Brussels briefing
Employment commissioner Laszlo Andor has succeeded in getting five aspects of how people are really doing, in terms of jobs and poverty, into a scoreboard for each country. He hopes this will trigger alarm bells and action in future.
But he was defeated in his bid to make targets mandatory — the same as for a country’s debt and deficit.
The European Anti-Poverty Network was among those despairing at the outcome, especially since they had been co-operating with the EU and national government as requested.
But its chief, Barbara Helfferich, points out they have not been welcomed as equal partners and, instead, the social plans are becoming an empty shell.
The target to cut poverty by 20m by 2020 is in tatters with an increase of 4m last year — and now there will be no annual report on progress towards the targets.
The European Food Safety Authority is caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to ensuring the public that their decisions are based on what is best for people.
Under-funded and under-staffed with many of their people coming from industry, they rely on the scientific studies provided by the food industry for their analysis when deciding whether we should be eating GM products, or drinking the latest soft drink.
But as a list of civil society groups pointed out in an open letter a fundamental principle of science is that others can carry out the same tests to see if they get the same results.
When EFSA published parts of Monsanto’s information on a type of maize, the company threatened to sue. The result is that studies on the most used pesticides in the world remain secret.
Máire Geoghegan-Quinn’s EU draft research programme in health has been criticised by scientists, public health researchers, and NGOs.
They say the draft suggests funding is biased towards the biotechnology and personalised medicine industry, and neglects the prevention of disease and improving health services.
The commissioner says she expects researchers will shape the first funding round agenda.
Following tough negotiations and a lot of opposition from big EU countries, the €1bn globalisation fund is back on track, said independent MEP Marian Harkin.
As the Parliament’s chief negotiator, she chaired the final round of talks and is very happy that the new fund will have a new focus on unemployed young people.
Ireland received more than €100 million for redundant workers in Dell, Waterford Glass, SR Technics, Talk Talk and the construction sector.
Germany really is almost unstoppable when it comes to protecting what they see as their self-interest.
And their car industry is a prime interest — whatever about the lungs of their and other EU citizens.
They are now trying to delay for a full four years vehicles lowering their CO2 emissions to 95g of CO2 per km, saying they don’t want to have to introduce it as now envisaged in the much watered down version by 2020, but to begin phasing it in then over four years.
Vets could sign off that meat is fit for human consumption from a simple visual check in abattoirs under proposed EU rules.
Up to now, they have to carry out more rigorous checks inspecting organs as well.
The European Parliament’s Food Safety Committee wants MEPs this week to veto the proposed new rules saying that with the increasing speed of processing pigs, in particular in factories, and the number of issues current inspections turn up, vets need to continue to use not just their eyes and nose, but their hands as well.
The Sakharov Prize is intended to honour exceptional individuals who combat intolerance, fanaticism and oppression, with all the winners having shown how much courage it takes to defend human rights and freedom of expression.
The members of the European Parliament have agreed to shortlist Edward Snowden, pictured right, the American now living in Moscow, who alerted the world to the all-pervasive extent of NSA and UK’s GCHQ’s internet surveillance.
The choice between him and two others will be made by the leaders of the political groups in the Parliament and its Socialist president Martin Schulz. One of the other choices is 11-year-old Malala Yousafzai, who survived a Taliban assassination attempt after she defied their attempts to keep girls out of school. The other nomination is Belarusian political prisoners.
In a week when the MEPs are fulminating about European countries’ co-operation with illegal CIA flights and prisons and NSA commercial and political surveillance, it will be interesting to see if they award Snowden.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
