Brussels briefing
Irish ombudsman Emily O’Reilly’s bid to become the EU equivalent will come to an end this week with votes in the parliament.
She has put in a more active campaign than the three MEPs she is battling against, and than the Dutch ombudsman also running. She was encouraged by Nordic MEPs when they signed a letter objecting to the politicisation of the role and said the MEPs should not run for the post.
Given that Taoiseach Enda Kenny will be in Strasbourg this week, perhaps he might put aside the fact that she was a Fianna Fáil nominee to the Irish post and actively campaign for an Irish person to get the prestigious post.
Mafia comes in families, other crime gangs come in clans, but the Russian-speaking mafia are “thieves in law” according to Europol who arrested 13 suspects in six EU countries.
According to Europol this is one of the most significant blows against clans controlled by this high-ranking, elite of the world of Russian speaking organised crime.
It follows 18 months of EU-wide intelligence exchange and evidence gathering instigated by Italian police and those arrested include the Kutaisi leader in Hungary and the hierarchy directly underneath him.
Foreigners frequently marvel at how quiet the Irish are in the face of all their travails — but the truth is that the reaction can be more deadly than a few broken windows.
Employment commissioner László Andor pointed out that according to his review, Ireland’s youth are emigrating in increasing numbers. They are leaving too in droves from Latvia and Lithuania.
By contrast, Spain and Greece’s young people, where the unemployment rate among them is close to 50%, are staying at home, as indicated by the massive figures.
While the job of selecting a new Commission president is a year away, the speculation is well under way. As a very successful Irish presidency comes to a close, it’s understandable Enda Kenny’s name is being mentioned by many sources.
The only problem is that it could be too early to break cover at this stage and the fear is that the reason names are being put forward now is to eliminate them later.
Many believe the Lithuanian president, Dalia Grybauskaite, pictured, has all the qualities — former Budget Commissioner, winner of the Charlemagne Prize, Washington educated, speaks four languages and has a black belt in karate.
One of the biggest achievements of the Irish presidency, according to the Government, is getting agreement on rules on public procurement.
Every year supply and public works contracts worth about €300bn are on offer in the EU. In Ireland alone public procurement supports 250,000 jobs with an annual spend of €14bn, says Minister Howlin.
He says the changes will make it much easier for SMEs to compete for such contracts.
One of the few agreements the Irish presidency failed to achieve was on the limit of CO2 emissions from cars.
Germany was the problem as their environment minister favoured lowering the limit, but their enterprise minister was worried about BMW in particular.
Unlike the others who can offset the effect of their small cars against the larger ones, BMW only produces gas guzzlers that emit lots of CO2.
Since they could not agree a position between them, they managed to ensure no progress was made on the issue.
Talks about EU membership are back on with Turkey, pushed by the Irish presidency.
While the police and government reaction to the protests in cities have raised questions about the intentions of the prime minister, this has not deterred the change of mood to the country.
There was no chance of any talks during the Cypriot presidency and Turkey can expect a slowdown in any potential progress from next January when Greece takes over the presidency.
So they have a window opened by Ireland that will last the six months of the Lithuanian presidency.
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