Graham's blog entry 13th October 2006

Published on Fri 13th Oct 2006

The South West came to Brussels this week - in a big way. The top brass of the Regional Development Agency and Regional Assembly presented the region's new Economic Strategy to the European institutions on Tuesday in the gilded halls of the UK ambassador's residence in the Rue Ducale, with Commissioner Danuta Hubner receiving it with a formal address. Since much of it depends on EU aid, this was a good move. I was particularly pleased to see that almost all the leading councillors there were Lib Dems. The RDA's new Chief Executive forgot to mention the region's MEPs, however, in her closing list of thanks. I hope it was an oversight.

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We also welcomed more exotic visitors, in particular parliamentary delegations from Iran and North Korea, two pillars of George W Bush's 'axis of evil'. I had an interesting discussion with members of the Majlis (parliament) from Iran, particularly about Israel. As a member of the EP's delegation for relations with the Korean Peninsula I was involved in hosting the visit of the North Koreans, which meant an afternoon of talks followed by a dinner. Their first ever official visit, it was a return match for the delegation we sent to Pyongyang last year (see my letter of 15Jul05). What made it especially interesting was their detonation of an alleged nuclear device at the start of the week. We criticised them heavily, both in the delegation meeting on Tuesday and a parliamentary debate with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana the following day. They maintained that they felt under threat from the USA and anyway it was their own business. I tried hard to get their delegation leader to open up over supper, using German as our lingua franca, but succeeded only when swapping reminiscences about life in the German Democratic Republic, where we had both been students (though not contemporaries) at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig.

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My colleague Chris Davies saw his excellent work on the REACH chemical-testing directive progress this week as the EP's Environment Committee voted 359 amendments to the Commission's revised proposal. Together with the Socialists and the Greens we won majorities for most of what we wanted, though few of the points on our wish-list would secure the absolute majority in the House needed to get them through at second reading. Nonetheless the Committee agreed that Parliament will insist - in its negotiations with national government ministers in the Council of Ministers - that the most dangerous substances be removed from the market. In particular bio-accumulative, carcogenic substances or those toxic to reproduction will have to be withdrawn from the market within five years - or sooner if cleaner alternatives exist. The ministers want to encourage substitution of harmful chemicals but not make it obligatory.

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As the Finns prepare for the EU heads of state and government 'summit' in Lahti next week they're fighting a battle in the Agriculture Council over vodka. They (and the Swedes and the Poles) want new rules on its definition and labelling, meaning it could only be called vodka if fermented from cereal or potatoes. The UK and Spain, which both produce inferior products and call them vodka, back the Commission's proposal allowing any agricultural raw material to be used. One can already see the canapés being flung around the sauna.

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My constituency office team visited Brussels this week and were in the visitors' gallery for the statement by the Finnish Presidency on next week's summit. They heard me and others question the wisdom of the invitation to Putin to join EU

leaders for supper, especially in the light of the murder of journalist Anna Politovskaya. Let them talk about oil and gas by all means, but at the same time prepare for a European economy which is not in thrall to Russian energy supplies - and not be afraid to harangue Putin about this latest murder in a tale of 40 journalists thus disposed of in Russia in recent years. (For my speech http://alde.europarl.eu.int/content/default.asp?PageID=711)

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My week started with Latvia; I was briefed in Brussels on Monday on their election results which saw Liberals returned to Parliament after an absence of four years. It ended with Bucharest, where I spoke at the ELDR Party Congress, sadly missing Sherborne's "douzelage" town twinning conference. I look forward to a relatively quiet weekend, since I've another book to sign off for printing. If you're looking for a political stocking-filler, I hope to have it available for purchase in time for Christmas.