UK blows the gaffe on its own CAP bashing

The Commission is set to publish its proposals for reforming the Common Agricultural Policy next week and already the various stalls are being set out as to how far such reforms can go and in which direction. Once again the arguments of old by the French, Germans and the British are being replayed.

In this week's European Voice much is made of the "Franco-German threat to CAP health check" and their opposition to any real radical changes to the CAP. In April the French Farm Minister, Michel Barnier, said EU farm subsidies were in no way to blame for the current rise in food prices - ""What we are now witnessing in the world is the consequence of too much free-market liberalism....we can't leave feeding people to the mercy of the market. We need a public policy, a means of intervention and stabilisation". He also recommended that rather than radically overhauling the CAP, the EU should instead look to export the CAP as a model for the countries of Africa and Latin America to adopt as a response to rising demand for food, i.e. developing countries should be supported to create similar regional farm aid systems. In addition, France has proposed a tightening up of the EU's quality and health regulations for food to restrict imports from countries outside the EU that do not meet European standards - thereby introducing a "new policy of European preference".

The German Farm Minister, Horst Seehofer, has made similar remarks about retaining the status quo and EU farm subsidies in light of the current global food crisis

Over in the UK camp Alistair Darling blew the gaffe in his letter to EU finance ministers calling for the abolition of all import tariffs on agricultural commodities. EU Finance Ministers are meeting in June to discuss how to tackle rising food prices. The UK used this as an opportunity to bash the CAP. Once again the CAP is blamed for all the ills of the day with the Chancellor calling for an end to all direct payments to EU farmers and focusing on ensuring EU and global food security and that the EU's " own policies do not inflate the cost of food within the EU".

For the UK government to say they want to scrap the CAP before any real discussion has taken place was not a credible position to have taken and can only but undermine the UK's credibility in this crucial debate. The CAP health check offers an opportunity to start a discussion about the further reform of Europe's agriculture policy. Bashing it without any concrete proposals for the way forward achieves nothing and tells you a lot about why the UK ends up in the EU corner sulking. Its also all the more reason why Scotland needs to have a stronger voice in the EU.

Europe Day contd.....

The EU has today finally published a consolidated version of the EU Treaties in the Official Journal of the European Union. This incorporates the amendments introduced by the new Lisbon Reform Treaty, which may or may not enter into force on 1 January 2009 depending on whether all 27 EU member states manage to ratify it. So if you have longed to read the Lisbon Treaty but couldn’t find a consolidated version of it, then now’s your chance by clicking here.

It also includes all the various Protocols, Declarations and Annexes.

The House of Lords EU Select Committee has recently published a useful assessment of the impact of the Lisbon Treaty on the EU and the UK in particular, which is worth a look at and can be accessed by clicking here.

Europe Day

Today marks the anniversary of the day when the French foreign minister, Robert Schuman presented his proposals calling for European countries to pool together their coal and steel production within a single European Coal and Steel Community.

The Schuman Declaration of 9 May 1950 led to the establishment of the first European Communities and became the foundation for what is today the European Union.

The European Union remains an ongoing project and despite its shortcomings it is a remarkable feat when you consider that 500 million people are now part of a single internal market between 27 member states that has become the world’s largest economic trading bloc. Enlargement demonstrates the huge success of the EU than everything else when you think of the number of countries seeking to join.

While war among the EU countries is now unthinkable, there are new challenges confronting today’s Europe of 27, such as climate change, energy, immigration, globalisation, which still require concerted efforts to ensure security and prosperity.

I want to see Scotland very much a part of these efforts, playing a full part as a full member state of the EU, able to influence and shape policies in its own right with a much stronger and more effective voice and working together with its friends and neighbours in a relationship of mutual respect to tackle common problems like energy security, climate change, international development and sustainable economic growth.

It is worth recalling some of the Schuman Declaration:

“World peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it. The contribution which an organized and living Europe can bring to civilization is indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations. In taking upon herself for more than 20 years the role of champion of a united Europe, France has always had as her essential aim the service of peace. A united Europe was not achieved and we had war.

Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity. The coming together of the nations of Europe requires the elimination of the age-old opposition of France and Germany. Any action taken must in the first place concern these two countries”.

New energy rights for consumers

With so much attention on the issue of full ownership unbundling one other aspect of the Morgan report on the internal energy market which does deserve greater focus is its push for stronger consumer protection measures.

