judicial appointments to the Crown. England and Wales The most common type of law court in England and Wales is the magistrates’ court. There are 700 magistrates’ courts and about 30 000 magistrates. More serious criminal cases then go to the Crown Court, which has 90 branches in different towns and cities. Civil cases (for example, divorce or bankruptcy cases) are dealt with County courts. Appeals are heard by higher courts. Appeals from magistrates’ courts are heard in the Crown Court, unless they are appeals on points of law. The highest court of appeal in England and Wales is the House of Lords. (Scotland has its own High Court in Edinburgh, which hears all appeals from Scottish courts). Certain cases may be referred to the European Court of Justice in Luxemburg. In addition, individuals have made the British Government change its practices in a number of areas as a result of petition to the European Court of Human Rights. The legal system also includes juvenile courts (which deal with offenders under seventeen) and coroners’ courts (which investigate violent, sudden or unnatural deaths). There are administrative tribunals which make quick, cheap and fair decisions with less formality. Tribunals deal with professional standards, disputes between individuals, and disputes between individuals and government departments (over taxation). The Lord Chancellor is the head of judiciary (and sometimes sits as a judge in the House of Lords): he is concerned with court procedure and is responsible for the administration of all courts other than magistrates’ and coroners’ courts, and for a number of administrative tribunals. He appoints magistrates, and has general responsibility for the legal aid and advice schemes. He is also responsible for the administration of civil law reform. The Home secretary is concerned with the criminal law, the police service, prisons, and the probation and after-care service; and has general supervision over magistrates’ court. Responsibility for the treatment of offenders under 17 is shared between the Home Office and the Department of Health. The Home Secretary is also re32
sponsible for advising the Queen on the exercise of the royal prerogative of mercy to pardon a person convicted of a crime or to remit all or part of a penalty imposed by a court. The Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General are the Government’s principal advisers on English law, and represent the Crown in appropriate domestic and international cases. Scotland The Secretary of State for Scotland recommends the appointment of all judges other than the most serious ones, appoints the staff of the High Court of Judiciary and the Court of Session, and is responsible for the composition, staffing and organizing of the sheriff courts. District courts are staffed and administered by the district and island local authorities. The Secretary of State is also responsible for the criminal law of Scotland, crime prevention and the police. The secretary of state is also responsible for legal aid in Scotland. The Lord Advocate and the Solicitor-General are the chief legal advisers to the Government on Scottish questions and the principal representatives of the Crown for the purposes of legislation in Scotland. Both are government ministers. Northern Ireland The administration of all courts is the responsibility of the Lord Chancellor, while the Northern Ireland Office, Under the Secretary of State, deals with the police and the penal system. The Lord Chancellor has general responsibility for the legal aid and scheme in Northern Ireland.
UNIT 2. THE EUROPEAN UNION LEGAL SYSTEM Read and translate the texts. Remember as many details as you can. Render the texts. The Community legal system is based on several sources of law. Community law is not universal, nor can the Community enact any legislation it pleases; its competence is limited to the powers attributed to the Community by the legal texts adopted by the member states (see Article 5 EC (the EC Treaty – Treaty Establishing the European Community)). These powers have grown considerably in strength and extent since the inception of the Community; the field of application of Community law has been widened by each successive Treaty and the Community institutions have received more powers through these Treaties. There is little doubt that through the interpretation of the Community powers by the European Court of Justice, further extension of their application has oc33
curred. General principles of law which are recognised and applied by the member states have been used by the ECJ to underpin the Community legal system. The sources of Community law are: Primary legislation: The Constitutive Treaties, subsidiary Conventions, acts by the member states (during summit meetings of the European Council); Secondary legislation: regulations, directives and decisions; recommendations and opinions; Other sources of law: international agreements, general principles of law, case law of the European Court of Justice, ‘soft law’ (memoranda, circulars, statements, resolutions). The validity of the primary European Community legislation is not subject to review either in national courts or in the European Court of Justice. The power of the courts in relation to the treaties is limited to interpretation. But the validity, as well as the meaning or effect, of secondary Community legislation can be challenged both in national courts and in the European Court of Justice on the basis of substantive ultra vires, infringement of the treaties, misuse of powers, or failure to observe some procedural requirement (art. 230). A national court, instead of determining the point itself, may decide to refer any question of the validity of secondary Community legislation to the European Court of Justice (art. 234). The Treaty of Lisbon amends the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the EC Treaty. The Treaty of Lisbon itself has 7 Articles, of which Arts 1 and 2 are the most important, plus numerous Protocols and Declarations. Article 1 of the Treaty of Lisbon contains the amendments to the TEU. The amended TEU contains material concerning some of the principles that govern the European Union, as well as revised provisions concerning the CFSP and enhanced cooperation. Article 2 of the Treaty of Lisbon amends the EC Treaty, which is renamed the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union; it will be referred to hereafter as the TFEU. The European Union is henceforth to be founded on the TEU and the TFEU, and the two Treaties have the same legal value. The European Union is to replace and succeed the EC. An innovation introduced by the EU Constitution was the hierarchy of norms, which distinguished between different categories of legal act, and used terms such as “law”, “framework law” and the like. The European Council of June 2007, which initiated the process leading to the Treaty of Lisbon, decided that the terms “law”, and “framework law” should be dropped. The rationale given was that the Treaty of Lisbon was not to have a “constitutional character” and it was decided to retain the existing terminology of regulations, directives and decisions. A version of the hierarchy of norms is however preserved in the Treaty of Lisbon, which distinguishes between legislative acts, non-legislative acts of general application and implementing acts.
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Thus TFEU defines a legislative act as one adopted in accord with a legislative procedure, either the ordinary legislative procedure, which is the successor to co-decision, or a special legislative procedure (art. 289). TFEU deals with what are now termed non-legislative acts of general application, whereby power to adopt such acts is delegated to the Commission by a legislative act. Such non-legislative acts can supplement or amend certain nonessential elements of the legislative act, but the legislative act must define the objectives, content, scope and duration of the delegation of power (art. 290). The third category in the hierarchy of norms, implementing acts, is dealt with in art. 291 TFEU. Member States must adopt all measures of national law necessary to implement legally binding EU acts. Where uniform conditions for implementing legally binding EU acts are needed, those acts shall confer implementing powers on the Commission, or, in certain cases on the Council. It is for the EP and Council to lay down in advance the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers.
UNIT 3. MAKING NEW LAWS IN GREAT BRITAIN: BILLS AND ACTS Read and translate the texts. Remember as many details as you can. Render the texts. The functions of Parliament are: making laws; providing money for the government through taxation; examining government policy, administration and spending; debating political questions. Every year Parliament passes about a hundred laws directly, by making Acts of Parliament. Because this can be a long process, Parliament sometimes passes a very general law and leaves a minister to fill in the details. In this way, it indirectly passes about 2.000 additional rules and regulations. No new law can be passed unless it has completed a number of stages in the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The monarch also has to give a Bill the Royal Assent, which is now just a formality. Since 1707 no sovereign has refused a Bill. Whilst a law is still going through Parliament it is called a Bill. There are two main types of Bills – Public Bills which deal with matters of public importance and Private Bills which deal with local matters and individuals. Public and Private Bills are passed through Parliament in much the same way. Any MP may introduce a Bill, and ask permission to bring it to the notice of the House. When permission has been obtained, the Bill is brought before the House for the first reading. The first reading of the Bill is scarcely ever objected to, as there is no debate or amendment allowed at this stage; but a date is fixed for the second reading. 35
When this second reading takes place, the Member who has introduced the Bill makes his speech, explaining the proposed new law, and his reasons for bringing it forward. Other Members may support the Bill; but others may oppose it. There may be a discussion. The Speaker calls upon different Members who are eager to speak. All speeches are addressed to him, beginning “Mr Speaker, Sir”. When these various speeches have been made for and against the Bill, the Speaker will then ask whether the Bill is to pass the second reading, and to go on to the next stage, when it will be discussed in detail by a special committee. The House may be unanimous in favour of the Bill, or, on the other hand, some Members may shout Aye and others No. The Speaker must then call for a division. The Members leave their seats and pass into the lobbies though different doors, to show which way they are voting. Two tellers, one on each side, count the votes as the Members go through. When the numbers have been takes, the Members return to their seats, and the Speaker reads out the results of the voting. If the Bill has a majority of votes, that means that it has passed the second reading. It will be read a third time and then go before the House of Lords and provided it is not rejected by them, it goes through the same procedure as in the Commons. After receiving the Royal Assent the Bill becomes an Act of Parliament. In order to be enforced, it must be published in Statute form, becoming a part of Statute Law. The power of the Lords to reject a Bill has been severely curtailed. A money Bill must be passed by the Lords without amendment within a month of being presented in the House. The Act of 1949 provides that any Public Bill passed by the Commons in two successive parliamentary sessions and rejected both times by the Lords, may be presented for the Royal Assent, even though it has not been passed by the Lords. The Lords, therefore, can only delay the passage of a Public Bill, they cannot reject it. Public Bills introduced by the Government
Private Bills introduced by local authorities
Private Members’ Bills Introduced by MPs or peers not in the Government
HOUSE OF COMMONS
HOUSE OF LORDS
First Reading Publication is announced Second Reading General debate on principles Committee Stage Detailed discussion in committee Report Stage Committee reports to the House Third Reading Formal review of contents of the Bill
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If the Bill has been introduced in the Commons, it is then reviewed in the Lords. Some Bills start in the Lords and then go to the Commons. The Lords have less formal methods of debating Bills. They can delay but not stop a Bil
ROYAL ASSENT
The Bill is signed by the Queen and becomes law. The Royal Assent is still read out in Parliament in NormanFrench “La reyne le vault”
UNIT 4. THE LAW-MAKING PROCESS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION Read and translate the texts. Remember as many details as you can. Render the texts. The adoption of legislation in the Community is governed by art. 249 EC. This may be done by the European Parliament acting jointly with the Council, the Council acting alone, and the Commission. The Treaty confers legislative power on the Commission only to a very limited extent, but the Council frequently delegates powers to the Commission in order to allow it to fulfill its executive function. The consultation procedure was the procedure originally provided for in most of the Treaty. It is a fairly straightforward procedure which only involves the Commission and the Council with regard to decision-making. The other institutions, the European Parliament, as well as the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, simply have to be consulted. The Commission makes the proposal, after the European Parliament (and others) have been consulted, and the Council adopts. The European Parliament’s opinions have no binding force. However, when provided in the Treaty, consultation with the EP constitutes an ‘essential procedural requirement’ (art. 230 EC) and, as the court ruled in Case 138/79 Roquette Freres SA v Council (1980), failure to comply with it constitutes ground for annulment of the acts by the ECJ. In addition to mandatory consultations provided for by the Treaties, both the Commission and the Council normally seek the EP’s opinion on an optional basis on a wide range of measures having a determining effect on policy. The cooperation procedure (art. 252 EC) was introduced by the Single European Act (1986) with a view to increasing the influence of the EP in the legislative process but without giving it a real power of co-decision. For example, measures relating to the implementation of vocational training policies (art. 150) require this procedure to be used. Under these provisions Parliament is given a second opportunity to consider draft legislation. If, following that second look, Parliament continues to object to the proposal, the Council may still adopt it, but it must do so within three months acting unanimously. Where Parliament proposes amendments, the proposal may be sent back to the Commission for examination. Where the Commission rejects the amendments, Council may still accept them, provided it does so unanimously. Thus Parliament may act as a brake on the Council by requiring that it act unanimously rather than by qualified majority. By contrast, measures made under art. 44 (right of establishment) are made under the procedures set out in art. 251 (the co-decision procedure). Under this procedure, the Council must first adopt a common position, after obtaining an opinion from Parliament. Parliament may then either confirm or reject that 37
position, or propose amendments to it (by absolute majority). The Council may then approve these amendments by qualified majority unless the Commission has delivered a negative opinion on Parliament’s amendments. In that case the Council must act unanimously. Thus far the procedure is similar to that under art. 252. If the Council does not approve the amended act, however, the matter must be referred to a Conciliation Committee, composed of equal members of Council and Parliament. If a joint text is approved, the Council and Parliament may together adopt it. If not, Parliament may reject the text by an absolute majority of its component members. Strict time limits are imposed at every stage of the proceedings. The assent procedure was introduced by the Single European Act and extended by the TEU. It constitutes a veto right, and when assent is required the Council may act only after it has obtained the EP’s agreement. It applies to important matters such as admission of new members to the Community and association agreements. In each case where the institutions have the power to enact legislation, the Treaty specifies the type of legislation to be made and which sort of procedures must be used. In addition, the Treaty will specify whether the Council must act unanimously, by qualified majority voting or by simple majority voting. A failure to abide by these procedural requirements may give rise to an action for the annulment of the measure. The various combinations arising out of the possible permutations of the different voting procedures in Council, types of Community act and degrees of involvement of Parliament make the legislative process very complex. In addition to encouraging challenges to the correct legal base or procedural requirements likely, this complexity has been criticised as making the Community legal order impenetrable to the average lay person. There are further restrictions on the making of Community acts. The institutions can only act within the scope of the powers conferred on them. Community acts must make their legal basis within the Treaty clear. This is done in the preamble to the legislation. Although the scope of the Treaty has been expanded, the freedom of the institutions to legislate is now counterbalanced by the notion of subsidiarity. Subsidiarity and proportionality as a limit on Community powers Art. 5 EC embodies the principle of subsidiarity. Its three paragraphs deal with three separate matters. Does the Community have a legal base for its actions in the Treaty? Should the Community act or can the objective be sufficiently achieved by the member states? If not, can it be better achieved by the Community? How much should the Community do? It should use the least onerous form of legislation, leaving as much as possible to the member states. The principle first appeared in the Community in 1975 in a report on Economic Union by the Commission. It said that an expansion Community powers 38
should only occur where the member states соuld not effectively accomplish the desired tasks. Finally, subsidiarity was formally introduced as a general principle of Community law in the Maastricht Treaty on European Union in 1992. It is referred to in the preamble, in the framework articles and, finally and most importantly, in art. 3b (now art. 5) of the EC Treaty. The text of the subsidiarity article was not altered in Amsterdam, but a binding Protocol lays out the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality more extensively. It obliges the Commission to ‘consult widely before proposing legislation and, wherever appropriate, publish consultation documents’ and to justify the relevance of its proposals with regard to the principle of subsidiarity. The Protocol states that the subsidiarity principle does not affect the primacy of Community law nor call into question the powers conferred on the Community by the Treaty, as interpreted by the ECJ, and that it shall relate to areas where the Community does not have exclusive competence. Therefore, to determine whether subsidiarity applies, we must distinguish between areas where the Community has exclusive competence and areas where it does not. Unfortunately, this is not clear: there are no provisions in the Treaty which identify the exclusive (or non-exclusive) powers of the Community. The Commission has argued that the Community has exclusive competence in areas relating to the creation of the internal market, for example, in free movement of goods, persons and services; in the Common Commercial Policy; and in relation to the Common Agricultural Policy. The Treaty of Lisbon states that “under the principle of proportionality, the content and form of Union action shall not exceed what is necessary to achieve the objectives of the Treaties. The institutions of the Union shall apply the principle of proportionality as laid down in the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality”. The Protocol on the Application of the Principles of Subsidiarity and Proportionality imposes an obligation to consult widely before proposing legislative acts. The Commission must provide a detailed statement concerning proposed legislation so that compliance with subsidiarity can be appraised. The statement must contain some assessment of the financial impact of the proposals, and there should be qualitative and, wherever possible, quantitative indicators to substantiate the conclusion that the objective can be better attained at EU level. The Commission must submit an annual report on the application of subsidiarity to the European Council, the EP, the Council, and to national parliaments. The most important innovation in the Protocol on Subsidiarity is the enhanced role accorded to national parliaments. The Commission must send all legislative proposals to the national parliaments at the same time as to the EU institutions. A national parliament, or chamber thereof, may, within eight weeks, send the Presidents of the Commission, EP and Council a reasoned opinion as to why it considers that the proposal does not comply with subsidiarity. The EP, Council and Commission must take this opinion into account. 39
UNIT 5. THE EUROPEAN JUDICIAL BODIES Read and translate the texts. Remember as many details as you can. Render the texts. The judicial system of the Community was, until Nice, a two-tier system. It consists of the ECJ, which was established by the ECSC Treaty of Paris in 1952, and of the CFI, created in 1989 in order to relieve the growing case load of the ECJ. These courts derive their fundamental task from art. 220 EC which provides that ‘the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance, each within its jurisdiction, shall ensure that in the interpretation and application of the Treaty the law is observed’. The Nice Treaty adds a clause to this effectively providing for a third tier of jurisdiction in the form of judicial panels to be attached to the Court of First Instance. The European Court of Justice This is the main court of the European Community. It consists of one judge per member state, although there is no nationality requirement. The court sits in a ‘grand chamber’ of 11 judges, replacing the plenary session, and sometimes still in plenary according with the rules in the Court’s Statute. In all other cases it sits in chambers of three, five or seven judges. The ECJ is assisted by eight Advocates General, whose task is to deliver reasoned opinions on cases brought before the court. This number may be increased by the Council, acting unanimously, at the request of the Court of Justice. Both Judges and Advocates General are appointed for a period of six years. The President of the ECJ is elected every three years by its judges, who are chosen from those with the proper qualifications for the highest judicial appointments in their home country or who are juris consults of recognised competence, by ‘Common Accord’ of the governments of the member states. They act independently of the member states. Each member of the court has three “legal secretaries” (or referendaires) who are their legal assistants. They undertake preliminary research and draft essential documents, including draft judgments and opinions, but may not take part in the court’s deliberations as these are secret and result in a single collegiate judgment. The court’s procedure consists of a written phase, which ends in a report by the ‘judge-rapporteur’, an oral hearing, which is usually very brief, followed by the Opinion rendered by the Advocate General. They assist the court and they give an independent view of the proceedings before the publication of the decision of the court. The court does not always follow the opinion of the AdvocateGeneral. The final judgment is then given, usually after a number of months have elapsed.
