SOUTH WEST FIRST
LETTER FROM STRASBOURG
May 2003
PATIENCE TESTED
It is just as well I allowed more time than usual at Heathrow to go through security, because there was a very long,
slow-moving queue. It took an hour and ten minutes or about an hour longer than usual. BAA (British Airports Authority) has clearly decided to add itself to the ranks of those whose pleasure it is to test travellers' patience.
HANDOUTS GALORE
Still, things could be worse. If I travelled on the direct Gatwick flight to Strasbourg operated by Air France, May will be the last month that is possible. It seems the City of Strasbourg is paying Ryanair a hefty subsidy to operate flights on the route from Stanstead and AF has protested at this market distortion which is making it lose money on the route, so it is withdrawing the service from now on. This particular Irish operator is a dab hand at containing costs and getting handouts, but how long will it all last?
EFFICIENCY VERSUS SAVINGS
Almost the first item on my agenda on arrival at Strasbourg is to speak in the debate on the Cogeneration Directive. This proposal has given us some problems in committee because there has been a lively debate (I was tempted to say heated, but I had a complaint recently about being too light hearted) between two schools of thought. The German green view is that we should go for energy efficiency, whereas the alternative position is to focus on energy savings.
ENERGY SAVINGS
Of course, both are desirable objectives, but it is entirely possible to have the outcome of more energy being consumed performing the two functions together (namely heat production and electricity generation) than would be consumed if they were done separately and yet call the two together more energy efficient. We were in the camp favouring simple energy savings as a more clear cut way to reduce CO2 emissions.
LOCAL ISSUES
I was able to draw on a letter from my old friends at Centrax in Newton Abbot to express some of their concerns. Some years ago, I was able to help them by exerting pressure on the Commission to remove an anomaly in EU import tariffs which gave a Swiss rival company unfair advantage to compete within the single market. Anyway Centrax produce just the sort of cogeneration or combined heat and power plants that the Directive will cover and they are worried about new distortions being included. Unfortunately, the vote went against us on this the first reading but it looks as though the socialists and greens won't be able to get a qualified majority at second reading.
A STEP TOO FAR
Another proposal on the agenda, the Environmental Liability Directive, was also at first reading stage and poses serious problems to industry. This is a classic example of a well-intentioned proposal being taken too far in a way which will be damaging to industrial competitiveness and therefore to jobs. Once again the greens and socialists combined with the left wing elements of the ELDR (European Liberal Democratic and Reform) group, otherwise known to us as the U.K. Lib-Dems to vote for things like compulsory insurance.
INSURANCE INCREASES
On the face of it, this sounds a reasonable requirement, until you recall the recent press coverage of huge hikes in employers liability insurance costs here in the U.K. because of a shortage of underwriting capacity. I am told the insurance industry could not calculate all the risks involved and would be obliged to charge accordingly. This would lead to some probable consequences.
ENFORCING LAWS
The good guys, the law abiders, would pay the premiums and either raise their prices or go bust. The bad guys would probably not bother and if they had an accident they would be unable to pay clean-up costs. And suppliers outside the EU would leap to take advantage of the situation. We already have laws in place covering pollution, and I ask myself how a new law would help, when what is really needed is enforcement of the existing law.
RISING CONCERN
I am very glad to see the rising chorus of concern about the Convention and the draft constitution for Europe. Having seen a text of part of it and having heard that despite loads of amendments being put down, it will only be the dozen or so members of the Praesidium (or inner clique), who vote on them and probably
Giscard d'Estaing will somehow finesse it all into the text he wants, I confess to sharing the concerns. I am not at all reassured by Foreign Minister Peter Hain saying the changes are relatively minor or some such dismissive phrase.
LOOK TO THE FUTURE
Another important piece of the jigsaw puzzle that is the future of Europe, started slotting into place with the arrival of 162 Observers from the new entrant countries. Personally, I have had very little contact with any of them so far (one attended our Industry Committee co-ordination meeting on Tuesday afternoon), but I nurse strong hopes that they and the governments behind them will be quite robust, once they have formally become member states, in resisting the more extreme centralising and integrationist agenda. After all, have they really escaped the frying pan of Soviet command economics, only to be consumed in the fire of eurofederalism? I sure hope not.
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