During yesterday's vote MEPs backed amendments that want to see customers having:

• the legal right to withdraw from contracts with their electricity providers without charge,
• the right to compensation if service quality levels are not met (as with, for example, inaccurate and delayed billing),
• access to information on their rights through bills and electricity company web sites,
• access to information on procedures to be followed in the event of disputes,
• the right to change suppliers within two weeks,
• the right to be informed, at least quarterly, of actual electricity consumption and costs, access to smart meters within 10 years of the entry into force of the third energy liberalisation package,
• the right to have their electricity provided by a supplier regardless of the Member State in which the supplier is registered,
• access to information on the environmental impact (CO2 emissions and radioactive waste) resulting from the electricity produced by the supplier, and
• the right to protection against market abuse: national authorities must be able to impose "price caps in uncompetitive markets for a defined and limited period" in the event of sudden hikes in energy prices.

The Energy Committee also gave its support to a number of measures aimed at tackling the important issue of energy poverty. Given the ongoing rapid rise in energy prices MEPs urged Member States to cut the cost of energy to low-income households and to guarantee the same conditions for those living in remote areas.

In addition, Member States "may require that a minimum of 2% of all electricity revenues from domestic consumers is spent to fund energy efficiency".

The Commission is currently preparing a new online database on the rights of energy consumers. The European Energy Consumer Checklist will set out information about local and regional energy markets based on responses by the member states concerning various aspects of retail energy markets.

A new Citizens' Energy Forum is also being established by the Commission as a platform for debating consumer protection issues between key stakeholders including energy regulators, competition authorities, national bodies competent for enforcing energy consumer rights, member states' energy and consumer authorities and industry and consumer associations from both European and national levels.

That issue of ownership unbundling again....

The Parliament’s Energy Committee voted this afternoon to back the Commission’s plans for breaking up Europe’s large energy companies in the electricity sector through full ownership unbundling. While the Commission had made clear its preference for full ownership unbundling it had also proposed an alternative – this was for the appointment of an Independent System Operator (ISO) to which energy companies would hand over control of their transmission assets, investment and commercial decisions. This was rejected by MEPs for being too bureaucratic and too costly and in the process it killed off amendments for a “Scottish model” of the ISO to be adopted as a compromise solution.

Also rejected were proposals for a third alternative put forward by a number of EU member states including France and Germany which sought to allow member states to choose between ownership unbundling, ISOs and legal unbundling (whereby energy companies could retain their network assets so long as there was an effective separation of interests via rules on assets, equipment, staff, identity and compliance control (i.e. Effective and Efficient Unbundling).

The report drafted by the Welsh Labour MEP, Eluned Morgan, on the internal electricity market was adopted by 31 votes in favour and 17 against, though the amendment setting out the third alternative was narrowly rejected with 25 MEPs voting against and 22 in favour and 3 abstentions.

While the Parliament is set to vote on the Morgan report in Strasbourg next month, all eyes will be on the meeting of EU Energy Ministers in Luxembourg on 6 June when a political agreement on the energy liberalisation package will be sought.

Ultimately what we want to see is greater competition in Europe's energy markets and our consumers benefiting from greater choice and most importantly lower energy prices.

The difficulty for Scotland is that energy regulation is a reserved matter for Westminster. Certainly for Scotland it would be much easier if we were independent and able to defend our own energy interests in our own right at the Energy Council meeting next month. Yes, it is for Scotland to have a view and then convey that view to London and Brussels to try and win support for our arguments but when it comes to the negotiations in the Council we have to rely on persuading London to ensure Scottish interests are part and parcel of the discussions.

Whats happening in Brussels this week

This week in Brussels is hectic to say the least with both the committees meeting and a mini plenary session on Wednesday and Thursday.

The EU Farm Commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel, was at the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee in which she set out her priorities for the forthcoming year.

These included:

• The proposal for an EU School Fruit Scheme that is to be adopted in November as a way in which to tackle the problem with the growing number of overweight and obese children across the EU. The Commission has been consulting widely on this over the past year and looking at different schemes in the member states.
• The publication of a public consultation (a “Green Paper”) on agricultural product quality policy in October 2008 with the aim of increasing consumer awareness of the efforts made by EU farmers in following the highest production standards in the word when it comes to animal welfare, food safety, traceability, etc, putting the spotlight on the EU scheme for Protected Designations of Origin (PDOs) and Protected Geographical Indications (PGIs) and whether or not EU-level certification schemes are necessary for covering, e.g. animal welfare and environmental claims. Following the Green Paper the Commission intends to publish a Communication in 2009.
• A Communication in 2009 on the adaptation of agriculture to climate change.

