Last week I spent three interesting days in Brussels visiting among many places the European Parliament, meeting up with Jens Holm, head of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. Jens is a Member of the European Parliament from Sweden and his passions are global justice, animal rights and environmental issues (www.jensholm.se). It was fun to meet someone who is not in favour of the EU but who works within the organisation. He held an interesting speech and gave us a view on how he works and how it is to work in a multicultural very powerful organisation. I was in Brussels as a part of an EU competence course and I really liked the fact that we also met people who are critical to the EU and its organisation. I am a believer in cooperation and in the idea that collaboration is the best way to avoid war and seclusion. The way the EU works is often criticised by people as an enormous bureaucracy that cost a lot of money and does not give us very much value for money. I disagree with this even though there are issues those needs solving within the EU (such as the Strasbourg situation and the high travelling compensations to the politicians). I think that bringing issues regarding the environment and energy policy up to the highest level is essential if we are to save the planet. What good is it if Sweden changes its laws on pollution if Poland or the Baltic states does not? I also think that we do get value for money even if it is not always visible in economical statistics.
Today I was in Göteborg on a conference learning more about the EU social fund together with my colleague Carita from the administration of social affairs in Ulricehamn. One of the speakers was Jan Andersson, head of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs in the European parliament. He talked about the increase in child poverty in Europe but also about the issues regarding employment mobility within Europe. He is currently working on a report about this, as it has proven difficult for tax authorities in the different member states to agree on how to deal with this mobility. I obviously thought of Jochem who spends 3 days a week in the Netherlands and 4 days in Sweden each week. We have tried to find a tax lawyer who can help us find our way in the tax jungle but it has proven very difficult. It is not only a question about where to pay tax. Last week I got a phone call from the organisation that pays out child allowances in Sweden. They told me that they could not pay us any child support at this moment as we might be entitled to child support from the Netherlands (which happens to be a third of what they pay out in Sweden). The Dutch authorities stopped paying out the child support in February and now we have to wait until the Swedish authorities have concluded what to do! I guess we will get the child support retroactive. This is just a small thing but the open boarders bring new situations and new challenges that might look simple but takes time to solve.
I really enjoy my work and I get to meet many very interesting and talented people. It is also very stimulating to hear what EU projects are being worked on and how the European collaboration is increasing day by day. We have so much to learn from each other and at all possible levels. That is why I think that a simple student exchange program or a school trip to another country can be just as important as a major environmental policy project between several states. Where would I be today if I had not run in to a Dutch exchange student eleven years ago? We cannot measure what long-term effects a meeting between two people can have the day they meet or even a year later. That is why international relations have to be seen in a long-term perspective and that is why it is such an exciting world to be in!!
To end this I want to tell you about a very talented and very good friend of mine who has just been given a fantastic job in Malmö. Katrin Stjernfeldt will be responsible for the social portfolio in Malmö Stad (3rd largest city in Sweden). She is not only a young, ambitious mother of two but also a fantastic person who will take on one of the toughest jobs in Sweden and I know that she will do well. I am proud to have such a talented friend and happy that she has been given this chance in an after all still very male dominated world!! For the Swedish readers; http://sydsvenskan.se/malmo/article320570.ece
Ulrika
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