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The written procedure and the oral hearings, as well as the delivery of the Advocate General’s opinion, are translated into the official languages of the court. Only the French language is usually used in these deliberations, although some chambers have occasionally worked in other languages such as German and English. A single collegiate judgment is delivered. This often represents a compromise of differing views and this may account for some of the difficulties when reading a judgment, which sometimes appears to have an absence of reasoning on certain points. The court gives a single judgment and no dissenting views are given. Enforcement of judgments is through the national courts of member states. The language in which the case is heard is a matter for the plaintiff, except where the defendant is a member state when it will be in the language of that state. The Court of First Instance (CFI) The CFI was created in 1989 as a means of relieving the ECJ of its growing case load. Under art. 225 as amended by Nice the CFI will have at least one judge per member state The CFI has now become the judge for all direct actions under art. 230, 232 (actions and failure to act), art. 235 (action for damages), art. 236 (staff cases), and 238 (arbitration clauses, with the exception of those which will be assigned to a judicial panel and those the statute reserves for the main court. There are no Advocates General, but for certain cases which may involve substantial investigations into facts a judge may be appointed to carry out a similar function to that of an Advocate General. This judge will then not take part in the deliberations or the judgment. Although the Court of Justice itself will retain competence to give preliminary rulings, the statute may entrust such responsibility to the Court of First Instance in specific cases. Judicial panels Specialised chambers, also known as judicial panels, may be set up by the Council to deal with specific matters at first instance, such as in the field of intellectual property. A new art. 229a allows the Council acting unanimously to attribute to the ECJ the responsibility of settling intellectual property disputes between private parties, particularly concerning the Community patent. An appeal from the decisions of judicial panels may be made to the Court of First Instance. The overall judicial architecture in the Treaty of Lisbon largely replicates that in the existing Treaties. Art. 19(1) TEU inelegantly provides that “the Court of Justice of the European Union shall include the Court of Justice, the General Court and specialised courts”. The General Court is the new name for the CFI, and specialised court is the new appellation for judicial panels. There is an interesting modification relating to the appointment of judges and Advocates General, whereby a panel reports on the suitability of candidates for these jobs. 41
The heads of jurisdiction are much the same as before, as is the division of jurisdiction between the Community courts. There are some significant amendments to particular provisions, which largely follow those laid down in the EU Constitution. Thus, for example, art. 263 TFEU, which is the successor to art. 230 EC, now provides explicitly for review of the European Council, and the acts of bodies, offices and agencies of the European Union intended to produce legal effects for third parties. Art. 263(4) TFEU also modifies the standing provisions for non-privileged applicants in accord with the formulation laid down in the EU Constitution, thereby dispensing with the need to show individual concern in relation to a regulatory act that does not entail implementing measures. Task 1. Find in the texts the following terms and explain them. To attribute powers; each successful Treaty; to underpin the legal system; primary /secondary legislation; to challenge Community legislation; the CFSP; vocational training; to argue. Task 2. Translate the following words and phrases into English. Принимать законодательные меры; создание Сообщества; судебная практика суда ЕС; нарушение Договоров; злоупотребление полномочиями; свобода ведения экономической деятельности; исключительная компетенция; Согласительная комиссия; соглашение об ассоциированном членстве в ЕС; дать основание для (подачи) иска; проводить широкие консультации. Task 3. Work in pairs. Discuss with your partner the following points. 1. What is the competence of the Community limited by? 2. Have the powers of the Community shrunk after its inception? 3. What are the sources of Community law? 4. Can primary legislation be challenged in courts? 5. On what grounds can the validity of secondary legislation be challenged? 6. What hierarchy of norms does one find in the Lisbon Treaty? 7. How are these norms defined? 8. How is the European Parliament involved in the law-making process under consultation procedure / co-operation procedure / co-decision procedure / ascent procedure?
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SUPPLEMENTARY READING Must a Politician Be Kind? 1. What kind of people can succeed (иметь успех) in politics? What traits of character should they have? Here is an opinion of a modern expert about the problem. Any politician who wants to win should be a real personality (личность). He/she should have a will (воля) to win and a wish to have power. He/she should use power not for his/her own needs but for improving the situation in the country and for achieving definite aims. A good politician should have an ability to risk and to love risking if he/she wants to win. He/she should be able to take non-traditional decisions and to give up (жертвовать) some people from his/her team. If a good politician understands that some people can’t perform their functions he/she should change these people and forget how hard it was. A politician, who can’t change some members of the team when it is necessary will lose. It’s very important for a politician to have clever advisors but it is he/she who is responsible for decisions. Through people often say that a politician who has clever advisors is not clever! Politician decisions may be ruthless (безжалостный) for some people and good for the majority of the people. So, a good politician should be ready to take ruthless decisions. A politician who follows one and the same strategic line and doesn’t revise his/her ideas won’t live a long life in politics. But again, people may say that he/she has no will to finish something! No image-maker can help a person who is nothing. It is impossible to improve ‘nothing’. Image-makers and advisors can add only 15–20% to the image of a politician. The power should be used by a politician not for power itself but for achieving definite aims. 2. Which of the expert’s ideas do these statements confirm (подтверждать)? A politician should be power-loving. A politician should be gifted. A politician should be risky. A politician should be ambitious. A politician should be pliable (гибкий, уступчивый). Must a Politician Be Kind? The Pope is a cleric (духовное лицо) and a politician because he is the head of the Roman Catholic Church and the head of the tiny state, the Vatican. Here is an article from the Newsweek magazine about the wartime Pope. 43
1. What war do they mean in the article? Find all the facts that can prove your answer. World War I
World War II
a civil war
Many historians thought that the wartime Pope didn’t try to stop the Holocaust (истребление, бойня). By Kenneth L. Woodward The voice of Pius Xll is a lonely voice in the silence and darkness. He is the only ruler on the Continent of Europe who dares (смеется) to raise his voice at all. Editorial, The New York Times, Dec. 25, 1941 Something shameful (постыдный) is going on. That Pius XII was silent in the face of the Holocaust; that he was in fact pro-German if not pro-Nazi. It was The Deputy, Rolf Hochhuth’s 1963 play that created an image of Pius as a coward (трус). In fact, Pius XII was neither silent nor inactive. In 1937 in a special document Pope Pius XII condemned (осудил) Nazism as un-Christian. The document was secretly brought to Germany and read in the Roman Catholic churches. In his 1942 Christmas message the Pope became the first person of international stature to condemn the Holocaust. The Nazis understood the Pope too well. “His speech is one long attack on everything we stand for”, declared the Gestapo. In February 1942, Protestant and Catholic leaders in Holland occupied by the Nazis condemned camps. But only Catholic bishops (епископы) read the letter aloud in their churches. The Pope’s crime – if there is one – is that he chose the role of diplomatic peacemaker rather than martyr (мученик). Historian Christopher Browning is right to say that “the Holocaust is a story with many victims (жертвы) and not too many heroes. I think we are native if we think one more hero could stop it”. 2. What kind of politician was the wartime Pope? 3. What did the Pope do in the face of the Holocaust? 4. Do you think that a cleric should be involved in politics? Why? The problem of priorities. The Treaty of EU, Lisbon The wide scope of the EC Treaty, covering a number of areas normally reserved to national law alone, coupled with the extended application by the ECJ of the principle of direct effect, led inevitably to a situation of conflict between national and EC law. In such a case, which law was to prevail? The way in which that conflict was resolved was of crucial importance to the Community legal order; it was a constitutional problem of some magnitude for Member States. 44
The EC Treaty is silent on the issue of which law should in the case of conflict take priority, and always has been. Perhaps this was a diplomatic omission; perhaps it was not thought necessary to make the matter explicit, since the extent to which Community law might be directly effective was not envisaged at the time of signing the Treaty. In the absence of guidance, the matter was left to be decided by the courts of Member States, assisted by the ECJ in its jurisdiction under Article 234 (ex. 177). The question of priorities between directly effective international law and domestic law is normally seen as a matter of national law, to be determined according to the constitutional rules of the State concerned. It will depend on a number of factors. Primarily it will depend on the terms on which international law has been incorporated into domestic law. This in turn will depend on whether the State is monist or dualist in its approach to international law. If monist, it will be received automatically into national law from the moment of its ratification, without the need for further measures of incorporation. If dualist, international law will not become binding internally, as part of domestic law, until it is incorporated by a domestic statute. In the EC, France, for example, is monist; Germany, Belgium, Italy and the UK are dualist. But whether received automatically, by process of ‘adoption’, or incorporated by statute, by way of ‘transformation’, the incorporation of international law does not itself settle the question of priorities. The status accorded to international law will depend, in the case of each State, on the extent to which that State has provided for this, either in its constitution, where it has a written constitution, or, where it has no written constitution, in its statute of incorporation. There is wide variation in the way in which, and the extent to which, Member States of the Union have provided for this question of priorities. Where States have a written constitution, there will be express provision for this issue. At the time of their accession, it ranged from the whole-hearted acceptance of international law of the Dutch constitution (art. 66), which accords supremacy to all forms of international law, whether prior or subsequent to domestic law, to art. 55 of the French constitution, which, at that time, provided that treaties or agreements duly ratified ‘have authority superior to that of laws’ (thus leaving open the question of secondary legislation), to art. 24 of the German constitution (Grundgesetz (GG)), which provided, rather loosely, that the State ‘may transfer sovereign powers’ to international organisations; or Article 11 of the Italian constitution whereby the State ‘consents, on conditions of reciprocity with other States, to limitations of sovereignty necessary for an arrangement which may ensure peace and justice between the nations’. (Under the principle of reciprocity, if one party to an agreement breaches his obligations, the other contracting parties may regard themselves as entitled to be relieved of theirs.) A State which does not have a written constitution, and which is dualist, such as the UK, must provide for priorities in the statute of incorporation itself. This statute will have the same status as any other statute. As such it will be vul45
nerable to the doctrine of implied repeal, or ‘lex posterior derogat priori’, whereby any inconsistency between an earlier and a later statute is resolved in favour of the latter. The later statute is deemed to have impliedly repealed the earlier one. On a strict application of this doctrine, any provision of a domestic statute passed subsequent to the statute incorporating EC law, in the British case the European Communities Act 1972, which was inconsistent with EC law, would take priority. Given the differences from State to State it is clear that if national courts were to apply their own constitutional rules to the question of priorities between domestic law and EC law, there would be no uniformity of application, and the primacy of EC law could not be guaranteed throughout the Community. Not only would this weaken the effect of Community law, it would undermine solidarity among the Member States, and in the end threaten the Community itself. It is no doubt reasons such as these which led the ECJ to develop its own constitutional rules to deal with the problem, in particular the principle of supremacy, or primacy, of EC law. The nature of EC law: direct and indirect effect One of the most noteworthy features of European Community law to date is the impact it is perceived to have had on the legal systems of the Member States. By way of contrast with other international organizations of States such as the Council of Europe or the United Nations, the European Community has developed into an organization of States with a relatively autonomous legal system, a system of norms which bind each of the States and which have been internalized – in many cases without national implementing measures – into the domestic systems of the different Slates as a fairly uniform body of law. Much of the development of the Community’s legal system has been brought about not by the express agreement of the States which founded the Community nor by means of a detailed plan for an integrated legal system, but through the interpretive practice and influence of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Through its case law, the Court developed a bold theory of the nature of EC law, attributing to it the characteristics and force which it considered necessary to underpin a set of profoundly altering and potentially far-reaching common goals within a group of politically and geographically distinct nations and historically sovereign States. The success of this development has depended upon a rather different approach from that which has governed the domestic treatment of norms of international law between States. The domestic effect of an international agreement or treaty has traditionally been a matter to be determined in accordance with the constitutional law of each of the States which is party to that treaty. In countries like the UK which adopt a dualist approach to international law, international agreements and treaties do not of themselves give rise to rights or interests which citizens of the States which are signatories can plead and have enforced before their national 46
courts. Even if they are designed for the protection of individuals (as, for example, in the case of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)) the provisions of these treaties bind only the states at an intergovernmental level, and in the absence of implementation, cannot be directly domestically invoked or enforced by citizens. It is apparent from arguments made in the early cases before the Court that at least some of the Member States did not envisage that the provisions of these Treaties would be any different, in terms of their domestic effect, from other international treaties and conventions. The ECJ, however, took a rather different approach to the nature and effect of the EC Treaties, an approach which was apparently based on the Court’s vision of the kind of Community which those Treaties had set out to create, and the kind of legal system which the effective creation of such a Community would necessitate. This view became clear in its very early case law in which the Court outlined what has become known as the ‘direct effect’ of Community law. Solicitor or barrister? Financial Times, July 1998 The solicitor is the first point of contact with the law for a client in the United Kingdom. The solicitor listens carefully to the client, making sure their needs are clearly understood and then explains the legal position and tenders advice. By contrast, barristers will only see the client in the company of a briefing solicitor. The barrister is the specialist with particular skills in advocacy, a consultant who will examine the case and decide what line to take in court. The barrister will be reliant on the detailed brief prepared by the client’s solicitor. There are only a few solicitors who are allowed to present cases in the higher courts. Many more solicitors work in their litigation departments and spend much of their time preparing briefs for counsel. Barristers are self-employed in the independent Bar. Solicitors are normally salaried and may be offered a share in the profits of the practice if they are successful. The Bar is a small but influential independent body with just over 8000 practicing barristers in over 400 chambers in England and Wales. In addition, there are about 2000 barristers employed as in-house lawyers. The Bar is an advocacy profession. The Bar’s right of the audience in the higher courts remains virtually unchallenged. The work divides equally between civil and criminal law. There are over 70 specialist areas, including major ones like chancery (mainly property and finance) and the commercial bar. Judges in England and Wales have mostly been barristers of 10 year standing, then Queen Chancellors, and are appointed by the Lord Chancellor. Judges cannot work as barristers once they are appointed. A barrister who is a part-time judge is known as a Recorder. The Crown Prosecutor, who works for the Director of Public Prosecutions, is responsible for prosecuting criminals based on evidence presented by the police. 47
Solicitors do a variety of work – corporate and commercial, litigation, property, private law, banking and project finance, employment law and environmental law. There are about 66000 précising solicitors in England and Wales. HOW MANY NEW WORDS DO YOU REMEMBER? to appoint assent bill branch cabinet campaign* ceremonial to challenge civil* Commons constitution constitutional to control to coordinate to delay democracy democratic department to determine to draft elected executive to examine government house law legislative life peer Lords majority minister non-elected to oppose opposition parliament parliamentary policy political politician power