While these are all important issues for Scotland, one issue which is set to dominate the agenda is the Commission’s proposals on the CAP health check, which are set to be published on 20 May at a special meeting of the Agriculture Committee in Strasbourg. The Commission wants to see this adopted during the course of 2008 and with France taking over the helm in running the EU come July this should make for an interesting 6 months.

On the issue of rising food prices, the Commissioner’s view was that biofuels were being used as a scapegoat: “the EU biofuel policy only has a rather limited effect on prices given the less than 1% of cereals production is used for bio-ethanol production”. This was in complete contradiction to comments made by the special adviser to the UN Secretary-General, Jeffrey Sachs, who had been at the Parliament’s Development Committee yesterday and said EU and US policy on biofuels had to be rethought as they no longer made sense in the current global food shortage climate.

The Commission argues that it expects farmers to respond to market signals and to increase production in response to higher prices. To help boost production, the EU is abolishing set-aside, increasing milk quotas (with a 2% increase on 1 April 2008), suspending cereal import duties. The Commissioner also said that as part of the CAP health check proposals she was intending to scrap the 45 Euro per hectare subsidy for renewable fuels and re-investing it in R&D for second-generation fuels.

We await the health check proposals with keen interest and will certainly be working closely with Scotland’s farmers, the farming communities, the Scottish government and various other key interested stakeholders to ensure Scotland’s farming interests have a strong and effective voice in these crucial discussions.

First year in government...

One year on…! And what a year of achievement it has been for the SNP and for the Scottish Government - delivering on the key issues of concern for the people of Scotland and showing them what the SNP can do on their behalf while the Scottish Labour party disintegrates into complete disarray.

Photos: In Central Fife with MSP Tricia Marwick (top) and local Councillors and key activists (bottom) celebrating our one year anniversary

The "Where were you when the SNP won its historic victory in May 2007" is one of those questions that will be asked for years to come.

For me, I was sitting in Tricia Marwick’s living room having spent most of that Friday at the count for the local elections in Fife and watched every one of the SNP Councillor candidates come home as elected Councillors – that in itself was a fantastic victory and to see Tricia Marwick win the constituency seat for Central Fife. I had spent most of the campaign actively out an about between Stirling, the Ochils, Fife and Edinburgh and can honestly say I had a great time working within those different campaigns with a fantastic and extremely hard working group of people.

With the ongoing fiasco from the night before, the Scottish Parliament results were still coming in as we stood in Fife Sports Centre and it was breathtaking to hear Jim Mather had taken Argyll and Bute and then Kenny MacAskill, Edinburgh East - both well deserved and fantastic victories in themselves. When we levelled with Labour at 46-46 the tension was immense and then the infamous text that landed on Tricia Marwick's mobile to say we had won with Dave Thompson through on the Highlands and Islands list in addition to Rob Gibson - what a feeling. Then it was off to the local curry house in Markinch for a celebratory dinner before heading back down to Edinburgh to join the celebrations there where there was still very much a sense of shock at what the party had just achieved.

One year on and I was back in Central Fife at the invitation of Tricia Marwick for a celebratory dinner last night at the Plough Inn in Star, on the outskirts of Markinch and what a great night it was with Tricia, some of our local Councillors and key activists who worked so hard and who continue to work hard on behalf of the people of Fife.

As a reminder, here are some of the things which the SNP Government has delivered in its first year governing Scotland:

• abolished road tolls for the Forth and Tay Road Bridges



• no more proposals for ship-to-ship oil transfers in the Firth of Forth



• a freeze on Council Tax for 2008/09



• reversed the previous Labour/Lib Dem Executive decision to close A & E departments at Ayr and Monklands hospitals



• signed a historic concordat with COSLA, setting out a new relationship with the local authorities



• ended the £2,289 graduate endowment



• reduced prescription charges by 25% across Scotland, moving towards their abolition by 2011



• launched a discussion on a new National Food policy for Scotland



• launched consultation on a Scottish Climate Change Bill with a proposal to reduce Scottish emissions by 80% by 2050



• introduced first phase of a Small Business Bonus Scheme



• free personal and nursing care payments to older people in care homes rising in line with inflation



• secured historic deal at the annual EU fisheries talks in Brussels giving Scotland control over its own days at sea as well as international recognition for our conservation credit scheme

And that's just for starters....