Graham's blog Friday 11 December 2009

Published on Fri 11th Dec 2009

As the non-governmental organisations and policy advisers gathered in Copenhagen for the impressive array of meetings and briefings which precede next week's arrival of the government ministers, climate change also dominated this week's European Council (summit) meeting in Brussels. Heads of state or government of the 27 EU countries met on Thursday afternoon and spent long hours overnight trying to reach agreement on how much money the EU will put on the table to help poorer nations cope with the effects of climate change. As I write this morning, they are about to resume: no deal has been reached yet.

For the first time in many years I was absent from the Liberal family gathering which preceded the EU summit where Cecilia Malmstrom (former MEP, currently Sweden's EU Affairs minister, soon to be European Commissioner for Interior Affairs) reported on developments under the Swedish Presidency of the EU which ends on 31 December. Cecilia, at just 41 years old, is the rising star of European Liberalism.

I will travel to Copenhagen over the weekend (after addressing the annual conference of our sister party The Movement for Rights and Freedoms in Bulgaria on Saturday) to host meetings of the e-parliament, a global legislators initiative which I chair. My colleague Chris Davies MEP is already there (and blogging manically).

Here in the European Parliament the political groups met to agree on how to vote next week in Strasbourg on the EU's 2010 budget and other matters. The legislative agenda being very light at present, there were also many thematic conferences going on. The ALDE (Liberal) Group hosted one on the social provisions of the Lisbon Treaty or "how to make Europe more social" at which the director general of Business Europe and the secretary general of the ETUC both spoke. Our new leader, Guy Verhofstadt, wants to put a focus on social liberalism, which pleases his British colleagues but not the Germans.

22 countries (all except the UK, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Malta) issued an appeal in Paris for a 'common EU agriculture and food policy'; they want to keep putting pots of public money into agriculture and were frightened into action by a draft document which leaked from the European Commission earlier this autumn suggesting radical reforms in EU spending.

The week started with competitiveness ministers discussing state aid to industry, which is five times greater this year than last. They failed yet again to agree on rules to allow the establishment of companies at EU level, which have been under discussion for at least fifteen years. Foreign ministers were unable to open new chapters in accession negotiations with Turkey because of a veto by Cyprus. And eight MEPs had visas to enter Gaza cancelled by the Israelis on Tuesday after the EU reiterated its commitment to East Jerusalem being the capital of the putative State of Palestine.

I'll write next week from Copenhagen and Strasbourg and then leave you undisturbed until the New Year.