prime minister to represent representative representative responsible to/for to revise to rule to vote on administration to balance Congress compromise court to declare extreme federal judge judicial to pass over secretary supreme to veto vice president unconstitutional to adopt assembly basic chairman council deputy to dissolve to guarantee agreement commandment cause enemy
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equal essential excess hatred by heart hypocrisy to reduce to reveal sheet slavery unalterable xenophobia consistent cunning deceitful hypocritical loyal personality pliable power-loving prudent ruthless sly strong-willed sympathetic tolerant ambassador Lord Chancellor, order woolsack
PART III. GLOBAL ECONOMIC TRENDS TOPICAL VOCABULARY таможенный союз охватывать всю сферу товарообмена to involve the prohibition of customs предусматривать запрещение duties таможенных пошлин customs duties on imports and импортные и экспортные exports таможенные пошлины all charges having equivalent effect равнозначные сборы to be in free circulation находиться в свободном обращении to comply with the import formalities выполнять все формальности, связанные с импортом товаров to levy customs duties взимать таможенные пошлины total or partial drawback частичное или полное возмещение пошлин и сборов to preclude prohibition исключать запрещение justified on grounds of public обоснованные соображениями morality общественной морали industrial and commercial property промышленная и коммерческая собственность to constitute a means of arbitrary являться средством произвольной discrimination дискриминации a disguised restriction замаскированное / скрытое ограничение to adjust monopolies перестроить монополии to procure and market goods закупать и сбывать товары in law or in fact де-факто или де-юре to delegate делегировать (права) to refrain from воздерживаться от to make it easier to dispose облегчить сбыт продукции of products to obtain for products the best return повысить доходность продукции producers concerned заинтересованные производители to impose internal taxation облагать внутренними налогами in excess превышать to impose taxation directly облагать налогами прямо or indirectly или косвенно to afford indirect protection оказывать косвенную защиту customs union to cover all trade in goods
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UNIT 1. A COMMON EUROPEAN MARKET Read and translate the texts. Remember as many details as you can. Render the texts. The creation of the common market is one of the central purposes of the European Community. The specific activities to fulfil this task can be found in Article 3: Article 3(l) (a) refers to the prohibition of customs duties while Article 3(l) (b) refers to the Community’s common commercial policy, as well as common policies in certain areas, such as agriculture, fisheries and transport. Article 3(l) (g) specifies that the Community shall introduce a system to ensure that ‘competition in the internal market is not distorted’, and Article 3(l) (h) provides for ‘the approximation of laws of the Member States to the extent required for the functioning of the common market’. Following the SEA, another term was introduced, that of an ‘internal market’. Although often treated as synonymous with the ‘common market’, it is arguable that there is a difference in scope. Article 14 (ex 7a) describes the internal market as: ‘an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty’. These are referred to together as the ‘four freedoms’. The common market, in addition to the four freedoms, also deals with common commercial policy – commercial relations with third countries – and competition policy. On this basis, the term common market is slightly wider than internal market. The ECJ has, in practice, not tended to distinguish between the terms. The principle of freedom of movement of goods has been described as a fundamental freedom, the ‘corner-stone’ of the Community. For many Member States the opportunity of access for their goods to a single, Community-wide market was, and remains, a primary reason for membership. The free play of market forces within that larger market would increase economic efficiency, widen consumer choice, and enhance the Community’s competitiveness in world markets. However, since the principle of freedom of movement was intended to apply to all goods, including goods imported from outside the Community, it was necessary to eliminate distortions of competition resulting from different national rules regulating trade with third countries by presenting a common commercial front to the outside world. To achieve these goals the Treaty sought: (a) to establish a customs union which shall involve (Article 23 EC): (i) ‘the prohibition between Member States of customs duties on imports and exports and of all charges having equivalent effect’, and (ii) ‘the adoption of a common customs tariff in their relations with third countries’; 50
(b) the elimination of quantitative restrictions on imports and exports and all measures having equivalent effect (art. 28 and 29); (c) in addition States were required to adjust any State monopolies of a commercial character so as to ensure that no discrimination regarding the conditions under which goods are procured and marketed exists between nationals of Member States (art. 31 EC). The provisions relating to the free movement of goods apply to both industrial and agricultural products (save, where agriculture is concerned, as otherwise provided in art. 33–38 EC), whether originating in Member States or coming from third countries which are in free circulation in Member States, even where, in the latter case, the goods have been admitted to the original State of import under special dispensation from the Commission under art. 134. The Customs Union Art. 23 makes it clear that the customs union has both internal and external aspects. The external aspect involves the adoption of the common customs tariff. The internal aspect requires the elimination of customs duties and charges having equivalent effect on goods in free circulation within the Community. The prohibition on customs duties on intra-Community trade is achieved by virtue of art. 25 of the Treaty. The Court has interpreted the prohibition contained in art. 25 strictly in ruling unlawful national levies imposed on imported or exported goods. In Commission v Italy (case 7/68) the Court considered the compatibility with art. 25 of an Italian tax on the export of art treasures. It was unarguable that a duty was levied on items crossing the Italian frontier. None the less, the Italian Government presented two arguments based on the Treaty rules on customs duties in order to persuade the Court that its system was compatible with Community law. Neither argument proved successful. Firstly, it was argued that the items on which the levy was raised were of artistic and cultural, not commercial, significance, and that for the purposes of Community law they did not count as ‘goods’ at all. The argument failed because the Court insisted that even items of artistic merit that can be valued in money and that are capable of forming the subject matter of commercial transactions do not escape the ambit of art. 25. The Court’s ruling was supported by the fact that the Italian authorities were prepared to make an economic assessment of the value of goods concerned in order to fix the amount of tax demanded, which revealed that even Italian law acknowledged the commercial nature of the items. Secondly, it was submitted that the purpose of the tax was not to raise money for the national exchequer, but instead to retain national cultural artifacts within Italy. This function, it was argued, took the system outside the ambit of art. 25. The Court declined to follow this line of reasoning and found Italy in violation of the Treaty. It explained that art. 25 applied where the price of goods was inflated by a tax imposed by reason of the crossing of a frontier and where, 51
accordingly, transfrontier trade was impeded. The purpose behind the tax could not alter the application of art. 25. As a matter of policy this seems entirely in accordance with the Treaty objective of market integration. In fact, an emphasis on effect, not purpose, is a stance that pervades EC trade law.
UNIT 2. GLOBAL COMMUNICATION Read and translate the texts. Remember as many details as you can. Render the texts. Three years ago, European Freightways, a haulage company, had a little “suggestion box”. Its 13,300 staff dropped in about one offering a month. But things have changed. It now has a contract with an outsourced, telephone-based employee feedback service – and receives 200 calls a month from its workforce. Suggestions have ranged from how to maintain equipment to the best way to bid for work on certain routes. “All people have to pick up a phone – it has been very beneficial”, says Mr. John Sherman, vice-president for “people management”. The person behind In Touch is Peter Lilienthal, a Minneapolis businessman. The concept is simplicity itself, yet clients have nothing but praise. In Touch provides a freecall number, which the client’s employees can dial at any time. Messages are then transcribed verbatim and forwarded to the company’s executives within one working day. For companies with 5000 employees or more In Touch will provide a monthly breakdown of calls, highlighting areas of concern. It can also provide some foreign-language services- Spanish, for example. It is successful, says Mr. Lilienthal, partly because the service is independent and, unlike typical in-house communication system, callers can remain anonymous. Having watched tens of companies implement the system, Mr. Lilienthal says it is almost impossible to predict what the response will be. But the notes that there is often a quiet interval at outset, while employees wait to see whether messages will be taken seriously. That is followed by e period when minor, bottled-up grievances emerge. Finally, once the system is established, the number of calls typically falls away, and their value increases. This, too, is confirmed by clients. Mr. Lilienthal has a couple of tips for anyone introducing the system. First, make sure the service is relatively unrestricted, and advertised as a “complaint” line. Second, convince workers that calls will be taken seriously. European Freightways, for example, promises to get back to all employees who leave their names within ten days. Executives to whom messages are forwarded are given five days to respond. Pillsbury makes a point of publicizing the most relevant messages, together with responses, via its in-house newspaper or internal email system. 52
UNIT 3. INTERNATIONAL MARKETING Read and translate the texts. Remember as many details as you can. Render the texts. No one contests the economic necessity of geographically extending a product – it is a source of economies of scale, of amortization of rising researchand-development costs and of competitive advantage in local markets. But how far do we push the global idea? For example, the Mars brand is not absolutely global. The Mars chocolate bar is sold as an all-round nutritious snack in the UK and as energizer in Europe (two different concepts and positioning for the same physical product). Nestle adapts the taste of its worldwide brands to local consumer expectations. The Nescafe formulas vary worldwide. Global marketing implies the wish to extend a single marketing mix to a particular region (for example Europe or Asia) or even to the world. It also denotes a situation in which a firm’s competitive position in one country can be significantly affected by its position in other countries. The global approach sees the role of individual countries as only part of a wider competitive strategy. The aim of marketing globalization is not to maximize sales but to increase profitability. In the first place, it cuts out duplicated tasks. For example, instead of bringing out different TV advertising for each country, a firm can use a single film for one region. The McCann-Erickson agency is proud of the fact it has saved Coca-Cola $90 million in production costs over the past 20 years by producing films with global appeal. Globalization allows a firm to exploit good ideas, wherever they come from. Timotei shampoo was developed in Finland and spread to other European countries. The beverage Malibu, which is sold worldwide, was created in South Africa. In drinking Coca-Cola, we drink the American myth-fresh, open, bubbling, youth, dynamic, all-American images. Young people in search of identity form a particular target. In an effort to stand out from others, they draw their sources of identity from cultural models provided by the media. Levi’s are linked with a mythical image of breaking away down the lonely road – an image part James Dean, part Jack Kerouac, tinted with a glimpse of a North American Eldorado. Nike tells young people to surprise themselves, to transcend the national confines of race and culture.
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UNIT 4. JOBS AND CAREERS Read and translate the texts. Remember as many details as you can. Render the texts. Flexible working, often through a job share, is pushing its way up corporate agendas as a way to attract and retain staff in the unceasing ‘war for talent’. More than 90 per cent of job shares are women, and most of them have childcare responsibilities. The industries keenest on job shares include banking and finance, IT and public services. A recent report from Income Data Services says the number of workers in job shares has doubled to about 200,000 in ten years. Management jobs are now being shared, whereas formerly only occupations such as nursing and secretarial work featured. Angela Baron, adviser (employee resources) at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development from Spain, believes all jobs can be shared, up to the highest level. She says: “After all, hospital nurses and doctors make lifeaffecting decisions based on handed-over information. What is more important than that?” Most employers who are allow job shares like them. Staff is more motivated because they can work the hours that suit them. There is less absenteeism, staff working half-weeks are often fresher, and two workers on the same job can be more creative. Ms. Baron says: “When there’s a tricky problem, you actually have two brains instead of one”. One disadvantage for employers is potential difficulty finding a replacement if a job-share partner leaves. Extra training and equipment may also be necessary. Workers like job sharing because it allows them to keep a firmer footing on the job ladder, when returning from maternity leave. There is no blanket legal obligation on an employer to offer a job share or part-time working. If management opposes the creation of a job share, there may be no easy way to secure it. It is often easier in areas with a history of job sharing. They are far more prevalent in the public sector, for example. In your company has a flexible working culture, you are more likely to achieve a job share. Most shares operate on a 50/50 basis, with one partner working from Monday to Wednesday and the other from Wednesday to Friday. The key to be a successful job share is a compatible and trusting relationship with your partner, underpinned by a satisfactory contract. If you hoard and play power games with information, this sort of arrangement is unsuitable. Sue Monk, chief executive of Family Works, Poland, says: “You’ve got to be prepared to put an extra effort to make it work. For example, if you are busy, you may need to put in a phone call in the evening. You have to very responsible. It is easy to leave things for someone else to do”.
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UNIT 5. MANAGEMENT STYLES Read and translate the texts. Remember as many details as you can. Render the texts. After centuries of male dominance, management style has been influenced by more feminine culture in recent years. Amongst many results of this change in attitudes, the importance of “soft” skills in management has emerged. Many researchers examined how the psychological make up of men and women affects their ability to do different things. Men and women are two separate issues; they are good at different things, not being better or smarter than the other. Some 94% of air traffic controllers are male. It not a matter of tradition – it is biological. The right front portion of the brain relates to visual skill and brain scanners show that most women do not have clearly defined visual spatial areas. Women are not applied for this job, because their brains are not interested in that action. On the other hand, 82% of personnel officers and 75% of language teachers are women. This is because of the communication required. Women enjoy building up relations with other people. In conclusion, we should say that men really need to get their act together if they want to avoid redundancy in the next millennium. Autocratic leadership, which is typical of men, is a thing of the past. Managers of the future need to communicate effectively, to organize teams and co-operate and work together. Women’s brains are much more required in the work nowadays. The relationship between language and sex has attracted considerable attention in recent years, largely as a consequence of public concern over male and female equality. In many countries, there is now an awareness, which was lacking a generation ago, of the way in which language can reflect and help to maintain social attitudes towards men and women. The criticism have been directs exclusively at the linguistic biases that constitute a male-oriented view of the world, fostering unfair sexual discrimination, and, it is argued, leading to a denigration of the role of women in society. English has received more discussions that any other language, largely because of the impact of early American feminism. Several areas of grammar and vocabulary have been cited. In grammar -that has attracted most attention is the lack of a sex-neutral, third-personal singular pronoun in English, especially in its use after indefinite pronouns, e.g. If anyone wants a copy, he can have one. (In the plural, there is no problem.). No natural-sounding option exists: one is considered very. Formal, and forms such as he or she are stylistically awkward. Many other examples of linguistic bias have been given. In the lexicon, particular attention has been paid to the use of ‘male’ items in sex-neutral contexts, such as man in generic phrases (the man in the street, stoneage man, etc.), and the potential for replacing it by genuinely neutral terms (chairman – chairperson, salesman – sales assistant, etc.). Another lexical field that is considered problematic is marital status, where bias is seen in such phrases as X’s widow 55
(but act usually Y’s widower), the practice of changing the woman’s surname at marriage, and the use of Mrs and Мiss (hence the introduction of Ms as a neutral alternative). The extent of the bias is often remarked upon. In one computer analysis of child school books, male pronouns were four times as common as female pronouns. In another study, 220 terms were found in English for sexually promiscuous women and only 22 for sexually promiscuous men. It is easy to see how sexual stereotypes would be reinforced by differences of this kind.
