A range of laws that costs you €3 a year

THE running of the European Parliament costs every person in the 27 states €3 a year, but very few of the near half billion citizens actually know whether this is good value, or even what they get for it.

Despite this, hundreds of pieces of legislation have passed through the hands of the MEPs over the past five years – and all of it affects ordinary citizens.

It’s a diverse range of legislation from insisting that medicines given to children are tested specifically for them, to the banning of seal products, blacklisting unsafe airlines and along with cutting the cost of mobile phone roaming charges.

About 40% of legislation that affects Ireland is thrashed out in Brussels between the member states before becoming national law, and three quarters of it has to be agreed with by the Parliament. But, according to EU expert Professor Simon Hix, a “lot of what goes on in the Parliament is of great significance but, out there, there is a big ignorance”.

Here is a brief list of some of the legislation they had to agree to and, in many cases modified, together with reports that put pressure on national governments.

CONSUMER RIGHTS:

* Cheaper mobile phone roaming charges across the EU

* Ads and web booking sites must show full price of air ticket, charges included

* New rules on TV ads allowing product placement in programmes

* Ban on toxic and cancerous chemicals in toys

ENVIRONMENT:

* Reach: all chemicals in everyday goods must be registered and most hazardous replaced

* Half all household paper, metal and glass waste and 70% of construction waste must be recycled by 2020

* 45% of batteries to be collected

* Causing serious environmental damage becomes a crime

CLIMATE CHANGE:

* CO2 car emissions down to 130g/km by 2012 and 95g/km by 2020

* All polluting rights to be auctioned from 2013 including from power stations

* Air transport included in emission trading scheme from 2012

HEALTH:

* Nurses and doctors qualifications recognised across the EU allowing them to work

* Drug companies to invest and test child medicines

* Ban new mercury thermometers and barometers from October

* New measurement systems to reduce particulate pollution in cities

SERVICES MARKETS:

* Full market opening of postal services by 2013

PASSENGERS’ RIGHTS

* Rights for train passengers including compensation for delay

* Trains adapted for disabled people

* Disabled cannot be refused air transport and free help at airports

TRANSPORT:

* International rail open to competition next year

* EU-wide driving licence card from 2013

* Blacklist for unsafe airlines

EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS

* Temporary agency workers get same pay and conditions as permanent staff

* EU Globalisation Fund to help people back to work

TERRORISM AND ILLEGAL FINANCE

* Banks must check identity of new account holders and those transferring more than €15,000

* Casinos must check ID of customers gambling more than €2,000

* Telecom companies retain call data though not content for up to two years

FINANCIAL SERVICES:

* Auditing firms must be independent from companies they audit

CIVIL LIBERTIES:

* Non legally binding report revealing details governments ignoring CIA kidnapping suspects and secret jails in EU

IMMIGRATION AND FREE MOVEMENT

* Common rules and minimum standards for the return of illegal immigrants

* Sanctions against employers of illegal immigrants

EP FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTS AND DEMANDS:

* Call for a universal moratorium on the death penalty

* Sakharov Prize, EP’s human rights award for freedom of thought

* Concerns about human rights situation in China and Russia

* Parliament calls on the US to close down Guantanamo detention facility

* Israel-Palestine: MEPs pushed for a two-state solution

INSTITUTIONAL DECISIONS AND ENLARGEMENT

* Parliament approved an amended list for the new European Commission after President José Manuel Barroso took on board MEPs’ concerns about some of the original nominations

* Support for the Lisbon Treaty after the rejection of the draft Constitution

* Green light for Bulgaria and Romania to join EU

* Yes to accession negotiations with Turkey, Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, but EU’s absorption capacity must be respected

* Yes to the introduction of the euro in Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta and Slovakia

MORE MONEY FOR EP PRIORITIES

* Financial Framework 2007-2013 – €4bn more for EP priorities: foreign policy, innovation, structural development and the environment

* €53bn for the 7th Research Framework Programme, €309m for the European Institute of Technology

* €3.4bn for Galileo, the European satellite navigation system

* €7bn for EU learning programmes