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| 17th May 2008 | Graham Watson MEP | <info@grahamwatsonmep.org> |
Graham's Blog Entry Friday 29 February 2008Published on Fri 29th Feb 2008 Russia's muscle is making itself felt in energy policy. While I was with Austrian prime minister Alfred Gusenbauer in Vienna on Monday discussing the bid by Austrian oil company OMV for its Hungarian counterpart MOL, news came in that Hungary had agreed to Russian proposals for a pipeline called Southstream to bring gas into central Europe. This may put in jeopardy the EU's long-planned Nabucco pipeline due to bring gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe across Turkey. The USA has said it will support Nabucco, as it did the Tbilisi-Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline, because it will bring gas from Azerbaijan more cheaply than it can be bought from Russia. However, the gas we will need in future years is rapidly being bought by Russia under forward contracts. The urgency of the EU's plans to cut the use of oil and gas, in order to fight climate change, grows apace. I enjoyed a demonstration last week of one way to cut dependency on oil, when Honda lent me a Honda Civic hybrid car. This car runs both on petrol and batteries and has a stop-start mechanism which turns off the engine when idling (eg at traffic lights) and turns it on again immediately the brake pedal is released. I was mightily impressed with a substantial car which took me over 250 miles for less than twenty five quid's worth of petrol. But it may be in hydrogen that we find another way to cut petrol consumption in road transport; and BMW has offered me a long term test drive in June of a car partly powered by hydrogen. The HyWays project, funded by the EU's research programme, seeks to develop fuel cell technology (with the hydrogen produced from natural gas, biomass and wind power) and to have it on the market before 2020. It was on the agenda of the EU's research ministers earlier this week and will be voted on by Parliament on 10 March. Not everyone is convinced, however. When the 27 Competitiveness ministers flew in from their national capitals at the start of the week they concluded that though the EU should lead in the fight against climate change it should do so "without harming the competitiveness of the EU economy". Some people just don't get it. Of course it will have an impact on the economy, but the initial negative impact should be more than adequately compensated for by medium and longer term savings and the development of new, exportable technologies. In any case, unemployment has been falling rapidly (down from 8.9% to 8.2% across the EU between 2005 and 2006) as globalisation of the economy has created 6.5 million new jobs in the past two years (European Commission's's annual joint employment report 2008). Where the protectionists have been proven wrong is in their belief that preserving domestic markets for ourselves saves jobs. In fact, using open markets to grow aggregate global demand provides a bigger pie from which even a smaller slice is still an improvement. We need the political courage to explain this to our voters and convince them of it. Last night I enjoyed - hotfoot from my flight home - the chance to thank Langport and Somerton Rotarians for their role in supporting community projects worldwide. In particular, they help raise a hundred million dollars to eradicate polio in the 4 countries in which it persists: Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan. Today I visit schools in Sherborne and Wiveliscombe and address a constituency supper in Cheltenham. Tomorrow I campaign in a local by-election in Gloucestershire, speak at the Western Counties LD AGM and travel to London for the 25th anniversary dinner of Simon Hughes MP's election to Westminster. I was there on a cold February morning in 1983, walking up and down outside the polling station wearing a sandwich board saying "Simon Hughes - No 9 on the ballot"; for there were in that famous by-election two other candidates called Simon Hughes attempting to stymy the threatening advance of the Liberal-SDP Alliance.
