EU Farm Commissioner: “I’m really happy that prices are going up” – biofuels nothing to do with higher food prices
09 May 2008
Swedish new site Europaportalen has an interview with EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel ahead of the Commission’s “health check” of the Common Agricultural Policy, which will be published on 20 May. On the question of the surge in food prices, she says, “Isn’t that great! Do you know what, prices have fallen for 20 years straight. In Denmark, the average family spends 10% of their income on food - they spend more money on their kitchens. So yes, I’m really happy that prices are going up.” She said that although the situation could be used to scale down CAP subsidies, several member states still perceive a potential liberalising trade deal in the Doha talks as a threat.
She also ”completely discards” the notion that biofuels are behind the global surge in food prices. “The most important factor is the climate”, she says, adding that farmers in developing countries my in fact benefit from higher prices.
German SPD: The EU should have common ministry of defence
Deutsche Welle picks up on comments on EU defence made by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and other leading politicians at an SPD conference on security issues earlier in the week. It is reported that Peter Struck, the SPD parliamentary group leader and a former Defence Minister, proposed that the common European army should consist of a “combined military”, and called for an EU air transport command, a "real" ministerial defence council and the creation of an EU military academy.
The article quotes Hennign Riecke, Head of the European Foreign and Security Policy at the German Council on Foreign Relations, saying that the move towards a combined military should be labelled as a process of slow military integration, with new institutions created that lead to an organic growth toward a common army, in order to avoid resistance in some member states. The article also notes that “The EU reform treaty appears to be heading in this direction when it specifies that member states will cooperate to ‘take concrete measures to enhance the availability, interoperability, flexibility and deployability of their forces.’”
Jens-Peter Bonde publishes 10-point transparency proposal
Danish MEP Jens-Peter Bonde today leaves the European Parliament, where he has been campaigning for greater transparency since 1979, to head up the EUDemocrats, a trans-European political alliance whose aim is to strengthen democracy in the European institutions and member states. Bonde has published a 10-point “political testament” calling for greater EU transparency, including a proposal that all European laws should be supported by 75% of member countries and a simple majority in the EP. EUDemocrats
French Europe Minister predicts disagreements over asylum plans
In a lecture at the LSE yesterday French Europe Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet said that France’s three main priorities for the Presidency are (i) energy and the environment; (ii) migration and demographic change, and (iii) defence.
On immigration and asylum, he said the Presidency would propose an EU pact that will “enshrine strong commitments for long-term, balanced, and efficient management of migration flows.” He said the pact will tackle 5 main topics: enhancing border controls; making legal migration a success through integration; “implementing an effective return policy for illegal migrants”; “building a comprehensive and integrated approach to asylum”, which he said “will be the most difficult task”; and “promoting co-development with transit and origin countries.” He said the pact would have “a follow-up clause, implying a progress review every six months in the justice and home affairs council.”
Asked whether the UK is likely to support the French plans, particularly on immigration and defence, he said: “On immigration, we know that there is a divergence, it’s more a legal divergence, it’s more a question of sovereignty for the UK. But on the common goals, we are confident that we can be supported by the UK on that… the main difficulty will be about the asylum rights: we will also have difficulty with Germany, Poland and other countries, because the rights and traditions in these countries are more severe than they can be in France, for instance.”
Asked whether he supports Tony Blair for EU President, Jouyet said “It’s clear Tony Blair has many qualities… but as President, and not as France, we have to take into account what is the feeling in the different parties of Europe… and it seems that at the current time there is no majority, and that is why other names are floating.” When asked about French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde’s comments on a common EU tax base in the context of the Irish referendum, he said, “It’s not the most appropriate moment to speak about that… In the Lisbon Treaty you have unanimity for all tax matters… it’s not the rate, it’s about the base, it’s not the same… Ireland will be safe on that. We don’t want to create any trouble about the ratification process in Ireland and any other country… Our duty is to have ratification of the Treaty during our Presidency.”
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Le Figaro reports that Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker has called for 9 May – ‘Europe Day’ – to be a public holiday throughout Europe.
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EP President calls for a “harmonised European economy”
Agence Europe reports that during a joint press conference with the European Movement this week the President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Pottering said: “To a certain extent, we are in a political union, but we could do better. We must speak with one voice in the world. We can always do better, make contributions in all political areas”. He called for a "harmonised European economy, but in unity in diversity".
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Economist: pro-Lisbon camp are using threats to scare Irish people into voting ‘yes’
Ireland's new premier Brian Cowen vowed yesteday to make winning the Lisbon Treaty referendum next month his first priority. The Economist argues that Irish voters are being threatened with ‘pariah’ status and being left isolated and ‘whistling in the dark’ in Europe if they vote ‘no’. It notes: “It is common to hear that a No vote in a small country cannot be permitted to interfere with the smooth running of the EU”, but that, “It would be absurd to punish Ireland for voting No. The Irish government is the only one in the EU to have called a referendum on Lisbon. If they were honest, the 26 others would admit that they would struggle to secure a Yes vote, too”, noting that the Lisbon Treaty is merely a repackaged version of the Constitution specifically designed to avoid referendums.
It concludes: “The pro-Lisbon camp faces a dilemma. Hinting that voters will suffer if they reject Lisbon is an obvious way to boost turnout—and a high turnout is key to securing a Yes. But it is hardly a positive argument. True friends do not become pariahs just because they disagree with you. If nobody can find more convincing arguments in favour of the Lisbon treaty, the EU as a whole may yet find itself whistling in the dark.”