UNIT 6. FRAUD AND CORRUPTION Read and translate the texts. Remember as many details as you can. Render the texts. A survey of 121 European firms last year by Control Risks Group (CRG), a security consultancy, found that two-fifth had recently held back from an otherwise attractive foreign investment because of the country’s reputation for corruption. Western firms are temping targets for local crooks, who may feel it is less morality reprehensible to steal from foreigners. Besides the risk of robbery, there is the risk of embarrassment from association with mobsters, as when the Bank of New York was apparently used to launder Russian Mafia money. According to John Bray of CRG, fraud is the biggest risk of doing business in emerging markets, but most firms have no training program to prevent it. Before investing, firms should investigate prospective local partners to make sure that that they are not crooks. In many poor countries, investors will be asked for bribes in return for a swift issue of necessary permits. Until recently, such expenses were tax-deductible for firms from many European countries. However, an anti-bribery convention has come into force for all rich countries. These days, bribery can lead to bad publicity and even to prosecution at home, so firms increasingly refuse to grease the palms held out to them. Even if top managers are clean, locally hired middle managers may not be. Such reputable American banks as Citibank and American Express have discovered that they had local managers with links to mobsters. And, faced with American – style sales targets, the temptation to clinch deals through bribes may be irresistible. Local managers are also more vulnerable to threats; they cannot fly home to France or Canada. So, firms should teach them how to refuse demands for bribes without getting hurt. Techniques include insisting that somebody else is responsible for the decision in question and never going alone to meeting with people who may demand bribes. Most important, firms should make sure that all accounts are scrupulously transparent. Fortunately, accountants are exceptionally mobile. All it takes for a big accounting firm to set up an office in Brazzaville to Vladivostok is for a partner to move there, so one can find a competent bookkeeper almost anywhere. 56
UNIT 7. E-COMMERCE Read and translate the texts. Remember as many details as you can. Render the texts. How often in business do you find a market growing at more than 200 per cent a year, where few participants have any form of dominance? This is exactly the scenario in Western Europe’s online retail market. With online sales accounting for only two-tenths of a per cent of the entire retail market, the field is wide open – but it will not be for long. Many established European retailers and Internet start-ups are already laying claim to this valuable online territory. Already, US groups have some 20 per cent of the European online market. Europe’s battle for the online consumer will be fought quickly and won decisively by a few big online retailers. European retailers have more than a fighting chance to be among them but will have to move swiftly and strategically on severally on several fronts. First, retailers must move quickly to secure space on the online consumer’s virtual shelf. Consumers are becoming familiar with online retail brands and are concentrating their spending on sites they recognize and trust. Second, retailers need to exploit the interactivity of the Internet to understand and cater for customers. More than half do not track the number of unique visitors to their sites, and only one-third know the number of repeat buyers. Third, European retailers need to build international scale while preserving local touch. The challenge for European online retailers is to scale their businesses to international levels while continuing to cater to diverse local markets. Their ability to do this will give European retailers a clear advantage over US competitors, whose formidable online retailing experience has been tested only in the relatively homogenous North American market. European companies have the home advantage of being more familiar with local consumer profiles, preferences, cultures and languages. Finally, retailers must strive for flawless fulfillment and customer service. European online retailers are still struggling to get this right. As online consumers become more demanding and less tolerant of online purchase failures, the big winners in the battle for online market share in Europe will be those businesses that successfully and consistently deliver a satisfying, end-to-end purchase experience. The losers will be those that promise a better online purchase experience than they can deliver. Task 1. Answer the following questions. 1. What is one of the main objectives of the European Community? 2. Does the Treaty provide for concrete ways to achieve the common market? What are they? 3. When did the “internal market” term appear? 57
4. What is the difference between the two terms: the internal market and the common market? 5. Does the ECJ distinguish between them? 6. Is the access of goods to the common market an important consideration for member states? 7. Does the principle of freedom of movement cover only the goods produced on the territory of the EC? 8. What was the subject matter of the Commission v Italy case? 9. What arguments were presented by Italy? What was the Court’s decision? 10. How does the ECJ define CEE? 11. Is a government-sponsored campaign in favour of home-produced goods a barrier to trade? 12. Is it possible for a member to maintain barriers to the free movement of goods? Task 2. Suggest the Russian equivalents for the following words and phrases. To specify; internal market; competition policy; to distinguish between the two terms; to enhance competitiveness; to originate in member states; under special dispensation; ambit; to submit; to follow this line of reasoning; to impede transfrontier trade; to pervade; a pecuniary charge; subtle barriers to trade; on their face; to bear a heavy burden of proof; a fundamental tenet; case law; MEQR. Task 3. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following Russian words and phrases. Конкретные действия; общая торговая политика; сближение законодательств; потребительский выбор; устранить возможные нарушения правил конкуренции; промышленные и сельскохозяйственные товары; находиться в свободном обращении; признать незаконными национальные сборы; бесспорно; взимать пошлину; провести экономическую оценку; добиться отмены сборов; облагать пошлиной на границе; подпадать под действие статьи; материальное право. Task 4. Translate the text into English. Поиск работников Поиск квалифицированного работника вне компании наиболее сложная часть процесса заполнения вакансий. Успех расширяющейся компании часто зависит от эффективности работы отдела кадров и программы поиска. Данный вид поиска использует многочисленные способы. Так могут быть эффективными рекомендации служащих фирмы. Для того, чтобы стимулировать этот процесс, предлагаются поощрительные выплаты. 58
Профсоюзы также способны быть источником рекомендаций претендентов на должность. Однако фирма обязана сама выполнять самую активную роль по поиску подходящих кандидатов, проводя рекламную кампанию, контактируя с агентствами по трудоустройства, посылая работников отдела кадров в университеты. Согласно одному исследованию, 70% всех вакантных должностей фирм при поиске вне организации заполняются именно с помощью агентов по трудоустройству. Государственные агентства обеспечивают информацией без взимания какой-либо платы. Частные агентства, как правило, специализируются в поиске исполнителей высокого уровня. Task 5. Replace the underlined expressions with the words from the box. balance of payments balance of trade barter or counter-trade climate commodities division of labour economies of scale factors of production nations protectionism quotas tariffs Countries import some goods and services from abroad, and export others to the rest of the world. Trade in (1) raw materials and goods is called visible trade in Britain and merchandise trade in the US. Services, such as banking, insurance, tourism, and technical expertise, are invisible imports and exports. A country can have a surplus or a deficit in its (2) difference between total earnings from visible exports and total expenditure on visible imports, and in its (3) difference between total earnings from all exports and total expenditure on all imports. Most countries have to pay their deficits with foreign currencies from their reserves, although of course the USA can usually pay in dollars, the unofficial world trading currency. Countries without currency reserves can attempt to do international trade by way of (4) direct exchanges of goods without the use of money. The (imaginary) situation in which a country is completely selfsufficient and has no foreign trade is called autarky. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), concluded in 1994, aims to maximize international trade and to minimize (5) the favouring of domestic industries. GATT is based on the comparative cost principle, which is that all nations will raise their income if they specialize in producing the commodities in which they have the highest relative productivity. Countries may have an absolute or a comparative advantage in producing particular goods or services, because of (6) inputs (raw materials, cheap or skilled labour, capital, etc.), (7) weather conditions, (8) specialization of work into different jobs, (9) savings in unit costs arising from large-scale production, and so forth. Yet most governments still pursue protectionist policies, establishing trade barriers such as (10) taxes charged on imports, (11) restrictions on the quantity of imports, administrative difficulties, and so on. 59
SUPPLEMENTARY READING The Court’s Cassis de Dijon principle Financial Times, April 2010 Cassis de Dijon is a blackcurrant liqueur, commonly drunk with white wine. It was lawfully produced in France and contained 15 to 20% alcohol by volume. German law precluded the sale of any spirits of the category into which cassis fell unless they were of at least 32% alcohol content. A prospective importer was consequently advised by the German authorities that although there was no objection to the importation of cassis into Germany from France, it could not be marketed there. The importer initiated proceedings before the German courts to establish the incompatibility of the German rule relating to alcohol strength with Article 30 of the Treaty. The rule was not discriminatory. It applied to all fruit liqueurs marketed in Germany without making any distinction according to origin. It was an indistinctly applicable technical rule. However, the subject-matter of the case was ample demonstration that the rule restricted free trade across national frontiers within the common market. A product lawfully produced in France was excluded from the German market simply because the rules in Germany differed from the rules in France. An obstacle to trade that led to the partitioning of the common market arose as a result of the different traditions of two member states. As might have been expected in the light of the Dassonville formula, the Court was persuaded by the fact that the German rule exerted a restrictive effect on trade that Article 28 was indeed capable of applying. However, the Court established a principle in Cassis de Dijon that represented an important new initiative in its Article 30 jurisprudence: Obstacles to movement in the Community resulting from disparities between the national laws relating to the marketing of the products in question must be accepted in so far as those provisions may be recognized as being necessary in order to satisfy mandatory requirements relating in particular to the effectiveness of fiscal supervision, the protection of public health, the fairness of commercial transactions and the defense of the consumer. The Court further emphasized that any measure taken to protect a ‘mandatory requirement’ must be proportionate to that end and must be the least restrictive of trade available. These principles are closely analogous to those that the Court has developed on the basis of the second sentence of Article 30. The Court therefore indicated that where the alleged objective could be achieved by a less burdensome rule – for example, a requirement that drinks be labelled clearly to show their alcohol strength instead of the imposition of an outright ban – then a state is not entitled to maintain its unduly onerous rule.
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Start-up capital Financial Times, April 2010 The capital is there, but an aversion to risk and bureaucracy is preventing it being channeled to Europe’s entrepreneurs The vision of European Union countries being at the forefront of the Internet revolution is exactly that – a vision. In fact, high-tech entrepreneurs are being left unfinanced, ideas are going begging and talent is going overseas. That, at least, was the message that made listeners sit up at a seminar in a dreary conference room in Monte Carlo. They paid even more attention when the figures backing the message up were brought out. Jacques Michel, vice-president of the European Patent Office, said the amount of early stage capital available in the US and the EU was broadly similar – about $ 9,4 billion last year in the US and $ 8,5 billion in the EU. “In the US, 50% of this is allocated to the information technology sector. In the EU, it is seven per cent. The difference is allocation is startling. The US has a head start, and in this business it is first come, first served”, he said. Mr. Michel was speaking at this month’s European Inventions Competition, an annual event designed to celebrate Europe’s ability to generate ideas, finance them and take them to market. But this year, a disturbing message emerged. The life blood o the Internet economy – small, start-up, innovative, high-tech companies at the leading edge of the industry – are being stillborn through lack of capital. Participants at the seminar all told the same story – Europe is risk-averse; there are barriers to investment; the seed capital market is immature, research is left unfunded, and the EU’s place in the new economy is being undermined. In a report, the commission offers ambitious targets and promises to overhaul the way seed capital finds its way to entrepreneurs. It says it will “propose innovative forms of capital rising, including public-private partnerships coupled with refocusing some Community spending”. The commission’s plans have fuelled the long-running debate about its role in the European risk-capital field. James Dobree, chief executive of Zygon, an Internet software company based in London, and also an adviser to the commission, said the commission was going about things completely the wrong way. Using public money or reallocating EU spending were ideas that smacked of bureaucracy and centralized control, he said. “The fact that they think public money will help indicates how behind the times they are. No Internet entrepreneur is going to try and access public money – it comes with too much baggage”. Instead, Mr. Dobree restated growing calls to empower the private sector by reducing the tax it pays on capital gains. In the US, capital gains tax is 20%, much lower than any of the varying rates across Europe. In the UK, the tax is 40%. “In Europe, this money gets creamed off by the government. Instead, it should be kept in the hands of the people who can make things happen”, he said. 61
Customer’s loyalty Financial Times, January 2104 Organizations with successful customer-responsive strategies are alike in a number of ways. There is a willingness to serve customers differently, with the best customers getting the best treatment. The airline industry, for example, has created multi-level frequent-flyer programmers, with dedicated reservation lines, priority upgrades, and rapid check-in privileges and so on to recognize the best customer. Decisions are based on detailed information about customer. Databases pull key data from internal operating systems (such as a retailer’s transaction system) and merge it with information from external sources. This enables database marketing and “micromarketing” campaigns. A “have it your way” attitude prevails. This can range from tailoring messages in the US, which is customized according to the age of the buyer’s children to Nordstrom’s department store allowing its clerks to go through the entire store to put together clothing ensembles for their customers. A customer-responsive strategy is likely to gain an advantage if it: – delivers superior customer value by personalising the interaction; – demonstrates trustworthiness; – tightens connections with customers. Too often, these are only traditional mass-marketing efforts that overwhelm consumers with too many products, message and appeals for personal information. Often they are badly designed, as when a bank’s “privileged” customers were sent of special credit-card raters that were normally available only to new customers. A lot of money has been wasted on short-term rewards through gifts or one-time reductions foe loyal customers. These are nice to receive but do nothing to strengthen the relationship. There was a time when there were no loyalty schemes in the UK grocery market (with the exception of Co-op’s stamp scheme), but once Tesco started its scheme, all the others were forced to do the same. No doubt Tesco benefited because it was first, but for the rest, the frequency rewards became a costly burden. Once everyone has a programme, most customers are able to obtain points with whichever shop they use and loyalty patterns remain unchanged. The difference between repeat behavior and loyalty is that the former is for sale while the other is earned. This sums up why gifts and other one-time rewards have little lasting impact – they demonstrate neither more benefits nor lower costs that the competition. Guarantees, by contrast, build trust by symbolising a company’s commitment to fair play with its customers. They also maintain the pressure on the entire organisation to continue to improve performance in order to avoid the costs and conflicts created by frequent payouts and replacements. Guarantees can also put intolerable pressure on competitors if they cannot match the terms. Xerox 62
gained 4,5 percentage points of the office copier market when it introduced a “no questions asked” guarantee whereby customers could decide they wanted the copier replaced.
