Graham's blog Friday 18 December 2009

Published on Fri 18th Dec 2009

This week we voted the European Union's budget for next year. The talks between Parliament and Council (the national government representatives, in this case the finance ministers) have not been easy, but eventually we reached agreement. From the part of the budget which is non-compulsory expenditure Liberal Democrats are particularly pleased to have secured funding to help rape victims in the Congo, for cross-border investigative journalism and for a sustainable development programme for the Baltic. The promise of aid to developing countries to help mitigate the impact of climate change is currently a thorn in the flesh, since the figure was agreed between the European Commission and the Council without reference to the European Parliament, which is a co-legislator on budgetary matters. If we are unable to find it from the budget we have agreed, the member states will have to find the money separately.

I spent Sunday evening, Monday and Tuesday in Copenhagen at the UN conference on climate change, hosting events organised by the climate parliament, which is a body I chair bringing together democratically elected legislators interested in global issues, especially climate. Many were in Copenhagen and on Sunday I hosted Simon Hughes MP (LD) and Tim Yeo (Con); on Monday 15 MPs from Ireland, the UK, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland to discuss a renewable energy super-grid for northern Europe and on Tuesday 30 MPs from across the world discussing super-grids in general. The point about super-grids is that, viewed nationally, renewables are often less attractive; the wind may not always blow or the sun always shine. But if the grid stretches across many countries security of supply can be guaranteed. The wind always blows somewhere between Ireland and Finland. (To read my Copenhagen blog, click this link http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org/pages/copenhagen-report.html.)

Good news in trade policy this week is that the banana war is finally over. Agreement was reached in Geneva on Monday to bring the world's longest running trade dispute to an end. The EU will pay an extra EUR 200 million in aid to former colonies which rely on banana exports for revenue and phase out tariff barriers to imports of bananas from elsewhere. Parliament still has to sign it off, but we will.

Europe has also won its war against Microsoft, which has agreed to a series of changes to its Internet Explorer web browser to avoid a hefty fine (up to six billion euros). It means Microsoft will have to offer, for at least five years, a choice of browsers, giving smaller companies a chance to compete. This is the kind of thing no one country would have been able to achieve on its own. It shows the added value of the EU.

Sweden's Presidency of the EU comes to an end on 31 December. It has been a productive one, well planned, well managed and ultimately successful in bringing the Lisbon treaty into force and so creating the conditions for the EU to work more effectively on behalf of our citizens.

Parliament resumes a week later than normal in the New Year, on 11 January, so I will not write again until 15 January. In the meantime I wish all my readers a restful Christmas and a happy New Year.