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SOUTH WEST FIRST

LETTER FROM STRASBOURG 

January 2001

IT'S A  HARD LIFE

Were I to talk about what a hard life it is for MEPs, how hard we work and all that sort of thing, most people would probably laugh me out of court, so to speak.  Instead let me tell you a little about one of the perks of the job.

PERK OF THE JOB

The week before Strasbourg week is group week when we meet to discuss items on the agenda for the session.  Each political group meets separately to agree its position and debate issues where no common position is held.  This January our group week was in Berlin as a change from Brussels, and to enable all our colleagues from the other countries to attend the EPP (European Peoples Party) Congress at the end of the week.  We are not members of the EPP Transnational Party and so do not have to stay for that part of the week. 

EXPECTATIONS SURPASSED

On the Tuesday evening we were all taken to the new Reichstag building for a tour and a reception.  This is the third building, the original having been burned down in 1933 and the second was the post-war reconstruction.  The architect was Norman Foster, and I confess I expected a piece of modern architecture that I wouldn't like (well that is hardly surprising in the light of our experience with the new European Parliament building in Strasbourg), yet I have to say it was very impressive.  Even the rather weird inverted cone laser looking device suspended from the dome or cupola above the chamber with lots of mirrors to reflect light down, seems to fit in.

FINE ARCHITECTURE

The concept of transparency has been applied so that you can see into the chamber from the main entrance hall, the visitor galleries project out into the chamber airspace and up above you can look down into the chamber from the roof as well as look out over some fine views of the city.  Such a visit is open to the public in Germany (except perhaps the reception bit), but is the sort of thing that would not be available to me if I were not an MEP.

PRESSURE CONTINUES

And so to Strasbourg where the weather was distinctly chillier than at home.  In theory for me this should have been a relatively light week but it never quite works out that way.  The first pressure was to ensure that any amendments we Conservatives wished to put down for the Telecoms Framework Directive were lodged by the deadline.  This was in addition to the normal pile of faxes and printed out emails about a wide range of things, such as different lobbyists wanting appointments and follow ups on correspondence from constituents.

COMPLICATED TEXTS

My difficulty is in being sure I understand what these telecom texts actually mean.  Sometimes a relatively simple wording can lead to a very complicated outcome, quite different from what you expect.  In this case different sectors of the industry have different perspectives on how the directive will affect them and they all want to push amendments helpful to themselves.

INVESTMENT PROTECTION

So the mobile operators see things differently from the fixed wire landline operators, terrestrial television companies worry about satellite digital broadcasters potential grip on the market and cable television and phone networks are in a different situation again.  What they all have in common is a lot of investment which they want to protect.

FARMING DIFFICULTIES

One of the emails is a briefing note about a proposal called the Physical Agents Directive which has been considered by the Social Affairs Council (of Ministers).  This is about limiting hand, arm and whole body vibration in workplace machinery.  It is suggested this could have a big impact on farmers by severely limiting the amount of time in a day they can spend on a tractor.  Another piece of well intended protective legislation that could have serious practical difficulties during those periods in the year when farmers need to use tractors intensively.

MARK OF RESPECT

At the opening of the formal session we had three separate minutes of silence.  One for the victims of the landslide in El Salvador, one for the victims of fires in cafes/discos in Holland and China, and one for yet another victim of ETA terrorism in Spain.

FREEZING TEMPERATURES

Tuesday morning I walk in to the Parliament from my hotel, as is my wont, but I confess to walking a bit more briskly because the temperature was about minus 6° centigrade or, in ordinary language, cold.

IMPORTANT LEGISLATION

For me the main piece of work was a meeting with Commissioner Busquin and half a dozen fellow MEPs from my Committee to discuss the planning of the Sixth Framework Programme of European Research.  This will be the most important piece of legislation on our agenda this year covering a multi billion euro expenditure over the years 2003-06.  We discussed the possible timetabling of the legislation in the hope of final adoption well before the programme is due to start in January 2003.  We discussed possible budget scenarios (expect no dramatic change from current funding levels in real terms).

