Boards.ie goes to Brussels.

DeVore

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055730180

As part of an annual Meet & Greet with Irish journalists we (Sceptre, OscarBravo and I) have been invited to Brussels to meet with the EC Secretary-General, the Director-General for Trade, the Head of Competition, Charlie McCreevy and the Irish MEPs.

We arent sure yet if we will get time to ask direct questions but on the off chance we do, toss anything you would like to ask them and we'll see if we can squeeze them in. We'll consider a "thanks" to be a vote for that question so dont duplicate questions if you can just thank one.

The topics on the agenda are (I've made the topics of the meetings bold):

The Role of an MEP
Speaker: Heidi Hautala MEP (Finland)
Chairperson of Subcommittee on Human Rights



The Role of an MEP
Speaker: David Martin MEP (UK)


Opportunity to interview MEPs


Open Session with Mr. David O'SULLIVAN
Director General for Trade



THE MIDDLE EAST PROCESS
Gwenda JEFFREYS-JONES
Desk Officer Middle East Process
Unit "Near East"
Directorate-General "External Relations"


Open Session with Catherine DAY
Secretary-General of the European Commission



Open Session with Charlie McCREEVY
Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services



Wednesday, 11 November 2009

BANKING CRISIS AND COMPETITION ISSUES
Anthony WHELAN
Head of Cabinet of Commissioner Kroes, Commissioner for Competition


AGRICULTURE AND WTO, WHAT NEXT?
MICHAEL MANN
Spokesperson for Commissioner for Agriculture Mariann FISCHER BOEL
Spokespersons Group
Directorate-General "Communication"

EU & USA RELATIONS UNDER THE NEW PRESIDENCY


So, what would you like us to ask them?

DeV.

star gazer

.

The Saint

Regarding the Middle East Peace Process, I'd like to see asked if there is a justification to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement since in its preamble it states that:

CONSIDERING the importance which the Parties attach to the principle of economic freedom and to the principles of
the United Nations Charter, particularly the observance of human rights and democracy, which form the very basis of
the Association;

Source

Since Israel is in violation of numerous human rights and humanitarian laws and therefore not abiding my a major aspect of the agreement. These violations are acknowledged by the EU as well as all member states of the EU.

A leaked EU report earlier this year stated that

Although Israel has legitimate security concerns in Jerusalem, many of its current illegal actions in and around the city have limited security justifications.

In conferences held in 1999 and 2001, the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention reaffirmed the applicability of the Convention to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and reiterated the need for full respect for the provisions of the Convention in that territory.

In July 2004 the EU acknowledged the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the "Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory" and voted in favour of the General Assembly Resolution adopted at its Tenth Emergency Special Session that acknowledged it. While the EU recognises Israel's security concerns and its right to act in self-defence, the EU position on the legality of the separation barrier coincides with the ICJ Advisory Opinion.

Settlement building in and around East Jerusalem continues at a rapid pace, contrary to Israel's obligations under international law and the Roadmap, which were reaffirmed at Annapolis.

House demolitions in occupied East Jerusalem are illegal under international law, serve no obvious purpose, have severe humanitarian effects, and fuel bitterness and extremism. The EU adopted a declaration on this issue on the 10th November of 2008 and expressed its concern to the Israeli authorities through an official demarche to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 1st December of 2008.

Source

As was stated in the report, all EU states endorsed the 2004 International Court of Justice opinion on the Wall in the General Assembly endorsing the ICJ opinion. Solana stated in 2005 that "We think that Israel has the right to defend itself but we think that the fence which will stand outside the territory of Israel is not legally proper and it also creates humanitarian problems"


This opinion stated that the Wall where built on Palestinian land was illegal and that settlements were illegal. The Court ruled that this violated numerous international human rights and humanitarian laws. It also found that Israel was in violation of numerous Security Council resolutions. Israel is also in violation of its Roadmap obligations in which the EU is a member of the quartet.

So basically, why does the EU not suspent the Association Agreement since it is in violation of a fundamental aspect of it? This is illustrated by human rights group reports, the UN (through reports, General Assembly and Security Council Reolutions and the ICJ) the EU and Quartet.

Lockstep

Wow, more Boardsies in Belgium.

I'm living in Leuven, if you're in Brussels, you gotta check out the Delirium bar.

