Graham's blog Friday 13 February 2009 - Hoofdinhoud

The main concern in Brussels this week has been the worryingly protectionist mood music in some national capitals. I suspect Gordon Brown will come to regret his 'British Jobs for British Workers' comment (there are far more Brits living or working elsewhere in the EU than citizens of other EU countries over here); and Nicolas Sarkozy his criticism of French carmakers investing in the Czech Republic (many non-French companies invest in France). As I reminded listeners to BBC Radio 4's One O'Clock news bulletin today, it was the protectionist impulse in the 1930s which led to World War Two. The move by the Czech Presidency of the EU to hold an extraordinary summit in Brussels on 1 March underlines our determination to prevent a similar development in the current economic depression. The leaders of Business Europe (the EU's CBI), the European Trade Union Confederation and the Union for Small and Medium Sized enterprises all added their warnings this week of the perils of protectionism undermining the European Single Market which has been the basis of such great prosperity in the past 17 years.

The 27 EU member state finance ministers met in Brussels on Tuesday to deal with the challenge of "toxic assets" (bad loans). They agreed on the need for common EU principles and guidance on the evaluation of assets for which banks may be eligible for public assistance, to prevent distortion of competition in the banking industry. They also agreed to sign off the EU's 2007 accounts, in line with the Auditors' recommendation, and called on Parliament to do the same (knowing that some MEPs may be tempted to refuse discharge as a ploy to gain votes in the forthcoming EP election campaign). However, Ministers from six countries (including the UK) decided to stymie the Commissions' attempts to inject EUR 5 billion into energy interconnections and broadband development by refusing to allow the EU to spend up to its maximum agreed spending limit. So much for a commitment to getting our citizens back into jobs!

You may have noticed the current song-and-dance about an alleged EU plan to ban recreational angling, with Tory and UKIP MEPs rushing to collect signatures for a petition to Brussels. The reality, as so often, is rather more prosaic; there is a problem with a growing navy of day trip boats in the Mediterranean hauling substantial catches of blue-fin tuna, for which commercial fishery is almost closed because of the imminent danger of extinction, and this must be tackled. But the Commissioner confirmed to Parliament's Fisheries Committee on Wednesday (in reply to a question from my LibDem colleague Elspeth Attwooll) that there are no general plans to monitor millions of recreational anglers or to set quotas.

My week included participating in a debate hosted by a think tank called the European Policy Centre in which the leaders of Parliament's main political groups were invited to set out their priorities for 2009. There was some media gossip about the decision by the Socialist group's leader to send one of his deputies, suggesting that he did not wish to enter the fray against me in view of the contest for the European Parliament's Presidency: but the event passed off peacefully and serenely with perhaps more political agreement between the parties than the organisers expected. On Thursday I met Mikhail Gorbachev when we shared a platform at a major NGO conference entitled "Peace with Water", aimed at ensuring supplies of safe fresh water for the millions currently without access to it. (For my speech, see www.WatsonforPresident.eu ).

Today I am on my way to France with my children and a couple of nephews for four days' skiing: they will enjoy a whole week, but once again Parliament's breaks fail to coincide with UK school holidays and I must be back in Brussels on Tuesday night.