Brussels briefing
Kerry MEP Seán Kelly was on cloud nine with his award of MEP of the Year for his work in the area of research and innovation.
But he did not rest on his laurels. Instead he was back pushing plans for a cloud computing strategy for Europe.
It has, he says, the potential to create 2.5 million jobs and boost EU GDP by €160bn by 2020, which would add a full 1% to the union’s wealth.
He believes this storage of data on remote servers, that can then be accessed by the person it belongs to from any computer or smart phone, is the next frontier of the digital age.
But the European Consumer Organisation believes the plan does not protect people in relation to data protection and copyright. Instead it proposes allowing businesses to choose to safeguard consumer rights.
Marian Harkin, who received the Outstanding Contribution MEP of the Year Award in Brussels last week, is excellent at finding niche areas of EU policy, of particular importance to sizeable numbers of Irish citizens.
She is highlighting the need for the Government to argue strongly for substantial funds from the EU’s agriculture budget to go into the Agri Environmental Options Scheme, as it would help sustain farm incomes and help the environment.
While it is not as good a scheme as REPS, it has potential and she warns that the government should not walk away from it.
Ruairí Quinn, education minister and long-time EU expert, chaired a Socialist party conference in Brussels at the weekend when they elected a new president.
On Wednesday he will welcome the Socialist president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz when he arrives in Dublin for a two-day visit, which includes an address to the Dáil.
He is in Ireland ahead of the country taking over the EU presidency in January and doubtless also to do a little advance electioneering as the Socialist group is expected to put him forward as their candidate for the commission president.
The member states make the selection but MEPs hope they will choose the leader of which ever political party gets most votes in the elections to the Parliament in June 2014.
The choice is likely to be between Schulz, a German, and Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister and a member of the centre-left EPP.
In these lean times you have got to be creative when it comes to creating jobs. And there is more to film, dance, theatre, and cartoons than just entertainment.
In the good times between 2000 and 2007, employment in the cultural and creative sector grew about 3.5% a year, compared to just 1% for jobs in other sectors throughout the EU.
The jobs have weathered the downturn better than most and now the European Commission has launched a strategy to boost this sector, helping develop skills, access finance and international markets, and encourage the spillover into tourism, education, and urban renewal.
Ireland once had a child mortality rate of 47 for every 1,000 babies born — now it’s the lowest in the world at slightly fewer than 4. In the developing world it’s still 68 per 1,000 — but that is better than it once was according to MEP Gay Mitchell.
He was the third Irish MEP to be named as an MEP of the year, recognised for his work in development. As well as being a leader in the development committee in the Parliament, he’s involved in budget negotiations.
This comes on top of his recent appointment as an adviser at the UN assistant secretary general on disaster risk reduction. He said 3.3 million people have died from disasters in the last 40 years.
Inside five decades three in 10 Europeans will be aged 65 or over. There is growing awareness of the need to fund pensions and provide healthcare for this grey army.
But it’s not always that simple. Autism-Europe is hoping to make people realise and on Friday, European Days of Autism, they hope to raise the challenge of the 3.3m with autism who as they age will lose their primary carers, their parents.
Autism is the national cause of the year in France and there have been tragic cases that illustrate what can happen for people with autism and other disabilities when their carers die. The community and the state have not prepared for this.
Marks & Spencer, after seven years fighting, has won its action against the British government to be allowed to offset losses by its subsidiaries in other EU countries against its profits — and tax — in Britain.
HM Revenue agreed to change their corporation tax law and bring it into line with single market regulations.
But the European Commission isn’t happy with their progress or direction and is bringing them back to court. This has led to an outcry from Tory MEPs who see it as interference with taxation — something that will put fear into the politicians in Dublin as well.
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