SUPPLEMENTARY READING FOR RENDERING Money Rules You Should Break Roger Sorensen When it comes to learning fiscal knowledge, some lessons result in better memories than others. One of the most satisfying lessons I have ever learned is that there are rules simply made to be broken. Rules that produce benefits for everyone are not what I am talking about. These “good” rules include not cutting in line at the grocery store, at a 4-way stop the driver on the right has the right-of-way, and paying your taxes on time keeps the government operating. These are all good rules and should never be broken. You, as a consumer, are must discern what type of rules are critical to be break. These rules are created by commercial businesses for their own benefit. The enterprise isn’t trying to help you with their regulations; they are looking out for themselves. This kind of thinking survives because we, the consumer, are intimidated when told “That’s against our rules. You can not do that”. All consumers can benefit by learning to question the statement of “You can’t do that”. Once you learn how to do it, you might find it an enjoyable, and profitable, experience. Rule #1: You Break It, You Bought It Some time ago I passed the time in an airport gift shop waiting for a friend. Startled by the sound of breaking glass, I turned around to see an active youngster standing next to a shattered glass vase. The stern faced store owner pointed to a sign reading “YOU BREAK IT, YOU BOUGHT IT”. He then had the audacity to demand $49.95 for the vase. The young mother, clearly distraught, stood her ground and said “No”. By the time I left, the woman and her child had left, the store owner was cleaning up the glass and I was amazed that someone else knew the truth about business. The truth is, accidents are apart of doing business and breakage is a legitimate tax deduction. I suggest that if you do accidentally break something in a store, earnestly apologize and keep your wallet firmly in hand. If you want to pay to ease your conscience about being a bumble-bottom, fine. But only pay for the actual cost of the item as verified by the invoice, never allow the store owner to make a profit on your accident. 63
Rule #2: A CD Grace Period is set in Stone Banks are extremely skilled at intimidating their clientele. They are also good at maximizing their profits. I allowed a CD to automatically roll over at a large bank instead of bothering to actually go to the bank and take care of it myself. In my defense, I mistakenly assumed the interest rate would be the same as the expiring rate. Unfortunately, by the time I bothered to look at the paperwork and discover the rate was less than half of what I had been earning, the grace period of changes was over. When I called, the customer service person told me “Once the grace period is over, there is nothing I can do.” Nothing he could do, but I politely asked to speak with a supervisor. Within a couple minutes I was granted a “promotional” rate equal to the one I had been earning on the expired CD. A lesson can be found here about the trustworthiness of banks. As quickly as they adjusted my CD rate made me wonder how many other patron were letting the bank dip their fingers into their cookie jar. Rule #3: The Insurance Agent Always Knows Best People selling insurance are imaginative creators of rules to help themselves make a larger commission and the companies they work for are no better. An example here is “dwelling coverage”. This amount is what the insurance company will pay if your house burns down or is destroyed somehow necessitating you to rebuild. If you try looking for more information in your policy, there isn’t much. Inquire of your agent how they arrive at the replacement value of your home and the premium you pay and you might get an answer similar to “The computers calculate that automatically, it works the same for everyone”. In my case, the last premium notice I received had the replacement value of my home considerably higher than its market value. I called my agent again. He explained if my home was destroyed the insurance company would rebuild it for me, which would cost more than buying an existing home. Good sound bite, but I would still have to pay a higher premium to buy coverage insurance my home for more than it’s actual worth. While on the phone, I lowered the coverage to the market value and saved nearly $100 immediately. I know if something happens, I will only receive market value for my house. However, that will be enough for me to buy an existing house and not have to go through the headaches of building one. Rule #4: Warranty Cards are Mandatory I used to thing I wouldn’t have any warranty coverage on my stuff if I failed to return the little card manufacturers enclose with any new product. Do you still think that? It’s what manufacturers want us to believe. Their reason is simple – the manufacturers use these cards to gather marketing data about their consumers: age, income, where they shop, etc. Plus, if there is ever a recall on the product, they have a name and address to contact you. 64
That is the only reason I ever fill out and return one of those cards, and then only with my name, address and product serial number filled in. I know there is still warranty coverage even without the card, so why spend my time helping the manufacturer gather marketing data for free? Rule #5: Social Security Number Requirement Lately, the crime of identity theft has been increasing in coverage on the news. Identity theft is when a crook obtains enough information about you to make credit purchases in your name, leaving you to explain that you have never flown to Australia. What information do the crooks need to know about you? Your Social Security number and name is all. That’s why it is important to never divulge this information to anyone unnecessarily. In fact, the only reason you have to give it to anyone is because the government wants information about you. Your employer needs it to report earnings, banks and financial institutions need it to report earnings, and the IRS wants to collect their taxes on your earnings. Lately, insurance companies want to run a credit check on you, and credit issuing companies want to run a credit check on you, and for this they need your Social Security number. Federal law prohibits credit grantors from denying you credit without telling you the reason – if you ask. So be sure to ask, and always shred any document with your personal information like name and/or Social Security number before throwing it in the trash. It is up to you to take as many precautions to protect your number as you can. Rule #6: Contractors Are Paid Up Front Some questionable rules are created by individuals. Remodelers such as carpenters, housepainters, roofers and drive-way repair persons have an interesting rule they want you to believe is etched in stone. This rule says “You are required to pay 1/3 of the project costs up when you sign the contract”. I’ve learned that with contractors it is easy for them to be sidetracked when a more profitable job comes along. To counteract this understandable issue, I change their rule to “I’ll pay 1/3 after the materials are delivered and the job started”. All legitimate contactors will agree, in my experience, once you politely explain to them why you are doing it this way. He may still get sidetracked, but at least he won’t be using your money before starting your project. Rule #7: Sign on the Dotted Line Never sign any contract without reading it carefully. This includes all the fine print, so take a magnifying glass with you. You say you never sign contracts without reading them? Good for you. Does this include everything you affix your signature to? You know the lease, bill of sale, rental agreements or credit card slip all constitute a contract. Once you sign, you have agreed to all the terms of the contract, even the ones you don’t understand or think are e “unfair”. When you start calling attention to provision of contracts you don’t like, you may be told “That’s our standard contract. We can’t change it”. Wrong, they 65
can and most will if it means the difference between making a sale or you walking away. Leases are good examples of changing contracts. If you are a desirable renter, the landlord may make certain improvements instead of renting “as is”. If you find clauses undesirable, and the landlord won’t remove them you would probably be better off renting elsewhere anyway. The time to check over a contract is before you sign, not after you have signed it and are home again. A friend of mine leases things like cars and office equipment for his business and he claims to have never signed a lease without changing at least one phrase. Go ahead and try being a rule breaker. You might like it and it could save you headaches and money, too. Easy Ways To Organize Your Business Finances Mike Peterson, the Vice President of American Credit Foundation Whether you are a new entrepreneur or a more experienced business owner, taking control of your finances can feel like a part-time job. Some simple tips can help you streamline your time, organize your finances and reduce the stress of business money matters. 1. Keep Your Bills in One Place When the mail comes, make sure it goes in one place. Misplaced bills can be the cause of unwanted late fees and can damage your credit rating. Whether it’s a drawer, a box, or a file, be consistent. Size is also important. If you get a lot of mail, use an area that won’t get filled up too quickly. 2. Pay Your Bills on Schedule Bill paying can be simplified if it’s done at scheduled times during the month. Depending on how many bills you receive, you can establish set times each month when none of your bills will be late. If you’re paying bills as you receive them, chances are you’re spending too much time in front of the checkbook. Although bills may state “Payable Upon Receipt”, there’s always a grace period. Call the creditor to find out when they need to receive payment before the bill is considered late. 3. Read Your Credit Card Statements Most people take advantage of low interest credit card offers but never read their statements when paying the bill. Credit cards are notorious for using low interest as bait for new customers then switching to higher rates after a few months. Make a habit of looking at your statement carefully to see what interest rate you are paying each month and if any transaction fees have been applied. If the rate increases or a transaction fee appears on your statement, a simple call to the credit card company can oftentimes be beneficial in resolving the matter. If not, try to switch your money to a more favorable rate. 66
4. Take Advantage of Automatic Payments Most banks offer a way to automatically deduct money from your account to pay creditors. In addition, the creditors usually offer a lower interest rate when you sign up for this payment option because they get their money faster and on-time. Consider it as one fewer check to write, envelope to lick and stamp to buy. Just make sure you record the deduction when the automatic payment is scheduled or you run the risk of bouncing other checks. 5. Computerize Your Checkbook Using a software program is a handy way to organize your finances. Whether it’s Quicken(r), Microsoft Money(r) or another package, these easy-touse programs make bill paying and bank reconciliation a cinch. Computer checks can be ordered almost anywhere and fit right into most printers. Once the checks are printed, all of the information is automatically recorded in your electronic checkbook. Furthermore, many banks have direct downloads into these software packages so when money is deposited or withdrawn, the transaction is entered immediately onto your computer. And, when it comes time to do taxes, it couldn’t be easier. 6. Get Overdraft Protection Most banks have a service where, if you run the risk of bouncing a check, the money will come from another source. For a nominal fee, the bank will link your checking account to either a savings, money market, or credit card so the embarrassment of bouncing a check will be avoided. Call or visit your bank to learn about this convenient feature. 7. Cancel Unused Accounts Whether it’s a credit card or bank account, write a letter requesting that the account is formally closed. Not only will this improve your credit score, it is a useful way to avoid money from being scattered all over the place. Don’t let department stores and credit card companies lure you into opening new accounts by offering favorable interest rates and purchase discounts. It’s easy for credit to get out of hand by taking advantage of every credit offer that comes your way. 8. Consolidate Your Accounts If you have several credit card accounts with outstanding balances, try to consolidate them into one. Be careful and check the balance transfer interest rates and one-time fees. Also, make a list of all your open Money Markets, Savings, CDs, IRAs, Mutual Funds, and other accounts to see if any consolidation can be done. Keeping your money in fewer places eliminates all of the guesswork involved and reduces errors. 9. Establish Automatic Savings Create a link from your checking account into a savings account that will not be touched. This can usually be done through the banks and automatic 67
amounts will be transferred over each month. Most people will not put money into a savings account on a regular basis. They may wait until a large tax refund check arrives or some other event to actually deposit money into savings, retirement or other accounts. If you establish an automatic savings deposit every month, your accounts will begin accumulating money faster than you think. 10. Clean up Your Files Make sure your paid bills are organized in a filing cabinet. Keep individual files for paid bills. Go through your files at the end of each year and throw out bills and receipts no longer needed for auditing purposes. Contact your local IRS office to see how long records need to be kept for audits. Usually federal tax return audits can be done three years back but cancelled checks may need to be kept for seven. Consult the Internet for auditing and records-keeping procedures for your state or region. Fast, Cheap & Easy Marketing Tools to Generate More Clients Connie Scholl There are countless low-cost things you can do to promote your business. Here’s ten of my favorite: 1. Always be prepared with an “elevator speech”. When you meet new people talk about the benefits associated with the service you provideNOT the actual process of how you achieve these benefits. In a nutshell, let prospective clients know how your service can solve their biggest problem. 2. Network and set goals. When attending events, workshops or meetings, don’t sit by people you know. Hello? The point is to meet new people! Make a goal of meeting 3–5 new people at each event. Be interested in others, get their business cards and ask lots of questions. The more you know about their challenges, the better you can position yourself to help them. 3. Joining various clubs or groups is another way to promote your business. Every community has organizations such as a Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, BNI (Business Network International). These are excellent places to meet people and talk about what you do. But don’t join if you are not going to participate. Simply being on a group’s mailing list will not help you build the kind of relationships that will generate clients or interest in your business. 4. A great way to meet people is to volunteer in your community. Besides the great feeling you’ll get by giving to others, other volunteers will generally ask what you do. Wearing a shirt or hat with your business name will be a reminder of the type of services you provide. 5. Teach a class through the local community education program. Community education programs attract people throughout your local ser68
vice area. Teaching a workshop will help you make new contacts and also establish you as an expert in your field. 6. Ask for referrals! There is nothing wrong with asking your current clients if they know of others who might benefit from your services. In turn, you should be interested in their business if they have one, and be sure to promote them when the appropriate situation arises. 7. Create strategic alliances with other professionals with noncompeting businesses. As a professional service provider, it’s important to develop relationships with non-competing professionals so you can comarket and pass referrals. For example, if you’re a massage therapist, a perfect strategic alliance for you would be a personal trainer and/or a chiropractor. 8. Write a press release and announce things that are happening in your business. New location, advanced certification, anniversary, etc. Most newspapers will print announcements/stories on local small businesses in their business section. 9. Take advantage of e-mail. You never know where you emails are going to end up. Make sure to include a signature line in your e-mail that includes your business name, website (if you have one) and a line or two about your business. 10. Establish a website presence. Today people surf the web for information on almost all the products and services they buy. You can post a tremendous amount of information about your services, background and expertise on a basic website. If you don’t have one, GET ONE!
