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A friend of mine who works for the European Commission’s internal market directorate  moaned the other day that it was “turning into the OECD”. In other words, it had stopped bludgeoning the barriers to trade in the EU market with a battering ram of regulations and was instead consulting, advising and recommending change . But the OECD, a dry economic think tank , seems to be turning into the European Commission, judging by the latest furore surrounding it.

In early September its round table on sustainable development met to discuss a report entitled “Biofuels – is the cure worse than the disease”. The academic paper fuelled a controversy that has burned for several weeks.

Continue reading "Smog surrounds the biofuels debate"

Anyone wanting to learn what Brussels means by better regulation should look at its developing policy on nutrition and obesity.

Rather than hand down directives, the Commission’s health directorate (Sanco) in 2005 corralled food companies, lobbyists, scientists and campaigners into a discussion group and encouraged industry to make voluntary commitments to improve products, reduce advertising to children and so on.

Robert Madelin, the oracle of Sanco and architect of the approach, has just spoken again. Rare among Commission director-generals, Mr Madelin, schooled in the UK and France, is comfortable talking to the media and happy to be seen working with businesses.

When his political boss, Markos Kyprianou, invited companies to present their commitments on cutting fat and salt in products in the Commission’s press room, the journalist’s lobby group wrote to complain about misuse of “neutral” ground.

Continue reading "Brussels cuts its appetite for legislation"

Whatever one thinks of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, its hardnosed diplomacy has traditionally got results when dealing with the bickering European Union member states. Divide and rule has been a successful policy, culminating in Germany’s decision to help build a gas pipeline that would bypass Poland and the Baltic states. Now, however, Moscow seems to be engaged in scattergun attacks on EU countries – which could rebound on it.

This week it crossed two of its traditional supporters in the bloc: Italy and Sweden.

Continue reading "Could Russia inspire a joint EU foreign policy?"

It doesn’t usually take long before the glitz of a European Union summit rubs off. Commitments signed up to amid a fanfare of rhetoric quickly become tarnished. There was a fascinating glimpse behind the shiny green paintwork of the target of sourcing 20 per cent of energy from renewable targets this week – and it wasn’t pleasant. The Guardian newspaper got hold of a government memo showing British bureaucrats are already looking for ways to erase what their leaders signed up to in March. They are lobbying governments and senior Commission officials for a “flexible” interpretation of whatever individual target the UK is assigned, so they can build solar farms in Africa or count nuclear generation. Investing in renewable sources at home is just too expensive.

It would be understandable if the Brits, like the poorer eastern Europeans, had tried to sabotage the idea from the outset. But instead Tony Blair, burnishing his green credentials, welcomed it.

Another "groundbreaking, bold" commitment (Mr Blair’s words), to source 10 per cent of transport fuels from plants by 2020, looks every bit as ugly.

Continue reading "Tough environmental targets fuel talk of flexibility"

Trade deals garner headlines and photo opportunities. The talks leading up to them tend to be rather more mind-numbing, as countries haggle over whether pig bladders should be considered a sensitive product and just how many widgets should be allowed in tariff-free.

Trade talks between rich and poor countries have the added spice of David vs Goliath about them. With Doha apparently comatose once again, attention in Brussels has turned to negotiations with 78 ex-colonies.

The African, Caribbean and Pacific group (ACP) enjoy a quasi-marital relationship with the EU. It is enshrined in a legal document, the Cotonou agreement, and includes privileged access to EU markets. That arouses the jealousy of other poor countries that threw off their colonial yoke earlier, such as Latin America.

They have challenged the cosy arrangements at the World Trade Organisation and won enough battles to force a rewriting of the marriage vows by the end of this year. These will not be trade deals but "economic partnership agreements", a concept dreamed up in the Brussels bureaucracy. It wants to create clones of iteslf, with regional common markets that trade with each other and achieve economies of scale.

Continue reading "Small squall in the Pacific, some feelings hurt"

The European Commission is reaching for something old and something new as it tries to re-connect with the people.  These are the brainchild of Margot Wallstrom, the Swedish communications commissioner who was among the first politicians to launch her own blog.

 The old-style approach is to keep throwing taxpayers’ money at European political parties ; the novel one is to jump on one of the latest internet bandwagons with  EUTube -  a site on Youtube dedicated to Euro-affairs.

Continue reading "Commission tries to keep in touch"

There is something vicariously thrilling about finding out how much your neighbour’s house cost or how high the rent is. So imagine the thrill of an (admittedly long) report from the European Union’s financial watchdog on how the 27-member club could spend its annual €345m on offices in Euroland for its 36,000 staff.

The EU, which includes the Commission, the Parliament, the Council, representing member state governments, as well as the Court of Justice and various committees, occupied 2m sq metres of offices in Brussels, Luxembourg City and Strasbourg in 2005. Other agencies and offices elsewhere were outside the remit of the Court of Auditors’ June 26 survey.

It found that the EU had similar problems to the rest of us with Belgian landlords, often being overcharged, saddled with maintenance costs and locked into long leases. However, it also said a lot of the tens of millions of euros of losses could be avoided.

Continue reading "The true cost of the European quarter"

The first 24 hours of the summit in Brussels to hammer out a replacement for the European constitution  has been a “phoney war”, to steal the wartime parlance that Poland’s government has adopted. Knowing that another night of skirmishing lay ahead leaders happily remained camped behind their red lines, brooking no suggestion of compromise.

This is often the way at the biannual events, if only to add a little drama in an attempt to get the public’s interest. It certainly worked for the British press, excited by Poland’s claims of compensation for its war dead.

Continue reading "Federalists run up the white flag"

The haggling that goes on before every European summit is legendary. I’m not referring to all the talk of red lines by posturing leaders but the procuring by those lower down the pecking order of a pass into the Justus Lipsius centre where it all takes place, with its free flow of drink, food and, most of all, gossip.

Members of the European parliament are particularly keen to see their status recognised with the prestigious pass to feed off the crumbs at the top table. Each political group gets just one ticket. So Andrew Duff, the British Liberal who lives and breathes the constitution from every pore, will be left with his nose pressed against the glass while Graham Watson, his esteemed leader, prowls the corridors of power.

There are ways and means of getting round it. The eurosceptic Independence and Democracy group has found places for its two co-leaders. Jens-Peter Bonde, the veteran Dane, sneaked in as a journalist. That allows Nigel Farage, the voice of British obstructionism, to do what he does best, knocking back the beers with hacks at the bar and providing soundbites about Tony Blair’s duplicity.

Nothing could more annoy the UK Conservatives, who are stuck on the outside. They also want a referendum on any treaty and would love to bend but as members of the European People’s party are represented by Joseph Daul, a French farmer who backs greater integration.

Aides to Timothy Kirkhope, the Tory European leader, were left yesterday afternoon desperately lobbying for a badge as vice-chairman of the constitutional affairs committee to avoid this debacle.

Continue reading "Ticket to the European party"

Another update from the frontline of the vodka wars, and the battlefield in Strasbourg is strewn with empty shot glasses, rotten fruit and animal parts. Actually, they are pictures of animal parts, distributed by Polish vodka makers who fear that .

In fact, given that vodka made from offal probably would not sell well, it is unlikely that Tuesday’s vote of the European parliament would lead to such an end. Vodka made from anything other than grain and potatoes will have to say so on the label, though in rather small print on the back.

While this is only the first, rather than decisive second, reading of the directive governments have already reached agreement along the same lines and should rubber-stamp it at this stage.

Continue reading "Vodka dispute put back in the bottle"