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Related News Stories:Wed 1st Feb 2006: AVAILABLE NOW! Graham's new book - 'Liberal Democracy & Globalisation'. Related Press Articles:Fri 16th May 2008: Fri 9th May 2008: Graham's blog Friday 9 May 2008. Fri 25th Apr 2008: Graham's blog Friday 25 April 2008. Fri 18th Apr 2008: Graham's blog Friday 18.04.08. Fri 11th Apr 2008: Graham's blog Friday 11 April 2008. Fri 4th Apr 2008: Graham's blog Friday 4 April 2008. Fri 28th Mar 2008: Graham's blog entry 28 March 2008. Thu 20th Mar 2008: Graham's blog entry 20 March 2008. Fri 14th Mar 2008: Graham's blog entry 14 March 2008. Fri 7th Mar 2008: Graham's blog entry Friday 7 March 2008. Fri 22nd Feb 2008: Graham's blog entry Friday 22 February. Fri 15th Feb 2008: Graham's blog entry Friday 15 February 2008. Fri 1st Feb 2008: Graham's blog entry Friday 1 February 2008. Fri 25th Jan 2008: Graham's Blog entry Friday 25 January 2008. Fri 18th Jan 2008: Graham's Blog Entry 18 January 2008. Fri 11th Jan 2008: Graham's Blog Entry Friday 11 January 2008 . Fri 21st Dec 2007: Graham's blog entry Friday 21 December 2007. Sat 15th Dec 2007: Graham's blog entry 15 December 2007. Sun 9th Dec 2007: Graham's blog entry Sunday 9 December 2007. Thu 29th Nov 2007: Graham's blog entry Thursday 29th November. Fri 23rd Nov 2007: Graham's blog entry Friday 23 November. Fri 16th Nov 2007: Graham's blog entry Friday 16 November 2007. Fri 9th Nov 2007: Graham's blog entry Friday 9 November 2007. Fri 19th Oct 2007: Graham's blog entry Friday 19 October 2007. Mon 15th Oct 2007: Graham's blog entry Sunday 14th October. Fri 5th Oct 2007: Graham's blog entry Friday 5 October 2007. Fri 28th Sep 2007: Graham's Blog Entry Friday 28 September. Fri 21st Sep 2007: Graham's blog entry 21 September 2007. Fri 14th Sep 2007: Graham's blog entry 14th September 2007 . Fri 7th Sep 2007: Graham's blog entry 7th September 2007. Fri 31st Aug 2007: Graham's blog entry 31 August 2007. Fri 13th Jul 2007: Graham's blog entry 13th July 2007. Fri 6th Jul 2007: Graham's blog entry 6th July 2007. Fri 29th Jun 2007: Graham's blog entry 29th June 2007. Fri 22nd Jun 2007: Graham's blog entry 22nd June 2007. Fri 15th Jun 2007: Graham's blog entry 15th June 2007. Fri 25th May 2007: Graham's blog entry 25th May 2007. Fri 18th May 2007: Graham's blog entry 18th May 2007. Fri 11th May 2007: Graham's blog entry 11th May 2007. Fri 4th May 2007: Graham's blog entry 4th May 2007. Fri 27th Apr 2007: Graham's blog entry 27th April 2007. Fri 20th Apr 2007: Graham's blog entry 20th April 2007 . Sat 14th Apr 2007: Graham's blog entry 14th April 2007. Fri 30th Mar 2007: Graham's blog entry 30th March. Fri 23rd Mar 2007: Graham's blog entry 23rd March 2007. Fri 16th Mar 2007: Graham's blog entry 16th March 2007. Fri 9th Mar 2007: Graham's blog entry 9th March 2007. Fri 2nd Mar 2007: Graham's blog entry for 2nd March 2007. Fri 16th Feb 2007: Graham's blog entry for 16th February 2007. Fri 9th Feb 2007: Graham's blog entry for 9th February 2007. Fri 2nd Feb 2007: Graham's blog entry 2nd February 2007. Fri 26th Jan 2007: Graham's blog entry 26th January 2007. Fri 19th Jan 2007: Graham's blog entry 19th January 2007. Fri 12th Jan 2007: Graham's blog entry for 12th January 2007 . Fri 15th Dec 2006: Graham's blog entry 15th December 2006. Fri 8th Dec 2006: Graham's blog entry 8th December 2006. Fri 1st Dec 2006: Graham's blog entry 1st December 2006. Fri 24th Nov 2006: Graham's blog entry 24th November 2006. Fri 17th Nov 2006: Graham's blog entry 17th November 2006. Thu 9th Nov 2006: Graham's blog entry 9th November 2006. Thu 2nd Nov 2006: Graham's blog entry 2nd November 2006. Fri 20th Oct 2006: Graham's blog entry 20th October 2006. Fri 13th Oct 2006: Graham's blog entry 13th October 2006. Fri 6th Oct 2006: Graham's blog entry 6th October 2006. Fri 29th Sep 2006: Graham's blog entry 29th September 2006. Fri 22nd Sep 2006: Graham's blog entry 22nd September 2006. Fri 7th Jul 2006: Published and promoted by Graham Watson MEP, Bagehot's Foundry, Beards Yard, Langport, Somerset TA10 9PS. The views expressed are those of the party, not of the service provider. |