10 STEPS TO PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS Jo Hill 1. Word of mouth is the most cost-effective, powerful form of promotion. Write a list of 50 people you know but don’t see regularly – relatives, friends, ex-colleagues etc. Send each of them a friendly email or postcard to let them know what you’re up to. Ask them for feedback, advice or contacts of anyone who might be interested in hearing about your business. Don’t be shy! People love to help. 2. Networking may seem intimidating but there are ways to make it less scary. Don’t feel you have to sell, sell, sell – the number one rule of networking is to listen. It’s about building relationships – go to a networking event looking for opportunities to help others. Ask questions, gather information, offer contacts and advice – people will remember you for it. Networking PLUS is Business Link’s popular monthly speed-networking event. 3. Business cards need to stand out from the crowd. Get a new batch printed on unusual material – textured card, plastic, wood – or make it an unusu69
al shape. Offer a business tip or special offer on the back. Include your photo on the card – this makes it more personal, easier to remember you and harder to throw away! 4. The internet is an amazing market place to promote your business – but it’s easy to feel lost or insignificant. Join specialist forums and exchange links with complimentary websites. To reach a targeted audience, join Affinity Trading Network – an active online network for small businesses. You get a full web profile about you and your business, and access to the Trading Boards, providing an effective way to increase your online exposure. 5. Newsletters are a great way to build up a following, sign up potential customers and provide people with a regular reminder about your services. Write a simple one page resource of news, advice and latest offers each month. Run a competition or poll. Promote your customers or suppliers. Use it to build your reputation as a useful hub of up-to-date information. Encourage feedback, keep it enjoyable and personal. 6. Testimonials support your credibility. It’s good practice to ask clients for regular feedback either verbally or in a quick customer satisfaction survey. When you have a happy customer – ask whether you could get a quote from them. Be clear as to how you will use the testimonial – on your website, in your newsletter or letterhead etc. Make sure you accredit the quote explicitly with the name of the client – anonymous testimonials don’t hold much punch. After all, testimonials can also give your clients good publicity. 7. Cold calling can send shivers down your spine! However, it is a highly targeted way to promote your business. Don’t expect to close a deal over the phone – again this is about finding out information as much as selling. Use phone calls as the first step to getting to know your prospective clients better. Don’t make a full pitch but arrange an appointment or ask permission to send on further materials about your business. And remember to speak s-l-o-w-l-y! For a Cold Calling Crash course to get you over your fears and anxieties, take a look at Do Your Own PR. 8. Referrals are a valuable and inexpensive way to find new clients. It’s not about being pushy, it’s about building long term business relationships based on trust. Start by asking each of your clients or suppliers for three contacts of other people who might like to find out more about your business. You could offer to reciprocate and provide three useful contacts in return. Make it a regular habit to give referrals as well as ask for them. 9. Press releases must be targeted. There is little point sending round a generic press release to hundreds of newspapers. Start by focusing on five publications ideal for your target market. Read back editions thoroughly – understand what kind of stories they like to publish and the style of language they use. Find a relevant news hook and tailor your press release specifically for each publication. The first paragraph is key and must provide the who, what, where, when and why of your story. 70
10. Patience and persistence are the most important tools to promote your small businesses! If you try each of the strategies above and build them into a regular marketing plan, you will certainly boost your profile, without a doubt! VENTURE CAPITAL FIRMS Damian Sofsian While the terms and conditions of venture capital are not standardized, there are some salient features of venture capital arrangements. The venture capital firm is inclined to assume a high degree of risk in the expectation of earning a high rate of return. The venture capital firm, in addition to providing funds, takes an active interest in guiding the assisted firm. The financial burden for the assisted firm tends to be negligible in the first few years. The venture capital firm normally plans to liquidate its investment in the assisted firm after 3 to 5 years. Typically, the promoter of the assisted firm is given the first option to acquire the equity investment held by the venture capital firm. Venture capital firms can raise funds from different sources. The important long-term sources of finance are issue of equity shares and preference shares, issue of debentures of different types, rising of term loans from financial institutions and generation of reserves. Venture capital firms may use different combinations of these sources by considering their relative cost and availability and their impact on the value of the firm. Accordingly, a company can have patterns of capital structure such as equity shares only, equity shares and preference shares, equity shares and debentures, equity shares and preference shares reserves, equity shares and preference shares debentures, equity shares and preference shares/debentures reserves. The capital structure of venture capital firms is influenced by number of factors such as trading on equity, growth and stability of sales. Trading on equity means the use of long-term, fixed interest bearing sources of finance along with equity capital. Adopting trading on equity can increase the return on equity. However, this is possible only when the return on investment is more than the cost of finance. YOU CAN HAVE FUN WITH PLASTIC Jeff Lakie, Homeowner Loan Guide A few generations ago, no one would have thought much about a society that did the bulk of its transactions with a little plastic card. Today, few would think about using cash for most purchases as credit cards and now debit cards have taken the world by storm. Like it or not, plastic is an important part of to71
day’s society with billions of dollars in transactions being accomplished every hour. Did you know you can have fun with your plastic? Yes, read on and we’ll take a look at how you can make a little piece of plastic work to your advantage. To get the most out of a credit card, use it to your full advantage. Don’t run up balances you cannot pay but do take advantage of the rewards that come with your card. What, no rewards are offered? Well, then time for you to search for a card that pays you to use it. Much of the fun with plastic comes in the form of the card’s many different rewards. No card is worth it to you if they don’t give you at least one point for every dollar spent. Better yet is the card that automatically rewards you with thousands of points upon your first purchase. With a rewards card you can: Choose to eat out at a variety of restaurants from famous name fast food stores to well-known chains of sit down restaurants. Take in a movie with the family and have your tickets paid for. You’ll still have to spring for the popcorn and soda but you can save $40 bucks on theatre tickets. Stay one night or more at a luxury hotel. Accumulate enough points and one or more nights at a highbrow hotel could come to you courtesy your credit card. Accumulate enough points and a four day getaway to a luxury resort could be yours for no charge! Fly anywhere in the USA for free or get one free companion ticket and take your wife along at no charge thanks to the points accumulated via plastic. Purchase fun gifts such as an HDTV, a state of the art stereo system, a china pattern, printer, you name it. Most rewards cards come with a trusty little booklet outlining all of the different rewards you can work toward. Sift through the book, plan your spending, and start accumulating points toward some truly nifty prizes. Who said you can’t have fun with plastic? Use your rewards card today and start heading down the road to great prizes! THE SWEET AROMA OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE MARKETING Jeremy Cohen Highly effective marketing is accomplished when your marketing materials and marketing strategy work together to reliably move your prospects through your sales process. Have you ever caught a whiff of a tantalizing aroma wafting through the air as you walked down the street? With your senses suddenly alerted to some72
thing tasty nearby you notice the bakery on the corner. As you draw closer you see the storekeeper handing out free samples of the cake you smell. You happily try the sample and before you know it your standing on line waiting to buy a whole cake. How did this happen? How did you go from going about your business to buying a cake you had no intention of buying when you left your house? The fact that you ended up waiting on a line to buy a cake is no accident. The proprietor of the bakery from which you bought your cake knows something about highly effective marketing. Just what does he know? He knows that he first needs to get his prospects attention to draw them to his shop. He accomplishes this step with particularly strong exhaust fans he uses to permeate the local air with the tantalizing aromas of his pastries. Once he has his prospects’ attention he demonstrates the value of his goods by giving away yummy free samples and offering a buy one get one free deal. It’s no wonder unsuspecting people wind up on line waiting to buy from him. You can enjoy the same success marketing your business even if your product or service doesn’t have a wonderful odor you can use to generate interest in what you do. Instead, you can use your own version of the “smell, taste, buy” sales process to get the results you want. Attract Your Prospects’ Attention (Smell) If you sell motorcycles or provide legal services chances are you’re not going to attract too much attention to yourself with any particularly pleasing odor. Instead you can use an outstanding marketing message to get yourself noticed. A well written marketing message delivered to an appropriate target audience will help your business stand out in a crowd and draw your prospects to you. A great marketing message will speak directly to your target market and identify the problems you solve and the results you provide. You can use your marketing message anywhere you advertise, including: search engines, newspapers, magazines, Ezines and newsletters. When you use your marketing message make sure you include along with it a call to action. Once you have your prospects’ attention you want to be sure you tell them what you want them to do: visit your web site, stop by your store or request your catalog, for instance. Remember, you don’t need a great smelling product or service to get noticed by those most likely to buy from you. You need a compelling marketing message. Demonstrate Value If your product or service doesn’t have a wonderful smell it probably doesn’t taste too good either so you’d be well advised not to have your prospects take a bite of your top selling motorcycle or the latest legal brief you’ve written. Instead, you can demonstrate value to your prospects by offering a test ride or providing a helpful and informative guide about a specific topic of particular interest to your target market. By giving something away for free you 73
demonstrate the quality of your product or the usefulness of your service. Be sure to get your prospects’ contact information in exchange for anything you may give away as your goal is to consistently demonstrate your expertise to your prospects over time, with their permission. In so doing, you will win their trust and position yourself in their minds in such a way that they will think of you when they decide it is time to solve an ongoing or newly created problem. Make a Remarkable Offer. Once you’ve grabbed your prospects’ attention and have demonstrated your value to them you want to make a remarkable offer. The decision to buy from you should be a no-brainer. Your offer should include benefits that far supersede the cost of your product or service. Your offer should be a knock-out punch. In order to make a remarkable offer you must truly understand your prospects wants or needs. What are some questions you can ask your prospects to better understand their needs? Once you have these answers you can use them to custom mold your offer to any prospect. Move Your Marketing Forward. It doesn’t matter if you are the most talented person in your field or you have the best product in the world if nobody knows you can help them. The sales process described above begins by attracting attention with an outstanding marketing message. If you are not effectively using an outstanding marketing message you can improve your ability to generate interest in what you do by developing one and broadly incorporating it into your marketing strategy. Making the decision to improve or use a marketing message is one of the strongest moves you can make as a small business owner to improve your ability to market yourself. Bake your cake and buy some fans. THE IMPORTANCE OF A LOGO AND MARKETING MATERIALS By Erin Ferree The initial lack of customers and cash flow often causes new small business owners to put off designing a logo and marketing materials professionally “until they get a few clients” or “until they get started”. Unfortunately, designing their own marketing materials when they launch their businesses instead of having them professionally created will make getting those initial clients more difficult and may result in a business. That will not succeed. Many entrepreneurs choose to design their own marketing materials when they launch their businesses, especially by creating their first business card. Or sometimes they will have an amateur designer, friend, or relative create the design. There are several reasons why this is not the best idea. How Much Does a Brand Cost? An amateur logo design and business card can make your business more likely to fail for a number of reasons. 74
Your business will not look stable. It will appear to be more likely to fold or to fail. Clients will not have confidence in doing business with you. Would you do business with someone who seems to be on unstable footing and who might not be in business by the end of your project or after you have purchased an item? You will look like a very small business. Large, successful businesses would never consider doing business without professional, originally designed marketing materials. Using materials that are not professionally designed (i.e., Microsoft or Vistaprint templates) makes your business appear even smaller and can possibly indicate that you cannot perform to or meet the standards required. Read more on Why Your Company Needs a Brand. You will look unpolished and rough. Not having a professional “look and feel”can make it appear as though your business does not matter to you. Customers may get the impression that you do not care about the way your business presents itself, which might indicate that you would not care about the quality of your work or the way that your work reflects upon their business. You will look unfocused. Unprofessional, uncoordinated marketing materials can make your business look “jumbled” or confused. If you have a business card with one look and feel and a Web site with another, this creates a confused – and confusing – look and feel for your business. This can also cause an identity crisis for a small business. When looking at your differently designed materials, potential clients may be fooled into thinking that they are looking at materials that represent different companies. About half of all businesses fail within their first few years. One source of failure that is commonly cited by experts is sloppy or ineffective marketing. If your marketing materials do not stand out from those of your competitors, your sales will suffer. When you start a business, you need to create the quickest possible route to business success. A logo helps to create this by contributing to your business’s visibility, credibility, and memorability – three factors that will help your business to grow and achieve success. So, while putting off your logo development may seem like a prudent idea from a cash-flow point of view, it could result in your business never getting off the ground. It can also lead to your business folding when it would otherwise succeed. If you think that you can’t afford to design a logo when starting your business, consider the outcomes – how can you afford not to? Erin Ferree is a logo, print, and Web designer who has been making it easy for small businesses to stand out and to be visible, credible, and memorable for the past nine years.
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MAGNETS FOR MONEY Sep 13th 2015 From The Economist print edition The late Middle Ages were a golden age for city-states. Merchant guilds created a network of them that dominated trading along the Baltic and North seas for centuries. Cities such as Lübeck, Hamburg and Bergen flourished in this early form of globalisation. In time, the early 21st century may come to be seen as a golden era for a different sort of globalised city-state. Its protagonists are found in London’s Mayfair, lower Manhattan and Hong Kong’s central business district. Rather than loading ships, they spend their days (and many nights) in front of computer screens, moving zillions of dollars, pounds, euros and yen around the globe at the flick of a key. Technology, some predicted, would end this sort of clustering in city centres. Why would financiers want to live and work in pricey, jam-packed urban jungles? Armed with broadband, mobile phones and BlackBerries, they could work from almost anywhere. Yet as this summer’s market turmoil showed, a BlackBerry operated from a beach is not always enough. Besides, those urban jungles have their compensations. So rather than dying out, financial centres are proliferating. Today’s financial centres – the cities where big financial transactions are done and a dizzying array of financial products are traded – include not only long-established places such as New York, London and Tokyo, but also a growing number of newer financial hubs in Asia, the Middle East and beyond. As Dubai has shown, following in Singapore’s earlier footsteps, a determined government can build an international financial centre from scratch. Unlike the walled medieval city-states, today’s financial centres are increasingly dependent on their connections to one another. Technology, the mobility of capital and the spread of deregulation around the globe have created a vibrant and growing network. When one city is asleep, another is wide awake, so trading goes on round the clock. The number of transactions between financial centres has surged recently as investors have diversified across regions and asset types. Yet interconnectedness has a cost. In an era of greater volatility, the latest market news spreads from one continent to another in an instant, as financiers have recently been reminded; and knock-on effects on things like bonuses and property prices soon follow. New York and London have firmly established themselves at the top, but not even the biggest centers can afford to be complacent. New York, still number one in global financial terms by many measures (see chart 1), has recently acknowledged the competition it faces from other centers. London has surged on a wave of new money and talent, but needs to resolve problems of its own. 76
Some cities that once aspired to global status have lost their edge, and new ones are starting up.
Michael Klein of Citigroup cites two big changes that have encouraged the proliferation of financial centers around the globe: the shift of economic activity and jobs towards China, India and other developing countries, and growing demand for natural resources from the Middle East, Russia and parts of Latin America. The resulting shift in liquidity is “one of the greatest transfers of economic activity and wealth in the past 100 years,” says Mr Klein. With barriers to trade falling in many developing countries, the cost of capital has also fallen dramatically. These changes have made governments in emerging countries more conscious of the benefits of a strong financial sector. More capital and more jobs are good for social and economic stability, so countries that used to rely for capital on banks, the rich or the state are allowing new capital providers into their markets. Money that used to be routed through the world’s biggest hubs now often 77
goes through non-traditional capital markets, or directly between emerging markets. Although financial hubs have proliferated, few of them can claim to be truly global. Many members of the financial community feel that only New York City and London deserve this title. Both are one-stop shops for a full range of financial services. Any big financial organization has to be represented there. From investment banking to insurance, stocks to derivatives, everything can be found in the world’s two pre-eminent financial hubs. What do they have that others don’t? They score well on a package of key criteria that global financial firms are looking for: plenty of skilled people, ready access to capital, good infrastructure, attractive regulatory and tax environments and low levels of corruption. Location and the use of English, the language of global finance, are also important. Based on those measures, a survey by Z/Yen, a consultancy, picks London, New York and Hong Kong as the world’s top three financial centres. Finding and retaining good people has become an ever more important factor. Steven Kaplan and Joshua Rauh, a pair of economists at the University of Chicago, reckon that capital deployed per employee (the amount of money firms have invested divided by the number of staff) at the top 50 American securities firms surged from an average of $ 136,000 in 1994 to $ 1,79m in 2004. For many skilled professionals who can pick and choose their place of work, quality of life matters a lot. Although New York and London are pre-eminent, other big cities play important international roles of their own. Some have prospered as the financial capitals of big national markets (Tokyo and Sydney) or the gateways to emerging regions (Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai). Others have found success in niches. These include Geneva (private banking), Zurich and Bermuda (insurance and reinsurance), Chicago (futures and options), Qatar (infrastructure finance) and Bahrain (Islamic finance). Yet many of these, too, are trying to diversify. Governments are paying more attention than ever to wooing and keeping financial firms because of the benefits they bring with them, such as highly paid jobs, large tax revenues and international connections. In New York and Hong Kong the financial sector accounts for more than one-third of total city tax revenues. In smaller centres it often makes up a large chunk of total employment. Aside from the political and economic gains to the host countries, economists and investment bankers point to two wider benefits from having a range of financial centres around the world. One is the increase in overall liquidity as new countries and regions become integrated into the global financial system. The second is increased efficiency as competition between centres drives down the cost of trading and other financial transactions. New and developing financial centres are knocking down protectionist barriers and emulating the regulatory practices of the more established hubs.
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Making connections The city-states that dominate today’s financial world are connected not only by mobile capital and people, but increasingly by exchanges too. Exchanges have traditionally been at the heart of important financial cities. They grew up serving mainly national markets, but have changed fundamentally in recent years. A growing number are now publicly owned, which has forced them to shed their clubby ways and compete more openly. Now they are teaming up across national borders. The first ever transatlantic merger between exchanges took place earlier this year when the New York Stock Exchange bought Euronext, a pan-European exchange group. The deal is being closely watched as a precursor to further cross-border consolidation. The London Stock Exchange is merging with Borsa Italiana, Italy’s main market. Deutsche Börse is teaming up with the International Securities Exchange in New York. The big exchanges in Western countries are linking up with counterparts farther east as well, from the Dubai Mercantile Exchange to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. This consolidation raises questions about the future relationship between exchanges and global financial centres. Exchange listing fees and affiliated services are a big source of income for host cities. Exchanges are also seen as important political prizes. But the rapid growth in cross-border trading has made life more difficult for national regulators. This special report will examine the factors that create and sustain global financial centres and explain why physical financial hubs – teeming with banks and exchanges but also with legal, accountancy and public-relations firms and consultancies – continue to matter so much. It will also consider what their rise means for the global financial system, and how it is changing the cities that are home to these clusters. HOW TO SUGGESTIVE SELL YOUR GIFT CERTIFICATES Ron Wilkinson Gift Certificates can be a great revenue producer during the entire year, but your purchases will really increase around Birthdays and Holidays especially prior to Christmas. It is a great idea to feature this gift certificate sale right after Thanksgiving. December can be the busiest month of the year if you effectively handle gift certificates. Let me tell you about a good promotion. If you purchase a minimum increment of a $100.00 in gift certificates between Thanksgiving and the first of the year, you will receive a $ 2000 “Bonus” Guest Certificate FREE. This twenty dollar bonus is a great way to 79
boost your December sales. Some restrictions apply to the Bonus Guest Certificates. The Bonus Guest Certificates are only good from January 1st until March st 31 and cannot be redeemed for cash. This is designed to drive your business on the first three months of the year which are traditionally three slow months. This promotion brings business in during this slow time and it encourages and drives the sales of gift certificates during December and a minimum of $ 100,00 increases the transaction size. Those Customers who used to spend $ 5000 or $ 7500 on gift certificates now spend $ 10000 and then get $ 12000 / $2000 of which must be spent after the first of the year and before March 31st. You may think that this is a big discount, giving a $ 2000 ADDED Bonus Guest Certificate. But, you need to understand that ultimately 50% of the Guest Certificates do not get redeemed. The 16.66% discount amounts to only about 8% because not all of these Guest Certificates get used. The sales results will be very impressive. You can promote the sale of gift certificates through your newsletter and through posters tastefully done in the Restaurant and on your website. If you have 10,000 customers and only 1% participated in the purchase of gift certificates at the minimum purchase of $ 10000, this would be $ 12000 in purchases. If you could enjoy a 10% return, it would be $ 120000. Putting a dedicated table in the entryway of the Restaurant would make it an easy way for your Guests to purchase the gift certificates and take the job away from an already busy staff. The sole responsibility of this Employee would be to sell the gift certificates. This would be a great temptation for your Guests to purchase while they are visiting your Restaurant. You would put the gift certificates in a nice gift envelope for the Customers; according to the dominations they want (i.e. $ 2000). The key to increasing and pushing the sales of Gift Certificates is through outstanding dining experiences. If the Guest “feels good” about their dining experience and they see a table display sign like the one below, sales of gift certificates will soar during December. One Restaurant location, after putting in the dedicated table, increased their Gift Certificate business by 37% for the first year and then an additional 6% the very next year. This has been a big boost to gift certificate sales. This has also dramatically increased the sales for the first quarter of the next year through the Guest Certificate. The redemption on the “bonus” Guest certificates was only about 50% which puts your discount of 16,66% to 8,33%. If the Gift Certificates were given in $ 20,00 amounts it means that you would bring in five parties from the $100.00 sale.
