I would like to take this opportunity to wish all the readers of this European Report a Happy New Year and to share with you my aspirations for 2008. This year I hope, and am working towards the emphasis in the European debate returning to progressing the social agenda. I also hope that we achieve climate change targets and reach our development goals.  If you share these aspirations, I would ask that you email this European Report to a friend and encourage them to join these debates, either by signing up to the emailing list via my website, or by contacting me at david@martinmep.com

Socialist Group demands more ambitious plans for 2008
The Socialist group have won support in the European Parliament in our effort to push the European Commission to adopt more ambitious plans for its 2008 legislative programme.  The 210 strong Group has drawn up a programme which includes:

• Initiatives to protect workers and give them a better balance between work and family life:
• Involvement of workers in their enterprises, with improved rights to information and consultation, through reform of the European Works Council Directive;
• Action against discrimination through specific laws;
• Proposals to improve the quality of life through better economic and social governance; and
• Controls to safeguard homeowners and investors from further turmoil in the money markets.

The Socialist Group believe their programme will renew the battle for a proper social dimension to policy making in the European Union (EU).   

EU-Korea agreement to boost trade and protect workers
The report I drafted on the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA), for the International Trade Committee, has been backed by the European Parliament.  In backing this report MEPs have come out in favour of a deal seeking a balance between the boosting of trade in goods and services and securing social and environmental standards.  The agreement will make it easier for Europe to trade with Korea and vice versa.  The agreement covers trade in important sectors such as the car industry, shipbuilding, pharmaceuticals and banking – the Royal Bank of Scotland plans to invest in South Korea.  The Report also stresses the need to ensure the application and the enforcement of ILO core labour standards (e.g. the abolition of child labour, the right to organise, and the right to collective bargaining) as well as adherence to climate change targets.  This bilateral agreement will represent the first in a new generation of trade agreements between the EU and its trading partners.

Socialist and Trades Unions question Healthcare proposals  
Concerns raised by UNITE and the European Federation of Public Sector Workers (EPSU), and reflected within the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, that a new European Health Directive could be being used as the thin end of a wedge to increase European market mechanisms in the health sector has led to the delay, and possible rethinking, of the Health Directive.  The Directive, which is supposed to set out a legal framework to implement the rights of patients to be reimbursed when they travel to other European Union (EU) Member States to receive medical treatment, has become a battleground between the Internal Market Directorate within the European Commission and the Health Directorate.  The Internal Market Directorate wants more market integration, Health is opposing this.  I am with Health.  Many advocates of the liberalisation of healthcare services argue the case from the patient’s perspective, stressing the patient’s ‘right’ to gain treatment throughout the EU without the hindrance of national ‘red tape’.   However, I support the views expressed by UNITE and EPSU that all patients deserve high-quality, accessible health services wherever they live in the EU and whatever their means.  As the current Directive makes no proposals on the reimbursement of travelling costs and other expenses in its present form it would exclude many poorer citizens from taking up such ‘rights’.  We must also beware that a Healthcare Directive, which should be about delivering better health, is not just another vehicle for introducing the Services Directive into healthcare provision by the back door.     

European Commission must be held to car emission targets 
There is concern amongst MEPs that the European Commission may be backsliding on a draft resolution, agreed by the European Parliament, on setting EU targets to reduce CO2 car emissions to 120 grams per kilometre within five years.  Progress on implementing the emission targets has become embroiled in a ‘behind the scenes’ power struggle amongst car producing Member States and between the Commissioner for Enterprise and the Commissioner in charge of Environmental policy.  German car manufacturers who produce more than 80% of Europe’s high performance cars are concerned that the new legislation will impact on them more than other Member States.  It is believed that the German Commissioner for Enterprise, Gunter Verheugen, is seeking to reduce the impact of possible fines on manufacturers that do not make the 2012 cut-off date for compliance with the new limit.  The Greek Commissioner for the Environment, Stavros Dimas, is arguing that the threat of fines will encourage manufacturers to invest in the necessary technologies to meet the new standards.  Given “there is no rewind button on climate change” the European Parliament must stiffen the Commission’s resolve to stick with the agreed targets. 

European Parliament turns its attention to pollution at sea
Having recently introduced policies to help cut pollution from motor vehicles and aeroplanes the European Parliament is now turning its attention to pollution from shipping.  In the last session of the European Parliament I used Question Time with the Commission to put a question to the European Commissioner for the Environment, Stavros Dimas, on what action the Commission has taken to reduce sulphur emissions from shipping.  The Commissioner responded by saying that they had brought in measures to established Sulphur Emission Control Areas in the Baltic Sea and North Sea as well as the English Channel.  Ships passing through these areas must use fuel with sulphur content, which is around 40% less than the average used by international shipping.  This requirement also applies to passenger ships operating on regular services to or from any EU port.

Tighter EU gun laws urged for under 18s
European MPs are backing new EU legislation, which could come into effect early in 2008, banning anyone under 18 from purchasing or possessing a firearm.  The proposal would also establish an extensive computerised firearms database containing detailed information on each firearm purchased and the name and addresses of both the supplier and buyer.  The move follows the recent killing of eight people after a student opened fire in a classroom at a high-school in Finland.  The incident in Finland sparked copycat threats throughout the EU.

2008 to be European Year of Intercultural Diversity
A recent survey has revealed that 72% of EU citizens believe that people with a different ethnic, religious or national background enrich the cultural life of their country.  A series of flagship events throughout the EU have been planned for the coming year to celebrate the diversity of culture amongst European citizens.  These events are intended to promote dialogue and understanding between different cultures within and outside the European Union.  It is hoped that events during 2008 will help create greater understanding and even closer links between European people and their respective cultures. 

Strasbourg Roundup 
If you find this European Report useful you might also like to read my monthly Strasbourg Roundup, which you can access by visiting my revamped web page on www.martinmep.com, also for Labour Party members accessible via their Members Net.