Danish referendum on defence and judicial opt-outs in September?
Danish daily Politiken reports that Danish PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen is not denying that the Government will call two referendums as early as September on the opt-outs from judicial and defence co-operation, amid growing speculation. However, he stresses that the Government “is currently consulting the other parties…exactly how and when the referendums will take place is not decided yet”. The parties in the Danish Parliament, the Folketinget, remain split on whether to hold one big referendum or to divide the issues into separate votes.
The Economist looks at Fogh Rasmussen’s possible candidacy for EU President, or another international top job. Although Fogh Rasmussen himself denies that he’s running, it is noted that a poll found that only one in eight Danes do not think he’s aiming for either for the post as President of the European Council or a position at NATO. A report last month by Ritzau, the Danish national news agency, also noted that Fogh Rasmussen has spent almost as many days abroad as at home so far this year: 53 in Denmark and 47 on foreign trips. The article notes that scrapping the Danish opt-outs could increase Fogh Rasmussen’s chances of becoming EU President.
Politiken Berlingske Berlingske2 Jyllands-Posten EUobserver Economist
Waterfield: MEPs are hypocrites on question of transparency
MEPs have voted for the creation of a mandatory register for lobbyists, financial disclosure by lobbying firms of their main clients and a common set of lobbying-related rules for the main EU institutions.
Bruno Waterfield on his Telegraph blog accuses the MEPs of “hypocrisy”, arguing that this move “shifts the focus from the EU’s lack of democracy and accountability to a priggish, childish obsession with money and the corporate world. This is the point. None (that’s N, O, N, E) of the executive bodies of the EU, European Council, Councils of ministers, Coreper, the Commission, all bodies that exercise power over us, we the people, keep a proper public record of their debates or decisions... Is hypocrisy too strong or too weak a word? Why should lobbyists “disclose” their financial interests, a private matter, when MEPs will not even tell us how they spend our, that is public, money? Pious pronouncements on lobbying may provide a feel good buzz for eurocrats and their pals (whether MEPs or freeloading NGOs) but it does nothing to make the EU more democratic, or public. Not one little bit.”
Meanwhile Le Figaro reports that MEPs rejected an amendment which would have classed religious associations as interest groups.
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Open Europe’s Neil O’Brien is quoted in various Canadian newspapers arguing that British politicians "incredibly ... don't seem to have realized" the enormous financial cost to British families when they signed up to flawed EU environmental policies.
Liberal member states clash with protectionists over biofuels
Le Monde reports that EU member states are split over how to meet the 10% target for biofuel use. One camp of countries, comprising France, Germany and the new member states want to defend national production of biofuels, whilst others, including the UK, Holland, and Nordic countries want a greater emphasis on more efficient imports to satisfy their needs. The Nordic countries and the UK want a minimum of 50% carbon savings relative to fossil fuels. France is pushing for a lower target of 35%. Lower carbon savings would allow more European-produced fuels to be used. Meanwhile EU biodiesel producers have asked the Commission to impose ‘emergency’ import tariffs on US biodiesel. In a separate development, US producers are launching legal action, accusing the EU of structuring biodiesel standards to benefit domestic producers.
MEPs: Lisbon Treaty and temp workers directive will guarantee unions’ rights
Europa-Nytt reports that MEPs – led by Swedish Social Democrat Jan Andersson – have published a proposal on how to guarantee unions’ rights, in the aftermath of the Laval case. Three measures are proposed: ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, as the Treaty, according to Andersson, ”puts the right to strike on par with free movement”; revise the EU’s rules governing foreign companies operating in another member state; and adoption of the temporary agency workers directive. The proposal will be voted on in the EP’s employment committee, and if adopted will be presented to the Commission, which will then be under pressure to act on it.
Giacomo Regaldo, a former senior figure in the European Economic and Social Committee, has been given a five-year suspended prison sentence by a Brussels court after he was found guilty of obtaining money fraudulently from public bodies.
Phillip Stephens in the FT charts the declining political fortunes of Gordon Brown, Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel.
Latvia and Lithuania have ratified the Lisbon Treaty.
European Voice BBC Europa-Nytt
Le Monde reports that a group of around 30 MPs from Nicolas Sarkozy’s ruling UMP party are calling for the obligation for a referendum on future EU enlargements to be maintained.
UK
Salmond talks up a Tory/SNP pact
Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said yesterday that the SNP would vote with the Conservatives at Westminster after the next General Election if that was in Scotland's interests. "Clearly, if we could use Scotland's position to vastly extend its influence in a balanced parliament at Westminster, I would take up the negotiating position as First Minister of Scotland," he said. "We would judge policies as they came forward from the minority administration of the day and we would seek to extend Scotland's influence."
In the Scotsman, Linda Fabiani, SNP Europe Minister says: “The importance we as a government place on Europe should come as no surprise. We have clear aspirations – Scotland as an independent member state within the EU, with its own distinctive voice at the negotiating table.”
Labour hits all time poll low
A YouGov poll in the Sun puts the Tories on 49 per cent and Labour on 23. The Liberal Democrats are on 17. Labour's rating is thought to be the lowest the party has registered since such records began in the 1930s.
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