Europe: Bairbre de Brún – greening the recovery
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011Europe’s economy will be left behind without a green recovery, according to Bairbre de Brún. Extra investment is needed in the environmental sector but her fellow MEPs want more corporation tax. Climate change is a key interest for de Brún who is this month representing her GUE/NGL group at the UN climate change conference in Durban. GUE/NGL, which stands for the Confederal Group of the European United Left – Nordic Green Left, is the Parliament’s sixth largest group with 34 MEPs. The aim at Durban is to get progress on a replacement for the Kyoto protocol, although the USA refuses...[full story]
Europe: Diane Dodds – time for an exit
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011Rising costs and interference mean the UK is better off outside the EU, according to Diane Dodds. The DUP MEP discusses Northern Ireland’s place in Europe and her priorities with Peter Cheney. Diane Dodds is in the conflicting position of wanting the best financial deal for Northern Ireland in Europe and also wanting the UK to quit the EU, therefore cutting off those funds. However, she sees no such contradiction when the point is put to her. As part of a net contributor, Northern Ireland must “get more back out of Europe than it currently does” and leaving the EU would ultimately...[full story]
Europe: Jim Nicholson – Europe and enterprise
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011Jim Nicholson wants to promote a new narrative about Northern Ireland, with more businesses exploring European opportunities. Peter Cheney asks him about his current impressions of the EU. Europeans still associate Northern Ireland with conflict but a single visit makes visitors want to come back. That’s what Jim Nicholson found when he organised a regional tour for the bureau of his European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group. MEPs were “highly impressed” with Parliament Buildings despite the September rain, took a trip to the North Coast “and they really loved the scenery...[full story]
Europe: How others see Europe
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011Insularity and caution will damage Europe’s standing in the world, according to diplomats. Peter Cheney considers the view from New Zealand and the USA. Foreign observers are warning that an inward-looking and risk-averse Europe will fall behind the rest of the world. agendaNi asked American and New Zealand diplomats for their perspective on a continent in crisis. Vangelis Vitalis is New Zealand’s Ambassador-designate to the EU, and the son of Greek migrants. “The euro zone crisis is transfixing us in Wellington,” he states. However, Vitalis is also troubled by Europe’s changing...[full story]
Europe: European Parliament visitors’ centre
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011Peter Cheney visits the Parlamentarium, the European Parliament’s new visitors’ centre in Brussels. To promote itself to an apathetic public, the European Parliament has opened its first visitors’ centre and coined a new word in the process: Parlamentarium. Four days before it opened its doors, I joined a group of Czech students for a tour. You can’t miss the entrance, lit up like a Times Square sign, although its surroundings are grey and drab. As the tour gets under way, a darkened room shows grim scenes from the 1930s and 1940s, and then leads into a brighter timeline from...[full story]
Politics: Brussels to Belfast
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011EU budget up 1.86% for 2012 After pressure from national governments, the EU’s 2012 Budget has been limited to a 1.86 per cent increase in payments, effectively a freeze when inflation is factored in. The Commission had sought a 4.9 per cent rise and the Parliament went further, calling for 5.2 per cent. The new total is £129.1 billion. Jim Nicholson said it was “vital” for Europe to help governments deal with budget cuts. Any increase was “undesirable” to Diane Dodds, who said it was “somewhat ironic” for Conservatives to claim victory as they made “drastic cuts” at...[full story]
Energy: Integrated EU electricity – Paul Gorecki
Monday, October 10th, 2011Professor Paul Gorecki tells Stephen Dineen about the likely impact of an integrated electricity market on the SEM, and what will be needed to realise its full potential. With the establishment of an integrated EU electricity market, Ireland’s Single Electricity Market (SEM) is likely to experience greater competition in electricity generation and increased fuel diversity according to Professor Paul Gorecki. The academic is a research professor in the Economic Social and Research Institute (ESRI) in Dublin and was Director of the Northern Ireland Economic Council between 1992 and 2000. After...[full story]
Politics: Brussels to Belfast
Monday, October 10th, 2011Nicholson promotes R&D Opportunities for businesses, universities, colleges and voluntary groups to gain R&D funding have been highlighted at a business breakfast hosted by Jim Nicholson in Belfast. He was joined by English MEP Malcolm Harbour (who chairs the European Parliament’s Internal Market Committee) and David Harmon, a senior advisor to Research Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn. The EU has an €80 billion budget for R&D up to 2020. Nicholson commented: “Applying for this funding may seem like a minefield at first but there is lots of advice and support available...[full story]
