Graham's blog Friday 6 November 2009

Published on Fri 6th Nov 2009

In fifteen years I have rarely known Parliament so quiet. Though the Czech President has now signed the Lisbon Treaty, bringing to an end an eight year battle to reform the EU, MEPs returned from the half-term recess on Monday to find a very thin agenda for Parliament and its committees. Last weekend's European Council (summit) meeting did not reach final agreement on a candidate for its presidency, though Belgian prime minister Herman van Rompuy appears to be the front runner; nor did it agree on the next High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy (EU Foreign Minister), though an agreement at EU level between the christian democrats and the socialists means that UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband has very good chances. Much may depend on whether Gordon Brown is prepared to give up the chance of the UK Commissioner holding a key economic portfolio, such as the trade portfolio currently held by Baroness Ashton.

Beneath the game of musical chairs, progress is being made on some fronts. The European Council did not agree how much money the EU would put on the table in Copenhagen to help fight climate change: merely that Europe would pay its fair share. But the Presidents of Council and Commission are in Delhi this weekend at the annual EU-India summit at which almost all the talk is about co-operation in mitigating climate change. As the Chairman of the EP's delegation for relations with India's parliament I have been following developments closely. Concrete outcomes should include the signature of an agreement between the EU and India in the field of fusion energy research, the launch of a joint call for tenders for up to €10 million in solar and photovoltaic technology and €250 million worth of loans to India for projects such as the development of environmentally-friendly vehicles.

Parliament's Environment Committee is working on a list of industries vulnerable to re-location outwith the EU if our carbon emission limits are too tight; and will soon be considering Commission proposals to cut CO2 emissions from vans and other light commercial vehicles, which account for 12% of all new vehicles. Other proposals on the table from the Commission include options for labelling of goods with information about welfare standards used in production.

The most significant development of the week was agreement reached in conciliation (where Ministers and MEPs sit down to hammer out the final compromises on legislative Bills) on the Telcoms Package. The sticking point was that the French Government wanted to be able to withdraw internet access from people uploading or downloading illegal material without giving them any right of appeal. The UK government was planning similar 'three-strikes-and-you're-banned' legislation.

I hosted a meeting in Parliament for the representatives of the 750 companies (with a quarter of a million employees between them) involved in the ship supply industry. They now have a better organised presence in Brussels to help them plead the case for equal treatment by customs authorities across the EU's 27 member states. I also gave evidence at our Petitions Committee in favour of Lucy Stewart, a former constituent with Downs Syndrome now living in Spain and being denied Disability Living Allowance by the UK government, in breach of EU law. I received President Talat of Northern Cyprus to discuss progress in the talks for an agreement on power sharing on the island.

Tomorrow I will chair the Lib Dem Western Counties regional conference at the Wessex Water HQ in Bath. If you are a Party member, please come along.