The Wealth Gap: Europe
|
|
|
The countries of Europe have always demonstrated vast differences in wealth. This difference has become even more visible with the growth of the European Union. Workers from poorer countries travel to rich ones, dreaming of a better life, and sometimes the conditions the face are far worse than at home, while criminals take advantage of the fact that you do not need to show a passport at the borders. This topic is one which must be treated with diplomacy and tact, and it is important to view the problems from all sides.
A large number of immigrants are now forced to travel towards Europe in search of jobs and many companies are benefiting from this. The companies are promising the immigrants a good pay and good conditions but are giving them the complete opposite. There are quite a lot of examples of this but one of the most terrifying ones was made public in 2012 where the story of 13 Romanian workers reached the public. The 13 workers were working for a German company named Dreßler Bau on something called the Europa Quarter development. The 13 workers were promised a monthly salary of 1.200 euro, places where they could live also healthcare and transport. However, the workers received none of this and their hourly pay was as low as 1.09 euro. Research tells that the wealth gap in Spain is the biggest in all of Europe. 20% of the richest people in Spain are now seven and a half times richer than the 5% poorest people. But how did it end up like this? In 2007, Spain’s economy was declared one of Europe’s greatest success stories but in 2008, the Spanish economy’s period of greatness came to an end. This resulted in 26% of the Spanish workforce becoming jobless and the economy hasn’t improved since. A result of the growing number of poor countries can be seen on the crime ratings from Britain. According to new figures, migrants in Britain are committing 500 crimes a week (with Poles and Romanians as the worst offenders), but none of these can be deported because they are from the EU. A spokesperson from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) said: ”The growing number of new communities has certainly brought greater complexity to the pattern of crime and have contributed to already stretched resources.” This may appear to be a big problem, however there are solutions. One solution could be to make the richest people pay more in taxes. This money could then be spend improving the conditions of the poorest. However the problem with this is the fact that many of the politicians in these countries get paid money by the rich people in order to not do this. So the problem is as much within the political system as it is in the economy of the country. Glose liste Benefiting = Gavner Pay= løn Conditions= forhold The public= befolkningen Salary: løn Healthcare: Sundhedspleje Declared: erklæret Improved: forbedret Committing: begå Deported: udvist Spokesperson: talsmand Communities: fællesskaber Complexity: sammensat Convicted = Kende skyldig Contributed = Bidrage Conditions: betingelser |
|
Assignments for the article The wealth gap Europe
1) Read the article and write down a summary.
• Why is there a big difference between poor and rich people?
• What is the solution of this problem?
2) Write down the words you don’t understand and translate them. You can try to use the new words to form some sentences.
3) Whose fault is it that there is a big difference between rich and poor in Spain? Please discuss and compare to other similar problems in the world.
4) Please form some sentences using the words from the glossary
5) Choose one of the pictures and describe what you see
1) Read the article and write down a summary.
• Why is there a big difference between poor and rich people?
• What is the solution of this problem?
2) Write down the words you don’t understand and translate them. You can try to use the new words to form some sentences.
3) Whose fault is it that there is a big difference between rich and poor in Spain? Please discuss and compare to other similar problems in the world.
4) Please form some sentences using the words from the glossary
5) Choose one of the pictures and describe what you see
| assignments-for-the-article-the-wealth-gap-europe.docx |