Wednesday, 11th February 2009
Brussels Briefing - February
1. FALLACY OF ‘BRITISH JOBS FOR BRITISH WORKERS’
As was predicted 18 months ago, Gordon Brown’s nationalist statement of “British jobs for British workers” has come back to haunt him. Sadly for us, it’s the damage those words may now potentially inflict on our economy that should be giving the biggest cause for concern.
Since he made the now infamous statement, the Prime Minister has led Britain to the edge of the economic abyss, stopping off only to claim that he had personally saved the world from disaster with his now discredited financial rescue plan. It would be laughable if the result wasn’t that he has actually undermined British jobs and damaged the UK economy, possibly beyond that inflicted by the wider global recession, with his glib sound bite.
What Gordon Brown conveniently forgot, during his opportunistic outburst, was that the free movement of workers was guaranteed to EU citizens by the 1958 Treaty of Rome, the founding treaty of the EU. It is perhaps the most important right under Community law for individuals and an essential element of European citizenship, which was introduced to coincide with the completion of the internal market with the signing of the Treaty of Maastricht in 1992.
In the treaty, a wide definition of persons is covered by the term ‘worker’ to embrace all those engaged in economic activity. It also includes students engaged in vocational training and includes people unemployed but looking for work. In practice, each of the EU Member States is required to accept nationals of other Members States who want to work in their country. An identity card or passport gives a European Citizen the right to work anywhere in the EU.
Over the years, we’ve seen a number of cases brought before the European Court of Justice where the observance of the core values governing the free movement of workers has been reinforced by judgements and legal opinions. It’s been careful to protect the principle of free movement of workers around the Community from being undermined. For example, the Netherlands was punished for putting in place a domestic provision under which foreign workers might have been forced to complete questionnaires dealing with the reason for their visit to the country and the likely duration of their stay and their financial resources. This was deemed a violation of the Treaty. There are exemptions to this rule. Article 39 of the Treaty includes some transitional measures affecting migrant workers from new EU Accession States but these provisions will be phased out by 2011.
When you consider that there are 2500 companies from Germany alone currently operating in the UK, 60 of them in Scotland, employing tens of thousands of British workers, you begin to get the picture. Taken together with foreign enterprises from virtually all of the other 26 EU Member States, these companies have a major impact on the UK economy and are key job and wealth providers. Then look at the number of British workers who work abroad, throughout the EU, in factories like Baxter’s Soup in Western Poland, or in tourism, financial services and the construction industry.
If we follow Gordon Brown's nationalistic approach of 'British jobs for British workers' to its logical conclusion and adopt a policy of protectionism, which is what his words suggest, we will destroy the internal market. Pretty soon we will see trade unionists in France calling for 'French jobs for French workers' and blockading French ports and motorways. They will quickly be followed by Italians or Spanish demanding similar protection for their workers and, before we know, it the whole internal market will collapse and the UK economy will be in deeper trouble than ever.
It has taken Gordon Brown only 12 years to completely wreck the British economy. Labour inherited from the Conservatives arguably the strongest economy in Europe when Gordon Brown became Chancellor in 1997. But, in only 12 years, he has transformed our country into the worst economic mess in the entire EU.
And, if the Prime Minister isn’t careful, with one cheap, playing-to-the-gallery remark, he will have wrecked the European Single Market on which much of our economy relies for its survival.
2. UK GOVERNMENT MUST RESCUE RECREATIONAL ANGLERS
The Draft Marine & Coastal Access Bill, which was published on 3rd April 2008 and presented to the Westminster Parliament just before Christmas, is currently wending its way through the House of Lords. It is not expected to return to the House of Commons before late March or early April. Happily, two deeply damaging clauses which would have extended current fisheries legislation to cover recreational angling and even fishing from the shore, were deemed to be so unpopular that the Government removed them before the Draft Bill was published. To an estimated three million recreational anglers in the UK who are currently expressing deep anger and concern over proposals by the European Commission to extend the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) to control sport fishing, this news will provide some light relief. Some will be perplexed that civil servants in Whitehall saw fit to include such draconian proposals in the Draft Bill in the first place.
Since the European Commission published its proposals to force Britain’s recreational anglers to license their vessels, log their catches and fish within tightly constrained quotas fixed by Brussels, I and my Conservative colleagues have fought tooth and nail to have this ridiculous proposal over-turned. Now it is the turn of the UK government, for once, to stand up for our recreational anglers. They could amend the Marine Bill to ensure that recreational fishing is protected and that the heavy hand of Brussels bureaucracy is held at bay.
Recreational angling is Britain’s most popular leisure activity. Sport fishermen pump millions into local hotels, shops, pubs and businesses, often in remote communities. Sea anglers have also made positive efforts to aid fisheries conservation and have little or no impact on fish stocks. Attempts to throw the EU's legislative book at these anglers will do immense damage to the tourist economy at a time of deepening economic recession, while doing nothing to conserve fish stocks. The UK government has an ideal opportunity to stand up for our sport fishermen and recreational anglers by using the Marine Bill to send a strong signal to Brussels. I would also appeal to the Scottish government and the administrations in Wales and Northern Ireland to follow suit. A combined onslaught from the four corners of the UK will send a powerful message to Brussels: 'HANDS OFF OUR RECREATIONAL ANGLERS."
Struan Stevenson MEP
