"Brussels will become the diplomatic capital of Europe"

So said Robert Cooper today at a conference organised by the University of Kent's Brussels offshoot the Brussels School of International Studies.

Cooper, is the Director General, General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union and author of the groundbreaking book, 'The Breaking of Nations'. He was discussing the role of the new EU Diplomatic corps, the European External Action Service (EEAS).

This body which though already extant in a fledgling form exists through the Lisbon Treaty cum Constitution via 13a-III:

In fulfilling his or her mandate, the High Representative shall be assisted by a European External Action Service. This service shall work in cooperation with the diplomatic services of the Member States and shall comprise officials from relevant departments of the General Secretariat of the Council and of the Commission as well as staff seconded from national diplomatic services of the Member States. The organisation and functioning of the European External Action Service shall be established by a decision of the Council. The Council shall act on a proposal from the High Representative after consulting the European Parliament and after obtaining the consent of the Commission.

His point was that the EEAS would provide a valuable function in the operation of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (EFSP). Currently at the Council you have 27 countries with 27 sets of national interests. For there to be an effective foreign policy somebody has to take the lead, to make proposals. However under the current national based system one country will always discount another countries approach. "The European Commission would be unacceptable", he said, but with the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty, "The External Action Service will be the body that puts proposals onto the table. The result will be that Brussels will become trhe diplomatic capital of Europe."

In the Question and Answer session afterwards I picked this up as I was aware that Hans-Gert Pöttering had set up a mandated negotiation team made up of key federasts to discuss the subject, as reported by Bruno Waterfield in the Daily Telegraph. This team of Enrico Baron Crespo, Elmar Brok, Andrew Duff and Dagmar Roth-Berendt MEPs had been mandated by Poettering to demand that the Parliament shopuld have "proper hearings of the special representatives and ambassadorial nominees in the tradition of the US Congress for nominations of a clearly political nature" and to ensure that, "Any inter-governmentalism of policy areas under Community competence" should "be avaoided".

Was Cooper "happy with this idea", I asked "that the Parliament should hold hearings to make or break ambassadorial appointments for the EU?"

In a general sense he was, he thought that the quality of Congressional and Senate scrutiny was something that the European Parliament should aspire to "The Parliament still hasn't worked out what it is for", he said. Hearings could be something that they could do. But he added a worrying and in my view insurmountable caveat.

"Provided that it acts responsibly," by this he meant that hearings would be a good idea if they were on a bilateral basis. However, "If we end up with ambassadors who are solely picked on the basis of political policies then that would be the ruin for us".

Later over sandwiches I came back to him on this, pointing out that since the rejection of Rocco Butiglione on party political grounds and the growth of European Political Parties and the natural desire of those granted electoral success to want to take control of all aspects of governance then the EEAS was under his own terms guaranteed to be a "ruin". Well that relies on the qualities of the MEPs he went on to say.

You can see from the expression our faces what we thought of that idea. And it seems that he is fan of at least one of the mandated MEPs.

On other areas of policy he was equally revealing. On being asked about the rising power of Russia and Europe's policy towards Russia he put it like this,

"Does the UK currently have a policy towards Russia? The answer is it is 'very complicated'.

Does the EU have a policy towards Russia? The answer is that it is 'even more complicated than that'...

However, the EU needs an Energy Policy. If we have an energy policy we will therefore have a Russia policy"

Not very encouraging.

Sir Bob Atkins takes the buscuit

Now I am not going to defend the actions of Tom Wise as reported in the NoTW last weekend, but the reaction of Sir Robert Atkins to his own inclusion in the article is extraordinary.

It appears he has taken legal advice on suing the Murdoch Sunday. Well good luck Bob, may the luck of the Dover's descend upon your pompous bonce.

So he says in in yesterday's Liverpool Evening Post, which seems to be a rehashed version of a note he sent to Con Home a day earlier.

Was he really upset about the article itself? Well it appears that he was disgusted that he was on the same page as Tom Wise, who though foolish is in many ways a decent cove.

The article gave details of how the Conservative member pays his wife, Lady Dulcie, more than £30,000 a year as his secretary.

