Brussels briefing
Europe Minister Lucinda Creighton got the Irish EU presidency off to a good start in Strasbourg where she not only took on MEP issues in the parliament, but also stood in for EU foreign affairs chief Cathy Ashton.
Her year of visits to other member states and to the European Parliament’s plenary monthly sessions in Strasbourg appeared to pay off, with many MEPs greeting her warmly.
With Ireland central to negotiations on so many issues, largely on behalf of other member states with the parliament, all are hoping it will pay off. But not everyone loves the Irish “pragmatic” approach, preferring doggedly held principles instead, as was obvious from MEPs’ attitudes to Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s appearance last week.
There are ongoing indications of just how reluctant governments are to really tackle bankers — and how willing they are to put their voters/taxpayers on the hook instead.
The credit ratings agency law went through the parliament during the week, but as Sven Giegold, a German MEP who helped negotiate it with member states, said: “This is no great breakthrough. We wanted more and the countries did not.”
Currently three agencies, Fitch, Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s, control 90% of the ratings market and efforts to create greater competition have largely failed, including creating a European agency.
There should be greater transparency and it should be easier to sue them for making errors. Next comes the battle on bankers’ pay and bonuses — another area where member states appear to have got cold feet. Having Ireland in the chair is unlikely to change that.
TAXING ISSUE: Joe Costello, trade and development junior minister, may be asked by MEPs tomorrow about comments he reportedly made to the Italian newspaper, La Stampa, about online trading companies such as Google paying minimal tax through using the country’s tax regime.
“It’s legal, but I don’t think that it’s ethical,” the daily paper quoted him as saying, adding that it’s a question the Government will deal with but suggesting it might be more effective to raise the debate in Brussels.
With Britain, France, and other countries clamping down on multinationals using vehicles in Ireland and the Netherlands to cut their tax payments, it could become a major issue this year.
The Irish glass-half-full mentality is becoming legendary in Europe. New research by Eurofound, the Dublin-based EU agency, shows that Irish workers in their 50s are the most satisfied with their working conditions and more than three times happier than colleagues across the EU.
They also report they are the healthiest, while more than 90% who are working — the biggest proportion in the EU — say they will be able to do the same job at 60.
Since Ryanair stopped flying into Strasbourg — courtesy of rival Air France — they have not been as much on the European Parliament’s mind, until one of the MEPs started giving out abut their one-bag policy.
It was taken up by the Dublin Socialist Paul Murphy and took on a life of its own, helped by the company’s claim that the policy was for safety reasons.
Michael O’Leary has waived the stipulation in a few airports, including Charleroi, where together with your one piece of 10kg hand luggage, you can bring on one plastic bag of goods bought in the airport’s shop.
But the row has cast a spotlight on increased costs for other services, including hold baggage and boarding passes.
All new driving licences will be in credit card format with the same information and safety features across the EU.
But it will take up to 20 years to replace more than 100 different licence formats issued.
The change is more than just cosmetic, with a new licence category for motorbike drivers with a minimum age limit of 24 years for the most powerful bikes, and for moped drivers, who can get a licence at age 16 years.
It also means a person whose licence is confiscated or suspended in one state will be unable to get one in another EU country once the new electronic data exchange system is in place.
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