EU economy bulks up with a 'six pack'

By PRSD, on Friday, September 30, 2011

Sir Graham Watson: ‘the subject of numerous brickbats from the strong pro Greek lobby’

The big set piece event of Parliament’s week in Strasbourg was President Barroso’s ‘State of the Union’ address. He is not a strong President, nor a good platform speaker; MEPs believe he is too easily pushed around by the larger member states. And though his tough language about the pre-eminence of the European interest over the national gained him applause, he needs, as Lib Dem leader Guy Verhofstadt told him in reply, to use that language in meetings of the European Council.

Nonetheless he announced help for Greece and called for economic union to accompany monetary union: he announced a proposal for a financial transaction (‘Tobin’) tax on the banks to reimburse the taxpayer for bailing them out; and he called for united EU leadership on the global stage, including in the creation of a Palestinian State.

The details of the Tobin tax are far from clear. Will it apply to the whole of the EU or just the Eurozone? Since it needs unanimous agreement of the member states, how soon can it be agreed, if at all? Nonetheless it is a response to Parliament’s increasingly insistent calls for such a measure to part-finance the EU budget and might raise over EUR 50 bn a year (about half the EU’s annual spend).

On Palestine, Parliament adopted a motion calling on EU member states to unite in the UN in support of Palestine’s bid for recognised statehood; we also approved a trade agreement to help the west Bank and Gaza export more farm and fish products to the EU.

By far the most important decisions of the week, however, were our votes on six pieces of legislation (dubbed ‘the six pack’) to improve the management of the EU’s economy. These provisions include deadlines for the reduction of sovereign debt and penalties for non-compliance. Perhaps we are locking the stable door after the horse has bolted; but better late than never.

If all 17 Euro zone countries now ratify the 21 July agreement to increase the bailout fund, we may yet avoid being plunged into a global slump by the over-indebtedness of the western capitalist world. The chairman of the Euro group, Luxembourg’s PM Jean-Claude Juncker, briefed us on rescue measures for Greece and rejected calls for the country to leave the Eurozone.

I spoke in reply to a statement from the Commission and the EEAS (European External Action Service) on the tensions between Turkey and Cyprus over exploratory drilling for oil in the Mediterranean. While recognising Turkey is in the wrong under international law I said we could hardly be surprised by its reaction and that the decision to start drilling now was clearly going to be provocative. I also had ‘Embargoed!’, a Turkish Cypriot NGO, invited to address our Contact Group for relations with northern Cyprus, so am the subject of numerous brickbats from the strong pro Greek lobby (and from the Zionist lobby, who did not appreciate my speech in the debate on Palestine).

Among other decisions, Parliament voted to prevent a general authorisation of the export of ‘dual-use’ telecommunications technologies (which can be used to violate human rights) to countries such as China, Russia, India and Turkey. The House failed to support a move by my colleague Andrew Duff MEP to refer to the ECJ the proposed new fisheries agreement between the EU and Morocco which would allow fishing in disputed waters; he was defeated by a coalition built by the Spanish fishing lobby and the Belgian friends of Morocco.

In my constituency today I will visit Fowlers Motorcycles in Bristol to discuss the proposed new Type Approval regulations which worry some bikers and will meet NFU officials on a farm outside the city to discuss reforms to the Common Agricultural Policy. There’s nothing like local knowledge to help an elected representative do her or his job properly! Over the weekend I’ll tackle another mountain of constituency casework.