And the newspaper also said Sir Robert paid his son James £2,513.23 a month in 2002.

However, Sir Robert is furious the story was placed alongside an investigation into "greedy Brit MEP" Tom Wise,

He defends himself thus,

"My son worked full-time in Brussels for a period after leaving university and was paid at the same – if not slightly lower rate – as other parliamentary assistants of his age and experience.

"He was head-hunted away on a much higher salary and ceased working for me in 2004".

Errr.. That isn't quite true is it Bob. I was working as a Tory Parliamentary Assistant at the time and you would have been lucky to make 2,513.23 in Euros, let alone in sterling - (According to the ECB figures that would put him on somewhere between 3,901 Euros pcm and 4,108 Euros. Slightly less than average, oh yes, are you sure? I only know of one person who was paid more than that, but he was employed by somebody independently wealthy and his money came from there, not the taxpayer. So that is a lie, and one that can be easily disapproved by any half competent lawyer.

Back then you were quite a cheese in the Tory delegation, and if I remember rightly James moved from your office into the Whip's office. The employment procedures of which are organised by, ahem senior members of the delegation. The job was well remunerated it is true, but it was in the gift of you and your colleagues. Then he was headhunted.

I wonder if was for his intrinsic abilities or for the fact that he was already very well connected with the Tory/EPP scene in the Parliament and the fact that his referees and godfathers were Sir John Major CH and Sir Christopher Gent? Dunno you decide.

Don't get me wrong I have no animus against James Atkins, he seems a friendly enough chap and a mainstay of the expat football and cricket community, but his father's arguments are bunk.

Then his excuses about Lady Dulcie. Well there does seem to be a discrepancy between what was reported in the Stern Magazine on 18th March 2004 by Hans Martin Tillack and what was reported in the NoTW. Stern has it that he was paying her 8,332 Euros per month (68,988 Sterling p.a.) whereas the NoTW only claims "over 30,000". Quite a lot over it seems.

I don't recall either Stern, or European Voice or indeed the European Law Review which repeated the claims being visited by Sue, Grabbitt and Runne.

Serbia pro-EU. Are we sure about that?

We have all read the headlines and heard the news. "It was the EU what won it". There was Mark Mardell in Belgrade going on about the shock result by which the anti-EU nationalists of Kostunica were ditched by the people of Serbia in favour of President Tadic's pro EU coalition.

But hold on a moment, what were the results?

An examination of the actual results (if you can find and interpret them) reveals that anti-EU parties won at least 127 seats and pro-EU parties at most 123.

Tadic' pro-EU allies are the LibDems and (some, or all) of the ethnic minorities (102+14+ 7 = 123 max)

Kostunica's anti-EU allies are the Radicals and the Socialists (30+77+20 = 127 min)

ELECTION RESULTS
Tadic bloc: 38.75%, 102 seats
Radicals: 29.2%, 77 seats
Kostunica bloc: 11.3%, 30 seats
Socialist bloc: 7.6%, 20 seats
Liberal Democrats: 5.3%, 14 seats
Ethnic minorities: 2.3%, 7 seats
Total seats: 250. Parties forming a coalition need to have at least 126 between them
Source: State Electoral Commission, based on nearly 98% of votes cast.

Attempting to discount this - without admitting that it is a problem - commentators are hinting that the Socialist Bloc might defect to Tadic. However, the Socialists are not talking to Tadic, about forming a coalition, but to Kostunica!

Obradovic: Meeting With Kostunica Today
BELGRADE - Representatives of the Socialist Party of Serbia-PUPS-United Serbia (SPS-PUPS-JS) coalition should on Tuesday start talks on forming a new government of Serbia with Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) leader Vojislav Kostunica, SPS Vice-President Zarko Obradovic said late on Sunday.

Interestingly Mr Mardell is beginning to feel that he had the wool pulled over his eyes.

Hiatus

A short one, but a hiatus

What are they scared of?

It seems that the health fanatics are not satisfied with controlling the media and the public sector. When it comes to the fight against recalcitrant smokers they will resort to any means necessary. This is a press release I received this morning. And no, you will not read it in your daily paper.