Captain Furball

DeVore wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055730180

As part of an annual Meet & Greet with Irish journalists we (Sceptre, OscarBravo and I) have been invited to Brussels to meet with the EC Secretary-General, the Director-General for Trade, the Head of Competition, Charlie McCreevy and the Irish MEPs.

We arent sure yet if we will get time to ask direct questions but on the off chance we do, toss anything you would like to ask them and we'll see if we can squeeze them in. We'll consider a "thanks" to be a vote for that question so dont duplicate questions if you can just thank one.

The topics on the agenda are (I've made the topics of the meetings bold):

The Role of an MEP
Speaker: Heidi Hautala MEP (Finland)
Chairperson of Subcommittee on Human Rights



The Role of an MEP
Speaker: David Martin MEP (UK)


Opportunity to interview MEPs


Open Session with Mr. David O'SULLIVAN
Director General for Trade



THE MIDDLE EAST PROCESS
Gwenda JEFFREYS-JONES
Desk Officer Middle East Process
Unit "Near East"
Directorate-General "External Relations"


Open Session with Catherine DAY
Secretary-General of the European Commission



Open Session with Charlie McCREEVY
Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services



Wednesday, 11 November 2009

BANKING CRISIS AND COMPETITION ISSUES
Anthony WHELAN
Head of Cabinet of Commissioner Kroes, Commissioner for Competition


AGRICULTURE AND WTO, WHAT NEXT?
MICHAEL MANN
Spokesperson for Commissioner for Agriculture Mariann FISCHER BOEL
Spokespersons Group
Directorate-General "Communication"

EU & USA RELATIONS UNDER THE NEW PRESIDENCY


So, what would you like us to ask them?

DeV.

Boards.ie says yes to lisbon....

murphaph

Ask them when all the jobs from Lisbon are going to arrive.

thebman

murphaph wrote: »

Ask them when all the jobs from Lisbon are going to arrive.

Or maybe we could ask them something worthwhile since that was the government that supposedly promised all those jobs not the EU.

Ask you local TD that question instead.

bijapos

Ask them two things:

1. What are they going to do about corruption in the EU, especially regarding overruns on EU funded construction and infrastructure projects.

2. What are they going to do to curb the massive influence that lobbyists have on EU legislation.

Zynks

What is the likelihood of further expansion of the EU and how the impact of these expansions on the current member's economies can be mitigated.

edanto

Wow - interesting session to be invited to!

Could you ask if they support a Transaction Tax, in principle? And if not, why not?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/nov/08/transaction-tax-analysis

link above wrote:

Levying a "transaction tax" on the frenzied activities of City traders and their rivals in the world's financial markets is not a new idea, but it may be one whose time has come.

American economist James Tobin originally proposed the tax – levied at up to 1%, on foreign exchange transactions – in the 1970s, to tame damaging financial speculation...

There's another article on reforming the banking sector over at globalissues.org and one of the main points is about the need for proper regulation. We have seen this clearly in Ireland, leading to the question..

What will the EU do to align it's stated intentions of social justice with the reality of banking practices that concentrate wealth? Can we control greed and profiteering with regulation?

thanks for asking us!

Aidan1

corruption in the EU, especially regarding overruns on EU funded construction and infrastructure projects.

Or to re-word your question, to ask the Commission why Member States's have difficulty meeting the accounting standards set by the EU, and why some of them have overruns on programmes? Surely that's a question for the Member States themselves, rather than the Commission?

DeVore

Good stuff...


Edanto, thats something I have been wondering myself...

Anyway, keep em coming, we'll have access right up to the meetings (all day tuesday) and maybe even in them...

DeV.

DeVore

We've arrived in Brussels and are ensconced in the EU Parliament building at the moment.

We just finished a very interesting and informative meeting with Heidi Hautala, the Chairperson of the Subcommittee on Human Rights.

Particularly of interest was an indication of concern about possible Irish involvement in extraordinary rendition of prisoners with regard to the US. I pressed for clarification and was told that while there were no specific concerns, a "list" of countries would be involved in a robust investigation next year.

Next up is David Martin, Scottish MEP.

DeV.

Zynks

Thanks DeVore, keep the reports coming. Real-time, unfiltered journalism. Love it!

sceptre

Limited time for questions with David Martin but he's given us interesting views about trade with Africa and the Caribbean in particular as well as his experiences as an MEP in a largely euro-sceptic country.

