Brussels Briefing - A weekly round-up of the most interesting news from Europe
Malta, the only EU country that bans all abortion, has introduced ground-breaking gender identity laws.
It recognises that there is not always a strict dividing line between the genders, that physical characteristics are not always aligned with psychological realities and that babies can have some physical attributes of both genders.
It has introduced two new universal rights: the right to gender identity, and a right to bodily integrity and physical autonomy irrespective of whether they are male, female or inter-sex at birth.
Surgery to ‘fix’ babies at birth is banned, anybody can rectify their name and gender without changing their marital or family status and civil union for all.
All this happened without the divisive lobbying seen in Ireland — which the Maltese put down to public consultation, including setting up a consultative council.
Investigative journalism by Belgian, Swiss and German media shows what can happen to taxpayers’ money when it is put at the disposal of private business without sufficient oversight.
The research fund with €2.5bn of EU money was intended to help universities, small research bodies and drug manufacturers mainly to tackle areas neglected by big pharmaceuticals.
However, the journalists found that in fact it has been taken over by the companies and they are prioritising research into areas that will produce the biggest profits for them, rather than the best gains for people.
Despite the evidence uncovered the European Commission is reluctant to admit to the failings or apparently to learn the lessons. The research coincides with a major drive in Brussels to use EU funds to coax private investors to spend their money in areas of most need.
The CO2 emissions of new cars has exceeded the EU targets set in 2010. The most fuel-efficient cars were bought in the Netherlands and Greece while Ireland has the highest proportion of diesel sales at 74%.
However, the rationale behind Ireland’s love of diesel is changing, with the fuel efficiency of petrol cars catching up with diesel and the gap now one seventh of what it was in 2000.
Finance ministers are gearing up for a bad-tempered meeting in Riga this week with Greece dominating the agenda.
The date for a detailed agreed reform list in exchange for a final bailout payment of €7.2bn has been shifted to May 11 so the Greek exit remains more of a threat than an option.
Word from Athens is that the EU’s most left-wing government still has not got to grips with how to govern in a democratic capitalist system, so the bureaucracy is paralysed.
However, there is a sense that events have taken a more political turn with ministers coalescing around their political groups — centre-right EPP, centre-left Socialists, liberal Alde — and seeing the pink-tinged Syrzia as interlopers that should be purged, thus making it easier to say goodbye.
Sinn Féin MEP Matt Carthy this week hosts an Irish delegation in Brussels to discuss the likely effect of the EU-US trade deal — the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership — due to resume negotiations this week in New York.
The Government is backing the huge deal while Sinn Féin is not. Few expect it will be concluded with upcoming US elections making it unwelcome there also.
EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom is due to present a report outlining the benefits, especially to SMEs, hoping to convince more Europeans to love the deal.
Labour mobility is frequently seen as the great get-out for unemployment in EU countries. However, doubtless partly because of language differences, workers are far less likely to cross borders in search of work than in the US where up to 30% of people move states.
More traditionally known as emigration, Ireland is still the eurozone county with the highest proportion, about 15%, of its working-age population born in another EU country.
It has one of the smallest percentages of workers born outside the EU.
Overall, intra-EU migrant workers number 4%, half the percentage born outside the EU.
The number of EU countries vexed with Israeli illegal settlements in the Palestinian West Bank is growing.
Just 13 countries signed a letter two years ago warning about produce from the settlements being labelled as “Israeli” — availing of better trade terms with the EU and misleading consumers where they in fact come from.
Some supermarkets label the produce, mainly fruit and vegetables, as coming from the ‘West Bank’ which also fails to tell the truth that they come from settlements that are breaching international law.
The latest letter to the new EU foreign affairs head, Federica Mogherini, was signed by 16 countries, Ireland included. However, still less than half the EU member states. The EU is developing a ‘retail code’ that should correctly identify the source of such goods.
Lobbying governments and the EU institutions to influence laws is seen as a legitimate practice — provided everyone knows who is lobbying for what, and that no one is buying the outcome. A report from Transparency International shows the state of lobbying in the EU is not very healthy, and warns it leads to corruption.
They scored countries, with 100 being the most healthy. Ireland was the fifth healthiest country in the EU. However, the good news finishes there since the score was a poor 39. The ‘best’ was Slovenia with 55 and the ‘worst’ was Cyprus on 14.
The European Commission is the best of the EU institutions with 53. The most problematic areas are alcohol, tobacco, vehicles, energy, financial and pharmaceutical.
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