Hackers Target Freedom Organisations
The websites of two prominent pro choice organisations campaigning against smoking bans were yesterday targeted by hackers in a "pharming" incident that redirected traffic to the NHS Smokefree website. The DNS poisoning, a high level and sophisticated hacking technique, affected all UK based internet service providers.

Andy Davis, Vice Chairman of Freedom to Choose, one of the affected websites, says: "It appears that Freedom To Choose has annoyed someone high up, it seems they don't want the truth to get out."

Stephanie Stahl, President of Forces International, claims: "To re-direct our UK visitors to an anti-smoking website shows that the antismoking movement must be very nervous about the information our pro-freedom groups provide.

Domain names are sacred on the free-spirited information super highway; we trust that those responsible for this serious violation will be identified and held accountable. "

Both groups campaign against government interference in private life and property, maintaining that blanket smoking bans are based on fraudulent scientific claims about passive smoking. According to Andy Davis: "5 out of 6 studies show second hand smoke to be entirely harmless. In the UK the ban is needlessly devastating the hospitality and entertainment industries, yet modern air filtration can remove 9.97% of airborne particles and make indoor air cleaner than outdoor, regardless of smoking."

The hacking incident has been reported to the relevant authorities and is under investigation.

Of course this could be the work of a concerned citizen. But are you sure?

(Non) Smoking kills

Publicans are not generally known for their suicidal tendencies, but I fear that the death of
Uli Stegmaie will be the first of many.

Smoking ban drives German barkeeper to suicide
Uli Stegmaier, 60, saw turnover at his pub in the southern town of Balingen fall by 20 percent following the implementation of the smoking ban in the state of Baden-Württemberg in August 2007, the paper said.

His brother-in-law, Helmut Rathmann, told Bild: "His suicide note dealt exclusively with his bitterness about the smoking ban. It was not aimed at his family but at politicians."

Stegmaier, owner of the Bären bar for the past 30 years, hanged himself in the attic of his farmhouse. He leaves a wife and five children.

He had been a campaigner against the ban before and since it was implemented arguing it would see the closure of many bars.

Friends and family said he had campaigned against the ban because he feared that it would force him to close the pub.In recent post on the internet he wrote: "The state is riding roughshod over the rights of barkeepers and threatening the livelihood of many."

Rathmann said Stegmaier he had donated money to activists who want to take the regional government to court in a bid to have the ban reversed.

It is apparent from the comment section in the local paper that he was a popular man whose pub was a great venue.

Of course this is not the first direct casualty of the smoking ban after James Oyebola was shot dead when as a bouncer he asked for people to comply with the rules.

No doubt these casualties mean little to the health police who keep on restating the myth that passive smoking kills. Well I suppose it is no longer a myth, but I am pretty sure that this is not what they meant.

Self hate starts at home

What is it about us and our history that the elite hate so much? I ask this because I found something this morning that frankly disgusts me. Sadly it comes from a regularly reelected Conservative. Christopher Beazley, currently Tory MEP for the Eastern counties, thank goodness is not standing for re-election to the European Parliament. It transpires that he moderated an event in the European Parliament in January that I missed, called

"United Europe – United History: A Mission to Consolidate a Common Memory"

That is bad enough in itself, but what he said as the Chairman is even worse,

"Naturally, the fact that the fate of central and eastern Europe was surrendered to the control of the Soviet Union, is uncomfortable for many in western Europe, not least for my own country.

“During this terrible period in our collective history no one emerges with honour.”

Actually Mr Beazley I am not ashamed of our history. As a leading and pro-active member of the Atlantic alliance the UK stood up to the Communist threat as well as it could. Yes we let the eastern countries of Europe down at Yalta, yet in reality there was little option at the time. But it was the actions of people like Margaret Thatcher in alliance with the Americans and the Pope, against the teeth of sustained opposition from many countries in Western continental Europe including France and Germany that finally forced the collapse of the Communist system.

To say that nobody emerges with honour was pandering to an audience and self-abasement, we should have nothing to do with it.