Brussels Briefing
While members of the European Parliament are busy on the hustings, some are working hard to shut down their traditional seat in Strasbourg.
Most of the 750 MEPs would prefer to base themselves in Brussels full-time rather than moving to the city that almost straddles the French and German border for their voting sessions once a month.
It would mean changing treaties — which is a major obstacle. The latest attempt to push the agenda, however, is to ask Parliament president Martin Schulz to commission a study on the health effects of the MEPs monthly move.
The Mayor of Strasbourg withdrew the name of Green party leader Dany Cohn-Bendit to receive the city’s Medal of Honour because he supports the move. The Court of Auditors is to study the cost — which could hold sway eventually.
TOP MAN IN EU: Jose Manuel Barroso, due to end his second term as European Commission president later this year, is being awarded an honorary doctorate of laws by University College Cork on Wednesday.
He has requested speaking time of up to 25 minutes, suggesting he has a specific message to convey to Ireland.
Being told to stay away when Ireland was coming to the end of its austerity programme earlier this year, he will doubtless have interesting things to say.
This will be the second time the former prime minister of Portugal visits UCC.
He spoke there on the Lisbon Treaty in 2008.
The emergency eCall system where cars automatically call the nearest emergency services following a crash is to be made mandatory. It has been voluntary and very few manufacturers bothered to include the technology in their vehicles.
But from 2015, all new cars for sale in the EU will be fitted with the technology and Labour MEP Phil Prendergast believes it could play a vital role in saving lives in Ireland where the death toll has increased for the first time in eight years.
Because it is automatic and transmits the exact location of the vehicle, emergency services can arrive in half the time it normally takes. It will also work for people travelling abroad in their cars, she points out.
Tory MEPs caused uproar in the European Parliament, objecting to seven British ski instructors being arrested in France and thrown in jail overnight for apparently working without proper qualifications or authorisation.
They have been told they can’t work as instructors and the MEPs are accusing the French of blatant protectionism. They asked Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier to take action.
In the meantime, the Commission is waiting for the next backlash from London with the latest figures showing an increase in EU nationals migrating there for work.
While the EU is working overtime to abolish borders on the continent for transport, the British government is busy installing one on the border with Northern Ireland apparently.
Both Pat the Cope Gallagher and Marian Harkin were seething with indignation over the move that will see hauliers crossing the border being charged €10 a day for crossing into the North.
The two MEPs have raised the issue with the EU’s Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas and hope he will take action. In the meantime Mr Gallagher pointed out that this charge is adding insult to injury as Irish taxpayers are paying for road developments across the border as part of the Good Friday Peace agreement.
The European Patent Office in Munich granted a patent to Monsanto for soybeans — not the GM type, but ones found to be specially adapted to specific climates.
The giant multinational has been accused of bio-piracy, looking to exclusively own genetic information on naturally occurring seeds.
The idea is that they will own hundreds of DNA sequences that they can use to cross and breed particular types of soybeans that would be best suited to cope with various climates and should be especially useful where climate change is playing a role in farming.
Europol has issued an early warning message to all EU countries about a new type of Trojan horse criminals are using very successfully.
It consists of having boxes marked “fragile” picked up by parcel delivery services, and once the box is inside a lorry on its way to its final destination, the criminals release themselves from inside the box.
Accomplices following on behind the lorry then fake an accident to stop the vehicle.
The beer industry and Europe’s 4,500 breweries were hit hard by the crisis with sales dropping by 8% over three years. But it’s picking up now, thanks to a growing thirst not just in the EU but also abroad where exports are worth €3bn more than imports.
The business has been hit, however, by sharp increases in taxes in 14 EU countries — the highest being 160% in France. But other countries were more sensible, with Britain and Denmark cutting taxes last year, “to help solve wider economic problems”.
With a report drawn up by Ernst & Young, the brewers say they can play a critical role in creating employment opportunities for young people, and so give a timely boost to the EU’s fragile economy.
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