Open Europe press summary: 14 April 2009

Europe

Taxpayers to pay millions in speculative losses from European Parliament additional pension fund
According to German news site WAZ Der Westen, taxpayers are set to foot the bill for the loss of millions of euros from the European Parliament's additional pension fund, which is a voluntary fund over and above the standard pension currently funded by member states. The article notes that 478 out of 785 Members of the European Parliament are subscribed to the fund, which is voluntary, even though most MEPs are also entitled to pensions from their member states.

The information is contained in a confidential decision note from the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering. According to the note, the speculation on stock exchanges amounts to more than 200 million euros. The article notes that while the German Christian Democrats had been opposed to using funds from the EU budget to compensate for the losses, a compromise has been reached which merely states that "financial implications for the European taxpayer should be avoided as far as possible". The note says: "the European Parliament recognises its legal responsibility to guarantee the right of subscribers to the fund to be paid their additional pension, even when the fund is empty." MEP Martin Schulz is quoted saying this is a "scandal", and adding that "when somebody privately invests in a fund on the market and has speculated, the State doesn't also intervene in order to pay for it".
WAZ Der Westen

Hague: "It's not too late to stop the Lisbon Treaty"
According to an interview in Saturday's Telegraph, Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said that Britain "urgently needed to renegotiate its relationship with Europe, and that it would be a priority for the Conservatives if elected." He also called on voters to use the European elections in June as a "protest vote".

Mr Hague went on to say, "It's not too late to stop the Lisbon Treaty...I think it's time to ring the alarm bell, it's time to alert people to the fact that this denial of democracy is not far away unless we do something." He also raised the possibility that Gordon Brown could be forced into holding a belated referendum on the Treaty, saying "He [Mr Brown] doesn't want to have a referendum, he doesn't like having elections about anything. But I think it's a Government of such spectacular u-turns you can't rule anything out."
Telegraph

European Parliament fails to recoup £500,000 in "unjustified" expenses from Den Dover
Friday's Telegraph reported that Den Dover, the disgraced Conservative MEP expelled from the party last year, could get to keep more than £500,000 in "unjustified" expenses when he retires from the European Parliament next month. In November, the Parliament wrote to him asking him to pay back the money, but there is growing anger among MEPs that after five months the Parliament has failed to take any action to recover the money involved.

Despite having not paid back the funds, Mr Dover will also be entitled to six months pay, worth up to £79,000 with allowances and a full pension, worth up to £35,000 a year, when he stands down on May 7. Mr Dover had denied any wrongdoing over payments of £760,000 in staff allowances that were made to a family firm between 1999 and Nov 2008. He used a family-owned company, MP Holdings, as the "service provider" for secretarial and parliamentary assistant work, carried out by his wife and daughter, and paid for by the Parliament. Since 1999, £271,692 was paid to the directors, his wife and daughter. It also emerged that 57 per cent of the company's "tangible assets" in 2007 were motor vehicles, worth £63,517. Since 1999, the company has spent £56,411 on motoring expenses. In 2001 and 2002, the company also spent a total of £32,462 on "repairs".
Telegraph

Commission begins training for EU diplomatic corps created by Lisbon Treaty
Writing in Monday's Telegraph Bruno Waterfield reported that 530 European Commission staff have already started training to build a "shared diplomatic culture and an esprit de corps" for the EU External Action Service created by the Lisbon Treaty. He quotes an EU official saying, "We are trying to push the envelope as far as we can within the current environment." Staff are being discreetly trained, "without being too obvious", on 59 courses with the help of foreign ministries from 17 member states, according to EU sources. Secret negotiations on the EEA negotiations recognise the need "to remain cautious in presenting these issues" ahead of the second Irish referendum.

Conservative Europe Spokesman Mark Francois is quoted saying, "This project shows how much more power Brussels would gain over our foreign policy. It is outrageous that the British people are being denied any say" over the Lisbon Treaty. The paper notes that the External Action Service will take over the EU's 160-plus representative offices, which will be granted the same legal diplomatic status as national embassies. Last Spring, Britain narrowly blocked a proposal to call the offices the "Embassies of the Union".
EU Referendum blog Telegraph

Royal College of Surgeons warns of fatalities from complying with Working Time Directive;
80% of doctors believe patient safety will be jeopardised
The front page of Saturday's Guardian reported that the President of the Royal College of Surgeons, John Black, predicted that, "If the 48-hour week is introduced as planned on 1 August, patient safety is going to be reduced. People are going to die because of this...The vast majority of doctors think EWTD is dangerous."

