NEWSFLASH 110 DECEMBER 2012
CALENDAR
FUTURE EVENTS
Bilbao (Spain) 25 January 2013: Next January 25th there will be a lecture‐discussion by Javier Arellano, Sociologist, Researcher at Deusto University and formerly Director of Alboan. Invitations have not yet gone out. ______
PAST EVENTS
Barcelona (Spain): “Need for a new global economic model: from a sustainable and competitive perspective” 18 December 2012: In the framework of the activities of the Club of Rome Spanish Chapter’s Catalonian Group and in collaboration with the La Caixa Foundation, a meeting was held on “The Need for a New Global Economic Model: from a Sustainable and Competitive Perspective,” in which Professor and member of the Club of Rome, Dr. Franz Josef Radermacher, Director of the Research Institute for Applied Knowledge Processing (FAW/n) in Ulm, President of the Senat der Wirtschaft e.V., Bonn, President of the Global Economic Network (GEN), Vienna, and Vice President of the Ecosocial Forum Europe, Vienna, spoke.
According to the speaker, the call for a sustainable, and thus durable, economy is gaining in intensity. The frequently heard expression, "sustainable market economy", refers to a global eco‐social market economy approach to making a sustainable economy operative. A vital element in this concept is a regulated or constrained competitive market providing goods and services. In addition, a second system of constraints must simultaneously assure sustainability.
Dr. Radermacher explained that an eco‐social market economy thus combines two systems of constraints in which economic performance achieved continues to be measured by a GDP‐like system. The goal of an appropriate increase in global living standards is pursued in an eco‐social market economy as well. However, all mentioned restrictions (such as permissible CO2 emissions) are taken into account. A formula known as fundamental identity derives from this: Market economy + sustainability = global eco‐social market economy.
Dr. Franz Radermacher
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1 Fuencarral, 139, 5º A ‐ 28010 – Madrid. Teléfono 91 431.67.99 y fax: 91 575.38.00 Asociación Declarada de Utilidad Pública Valencia (Spain): “Effect of European Union Law on the internal legal codes of the Member States.” 13 December 2012: Among the activities of the Club of Rome Spanish Chapter’s Valencia Group in the series, “The challenge of governability. Europe and globalization,” José Hoyo Rodrigo, Attorney on the Consell Jurídic Consultiu and President of the International Academy of Science, Technology, Education and Humanities, lectured on, “The effect of European Union Law on internal legal codes of the Member States.”
The speaker presented a view complementary to the lectures already given in that on this occasion the subject was “The Effect of European Union Law on the internal legal codes of the Member States.” Ensuring that the “machinery of European institutions is unstoppable, as Community law has precedence over the internal law of the States.”
Professor Hoyo believes that, “Precedence of European Union Law is unavoidable. Under its rule even constitutional laws, and with growing frequency, the decisions of a particular State are becoming less relevant.” He explained that the Official Journal of the European Union and the regulatory stipulations published in it have an erga omnes effect on all Member States. In fact, this superiority of European Union Law is confirmed by two factors, the attribution of competences to the EU diminishes the sovereignty of the States, to which the compulsory nature of the Union’s regulations must be added, not only treaties, but also derived law, such as regulations or decisions that originate in Community bodies.
He claimed that, “regulatory inflation complicates knowledge of law, because Brussels legislates much more than any national parliament or regulatory authority in the Member States.” To confront what Prof. Hoyo calls, “legislative inflation,” he proposes, “…the need to refine legislation coherently, removing obsolete regulations so they do not endanger legal security, or become arbitrary.”
D. Rafael Blasco, Coordinator of the Valencia Group and José Hoyo ______
Madrid (Spain): Opening session and presentation of the International Science and Society Award 2012 to the Spanish Chapter of the Club of Rome. 12 December 2012: During the opening of the 1st Multidisciplinary Workshop on Science as a Driver of Employment organised by the Institute of Science and Society and the Spanish Association of Scientists, the International Science and Society Award 2012 was presented to the Spanish Chapter of the Club of Rome, and was received by Teresa Mendizabal, Vice President of the Spanish Chapter of the Club of Rome.
The Workshop included the participation of Jesús María Rincón López, researcher at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas and President of the Spanish Association of Scientists; Octavio Uña Juárez, Chair of the King Juan Carlos University Department of Sociology and President of the Institute of Science and Society; Juan Carlos Olea 2 Fuencarral, 139, 5º A ‐ 28010 – Madrid. Teléfono 91 431.67.99 y fax: 91 575.38.00 Asociación Declarada de Utilidad Pública Cañizares, Director of the IHCB Department of Psychology of Coexistence, President and Founder of www.convivir.info, Vice President of the Institute of Science and Society, and Antonio Calvo Roy, President of the Spanish Association of Scientific Communication, who acted as moderator. ______
Madrid (Spain): “Series on Hunger and Food in the World. Sustainability of an Agro‐Food System” 4 December 2012: In the framework of the Club of Rome Spanish Chapter’s activities, the Series “Hunger and Food in the World. Sustainability of the Agro‐Food System” under the direction of Ignacio Trueba, Chair Emeritus of the Polytechnic University of Madrid, which consisted of five workshops during the months of October, November and December, was brought to an end in this closing ceremony.
