Graham's blog Friday 5 September 2008

Published on Fri 5th Sep 2008

I write this at Brussels airport, waiting for a delayed flight to London. I have meetings in London this afternoon about my Chinese language teaching scheme for SW schools (up to nine schools this year from five last year; there will be a conference about it at Exeter University on the morning of Friday 17 Oct, with EU Commissioner for Multilingualism Leonard Orban). Then an evening speaking engagement with Kensington and Chelsea LibDems.

Parliament was back in full session this week, in Brussels (while the roof of our Strasbourg hemicycle is being repaired), and on Monday night we had a report from that afternoon's extraordinary EU summit on the Georgia-Russia conflict. Sarkozy did not come to Parliament himself; the situation with our buildings in Strasbourg is probably too embarrassing to the French government during its EU Presidency. Instead he sent Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who gave a rambling speech and appeared to be tired and emotional. (For my speech in the debate, seehttp://www.europarl.europa.eu/sidesSearch/sipadeMapUrl.do?LEVEL=2&PROG=CRE&L=EN&SORT_ORDER=DA&S_DATE_SITTINGS=%25&S_RANK=%25&LEG_ID=6&AUTHOR_ID=2155&NAV=S). But Sarkozy showed what a brilliant tactician he is by subsequently inviting the EP's political group leaders to Paris next Wednesday for a discussion of the South Ossetia conflict; he becomes the first President of the European Council ever to convoke the political group leaders in an extraordinary meeting.

Monday's European Council (heads of state and government) meeting was the first extraordinary meeting since early 2003. On that occasion, the meeting simply highlighted EU disagreements over the invasion of Iraq. This time it showed a remarkable capacity for consensus on the very divisive issue of relations with Russia. Our member states understood that we are stronger if we speak with one voice. They also combined a political statement of principle with operational commitments to make it easier for Georgians to get EU visas; to improve trade with Georgia; to give humanitarian aid; and to review relations with Russia.

If you read The Sun, The Daily Mirror, The Express or The Mail the main EU news you will have seen this week is about MEPs allegedly banning advertising which uses sexy models like the Wonderbra girl. None of the reports makes it clear, however, that this is simply an opinion. The EP has no powers to ban advertising of any kind: and although I would like to see the use of sexual stereotypes (male or female) banned, I and my colleagues voted against it because we believe the EU should leave this kind of decision to member states.

What was not widely reported, however, was the presentation by the European Commission (to Parliament on Tuesday; for my speech use the link above) of a major package of bills on social issues. Outlawing discrimination against all minorities at the workplace or in commercial contracts, for example: making it easier to get access to healthcare right across the EU; helping enterprises re-train their workforce in the case of major redundancies and a number of similar measures. We hope to give the draft directives a first reading before the House rises for the European election next year and get them on to the statute book early in the next parliament.

Malta has announced that the number of refugees arriving in boats in the first eight months of this year is double the number for the whole of last year. At least 500 have drowned: 2187 have been intercepted. One Italian NGO calculates that in the last 20 years over 12,500 have died trying to reach Europe's shores across the Mediterranean.

My colleague Sharon Bowles MEP has produced a recommendation which Parliament voted this week for an EU tax co-ordination unit to fight VAT and cross-border savings fraud which costs the taxpayer over 135 billion pounds a year. But as Commissioner Kovacs said in the debate "so far member states have not shown the political will" to co-operate in this way.

I will be in Chard tomorrow night for a Romanian twinning evening and in Portishead on Sunday for a Lib Dem BBQ. Then back to Brussels on the red-eye flight on Monday.