Black warned that the changes would result in more handovers between doctors and loss of continuity of care, saying "Small details matter, like whether someone's test results are due back soon, and can make the difference between a patient living or dying."

The article reported that a confidential report prepared for the Department of Health revealed around 80% of doctors, and up to half of medical directors believe patient safety will be jeopardised if NHS workers are ordered to work fewer hours to comply with the EU's Working Time Directive. The report was based on research conducted by Sheffield University's School of Medicine, which found that 70-80% of consultants and similar percentages of junior doctors believe that safe patient care is undeliverable in a 48-hour week. When asked to name "specialities where safe patient care cannot be delivered in a 48-hour week", medical professionals in three NHS regions identified surgery, paediatrics, neonatal intensive care, and critical care, involving anesthetics and intensive care, as well as emergency care.

Meanwhile, Saturday's Telegraph reported that only 30% of healthcare trusts say they are already compliant with the new rules, with another 24% confident of being compliant by August.

In Saturday's Telegraph, Vicki Wood argued that surgeons needed intensive training and quoted the independent MP, Dr Richard Taylor who spoke in an Opposition debate on the Working Time Directive in March saying: "Unless one does enough cutting, one does not become a good surgeon. It is experience of operations that counts." Wood went on to say that there is a current e-petition to ask for surgeons to be opted-out of the Directive, but "It probably won't work, because the Government can't or won't make Europe work, even though Germany allows surgeons a 60-hour week."
GuardianTelegraph: Wood Telegraph Time's Up! The case against the EU's 48 hour working week Open Europe blog

60% of people against the EU's Data Retention Directive
The front page of the Metro reports that a survey carried out by Politics Home has revealed that 60 per cent of Britons reject the European Data Retention Directive, requiring all communications to be recorded to help crack down on criminals. Just 23 percent of 1,247 voters questioned approved of the scheme, which came into force last week without debate in Parliament. 33 percent said the laws would make them feel less secure against 22 percent who felt safer. 56 percent of people are worried about the possibility of a 'Big Brother state' and 63 percent believe the Government holds too much information already on individuals.
Metro Politics Home Open Europe blog Open Europe blog 2

EU discrimination directive could require faith schools to take atheist pupils
The Sunday Telegraph reported that proposals contained in the EU's draft discrimination directive could lead to churches being sued if they refuse to give communion, baptism or membership to non-Christians trying to get their children into a church school. The article notes that MEPs have passed a series of amendments which have strengthened the package of proposals and removed the exemptions for "organisations based on religion and belief". The Church of England said the directive "deepened its concerns" over how "competing rights" were being balanced in achieving equality.

On his Telegraph blog, MEP Dan Hannan argues that the draft directive recently approved provides too much scope for interpretation and could, for example, result in the Labour Party being sued if it declined to hire Conservatives as its press officers, because the Directive prohibits discrimination on the grounds of political opinion.
Sunday Telegraph Telegraph: Hannan blog

Open Europe: The EU must listen to its critics
In response to an article in the Yorkshire Post by Richard Corbett MEP, Open Europe's Sarah Gaskell wrote to the paper arguing, "Despite claims to the contrary by Richard Corbett MEP ('Why EU rules can be a good thing for Britain', Yorkshire Post, April 8), Open Europe is not an 'anti-Europe campaign group', but very much in favour of the Single Market and the benefits it offers businesses and consumers, not just in Yorkshire...If we want the EU to survive and to work well for Europe's citizens, then politicians like Mr Corbett must sit up and listen to the critics - not dismiss them as 'anti-Europeans' and carry on legislating with their fingers in their ears."
Yorkshire Post

Open Europe's findings on European Commissioners' pay-off packages continue to receive coverage in the Malta Independent.
Malta Independent

Open Europe's Pieter Cleppe was quoted in the Glasgow Evening Times warning that the lack of clarity over EU free movement rules means that the Government lacks power over the entry of convicted criminals into the UK.
Glasgow Evening Times EU Referendum blog

Harman: BNP poses a major threat to Labour in Europe
Labour's Deputy Leader Harriet Harman has said that the British National Party could pose a major threat to Labour in the upcoming European elections. In an interview with Friday's Independent she said that the BNP "are a bigger threat than they have been before".