The subjects dealt with by a panel of 10 prestigious professors and scientists were: 1. Hunger, Poverty and Social Exclusion, 25/10/2012 2. Ethics of Development and Food, 29/10/2012 3. Value Chain in the Agro‐Food System, 7/11/2012 4. Food Crisis. Interrelationship of Food with other Crises (Energy, environmental, climate change and economic‐ financial), 20/11/2012 5. Food in the Future, 4/12/2012
Some important conclusions of this cycle were:
1. Market forces alone cannot ensure that greater availability of food per capita is a sufficient condition for obtaining the best results for humanity in environment, food and health. 2. Programmes concentrating on micro loans are carried out properly, and have found the best procedure for doing things right under many different circumstances. Micro loans have the advantage of being easier to manage than food aid, allowing those who receive it to use the resources received freely and also stimulate instead of disturb local markets. 3. Food aid can still have a relevant role in extreme and severe emergencies, but not in eradicating chronic hunger. 4. To feed the world’s population in 2050, it will be necessary to produce more with fewer resources (land, water, power, etc.), pollute less and maintain biodiversity, indispensable to future food security. 5. The role of women in development is fundamental. Women must be empowered to exert their rights, especially to access, use and control of water and land, perform farm labours with environmental responsibility, bring up healthy children and feed their families adequately.
Ignacio Trueba, Susana Gende, Pedro Astals and José Manuel Morán
3 Fuencarral, 139, 5º A ‐ 28010 – Madrid. Teléfono 91 431.67.99 y fax: 91 575.38.00 Asociación Declarada de Utilidad Pública ______
Bilbao (Spain): “Mondragon Unibertsitatea, a Singular Model of University Governance”. 30 November 2012: Among the activities of the Club of Rome Spanish Chapter’s Basque Group in the series, “Sustainable Economy”, a lecture‐discussion on “Mondragon Unibertsitatea, a Singular Model of University Governance” given by Ioisu Zabala, Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and current Rector of Mondragon Unibertsitatea.
Dr. Zabala gave his view of university management as strongly connected to the business world and MCC (Mondragón Cooperative Corporation) cooperatives, oriented toward business, its efficiency and results in collaboration with society. The cooperative model of Mondragon Unibertsitatea constitutes a unique national and international example of university governance; something like a third way between public and private, and a tangible test of the phenomenon of cooperatives, in the unique scope of the university.
Link to his lecture: http://www.clubderomagv.org/debates/20121130.
Dr. Iosu Zabala ______
Barcelona (Spain): “The third sector in Catalonia: contribution and challenges” 21 November 2012: In the framework of activities of the Club of Rome Spanish Chapter’s Catalonian Group, and in the series on “The Contribution of the Third Sector and the Social Economy to Today’s Society”, the luncheon‐colloquium, “The Third Sector in Catalonia: Contribution and Challenges,” was held, in which Rafael Ruiz de Gauna, Director of the Pere Tarrés Foundation for Institutional Relations, Training and Consulting, Treasurer of the Social Third Sector Table of Catalonia, Trustee of the Fundació Escoles Parroquials (Parrish Schools Foundation), spoke from his knowledge and long experience on the concept of the Third Social Sector, the labour of the Social Third Sector Table and more broadly, the contribution and challenges of the Third Sector and the entities that it includes, all of them with a clear social vocation.
4 Fuencarral, 139, 5º A ‐ 28010 – Madrid. Teléfono 91 431.67.99 y fax: 91 575.38.00 Asociación Declarada de Utilidad Pública
Rafael Ruiz de Gauna ______
Barcelona (Spain): “The Third Sector and Social Economy” 2 October 2012: In the framework of activities of the Club of Rome Spanish Chapter’s Catalonian Group in the series, “The Contribution of the Third Sector and Social Economy to Today’s Society,” the luncheon‐colloquium, “The Third Sector and Social Economy” was held with the participation of Isabel Vidal, Ph.D. in Economy. Dr. Vidal is the President of the Centro de Investigación de Economía y Sociedad (Centre for Economy and Society Research Foundation CIES), Professor in the University of Barcelona Department of Economic Theory, Academic Director of the Master’s Degree programmes in Social Economy and Management of Non‐Profit Entities and in Corporate Social Responsibility, and author of many publications on the subject of the discussion.
Dr. Vidal explained the concepts of the third sector and social economy, what they have in common and where they differ, referring also to the type of organisations, institutions and businesses included in them, as well as their contribution to today’s society.
Dr. Isabel Vidal ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
5 Fuencarral, 139, 5º A ‐ 28010 – Madrid. Teléfono 91 431.67.99 y fax: 91 575.38.00 Asociación Declarada de Utilidad Pública