Robert Sturdy's Strasbourg report – June 2011
Cucumbers! Yes you heard right – cucumbers have been the talk of the town in Strasbourg recently.
The reason is not another farcical EU decision over the shape of food, but related to the outbreak of E.coli that swept across much of Europe. The relevant authorities seem to have pointed the finger of culpability towards the humble cucumber.
This month, the Parliament debated the issue and raised some serious questions relating to EU farming practices, the use of antibiotics and food traceability and labelling – issues that I have raised countless times in the Parliament. It is a shame that all too often it takes a tragedy for some politicians to take notice.
Later in the discussion, the debate took on a comical turn when a Spanish MEP was seen brandishing a cucumber in the plenary chamber while making a speech calling for Spanish cucumber famers to be compensated by German authorities – who had implied that the outbreak had come from Spain.
Like a knight in shinning armour, Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos immediately began looking at ways in which it could solve the problem and help the damaged cucumber industry.
With no regards for his own safety (or finances), Commissioner Ciolos valiantly proposed a €150m (£134m) aid package to help farmers whose products have been hit by the current E.coli outbreak. However, as is tradition in the EU when money is thrown about, the offer was not considered enough and at the meeting of agriculture ministers in Luxembourg, Spain immediately rejected the offer as 'insufficient'.
The EU budget
From money for old vegetables to a load of tripe, as once again MEPs, who seem to be living in a different dimension to the people they supposedly represent, voted to increase the EU's budget by a staggering 5% from 2014.
The position, endorsed by the Parliament, called for a 5% budget increase on the last seven-year budget, a system of EU direct taxation, a financial transaction tax, abolition of national rebates and an end to returning unspent EU money to national governments.
As if that wasn't bad enough, to add insult to injury, the Parliament also voted to end national rebates. This news should be enough to make anyone reach for a handbag in a Thatcherite manner – apparently some MEPs feel that the EU just hasn't got enough money.
The Brussels / Strasbourg trip
It would not be a Strasbourg session without a customary sensible moment from the Parliament. In a significant vote that took place not long after votes on the EU budget, MEPs overwhelmingly called for the institution to end its monthly relocation between Brussels and Strasbourg, which regular readers will know costs around €200m and emits around 20,000 tonnes of CO2 each year. Supported by a vote of 353 to 282, with 38 abstentions, the vote was a ray of sunshine in an otherwise abysmal session for EU finances.
This vote adds to the success of the adoption early this year of amendments tabled by Conservative MEPs that will merge two Strasbourg sessions in the 2012 and 2013 Parliamentary calendars, thus reducing the number of trips to (just!) 11 a year.
Corruption in sport
In another moment of absent minded common sense, the European Parliament voted to condemn the ongoing corruption that seems to be all to prevalent in sport at the moment. With the recent fiasco during the FIFA presidential 'election' of Sepp Blatter, such a vote by the Parliament sends a strong signal that corruption, in whatever field, should not be met with impunity.
Back to cucumbers
I will end on a more horticultural note. On researching the cucumis sativus, the common cucumber, I learnt that the cucumber is a creeping vine that grows very fast and if not kept in check, spreads out uncontrollably over the ground.
Mmmm, sounds very much like an organisation I know. Oh well time for some pruning...
Contact Robert Sturdy
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Robert Sturdy MEP
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Julia Smith – PA to Robert Sturdy
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