WILL I BE PROVED RIGHT?

For those interested in possible themes of research, here are some headings. E-technologies for commerce, science and society.  Bio-technology, health and an ageing population.  Nano-technologies (nano=very small indeed), advanced industrial materials and intelligent manufacturing systems (chips with everything, you might say).  Food safety and risk management (BSE and digging the Germans out of a hole).  Sustainable development (climate change and energy technologies).  Aerospace and space (to compete with the USA head to head).  Developing the knowledge society for people and public institutions in Europe (paying for public sector computer systems, or am I being just too cynical for words?).  A flexible response to the EU scientific needs (paying for the JRC, the Commission's own research centre to do whatever seems a good idea at the time - yes I am very cynical!).  Remember you read it here first!

CONSTANT LOBBYING

Wednesday morning was taken up with seeing a number of different lobby interests.  First was BP with concerns about the draft Directive on large combustion units, the draft Directive setting national emissions ceilings for a number of substances and chemicals, and one about ambient air quality in advance of the awaited auto oil 2 proposals for cleaner air.

HISTORIC WASTE PROBLEM

Next came Lucent Technologies and Alcatel who make telecom/internet infrastructure equipment.  They were exercised about WEEE or the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment draft Directive.  This is a responsibility of the Environment Committee but we on the Industry Committee are making an Opinion.  This is an issue on which I have already received a fair few representations from different sectors of the industry, from retailers through to toy manufacturers and mobile phone manufacturers to Japanese computer manufacturers, and while they all have different angles, they agree on one nutty problem, historic waste, and how to pay for its recovery and treatment.

IMPORTANT GREEN PAPER

Finally, Foratom, the European nuclear industry body, pops up out of the blue to talk about the Commission Green Paper - entitled 'Towards a European Strategy for the Security of Energy Supply!  Expect to hear a little more about this in months to come, as it is a Report that is probably the second most important item on our Committee agenda during 2001 and I am the Rapporteur.

CONCERNS RUMBLE ON

One matter on the agenda for the Parliament this week, was debate and Motion for a Resolution about the effects of using depleted uranium in shells in the Gulf War, and last year in the Serbia/Kosovo

intervention by NATO.  Some bright spark had put up a scare story about Italian soldiers who had served in Kosovo and contracted leukaemia, which naturally made headlines and worried people a lot.  The last I heard was that around 150 Italian soldiers had died of this type of cancer (an extraordinary statistic in itself), but only one of them had actually served in the theatre of operations.

NUCLEAR ENERGY PANANOIA

The point about this stuff is that it is very heavy and dense for any given volume and so has a dramatic impact on tanks and other armour plated vehicles.  It disintegrates on impact and any dust inhaled or ingested by someone close at the time, can cause illness from localised alpha radiation.  Peoples' reaction to this confirms my view that we live in curious times.  Weapons are meant to do nasty destructive things to their targets, yet any mention of uranium is bound to be suggestive of a nuclear explosion, which compounds peoples' anxiety.  An Irish colleague asked me in all innocence whether I thought depleted uranium was more harmful to the soldiers firing the shells or those at whom they were fired.  I suppose that is what comes from being a neutral country which is paranoid about anything nuclear.

FAVOURITE PART OF THE JOB

On Thursday, I spoke in the debate about a Report on forestry.  I was one of the very few speakers who were not Finnish, though I established a link by declaring an interest, having been taken to Finland last autumn by CEPI, the Confederation of European Paper Industries.  They showed a number of us some impressive machinery for pruning, cutting and collecting logs in the forest, as well as a pulp and a paper mill.  I regard industrial visits like that as another perk of office, since I am very interested in factory visits.  Doing it at home in the constituency, is a favourite part of my job.

GILES CHICHESTER MEP