Harman added that she feared a low turnout in June's European elections would harm Labour's chances. "There is always a danger of low turnouts in European elections," Ms Harman admitted. "People know what their council and their government does for them. They are not quite clear yet what the European Parliament means to them. A low turnout does not help us."
BBC EU Referendum blog Mirror Independent

Record abstentions predicted in 2009 European elections
Jean Quatremer reports that a recent survey conducted by Eurobarometer in all 27 member states demonstrates that the abstention rate in the June elections could reach 66%. In the UK, 82% of those surveyed had no idea when the European elections will be held, compared with a European average of 67%.
Coulisses de Bruxelles Blog Eurobarometer: UK Results Eurobarometer report Le Monde EUobserver

WWF Director of Energy Policy: EU 'cheating' the world on climate
In an interview with Euractiv, Stefan Singer, Director for Global Energy Policy at the WWF, said that the EU is playing "tricks on the atmosphere" when it claims it will reduce its emissions by 20% by 2020. Singer explained that the EU will achieve an 8% of its proposed cut due to de-industrialisation in ex-Soviet states that has taken place since 1990. Of the 12% left, he argued that around 60% of this would be achieved by offsetting EU emissions with renewable projects in developing countries.
EurActiv

European Parliament wants pan-European lists for European Elections
El Mundo reports that the European Parliament wants to amend the Electoral Act so that there are pan-European lists in European elections. The Parliamentary Commission has already begun working on a proposal to amend the current rules, although it is highly unlikely that the June elections will be affected.
El Mundo

On Conservative Home, Conservative Party MEP candidate Rupert Matthews argues the Liberal Democrats are the most pro-Europe of all parties, emphasising their unwavering support of the Lisbon Treaty and their willingness to spend EU finances on implementing the Treaty (although it has not yet been ratified).
Conservative Home: Matthews

Barrett: Czech ratification crucial for survival of the Lisbon Treaty
Dr Gavin Barrett writes in the Irish Times that other EU countries are hoping for the Czechs to ratify the Treaty before the general elections in the UK, which are very likely to be won by the Conservatives, with David Cameron promising to hold a referendum if the Lisbon Treaty has not then already been ratified by all EU states. Barrett stresses that 'timely Czech ratification will now be crucial to the survival of the Lisbon Treaty'.
Irish Times: Barrett

Friday's Sun reported on the EU's new €2.3 million MTV ad campaign.
OE blog Telegraph: Waterfield blog

Friday's Telegraph reported on the leaked European Commission handbook which tells officials they can evade Freedom of Information rules by keeping two sets of documents, a "whitened" text for public release and a "separate" classified version
Telegraph

Monday's FT reported that thousands of Polish migrants are now applying for benefits in the UK.
FT Mail Express

In the Observer, Rafael Behr argued that "expanding the European Union wasn't just about giving us cheap labour. It was an altruistic desire to lift millions out of poverty."
Observer: Behr

In Monday's FT, Tony Barber argued that, "The [European] parliament's clout is growing and will grow even more if the EU's Lisbon treaty enters into effect as planned next year. Love it or loathe it, the parliament is increasingly the place to turn to understand what drives the EU."
FT

In Monday's Independent Matthew Elliott of the Taxpayers' Alliance noted that investigations by the EU's Anti-Fraud Office have uncovered numerous examples of EU development assistance lost to corruption, arguing, "The EU is funding governments with lamentable records on human rights."
Independent

Saturday's Independent carried a profile of MEP Dan Hannan, but on his own blog, Hannan describes an anecdote used about him on a trip to visit family in Peru as "utter piffle".
Independent Telegraph: Hannan blog

The Charlemagne's Notebook blog clarifies that last week's column did not endorse the "Brussels consensus" that the Czech Republic was "small" and "insignificant". It says "ditching the rotating presidency would not solve that many problems, and to beware those people pointing to the Czechs and demanding ratification of Lisbon as soon as possible."
Economist

In an article in Monday's Guardian, Ulrich Beck, Professor of Sociology at the LSE argued that the economic crisis "cries out to be transformed into the founding of a new Europe." He said: "The choice is between more Europe and no Europe."
Guardian

The Parliament reports that former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt is seen as the most likely successor to Graham Watson as leader of ALDE, the third largest group in the European Parliament.
The Parliament

Hungary's incoming Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai is expected to be formally approved by the Hungarian Parliament today.
EurActiv

UK

Brown considers car scrappage scheme amid Treasury concerns
The Times reports that Gordon Brown will make the final decision within days on whether to offer motorists a taxpayer-funded incentive to trade old cars for new. The proposals will give owners of old cars about £2,000 towards the cost of greener models. The Sunday Telegraph reported that Treasury officials had been re-examining the scheme amid concerns that it could be of limited benefit to British car and component manufacturers while boosting French and German companies, who produce far more of the cars sold in the UK. Germany and France have already implemented similar schemes.
Irish Times BBC Times Sunday Telegraph

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