Brussels briefing

Monday, September 24, 2012

Presidency preparations at fever pitch

Taoiseach Enda Kenny was impressed with the work-load his ministers and civil servants are undertaking for the six-month presidency that begins in January.

In a normal EU year there are 3,200 meetings, some of them chaired by ministers but most by civil servants. So half of those, 1,600 will be under the eye of the Irish.

Preparations are getting to fever pitch now with Mr Kenny and his Cabinet coming to Brussels next week to meet the European Commission.

The Brussels branch of the Institute of International and European Affairs has been rallied to the cause also and are holding a dinner, with the Taoiseach as guest speaker.

Case of iRules

With great fanfare last year the European Commission and the mobile phone industry announced an end to the madness of everyone having their own type of connector to charge their phone, camera and the plethora of other gadgets.

Apple was not too enthusiastic though the Lightening connection it produced for its new iPhone 5 complies with the voluntary agreement it and other manufacturers signed three years ago.

But true to form, Apple is not using the micro-USB adopted by the competition, but a special version of its own. But they are making adaptors to make it compatible and charging for it.

ANEC, the European consumer voice in standardisation, was upset by the turn of events. It urged the Commission to scrap the voluntary agreement when it expires at the end of the year, and go for legislation instead. A case of iRules in the end?

Bruton calling

John Bruton may have recoiled from becoming President of Ireland, but Gay Mitchell, who tried and failed, wants the former taoiseach to become president of Europe.

The political groups in the European Parliament are planning to nominate candidates for EC president.

It is up to member state leaders to choose the next EC head, but MEPs say citizens should decide in Parliament elections in Jun 2014.

Big John may face Poland’s Donald Tusk and Viviane Reding of Luxembourg.

Turf-cutters go over old ground

Irish turf-cutters revisited the European Parliament over the week, attending the Petitions Committee.

Marian Harkin praised stakeholders for trying to find a solution for families losing their extraction rights on their bogs to EU environmental laws.

She accused Friends of the Irish Environment of ignoring the human dimension of the problem. They were not as positive about the Government’s efforts to save the 1% of the country’s protected bogs that are still living.

They say the damage is being done by industrial extraction of turf by private companies and say it emits greenhouse gases and hits water quality.

An Bord Pleanála is meant to rule whether planning permission is needed, but says the issue is very complex.

Put money where poor-mouth is

Everyone is battling for their share of the EU’s €80bn budget for the next six years, including the European Anti-Poverty Network and its director Fintan Farrell.

They are battling to ensure there is a minimum share earmarked for poverty reduction in the EU, and they have the backing of the European Parliament.

However member states, with the cost of rescuing banks on their minds, have been chipping away at this. Final decisions could well come up during Ireland’s presidency.

In the meantime the EAPN is writing to all the EU’s prime ministers asking them back up their vague promises with real money, and have asked them to be transparent on their negotiating position.

Fragile China

There seemed to be even more than usual diplomacy involved in trying to organise the EU-China summit in Brussels during the week.

The Chinese authorities wanted to give as good a farewell to president Hu Jintao as possible as he is due to retire. They would have liked lots of EU leaders present but had to be content with the presidents of the council and commission.

They would also have liked a hand-picked selection of journalists asking pre-ordained questions at a closed press conference. Two years ago a Chinese reporter was refused entry to the EU building at the request of Chinese security. The press conference was cancelled.

The other China

The Taiwanese won a rare victory during the week when the European Parliament passed a resolution recognising the benefits of their pragmatic policy for dealing with the long-standing dispute with the People’s Republic of China and Japan.

The Republic of China, lives in a kind of international limbo, with countries afraid to recognise it in case they incur Beijing’s anger.

As a result, everything from trade deals to event invitations have to be monitored closely. Now the parliament is pushing for the EU to have a free trade agreement with the islands. MEPs pushing for this see the agreement to give Taiwanese nationals visa free status as a major step. Let’s see.

Fracking war heats up

Big oil companies are promoting the advantages of getting shale gas from crevices in rocks beneath the ground in many European countries, including Ireland.

They say its advantages as a fuel include that is cleaner than others, such as coal, and it would help make many countries less dependent on oil imports.

Friends of the Earth, among others, are preparing for battle, and warned the EU needs to shut its doors to the latest fossil fuel to ass to the earth’s CO2 levels.

They warn that there is growing evidence fracking to threatens human health and the environment.

France and Bulgaria have banned fracking, while the Netherlands, Germany, and the Czech Republic have a moratorium on it. Home