The TaxPayers' Alliance - EU

Costing Justice

Ever wondered what the European Court of Justice cost to run?

Last year’s annual report is now circulating in hard copy (2009/C144/01). Stattos take note.

€21 million went on renumerations and allowances.

€126,000 went on social events.

€69,000 went on subsidising the canteen.

€1.3 million went on the Early Childhood Centre.

€32.3 million went on renting, leasing, and buying the buildings.

€3.5 million went on cleaning and maintenance.

€3.25 million went on furniture.

So now you know. The whole cost for running the institution in 2008 came to €275 million, or around £240 million annually. Not bad for an institution for 27 judges and eight advocates-general: that makes a cost of £6.8 million per legal mind a year.

€1.2 million also went on staff vehicles. It’s not clear what happened to the old ones: in the past they’ve reportedly been auctioned off, often to insiders. Perhaps the details are hidden in a folder in a pile even now being sifted by waste-busting MEP Marta Andreasen…

Speak Up, Young Man

Over the weekend there was some random coverage about a health group campaigning for the European Commission to regulate over IPOD noise. To be precise, they were encouraging the Commission to force companies put warning notices on the boxes rather than demand some form of noise inhibitors.

Once again, media reporting falls behind the reality. Commission Decision 2009/490/EC was passed on 23 June addressing this very concern. It ordains that,

"Personal music players shall be designed and manufactured in a manner that ensures that, under reasonably foreseeable conditions of use, they are inherently safe and do not cause hearing damage."

The Commission also demands that "personal music players shall provide adequate warnings on the risks involved in using the device and to the ways of avoiding them and information to users in cases where exposure poses a threat of hearing damage." So at first sight, a health warning and some sensible design work that doesn’t ghettoblast your eardrums is all that’s on the cards.

But look again. The Decision also adds a new limit, stating that,

"Exposure to sound levels shall be time limited to avoid hearing damage. At 80 dB(A) exposure time shall be limited to 40 hours/week, whereas at 89 dB(A) exposure time shall be limited to 5 hours/week. For other exposure levels a linear intra- and extrapolation applies. Account shall be taken of the dynamic range of sound and the reasonably foreseeable use of the products."

Herein lies the red tape tripwire. This suggests that manufacturers of ipods, personal music players and similar gadgetry will indeed be expected to provide some form of - possibly quite complex - noise-limitation.

Of course it’s good that the issue is being taken seriously. Tube travellers may rejoice at the reduction of thumping beats from neighbours, and it may well be medically justifiable. But it is also potentially very heavy handed, potentially expensive, and for an infrequent user very intrusive.

Yet the crunch issue is really this: why is the press reporting a decision that has apparently already been made as a still an issue for discussion?

Watch this space for yet another case of an EU law that dribbles up on us while the media’s eye is off the ball.

 

 

Calling All Terrorists

I have, perhaps, misunderestimated the genius of the European Commission.

In November 2003, Mr Faraj Faraj Hussein al-Sa’idi was listed by the United Nations as being associated with Afghan terrorists. After attending a terrorist vocational training course in Afghanistan, according to a UN report he went to Italy to set up and lead a cell, and to coordinate a series of networks designed to facilitate killing people, particularly in the UK and the Netherlands. In 2006, a Milan court found him guilty of a plethora of activities such as fundraising, planning attacks, recruiting, obtaining forged documents, providing weapons and explosives – the usual terrorist work.

Roll on five years. A European Court of Justice case in 2008 came to the conclusion that the legal basis for the European Commission freezing funds of named supporters of terrorism was flawed. The Commission had used the old rubber article 308. Even the ECJ found this was highly suspect, as this clause was intended to provide a cover all for plugging gaps in the Single Market, and there is (beyond the metaphor) no trade in terror.

The ruling seems to have potentially opened a Pandora’s box for all manner of legal challenges to regulations passed under 308.

How has the Commission responded? With bureaucratic flair. It has published (2009/C 107/07) a "Notice for the attention of Mr Faraj Faraj Hussein al-Sa’idi". In it, it invites him personally to write to DG External Relations to express his views on why he should come off the black list.

Entrapment by return of correspondence. One wonders if it has yet been tried with Bin Laden.

Going Nuclear

It is a morsel. A tiny thing. Wafer thin.

The European Commission and CERN – the European Organisation for Nuclear Research – have signed a Memorandum of Understanding.

This document (2009/488/EC) expands upon an administrative arrangement dating back to 1994. Why does it catch our eye? Because of a trifle.

Since 1985 the European Communities has enjoyed Observer Status at the CERN Council. It seems that the Commission will henceforth now be able in its own right to attend its European Strategy Sessions, and to take the floor at these sessions.

Annual meetings will explore how to take the process further – "to take stock of progress and possibly discuss further ways to enhance mutual collaboration, including joint activities, or explore potential synergies." The modalities of what this privilege means on a daily basis will be worked out behind the scenes over the coming months

It is a bauble, a thing of no consequence.

And yet, this thinnest, most translucent of slices of the salami proves yet again the reality behind our recent paper on the EU’s representation in the world.

The Lisbon Treaty will only accelerate the trend, as the Communities institutions gain legal identity. Step by step, or shuffle by imperceptible shuffle, the Commission is assuming its role as a world player in its own right. Blink and you will miss it. Long exposure on the other hand will photograph a blur.

Now I ... am the Master

An opportunity for Star Wars quotes a go-go. It appears that President Obama is backtracking on the provision of a Missile Defence Shield based in part in Eastern Europe.

No need here to argue the pros and cons of the policy – once again, The West Wing set out the stall most eloquently. But there is one dynamic that some may have missed.

One of the bartering chips being used to win over some opponents of the Lisbon Treaty in Prague and Warsaw was that if they caved in over Lisbon, their political opponents would reciprocate over missile defence.