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Bonus Discount – The “Bonus” Guest Certificate only has a three month life. This is a very simple promotion and it works. By and large, the people who buy the gift certificates are loyal Customers and it gives you the opportunity to “reward” their patronage. The “Bonus” Guest Gift Certificate is a different size and color than the regular Gift Certificate. Regular Gift Certificates can be $ 20/ $ 25/ $ 50/ $ 75 or $ 10000 amounts. If the Guest did not have a preference, I would give them 5 – $ 20,00 Gift Certificates for $ 100,00 and 1 – $ 20,00 Guest Certificate. Any denominations can be combined to make the $100.00 special and then receive $ 12000 worth of value. The redemption rate on regular gift certificates are about 80%, therefore 20% are not redeemed, while only 50% of the Guest Certificates are redeemed and they must be redeemed before 31 st March the next year. Gift certificates are the perfect solution for any special occasion. From celebrating birthdays, graduations and weddings to inspiring higher business performance, gift certificates are always a delight to receive. If you are unsure what to get for a person but you know what restaurant they like then Gift Certificates is the way to go. Ron has dedicated over 50 years in the restaurant industry to helping Independent Restaurant Operators make more money, thrive and compete in one of the most competitive industries in the world, and find time to enjoy the results of their success BUILDING WEALTH From The Economist print edition Houses in Japan are supposed to be built to withstand earthquakes. Even so, few of them defy demolition for more than a few decades. The housing stock is amazingly young: more than 60% of all Japanese homes were built after 1980 (see chart). That is because there is almost no market for old homes in Japan. New legislation to be put forward this month will try to remedy that. The roots of Japan’s unusual housing market go back centuries. Buildings were often razed by earthquakes or fire, so durable houses were rare. Earthquake insurance largely did not exist until the 1990s (and even today is little used). In post-war Japan land has value but buildings do not. The law separates the ownership of the land and the structure, so the two are distinct in Japanese minds. After the war, the government sought to foster private home-ownership by offering tax incentives for new buildings. The policy was a great success. Arguably too great: by 1968 there were more homes than households to occupy them. At the same time, tax burdens abound for selling land with old buildings. After around 30 years homes are demolished for new ones to spring up. Because the lifetime of houses is short, cheap construction materials are used and the 81
buildings are not maintained. There is no tradition of do-it-yourself home upkeep. Just as there is little interest in secondhand furniture or clothes among the sanitation-obsessed Japanese, so too home-owners prefer to build a new rather than refurbish the old. There is also a dearth of institutions and expertise that might oil the gears of a market in old houses, from surveyors to judge the quality of a property to banks that assess its value and provide a mortgage. As a result, where 89% of British homes have had more than one owner, and 78% of homes in America and 66% in France, only 13% of Japanese homes have ever been resold. But attitudes today are changing. The constant rebuilding places an unnecessary drain on people’s financial resources, says Koichi Teramoto of the Ministry of Land. A couple easing into retirement may demolish their house to sell the land in order to move into a smaller abode that they must then build from scratch. Although better-built homes cost more up front, they cost far less over time – as much as one-third less after a few generations, according to Mr. Teramoto. The ministry also worries that the constant demolition is terrible for the environment. The costs to the wider economy are also great. A home is more than a man’s castle: it is typically his most important financial asset. Not in Japan. For most of the post-war period land prices soared, so the lack of a housing resale market was not a problem. But since the bursting of the property bubble in the early 1990s, most land prices have fallen: some are as much as 80% off their peak. That houses also depreciate in value constrains consumption and adds to deflationary pressures; which in turn pushes people to be particularly cautious savers (more than 50% of Japan’s household wealth is kept as cash in bank accounts) and helps to keep interest rates barely above zero. To remedy the problem, the prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, this month plans to introduce new tax rules to encourage the construction of more durable buildings. Under a draft of the “200-year homes” policy, national, regional and municipal property taxes may be reduced by between 25% and 75% for up to seven years for houses that adhere to robust building standards. Mortgages for such homes can be longer (50 years as opposed to the traditional maximum of 35 years) and building approvals will be simpler. Property experts think these measures are too timid, however. They argue that a true market for used homes needs standardised methods of construction, as well as more transparency about the quality and value of houses. Far more generous tax incentives are vital too. Until then, homes in Japan will continue to fare like the country’s ubiquitous electronic gadgets: be treated as disposable.
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Kurds are especially happy with a US pledge last September to protect them against Baghdad. India and Pakistan are racing to put warheads on fast-flying missiles, set on a hair trigger, to be launched at first warning or lost to an incoming strike. Efforts to attract investment by selling Ireland abroad also have a long history. British Airways said it would install heart monitors and cordial defibrillators devices on all its aircraft within a year, becoming the first international airline to do so. Military rule and disdain for human rights have supposedly made Nigeria a country not to be visited. Even from the point of view of Britain’s homegrown capitalists, the current policies are failing. That is the only conclusion to be drawn from the Bank of England’s quarterly review and the report of the Commons Treasury and Civil Service Committee. Information comes in floods now, but we haven’t installed a way to use the brains with the capacity to filter and distill it. The decision to ban export of beef and cattle from Portugal was made after a sharp increase in the number of cases last year of «mad cow» disease in cattle grown in Portugal. The candidate said this morning that he was fully aware of the obstacles to be faced and the charges that would be made. The Euro-American democracies have, in the new NATO, a central organization to co-ordinate the military actions of those NATO members which decide they need to act. The US government controls exports of strong encryption products to preserve its capability to decode messages from foreign governments and criminals. There are lessons to be learnt from the cold war, but the inevitability of a peaceful outcome is not one of them. Most Japanese educators concede that a reliance on rote learning and cramming does great damage to creativity, and many universities are moving to include interviews and essay writing in their entrance tests. A personal campaign to acquaint the farmers with the facts about this year’s agricultural price review will be launched by the Minister of Agriculture on Monday. Peru plans to raise $1 billion through bond sales and loans to help the country’s struggling companies restructure debt.
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16. Britain had the most extensive network of double taxation agreements in the world to protect companies trading in Britain and other countries from paying tax twice over. 17. The said tax increases to reduce government borrowing would do little to help recession hit industry or reduce unemployment. 18. The United States used the UN inspection team to send a US spy into Baghdad to install a highly sophisticated electronic eavesdropping system. 19. In his semiannual report to Congress, the US Federal Reserve chairman suggested that “storm clouds massing over the western Pacific and headed our way” might dampen demand for US goods and services just enough to relieve inflationary pressure – and render unnecessary a Fed hike in shortterm rates. 20. Having shed enough of its history to look outward and prosper in Europe, Ireland has retained enough, up to now, to ameliorate the strains of rapid social change. This is a balance that will be difficult to preserve. 21. The general feeling in Egypt is that the government has won its war against the Islamist militants. What it is still not confident enough to do is to allow political Islam a public voice. 22. Japanese consumers have simply not been purchasing many of the highticket items – particularly automobiles and appliances – in sufficient volume to keep Japan’s economy moving at the higher rate business would like to achieve. 23. Although Mr. Kim was the first of the three to embrace the need for a rescue by the International Monetary Fund, he made worrying noises about wanting to renegotiate the deal once he entered office. 24. Mr. Cook is not the first British foreign secretary to arrive in office determined to change things, nor will he be the last to run up against the diplomats’ natural skepticism about his ability to do. 25. The achievement of Ireland is certainly not to be dismissed, as some would have it, as a matter of statistical fudges, subsidies from Europe and tax dodges for multinationals. But lessons for would-be tigers are either difficult to infer or of little use. 26. Scientology tries to turn its followers’ minds and part them from their money; of course it will try to change their lives forever. But so do lots of religions. 27. Any newly elected government can expect to be given the benefit of the doubt by the public. 28. The U.S. Federal law allows the satellite systems to provide network programming only to a viewer who cannot receive the local affiliate of a network using a conventional TV antenna. 29. The United Nations said that a UN delegation would visit China next month to look at what help the country needs to implement its commitments on human rights. 84
30. This attack on Serbia may be the start of a new trend to restrain thugs and despots, though it does not look terribly likely. 31. They say ways and means must be found whereby developing countries can expand their exports and increase foreign exchange earnings to pay for such internal programmes as power projects, transport services, exploitation of natural resources and industrialization generally. 32. The US President calls on America to accept a global role. 33. To meet the need for increasingly precise forecasts, meteorologists hope to extend their observational system until it covers every corner of the earth. 34. The chancellor in fact, was quick to warn us against raising false hopes on the basis of the new international support given for the pound. 35. The Prime Minister had told the party meeting that as a tough Prime Minister, he refused to be dictated to by any group. 36. Already the Europeans cannot agree to finance the modernization programs that were considered essential even before enlargement came into the picture. 37. In London the British Government’s special envoy said on returning yesterday from a two-week Far East “fact-finding mission”, that he was disappointed not to have been invited to take part in the talks on the region’s problems. 38. Perhaps BNP (Banque Nationale de Paris) felt left out: it courted Societe General unsuccessfully for two years only to see the bank fall into the arms of Paribas. 39. The retired director of the Brain Institute at the University of California – Los Angeles, devoted his life to studying that complex organ, only to be crippled by a brain disease that leaves its victims unable to care for themselves. 40. Education standards are bound to be hit by the government’s latest round of spending cuts, the Education Secretary admitted yesterday. 41. Japan’s economic success carries inevitable political consequences, and they are bound to be recognized sooner or later. 42. The announcements of his latest trip is bound to intensify suspicions about the objectives of the Government’s manoeuvres. 43. “The US economy already looks fairly bubble-like. Such an economy is bound to slow once stock prices fall, and so the base trend will be a stronger yen once Japan’s economy strengthens”, said a top official in the Finance Ministry. 44. The Chancellor of Germany said he had serious concerns that failure to reach agreement on the EU reforms could lead to complications concerning the European single currency, the euro. 45. Even a public apology from the prime minister for failing to explain his policy failed to turn the tide of opinion in his favour.
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46. European Union leaders last night failed to make any breakthroughs on the future financing of the community. 47. The two social workers stood bail of $500 each. When the youth failed to appear, they were summoned to court and ordered to forfeit $300 each... 48. Will Republicans squabble so acrimoniously to define the soul of their party that they condemn themselves to a protracted civil war that, Iwo years from now, will lead not just to failure to recapture the White House but to failure to keep control of Congress? 49. The old controversy about whether government borrowing imposes a burden on the future has lately been given a new airing. Consider, to begin with, the recipe for making a “primary real burden” of the national debt as laid down by Professor Brown of the University of Virginia. 50. To begin with, the cumulative effect of so many cocktail and other parties amounts to a serious physical drain on the U.N. delegates; considerable stamina is required to stand up to some seven hundred social functions a year. 51. It was freely stated, to begin with, that she was little more than a figurehead, used by the politicians of her party to get back into power on a strong wave of emotion which only she could inspire. 52. To judge living standards, it is better to add to GDP the income earned by foreign assets, and to deduct from it the income paid to foreign creditors. 53. The other leg of the Nissan plan is to raise operating margins from below zero up to 5% within two years. 54. The commercial broadcasting industry convinced Americans that it was “good citizenship to consume news at regular intervals”. 55. In many respects the father of both the supersonic Concorde and the widebodied Airbus airliners, Henri Ziegler lived long enough to see the recent major restructuring of the French aircraft industry. 56. Behind the closed doors of homes ranging from modest apartments to mansions in Virginia, many foreign servants live in silent despair, toiling long hours for low wages but too fearful, isolated or insecure about what will happen to them to complain or break free, human rights advocates and investigators say. 57. It is increasingly recognized that the current peacekeeping resources and powers of the UN are too limited to enable it to intervene effectively in many conflicts. One solution would be to create peace enforcement units, to be made available in clearly defined circumstances. 58. The International Court of Justice is expected to play an increasingly important role in facilitating the peaceful settlement of international legal disputes. 59. German nuclear plant operators will be expected to use the time to work out deals to cancel contracts worth millions with reprocessing centers in France and Britain.