With regard to the chair/president of the European Council job, he's offered his opinion that Herman Van Rompuy's candidacy is pretty much unstoppable at this point.

Next up are the Irish MEPs - in attendance we've got Sean Kelly, Proinsias de Rossa, Nessa Childers and Joe Higgins.

edit: Brian Crowley and Pat the cope Gallagher have also arrived.
edit 2: now also Alan Kelly, Mairead McGuinness and Marian Harkin. ALso Jim Higgins & Gay Mitchell.

DeVore

We're now in an open meeting with the Irish MEPs including Joe Higgins and Proincias De Rossa... If you have questions, throw them in here and I'll try to get a word in edgeways as there are a lot of journalists here too.

DeV.

DeVore

Worryingly Nessa Childers is of the opinion that there will likely be no legally binding agreements coming out of the Copenhagen meeting on climate change. I made the point that this risks Copenhagen becoming simply another talking shop about climate change there is general agreement that that is a risk. Points have been made that while the economy has grabbed the headlines and concerns of Europeans, it should be recognised and communicated that jobs and Green Energy are not mutually exclusive and indeed several hundred thousand jobs can be created in this new industry.

I pressed on why legally binding commitments wont likely come from Copenhagen and was told "some countries are not arriving with mandates to negotiate legally binding agreements... which I queried were the Americans and basically that was confirmed.

DeV.

sceptre

Proinsias de Rossa (chair of the Delegation for Relatons with the Palestinian Legislative Council and hence one of the most relevant people in Europe to ask about the Israel/Palestine situatoin) addressed the Israel-Palestine issue, stating that he's quite worried by Barrack Obama's rolling back on his position that there should be a freeze on new settlements in the west bank. He cited the Germans as the main block on introducing any sort of sanctions against Israel or disabling in any way their preferred trading partner status, including the suspension of the EU-Israel Association agreeement (see The Saint's question above). He stressed heavily that there's significant fault on both sides. It's not going to happen in any way as long as the Germans don't want any change.


Aside, there's significant interest from the journalists here on a very small number of issues. "Who's going to be the Irish commissioner?" "Who's going to be chair/president of the council of the EU?" Without being overly critical for the sake of it, asking everyone passing the same question when there can't be possibility a definitive answer is a waste of time that could be valuably spent on a different question.

Zynks

Quick question: with Lisbon gone through, when will we see a stronger European standing in critical international issues such as Palestine, NK and so on?

Scofflaw

Presumably aiming for the "general feeling in Brussels is..." angle on the only things they think will interest readers. Media are definitely part of the democratic deficit.

cordially,
Scofflaw

DeVore

A "robust" debate was triggered by a question from the Irish Times regarding the specific details of NAMA. Brian Crowley and Joe Higgins (who have been sparring since they sat down) gave their radically different opinions on the agency. I questioned if this represented Fianna Fail "blinking" in the face of the Free Market Economy theory of corrections in the market and if so, do they (the Fianna Fail representatives specifically) accept that we went wrong embracing the theory so strongly under Charlie McCreevy. This got a very wishy washy response in my opinion but I guess I wanted to put that out there rather then expect any particularly incisive responses.

DeV.

DeVore

The second part of yesterday was in a different building and all of today was in that building too... needless to say, there was no WIFI there

We're in the airport on our way home now, its been a tiring 48 hours but incredibly informative and has dispelled many of my concerns about how the EU is organised (though confirmed one or two of them particularly relating to efficiency and organsisation).

The MEP's by and large were very keen to engage with people but expressed a feeling of not being sure how best to achieve that.

We'll write up our various views and also the lads have some answers to the questions posted above to give you.

In all, a very good trip and the first of a few. If we can convince the MEP's that they can have a robust debate without fear of childish name calling or "gotcha" point scoring then we will have taken a step forward imho. I mean our society, not just Boards

DeV.

Scofflaw

DeVore wrote: »

The second part of yesterday was in a different building and all of today was in that building too... needless to say, there was no WIFI there

We're in the airport on our way home now, its been a tiring 48 hours but incredibly informative and has dispelled many of my concerns about how the EU is organised (though confirmed one or two of them particularly relating to efficiency and organsisation).

The MEP's by and large were very keen to engage with people but expressed a feeling of not being sure how best to achieve that.

We'll write up our various views and also the lads have some answers to the questions posted above to give you.

