Brussels Briefing: A weekly round-up of the most interesting news from Europe
Medicines and healthcare have entered the fray of negotiations between the EU and the US on their ground-breaking trade agreement, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.
With the Socialists in the European Parliament having unlocked the door to having trade courts to decide if national actions and laws are contrary to their interests, civil society groups are becoming more concerned about the effects on other areas. A meeting between organisations representing consumers and EU negotiators will discuss the implications for the health sector — one of the chapters in the partnership.
The Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue said they were afraid the EU would be forced to apply lower safety standards on medicines and devices to be in line with the US. The Commission negotiators said their concerns were unfounded.
Electioneering never stops in Brussels. If some country is not having an election, then some EU posts are up for grabs.
European Parliament president, Socialist Martin Schulz wants to stay on for a further two and a half years rather than hand the reins as agreed to the biggest political group, the centre-right European People’s Party.
French EPP MEP Alain Lamasseur, who heads up the committee investigating sweetheart tax deals with corporates, would like the job but it looks like the publicity-loving German could hold on.
They just might agree as they are content to have their party member Jean-Claude Juncker in charge of the Commission. The Spanish finance minister, De Guindos looks set to unseat his Dutch colleague, Jeroen Dijsselbloem as president of the eurogroup — in time to save him from the upcoming Spanish elections.
Matchfixing is not confined to Fifa with 425 individuals suspected of fixing 380 matches across 15 European countries identified by Sportradar, a company that markets a Fraud Detection System.
They signed an agreement with Europol to exchange expertise and statistics. It plans to collaborate on projects.
The Swiss Sportradar has contracts with a range of sporting bodies that keeps their 1,000 staff in 30 countries busy.
The survival chances of about 6,000 European animals, fish, birds, bugs and butterflies are being reviewed by the European Commission as they consider what more needs to be done. So far they estimate one sixth of birds are facing extinction and one 12th of all sea fish — with hunting and over-fishing the biggest culprit.
The latest figures were revealed at the Green Week three-day conference in Brussels, that looked at the reasons for the threats and ways to reverse it. About 67 species, including iconic birds such as the Sociable Lapwing, Yellow-breasted Bunting and Slender-billed Curlew, are on the very critical list while the once plentiful Angelshark is now found only around the Canary Islands. There is hope, however, with 20 once-threatened birds now plentiful.
More than 40 representatives of mental health campaigners have been hosted in the European Parliament by Sinn Féin MEP Liadh Ní Riada.
They were learning about how other organisations and governments manage their services and hearing about what is considered to be best practice in a whole range of areas from suicide prevention to all forms of mental illness, and included Pieta House, Mental Health Ireland, Action Mental Health, Sosad, 3TS and Mental Health reform.
They were joined by practitioners, advocates and campaigners, academics and individuals involved in and prevention.
About half of all children under five that die in the world — around 3m a year — do so because of a lack of nutrition.
A quarter suffer from stunted growth that also affects their intelligence.
The Millennium Development Goal aim to halve the number by this year has not been met, but numbers are reducing in most regions.
The EU has announced a €23.5m fund for an initiative to help improve systems in six countries — Bangladesh, Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Laos and Niger — with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation providing €450,000, with €8.7m from the UK.
All those expensive but fake bags and watches should be in dwindling supply as three of the main bodies responsible for clamping down on counterfeit goods plan to increase co-operation.
According to a report from the Office for Harmonisation of the Internal Market — which aims to protect trademarks and designs — fake goods including cosmetics, perfumes and personal care products cost more than 50,000 jobs.
These counterfeits are fairly common — accounting for almost a 12th of the value of the real things. The value of fake luxury goods such as watches and jewellery is even more, they say. Europol and Eurojust have created a European Intellectual Property Prosecutors Network that involves the US and Norway to share knowhow and intelligence to catch the counterfeiters.
What happens when security services which exist to protect our democracies become a risk themselves, asks the Commissioner of Human Rights of the Council of Europe — a non EU body.
Nils Muiznieks points out that recent revelations about security operations show they have violated human rights, including murder, torture, silencing expression and preventing fair trials.
However his report points out, while these reports should have resulted in better oversight, the systems remain largely ineffective. Those of the council’s 47 member states that have taken action do not fully follow international standards.
“It cannot be further delayed,” he said.
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