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60. The discussion is expected to focus on four broad subjects: raw materials and world trade, food supplies and agriculture, prospection, production and consumption of energy, and international financial and monetary problems. 61. Apart from trade, the US President will focus on restructuring the US Social Security system. He is likely to enunciate principle to guide reforms, but not offer a specific plan. At the same time, he is expected to propose using part of the budget surplus to start small, individually controlled savings accounts to which both workers and government would make contributions. 62. The U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman noted that the pace of economic growth in the U.S. is “widely expected to moderate” this year, which the Fed would welcome. 63. While offering no proposal of its own on how to salvage the current armsinspection system carried by the UN Special Commission in Iraq, the American delegation is expected to oppose monitoring methods that do not allow surprise inspections. 64. The Home Secretary is expected to make a statement next week on the validity of the practice of allowing outside observers, photographers, and television cameramen to be present at the counting of the votes at a parliamentary election. 65. Treasury sources yesterday confirmed that the next 10-year deal over the monarchy’s government funding was expected to be significantly lower than the current annual increase, agreed under the last Conservative government. 66. Domestically, the debt-ridden and poorly managed state-sector of China is expected to continue to drag down the consumption. 67. “...no government has ever backed demands for greater efficiency with any sort of clear statement of what exactly the police service is supposed to achieve”, a police official stated yesterday. 68. Roads have been built, and by next year every village in Egypt (though not every hamlet) is supposed to have electricity laid on. 69. Foreign secretaries can be useful of course. They are supposed to manage public opinion. They have to keep the House of Commons on side. 70. The US trade representative is said to have reported, in detail, on the latest developments to the EU trade commissioner who plans to visit Beijing for talks on its WTO application next month. 71. True, the euro-group is likely to grow relatively strongly next year. But European financial markets have already been badly buffeted. 72. The US parliamentary revolt against the European Commission was unlikely to get the two-thirds vote needed to succeed. 73. The cutback in housing programmes has been so sharp that the national campaign for the homeless reports that in the next two years no families are likely to be rehoused from the waiting list at all. 87
74. The Turkish economy, which had been growing at an average rate above 6% for the past four years, slowed and is likely to expand by only 2% this year. 75. Combine ethnic tensions on the fringes of the Chinese empire with regional tensions along the coast and you have good reason to believe that China / 5 more likely to disintegrate than is commonly believed. 76. The report says that it appears that the building industry is unlikely to be reformed from within and that some form of compulsion will be necessary if reasonable standards of construction and finish are to be secured and jerry-building discouraged. 77. No one will refuse to pay less tax, but if they think that by this means they will bribe the electors to vote for them in large numbers, they are likely to be disappointed. 78. The euro is likely to join the dollar as a reserve currency held by central banks around the world, perhaps leading some banks to sell dollars and thereby reduce the value of the American currency. 79. The present fine spell is likely to be brief, predicted the meteorological office last night in its long-range weather forecast. 80. Decontrol alone does not constitute an adequate oil policy. It is not likely to protect the economy against temporary shortages. Nor will it significantly reduce dependence on foreign oil imports in the long term. 81. Petty nations and their petty national demands are thought to be pointless at best; divisive and self-destructive at worst. 82. The epitome of Tory sleaze was Neil Hamilton, a backbench MP who was alleged to have taken a few thousand pounds to ask some questions in parliament. 83. Another intricate problem likely to be reintroduced with the help of a subtle change of name is the problem of medium range ballistic missiles. 84. The three parties likely to take part in a coalition are the Republican People’s Party, the Justice Party, and the New Turkey Party. 85. The Minister of Economic Affairs referred today to the statement reported to have been made by the Foreign Secretary on Friday. 86. About 60 people were yesterday reported to have been arrested on subversion charges. 87. The remark, reported to have been made after the announcement of his appointment to London, was widely commented on in the press. 88. The strike, called by the region’s main political parties and labor unions, appeared to be one of the largest yet in the troubled provinces. 89. While party leaders still say they support the goals of the program, and promise that it will receive expeditious consideration on Capitol Hill, Democratic anger at many of the proposals appears to be mounting daily. 90. Turnout at the nation’s 50.000 polling stations appeared to be heavy. 91. The Bank of England appeared to back off from threats of even more interest rate increases as the slowdown in the economy intensifies. 88
92. An official investigating the bribery allegations said payments made by local Olympic officials to members of the IOC appeared to have come from the privately funded budget. 93. Just a few years ago, Aum’s organization appeared to be wiped out. After the cult masterminded a nerve gas attack that killed 12 people in Tokyo’s subway, the Japanese authorities arrested 428 of its members. 94. Win or lose, the EU Commission appeared likely to emerge weakened from its battle with the Parliament over charges of graft, cronyism and mismanagement of EU’s 85 billion euro ($ 739 billion) budget. 95. Politics is a rough old trade, as Michael Howard, the former home secretary is finding out. A leading contender for the Tory leadership until this week, his campaign now appears to have been fatally damaged by the claim of one of his junior ministers at the Home Office that he misled the Commons. 96. Hydrocarbons (oil) and political volatility seem to go together. 97. Disenchantment with the President appears to be growing. The political scene has been transformed in the past two months to the point where people are openly talking of the possibility: (1) that the President will not seek re-election; and (2) that he might be beaten if he runs. 98. Europe seems to be slowing down faster than most people expected. 99. The most laudable aim of the Maastricht treaty was to knock the Union’s machinery into shape to cope with the club’s expected new members from Eastern Europe. Yet on most counts the treaty seems likely to prove disappointing. 100. A group of experts seemed to have solved a dispute about putting workers on boards that has for 25 years blocked a proposed European company statute. 101. Spanish authorities have confiscated copies of last month’s edition of “Working Youth”. No reason for the action was given, but it was be-lieved to have resulted from an article discussing sackings in a Madrid motor factory. 102. France had what was believed to be its coldest Christmas for 83 years, and in the Jura Mountains the temperature dropped to minus 28 degrees Centigrade. 103. In Zurich there was a scramble to buy marks and the Federal Bank in Bonn was believed to have bought up to 500 million dollars to prevent the mark going through its official “dollar ceiling”. 104. The meeting, which lasted just over half an hour, is understood to have taken place at the Prime Minister’s request. 105. A Tory MP threatens to name a high-ranking diplomat mentioned as a “senior civil servant” in the trial which ended last week. He is understood to have held top posts in defense and at one time served in Berlin.
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106. Japan’s prime minister, is said to have taken bribes in return for favours to Nomura, Japan’s biggest securities firm. 107. U.S. officials were said to consider that uncertainty was bound to continue unless some drastic measures were taken. 108. Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan, may be said to have been the birthplace of the first properly organized attempt at a general system of academic instruction in Japan. 109. In matters of sleaze and waste, the EU parliament is commonly said to possess within its own ranks a concentration of practical expertise rivaling any on earth. 110. The Secretary of State was said to have demanded written ground rules laying out foreign policy authority in the administration. 111. The meeting which was said to have lasted several hours on Thursday night, was confirmed Saturday. However, little more than the fact that it had taken place was revealed in the apparently coordinated statements provided by foreign policy spokesmen in the three countries involved. 112. Turkey’s rulers were said to fear that expulsion from the Council of Europe might make it more difficult to obtain necessary economic credits and aid. 113. The Titan 4A rocket was said to be carrying an eavesdropping satellite that would have listened in on military and government communications over the Middle East, India, Pakistan and China. 114. There are said to be indications that unless “new information” is obtained, the proof is unlikely to uncover sufficient evidence for legal action. 115. The police arrested a man who is stated to have been trying to sell the miniature and is said to have confessed to having stolen it. He is slated to have kept it for more than two years in the hope that the theft would be forgotten. 116. His detention without trial is claimed to have been a violation of the European Convention of Human Rights. 117. The experts were felt to have little hope of reducing the differences even if an attempt were made to bring the two parties together. 118. Mexico’s worst mine disaster, which is feared to have killed 177 men, claimed another victim today when a distraught relative of a trapped miner ran into the gas-filled pit. 119. The warnings are now shown to have been fully justified: thousands of workers will get the sack. 120. When the Bill reaches Tory peers next week they will either reject it or amend it in a manner certain to be unacceptable to the Government. 121. The German Chancellor is known to feel that Germany has maintained a high level of security spending while many smaller European governments are cutting back their security contributions. 122. The shadow cabinet, most of it strongly opposed to the Brighton decisions, is certain to be granted full weight for its views, and backbenchers will be 90
invited to serve on the sub-committees of the inquiry dealing with the various fields it is investigating. 123. Previously, scholars had believed that the forbidding interior of Chukotka was uninhabited in those ancient times. Chukotka, the area directly across the Bering Strait from Alaska, was found to have a number of sites in its interior which were excavated by the Russian archaeologists. They found a wealth of different types of stone tools and weapons at the sites, including arrowheads, knives and scrapers. 124. It was unbearable to hear this man speak of friendship with Britain as if nothing of importance had happened. 125. About 1 million farmers flooded the capital to hear the prime minister caution them against pressing for more government aid at the expense of the rest of the country. 126. Some Western officials expected the toughest negotiations on distribution of powers to be left until the very end of the talks. 127. The Premier said he expected other delegations to support the draft resolution before it was debated and voted upon in the General Assembly. 128. The analysts expect the next government in Turkey to continue policy reforms and drive down real interest rates. 129. The rapidity with which people are arming themselves with tear gas worries a number of law enforcement officials. Some officials say that they expect the disabling spray to be used increasingly by criminals bent on robbery, rape or assault. 130. At the opening, OPEC’s public information director told the journalists: “We don’t want to manipulate you, but we need you, the media, to help us get our message across to the man in the street”. 131. A private fund-raising group headed by close friends of the new President may disband following a published report that it used “strong-arm tactics” to get corporations to contribute $50,000 each for a televised gala featuring the President. 132. The crisis is hitting Western Europe several months later than the United States. This will react on the U.S. economy. It will tend to cause the crisis and depression to go deeper and last longer than most economists expect. 133. The United Nations General Assembly, defeating all Western opposition, declared the use of nuclear weapons to be a direct violation of the U.N. Charter. 134. The Spanish prime minister wants Spain to throw off the sense of inferiority caused by its past century’s history, and not least by the Franco period. 135. The President now says he wants negotiations on trade to open markets in once off-limits areas including services, manufacturing and farming. 136. The prime minister says that he wants Britain to emerge from the fringes and play a leading role in the European Union.
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137. It seems that the Right Wing in the Labour and trade union movement is not prepared to consider anyone who disagrees with them a human being. 138. In a document released today a Harvard University Professor discloses that studies he made in one medium-sized U.S. city showed mayors, police chiefs and other officials to have been on a gambling syndicate’s payroll for many years. 139. An association of lawyers says that many owners prefer their own property rather than nearby land to be swallowed by a motorway. 140. Polls repeatedly show that many Britons believe the EU to be remote and democratically unaccountable. 141. Time and again the Prime Minister has assured them that the Government doesn’t want to hinder the making of profits. He has done his damnedest to get the trade unions to agree to wage restraint, which would put still more profits into the pockets of the employers. 142. The Prime Minister has decided to get the Cabinet to make an earlier than expected decision on the budget. 143. Public opinion compelled the Government to get the German leaders to arrive at a settlement. 144. The issue is how to make the institutions of democracy work properly, not whether they should exist. Trade barriers are being pulled down, internal markets freed, state industries and services privatized. 145. The report calls for the monarchy in the UK to become professional and accountable. 146. Classification of political systems allows for qualitative judgements to be made in relation to political structures and governmental forms. 147. A National Security Council official said last week that “the NATO theologians are codifying fresh visions for their favorite organization, and the spin doctors see colossal opportunities for the president to bestride TV screens”. 148. “Whilst we read the report with interest, any issues of constitutional reform would be a matter for Parliament to decide”. 149. The United States and Britain on Friday set a month-long deadline for Libya to surrender two suspects wanted for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. 150. For the reform forces to pull off a majority on council, all their incumbents will have to hang onto their seats. 151. Mr. Tao says it would be “technically feasible” for the Hong Kong government to declare overnight that all Hong Kong dollars held in banks and in circulation would be converted into US dollars. 152. To say that the wages fight is not the only issue, or that higher pay will not on its own solve the crisis, only emphasizes the need for unions like the engineers’ to get stuck into the all-round fight for the alternative strategy now developed within the movement.
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153. The President was closeted in the White House today preparing his so called “Economic Renewal” package, as pressure from unemployed millions across the nation continues to build for federal action to provide jobs. 154. Chips are harder for hackers to modify than software. 155. Elitists highlight the tendency for political power to be concentrated in the hands of a priviliged minority. 156. In Japan, the ultimate way for a student to repay his teacher is to beat him at his own game. And having learned so well from the West, it is flattering to the Japanese to be told that the West may now have something to learn from them. 157. For Europe to drive forward it needs leadership. 158. For Egypt to get anywhere near its growth target, it will have to persuade Egyptians to save and foreigners to invest. 159. The rise of homeless emphasizes the desperate need for the Government to fulfil its pledge to meet the problem with a lower rate of interest for housing. 160. Although the Minister of Health yesterday did not accept the conditions described as typical, the revelations made it hard for reassuring phrases like “best in the world” and “tremendous step forward” to avoid having a slightly hollow ring. 161. In these circumstances the party leaders had no plan for the Prime Minister to make a unity appeal when he attends today’s party meeting. 162. An Atomic Energy Authority spokesman said it was not unusual for one or two reactors to be shut down at weekends under normal conditions. But in view of possible staff shortages it had been decided to close down three. 163. And having made this guess, he thought it completely in order for an MP to announce it, as if it were a hard fact provided by a government official. 164. There is too much slackness in many key industries. Too many employers complain of short order books and too many firms give notice of redundancy for there to be any complacency among trade unionists. 165. A first group of more than 50 immigrants was freed from detention centers in Sicily yesterday, hundreds more to follow in the next few days.
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СПИСОК ИСПОЛЬЗОВАННОЙ ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ 1. Гуманова, Ю. Л. Английский для юристов. Just English / Ю. Л. Гуманова, В. А. Королева, М. Л. Свешникова, Е. В. Тихомирова. – М. : Ассоциация «Гуманитарное знание», «Теис», 1996. 2. Гуськова, Т. И. Трудности перевода общественно-политического текста с английского языка на русский / Т. И. Гуськова, Г. М. Зиборова. – М. : РОССПЭН, 2000. 3. Тенсон И. А. Habits and ways in Great Britain and the United States / И. А. Тенсон, Р. А. Войтова. – М. : Международные отношения, 1978. 4. Трибунская, В. Н. Учебное пособие по переводу текстов общественнополитического содержания / В. Н. Трибунская. – М. : МГИМОУниверситет, 2007. 5. Smith, Tricia. Business Law / Tricia Smith. – Longman : Pearson Education Limited, 2003. 6. Blanke, H.-J. Theteaty of European Union (TEU). A Commentary / H.-J. Blanke, St. Mangiamely. – Longman : Pearson Education Limited, 2005. 7. European Administrative Law in Constitutional Treaty. – Oxford, 2007. 8. Trybus M. The Treaty of Lisbon and the future of European Law and Policy / M. Trybus, L. Rubini, Ed. Elgar. – Longman : Pearson Education Limited, 2008.
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CONTENTS ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ…………………………………………………………………………………………. 3 PART I. EUROPEAN POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS……………………………………..….… 4 Topical Vocabulary……………………………….………………………………….……………………. 4 Unit 1. The royal family……………………………………………………………………………………………. 4 Unit 2. The system of government in Great Britain………………………………..……………….. 7 Unit 3. Elections in Great Britain…………………………………………………………….………….. 11 Unit 4. The European institutions and bodies…………………………………………………………. 16 Unit 5. The European Parliament………………………………………………………………….…….. 18 Unit 6. Fundamental human rights………………………………………………………………………. 19 SUPPLEMENTARY READING…………………………………………………………………….…. 26 PART II. THE EUROPEAN JUDICIAL SYSTEM AND THE LAW-MAKING PROCESS………………………………………………………………31 Topical Vocabulary………………………………………………………………………………………… 31 Unit 1. The legal system of the UK…………………………………………………………….………. 32 Unit 2. The European Union legal system……………………………………………………….……. 33 Unit 3. Making new laws in Great Britain: Bills and Acts………………………………………… 35 Unit 4. The law-making process in the European Union……………………………………………. 37 Unit 5. The European judicial bodies……………………………………………………….…………. 40 SUPPLEMENTARY READING……………………………………………………………….………. 43 PART III. GLOBAL ECONOMIC TRENDS…………………………………………….……… 49 Topical Vocabulary…………………………………………………………………………………..…….. 49 Unit 1. A common European market……………………………………………………………………. 50 Unit 2. Global communication……………………………………………………………………..………52 Unit 3. International marketing………………………………………………………………….……….. 53 Unit 4. Jobs and careers………………………………………………………………………….……….. 54 Unit 5. Management styles………………………………………………………………………..……… 55 Unit 6. Fraud and corruption………………………………………………………………………….….. 56 Unit 7. E-commerce………………………………………………………………………………………… 57 SUPPLEMENTARY READING…………………………………………………………………..……. 60 SUPPLEMENTARY READING FOR RENDERING……………………………….…………… 63 СПИСОК ИСПОЛЬЗОВАННОЙ ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ………………………………..………… 94
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Пиксендеева Виктория Геннадьевна EUROPEAN ISSUES: POLICY, LAW AND ECONOMY Учебное пособие Подписано в печать 30.03.2018. Формат 60×90/16. Усл. печ. л. 6,0. Тираж 300 экз. Отпечатано в редакционно-издательском отделе (РИО) МАГУ. Мурманский арктический государственный университет. 183038, г. Мурманск, ул. Капитана Егорова, 15. 96