SOUTH WEST FIRST
LETTER FROM STRASBOURG
June 2003
GIVING VENT TO ONES FEELINGS
In a curious way it was rather appropriate that in the minbus taking seven of us from Stuttgart to Strasbourg, not only was there no air conditioning but the so-called ventilation was blowing out very hot air at floor level (until we persuaded the driver to turn it off).
LIGHT YEARS AHEAD
Because energy was very much on the agenda for this session of the Parliament. In fact it was almost the first item on the agenda after the opening of business on the Monday evening. We were debating the Second Reading of four measures aimed at opening up markets to full competition and improving interconnections for linking networks.
POWER RULES
They were a Directive on common rules for the internal market in electricity; a Directive on common rules for the internal market in natural gas; a Regulation on conditions for access to the network for cross-border exchanges in electricity; and a decision laying down a series of guidelines for trans-European energy networks.
MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORK
In brief, these proposals lay down a deadline for full opening of the markets to competition for both commercial and domestic consumers; require each member state to have an independent regulator to enforce competition; require legal unbundling of transmission system operators from generator companies and distribution companies to ensure fair and equal access to the grid.
EXTENDING BRITAIN'S POWER
All of this has happened some time ago in the U.K. but the significance of extending competition to countries like France and Germany cannot be over-emphasised both for consumers and suppliers alike, particularly if it gives our energy companies more opportunities on the continent. I take some satisfaction in playing my part as co-ordinator in bringing the compromise package of amendments to the vote, which meant that the conciliation procedure did not have to be invoked and a Third Reading was thereby rendered unnecessary.
HORSES FOR COURSES
On the Tuesday we heard the good news that the Declaration on the live transport of horses had gained more than half the Members' signatures and was therefore to be transmitted to the Commission with the full weight of the Parliament behind it. Just getting over 313 signatures was a major achievement and my Conservative colleague Charles Tannock deserves full credit for cajoling and corralling us all into putting pen to paper.
PRESS INTEREST
Another matter of some importance to MEPs and the press, judging from the close interest taken by reporters, was the Members Statute. Every so often there are stories in the press about our pay and expenses, particularly in the period leading up to the European elections and the powers that be have tried several times to establish a common structure applying to all MEPs.
COMMON DENOMINATOR
At present, MEPs receive the same salary as their national counterparts, pay national tax on it and receive various allowances for travel, subsistence, office and staff expenses on a flat rate basis. The proposal is to have a common salary (to eliminate the wide range in salaries between say Greece and Germany) taxed at the European institutions rate (which is lower than most national levels) and change to travel expense reimbursement at cost.
PAY INCREASES VOTED BY THE MAJORITY
The salary proposed represents quite an increase for MEPs from some countries and we Conservatives voted against the proposal as a whole on principle, because we oppose having a higher salary than our MP colleagues and we oppose paying a more favourable tax rate than the people we represent. The draft statute was nevertheless adopted by a clear majority and we now await the response of the Member States' Governments to the final text.
ST. BONIFACE
Just to remind me of the wide range of matters we have to deal with, I received visits from lobbyists expressing concerns about emissions trading and reform of the sugar regime. I spent some time trying to crystallise plans for a visit to Dokkum in the Netherlands in the near future to promote the St. Boniface trail linking the various centres with which he was associated. This is a long standing interest of mine, because he was born in Crediton in Devon.
THE BURMA PROBLEM
I closed the week, as I began it, with two minutes speaking time, albeit on a very different topic. I stood in for a colleague in the urgencies debates on Thursday afternoon. The subject of my speech was the situation in Burma where the military regime has once again arrested Aung San Su Kyi and cracked down on all her supporters. I have my doubts how much practical difference we make with these debates and resolutions on the behaviour of dictatorial and despotic regimes around the world, but I guess a statement is better than silence.
SOVEREIGN BRITAIN
On my return home, my week ended with a grandstand seat to watch the Colonel's Review in Horseguards Parade. This is the dress rehearsal for the Trooping of the Colour and it is a truly impressive sight. Britain at her glorious best.
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