In all, a very good trip and the first of a few. If we can convince the MEP's that they can have a robust debate without fear of childish name calling or "gotcha" point scoring then we will have taken a step forward imho. I mean our society, not just Boards

DeV.

I think we can do that...we might not even need to ramp up our usual levels of brutality.

cordially,
Scofflaw

sceptre

As DeV said, we lost wireless availability when we had to move from the EP building to the Berlaymont building. We still managed to plug away with some of your questions, when I get back to Limerick some time later today I'll type out the info for what I managed to ask and related matters.

Zynks wrote: »

Quick question: with Lisbon gone through, when will we see a stronger European standing in critical international issues such as Palestine, NK and so on?

Quick answer: yes. I asked this question of an official in a Middle East session specifically in regard to IL/PS, looking for a boolean response, and was given a solid yes. It's a response that pleases me. Some more info from me later.

edanto

Thank you both!

Zynks

sceptre wrote: »

Quick answer: yes. I asked this question of an official in a Middle East session specifically in regard to IL/PS, looking for a boolean response, and was given a solid yes. It's a response that pleases me. Some more info from me later.

Excellent! I was hoping that was the direction the EU was heading. Looking forward to the 'report'.
Sounds like it was a great trip.

Aidan1

If we can convince the MEP's that they can have a robust debate without fear of childish name calling or "gotcha" point scoring ...

Agreed - it's interesting though, quite often the only place you'll get Irish politicians to openly discuss policy on a rational basis is in Brussels - generally speaking the tone and quality of the debate in the EP (and associated Cttes) is far more constructive than it is in our national Parliament. Depends on the politician of course - we've sent some real characters over also - but the difference is in the culture (and role) of the EP, rather than the people themselves.

DeVore

I'll leave the specifics of the questions to OB and Sceptre and give you an idea of the place itself.

Einstein is reported to have said "we should make things as simple as possible but no simpler". I dont believe he actually DID say that but never-the-less its an excellent quote.

There is no doubt that the EU Commission is a complex place. Its huge for a start, just moving around it is a challenge. Its busy, it reminded me no such as the cliched futuristic alien airport beloved of SciFi films. People are coming, going, holding impromptu press conferences, organising conferences and meetings on every conceivable topic from the quotas applicable to Eel farming in Norway (which might seem like a joke to us, but I can tell you is a primary topic of discussion if you are an Eel farmer in Norway!!!).

We kicked off with an Q&A session with the MEPs and every MEP turned up. Some didnt stay long but you have to give them the benefit of the doubt that they may have had overlapping meetings.

From the start there was a genuine frustration emoted by the MEP's that people back home dont understand the job they do or are expected to do. Several pointed out that they can be roundly abused for not attending a public figures funeral in their constituency while being expected to attend debates and votes in Brussels as well.

They were also quite open and keen on the idea of using the internet to interact with the public but clearly were afraid of simply being thrown to the wolves.

I was generally very impressed and surprised at how open and honest everyone was about the difficulties they encounter and tribulations they face. There was a genuine desire to open up what they do to us and to have that explained "back home". I wasnt expecting that, I was expecting a lot of bluster and stonewalling about how they are brilliant and we should all go away and stop asking questions.

After the MEPs we were given significant "face-time" with key people in the larger organisation including a full hour with Catherine Day, the Secretary General of the European Commission. We pressed them with some pointed questions and rather then getting the expected stonewalling and "party line" were greeted with agreement that such problems were difficult and an explanation of how their internal thinking was about topics from Palestine to the moral implications of negotiating with small countries who basically depend on the EU for their monetary existance.

To get back to the Einstein's quote, the EU Commission is complex because it needs to be complex. I'm not about to argue that it couldnt be simpler or more accessible but what has suprised me is that there is a keen willingness to engage from their side too.
The organisation has to deal with the myriad of representatives from 27 countries with 17 recognised languages... every country has its corners to fight and of course there are stops and checks and balances to ensure no one group of individuals is vested with ultimate power. Its all very well for us to run Boards as a "Benevolent Dictatorship", but I can understand the massively more complex issues they face and to be honest, I was won over to feel it is amazing it works as well as it does.
The only real alternative would be to return to single states with bilateral agreements.
With the Asian countries grouping up, and the US being the 800 pound gorrilla at the table, we dont have an alternative.

As they said during one of the round table sessions "in Europe there are small countries and countries who have yet to realise they are small".

DeV.