Graham's Blog, Friday 17 November 2008

Published on Mon 17th Nov 2008

The EU is frequently lambasted in the British press for not having it s accounts in order. This criticism is partially unfair, since 80% of EU funds are spent in and by the Member States and it is in this area that the European Court of Auditors has not been satisfied. It came as a relief, therefore, that on Monday the auditors signed off the EU's 2007 accounts, for the first time in many years. Of course they identified areas where improvements are still needed, especially in agricultural spending; but the overall opinion was an unqualified OK.

I was in Berlin when the auditors' announcement was made, chairing a panel of speakers at a big conference on EU defence policy which included our Liberal Democrat defence expert Lord Roper. At the same time the EU's defence ministers were meeting in Brussels, where they agreed a budget of some 30 million euros for the European Defence Agency and invested a further 15 million euros into research and technology. They decided to launch a joint naval operation to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia (particularly against ships of the World Food Programme taking cargoes of food to people in need) and discussed how to make the EU capable of launching rapid defence operations when necessary.

Back in Brussels on Tuesday I received Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, who was in town to discuss early preparations for Sweden's presidency of the EU (July to December next year, after the Czechs); and I chaired a meeting of my Group at which we discussed progress in the negotiations over new laws to fight climate change. I fear I was not at my best, however; on three of the previous four mornings I had risen well before six o'clock in order to meet flight schedules.

Also on Tuesday the European Commission agreed to propose measures to protect citizens against rare diseases, which afflict some 36 million EU citizens. I am not generally in favour of EU action on health matters since the EU treaties give few legal powers to the Union to develop policies in this area. However in this case the member states have asked the Union to co-ordinate national strategies on rare diseases, particularly in helping doctors to recognise them through exchange of knowledge and experience. A rare disease is classed as one which affects fewer than five out of every ten thousand citizens.

On Wednesday I took eleven senior colleagues to Gibraltar for a three-day study visit. Gibraltar has been in my constituency since 2004 and I have been intrigued by the kind of challenges the inhabitants of the Rock face as a result of their strange constitutional status. With colleagues from 11 different EU member states I met government and opposition representatives, the speaker of Gibraltar's parliament and representatives of a number of social and environmental non-governmental organisations. Though Gibraltar has enjoyed huge economic success in the years since it was essentially a garrison town, the fruits of that success are distributed very unevenly and discrimination of all kinds is rife, perpetrated sometimes by Spain or the UK but just as often by Gibraltar's own government. The Rock is a charming, hospitable and remarkably successful place, but modernisation of some of its laws and practices is sorely needed. As on of its MEPs I am playing a part in that process, much assisted by the excellent Gibraltar Liberal Party.

I led my colleagues in highlighting one particular case of discrimination by playing a game of football against the Gibraltar football association. They thrashed us, of course, by four goals to one in a match of only fifteen minutes each way (our players were mostly over 50, like me!). But the TV cameras rolled as Gibraltar played against a multinational team of MEPs. Despite two rulings in their favour in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, UEFA bows to Spanish pressure to prevent them playing against other national teams, although the Faroe Islands and San Marino are allowed to.

On Saturday I address the Liberal Democrats' London region conference in the morning and the south west Devon Lib Dems annual dinner in the evening. In between I will chair a meeting of the LDs south west European election campaign team, by teleconference. Next week Parliament meets in formal session in Strasbourg and I look forward to reporting from there.