Now that chip has been removed from the table, I wonder if supporting ratification has now become that little bit harder.

Breaking the Sweatshops

A new directive has been agreed targeting employees who employ illegal aliens.

So far so good. Dickensian practices are abhorrent, and this legislation (2009/52/EC) in that sense is highly welcome. Quite why it needs to be done at all, of course, remains an open question, since national governments should already be outlawing them.

Our eye however falls on paragraphs 26 and 27. This sets up a complaint mechanism that employees who are illegal immigrants can use – directly or via intermediaries such as trades unions.

While pursuing these complaints, which presumably also includes such items as getting back pay off an employer, the state is expected to take a hands-off approach. Specifically, those providing legal aid to illegal immigrants cannot be pursued themselves in relation to their providing support for illegal residence, and the state is apparently expected to grant residence permits equal in length to those already being given for instance in cases of child or sexual trafficking.

Expect angry letters to tabloids in a matter of months when these loopholes start to get seriously abused.

That's the Beauty of Gas

A regulation (713/2009) has been published, setting up an Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators.

Why, you might wonder, is there a need for such an entity?

An independent advisory group (that is to say, a group of advisors working for the Commission) has existed since 2003 "to facilitate consultation, coordination and cooperation". Their specialisms are the internal markets in electricity and gas. Now, however, we see a shift to "a Community structure with clear competences and with the power to adopt individual regulatory decisions in a number of specific cases." This is to be done "with a view to achieving the objectives of Community energy policy."

That policy, incidentally, involves a commitment to the politics of security of supply. That invokes all manner of spectres, from Russia to North Sea Gas. Then of course there’s Libya.

Decisions can be appealed against by national authorities, which are then resolved by a board within the agency itself, or by the European Court of Justice. So much for the intergovernmental approach.

The agency itself will have legal personality, a high-profile and obviously well-renumerated Director, and a stated interest in access to and security of pipelines and cables that cross borders.

If you thought that Britain had an independent energy policy – even before the energy clauses of the Lisbon Treaty kick in – think again. Expect to see more millions of taxpayers’ money to go into supporting another tool for European integration by the back door.

Beaten Senseless with the Irony Stick

Every few months, designs are released of new Euro coins. You may recall that under the agreement setting up the monetary aspects of the Euro, governments and central banks got to design one side of the coinage, which provided a (false) sense of continuing national currency identity for countries like Germany which had a strong attachment to their old notes and shrapnel. Two Euro coins can also specifically be used as occasional commemorative pieces.

Increasingly it seems that the artists are not entering into the spirit of things. One of the designs back in January was of a stick man that looked like a three year old had drawn it. The latest batch now takes the art of irony in a new direction.

At least two governments are set to commemorate the bicentenary of the birth of Louis Braille by minting special Euro coins. This is the same coinage that the French had to melt down in large numbers several years ago when markings for the blind were found to be confusing, while blind charities continue to complain about difficulties that arise from the relative tactile similarity between the Euro notes.

Meanwhile, the Vatican (which also uses the Euro) has come up with another strangely-inspired design. It is commemorating the International Year of Astronomy with "an allegory of the birth of the stars and planets together with several astronomical instruments".

Galileo’s inquisitors would be spinning in their graves - but not, of course, around the Sun.

Quel Beau Soleil!

MEPs new and old will be grappling with their allowances. Some of these have changed. One such is the new set of rules on language and computer courses for Members (2009/C 204/03).

MEPs are allowed to spend a not insignificant amount of money to become IT literate and, well, literally literate in a foreign language.

Now, there is some element of merit in this. After all, an MEP having some skill in English or French may reduce the need for expensive interpretation in the core working languages. Whether the taxpayer should pay for it is open to question, of course.

However, under the new rules there is still no restriction on MEPs spending public money in order to be able to chat up the au pair in a more exotic tongue, or to expand the cv for personal interest rather than practical reasons. Approval can, for instance, also be granted if an MEP conducts business with non-EU countries for him to do courses in a non-EU language.

We can also question whether the MEP needs to be quite so computer literate at public expense, given his other generous office allowances in staff and gadgetry. Furthermore, quite how €500 of this could go annually on teach-yourself books and tapes remains questionable at best.

Our main concern, though, is over the amount on offer. Each year, an MEP can spend €5,000 on language courses and another €1,500 on computer courses.

The going rate, to judge by assistants provided by the Parliament itself, appears to be €40 per hour. That works out at about five hours of instruction for MEPs on sitting weeks over the year; or the MEP taking half a day off every working week in Brussels or Strasbourg for self-improvement purposes: hardly a question of occupying himself foremost with his constituents' concerns.

The managing Eurocrats got one thing right: the teacher or trainer at least has to have a professional qualification recognised by a member state. But hold on: if the courses take place abroad, the MEP is allowed to go on a week’s language blitz doing half-day courses, and get both them and his air fare paid for, plus taxis from the airport for up to 40km distance… plus a half rate of the usual subsistence pay for MEPs on business.

Sounds like a great new wheeze in the making. Anyone for a spot of Italian or Portuguese this winter?

The Walls Have Ears

Today we release a paper looking at the development of the EU’s foreign service. Already European Commission employees are reported denying the substance of the report. Mere review of the steady slow accretion of power from one decade to the next demonstrates beyond any shadow of a doubt where the trend is going: the development of an EU diplomatic corps.

An interesting written question from an MEP last year (but in the last printed batch circulated) springs to mind. The focus was on listening equipment reportedly found in a building occupied by the European Communities’ representatives in Cuba.

The Commission have denied the report. Whatever the reality, the very fact that there are suggestions that today's Eurodiplomats are worth bugging is illuminating in itself.