Mario Monti's bravura performance a highlight of the week in Europe

The Italian PM outlined the steps his government is taking to put the country's finances back in order, in a week of business including Greece, Syria and press freedom in Hungary

By Graham Watson, on Friday, February 17, 2012

Graham Watson's favourite new acronym is FATCA – an organisation that will fight against tax evasion…

I reported last week on plans for a joint British German cabinet meeting; these have now been downgraded to a joint meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs sub committees.

The European Parliament met in Strasbourg this week. In a vote on next year’s budget we called for a single seat for the European Parliament, to cut operating costs. Our vote will not make a crucial difference but is yet another sign that we are gradually winning the campaign. Until recently, such a move would have been defeated.

The highlight of Parliament’s week was a bravura performance by Italian prime minister Mario Monti, a former EU Commissioner, who outlined the steps his government is taking to put the country’s finances back in order. Far reaching structural reforms are expected to balance the budget by the end of next year. Monti urged EU countries to accompany financial austerity with more emphasis on policies for economic growth through trade.

I was interviewed by BBC TV’s weekly The Record: Europe programme about Greece’s debt crisis and its impact on the Euro. (It is the BBC’s only real attempt to cover the EU yet is to be axed in June in favour of a monthly programme to be recorded in London.)

We had debated Greece’s situation in the Chamber a few hours earlier in the debate on the preparation of the next meeting of the European Council (the heads of state and government of the EU’s member states). I argued for a rescue since Greece’s parliament voted by a healthy margin to back a painful set of austerity measures last Sunday. I also recall the times before the euro, when countries engaged in competitive devaluations against each other, making trade a risky business. It is all too easy to forget how much the euro has contributed to trade and growth on our continent, which is why it is the world’s second largest reserve currency (accounting for 26.5% of global foreign currency reserves compared to 4.2% for sterling).

Since Parliament was to debate the situation in Syria, the Liberal Group invited to Strasbourg Fawaz Tello, a member of the opposition Syrian National Council, and blogger Dany Abdul Dayem, who called for help from the international community, even if only in enforcing a no fly zone to prevent the army attacking citizens and putting pressure on Russia not to supply arms to Assad. The Foreign Affairs Committee later heard evidence from France’s foreign minister about action in the UN. I am not at all sure that the reports in the western media are reliable; there are big oil interests at stake here.

The chorus of concern about recent developments in Hungary was reflected in a resolution adopted in Parliament this week backing the Commission’s legal action against the country and the moves by Media Commissioner Neelie Kroes (Netherlands, Lib Dem) to press for guarantees of media freedom.

I met US Ambassador Bill Kennard to discuss the Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement and the re-negotiated provisions for the exchange of Passenger Name Recognition data on air travellers. I think Parliament will likely agree to the former but may refer the latter once more to the European Court of Justice for its opinion, since even the new agreement appears to breach our data protection laws. I spoke on both issues in meetings of the Liberal Group.

Yesterday morning I hosted a breakfast for colleagues at which chess champion Garry Kasparov outlined his programme for introducing chess in primary schools. Last night I met Germany’s new (Liberal) EU Affairs Minister, Michael Link. Today I am in London for a strategy meeting of the UK Liberal Democrat MEPs. Tomorrow I take a break during a one week parliamentary recess so will write again in a fortnight’s time.

Before I sign off, let me share my favourite new acronym: FATCA. It stands for foreign account tax commitment acquittal and is an agreement signed last week between the five largest EU member states and the USA to share information on individuals’ bank accounts in the fight against tax evasion. So yes, it should have another ‘T’ at the end.