25 Apr 2013 06:20:12

Martin Callanan MEP: Praise for Margaret Thatcher... in the European Parliament

Martin Callanan MEP is Chairman of the European Conservatives. This is his monthly letter to ConHome readers. Follow the ECR Group on Twitter.

When we set up a book of condolences to Margaret Thatcher in the European Parliament we weren't sure what to expect. After all, she certainly shared a different European 'vision' to many MEPs. However, we were very pleased to see MEPs from across the political spectrum and the continent all writing warm and positive comments. Particularly noticeable was the number of Central and Eastern European MEPs paying tribute to the lady who, in their eyes, was a great ally in their fight to bring down the Iron Curtain.

Before departing Strasbourg for Lady Thatcher's funeral last week, I was able to pay tribute to her in the European Parliament. The debate was on the 'Future of Europe' - the existential question that all of our debates seem to come back to. It was opened by Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen who called for a "fair integration" that "benefits everyone". Read into that, "I want to be seen as a 'Pro-European' in this building but my country is understandably not willing to pay to prop up the euro."

Now, in most of my speeches I try to include a little quote from either Thatcher or Reagan. Coincidentally, two days after Lady Thatcher's death I had an engagement to speak at the College of Europe in Bruges on the role of the UK in the EU 25 years after her famous Bruges speech. Reading back over the speech, it was remarkable how much would still be relevant to today's debate on the EU and the UK's role within it.

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27 Mar 2013 06:36:59

Martin Callanan MEP provides his monthly update on events from the European Parliament

Martin Callanan MEP is Chairman of the European Conservatives. This is his monthly letter to ConHome readers. Follow the ECR Group on Twitter.

When is a deal not quite a deal? When it's agreed in the European Union of course! Last month, 27 Presidents and Prime Ministers returned home from the EU summit after securing agreement on cutting the next seven year EU budget.

But, thanks to the Lisbon Treaty, the agreement must be accepted by the European Parliament by an 'absolute majority' (over half of all MEPs, not just of those present).

MEPs have been posturing for several years on the matter. They've demanded not just an increased budget but also new 'own resources' (directly-levied taxes). So when EU leaders agreed to a budget cut, many MEPs were up in arms.

Last week, the parliament adopted a resolution on the deal. To be clear, this was not the parliament's final vote on the matter but just a way of setting out the terrain ahead of talks between MEPs and national governments. Nevertheless, a significant majority of MEPs voted to reject the deal in its current form. Included amongst them were UKIP and the Liberal Democrats. UKIP voted against the deal because they want a 100 percent cut; yet, ironically, if they vote that way when it comes to the final vote, their posturing may actually lead to the parliament rejecting the agreement. The result? We would move to annual budgets adjusted for inflation: a budget increase year-on-year.

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18 Feb 2013 06:35:15

Martin Callanan MEP: We’ve improved the Common Fisheries Policy and debated with Hollande – now it’s time to vote on the EU budget

Martin Callanan MEP is Chairman of the European Conservatives. This is his monthly letter to ConHome readers. Follow the ECR Group on Twitter.

“The deal is done,” came the tweet from European Council President Herman Van Rompuy. The seven-year budget had been agreed. For the first time in EU history there was a cut; the religion that the only way is up for EU budgets had been broken.

Which, of course, is exactly why many MEPs are up in arms. To them, only More Europe will solve our problems. The financial crisis: More Europe! Climate change: More Europe! People fall off a ladder: More Europe!

I was very pleased with the deal that our Prime Minister came away with. Yes, the UK’s contributions will rise, which is disappointing. But let’s be in no doubt as to why: because of the deal Tony Blair agreed in 2005. In reality, thanks to him and to Douglas Alexander, the UK’s contribution was always going to rise as a cash sum – although it is set to fall as a share of GNI now thanks to the PM's stance.

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26 Jan 2013 06:37:25

Martin Callanan MEP of the ECR Group provides his monthly report from the European Parliament

Martin Callanan MEP is Chairman of the European Conservatives. This is his monthly letter to ConHome readers. Follow the ECR Group on Twitter.

Malcolm Harbour CBE

I wish you all a belated Happy New Year. For my West Midlands colleague Malcolm Harbour it was a happy occasion as he was finally able to inform us of his CBE in the New Years list for services to British business. Nobody could argue that Malcolm hasn't worked tirelessly to extend and complete the EU's Single Market. As Dan Hannan wrote on his blog, "Unusually for a politician, he is more interested in understanding detail than in striking poses. He is rarely happier than when mastering a complex issue - the minutiae of EU copyright and patenting rules, say - and then putting that expertise at the service of British industry. He is also, for want of a more precise term, a jolly nice fellow..." Congratulations to Malcolm.

In the European Parliament we had a relatively light agenda, with most of the conversations focused on our Prime Minister's Amsterdam speech. More about the content later but what surprised me about the build-up was the number of MEPs that made the effort to come up to me with a sympathetic position and a willingness to discuss the UK's call for a different relationship. Unfortunately, when it came to the chamber of the parliament it was a different story... 

'Future of Europe'

The parliament has held a number of key-note debates with European leaders around the subject of the 'Future of Europe'. Next month we have the joy of listening to President Hollande but because he is a Head of State, it is not yet clear whether group leaders will be given a right of reply to his speech. I do hope so. I have a few things to say to him. However this month it was another socialist, the Chancellor of Austria's turn and, as a simple Head of Government, we were given the opportunity to respond to his speech. Unsurprisingly it was something of a socialist wish list for Europe: the importance of 'solidarity', shared management of European debt, a European Youth Guarantee of employment, a Financial Transaction Tax, blah, blah, blah.....

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24 Dec 2012 07:28:13

Martin Callanan MEP: The year ends with tensions over the EU budget but progress on some other important issues

Martin Callanan MEP is Chairman of the European Conservatives. Follow the ECR Group on Twitter.

As MEPs met for their last full session of the year there was a mood of defiance in the air.

Buoyed by what they see as the pinnacle of their great project – the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize – federalist MEPs have been looking to pick as many fights as possible with national governments. For some in the European Parliament, the nation states of the EU are failing to see the overarching European interest, preferring instead to defend their national interests at the expense of the project. For them, such selfishness must be challenged by ‘pro-European’ forces.

Nowhere is this out of touch mentality more prominent than in the various discussions surrounding EU budgets both for next year, and for the next seven-year period from 2014 to 2020.

Of course, we all know where the majority of MEPs stand on the longer-term budget. They have threatened to veto any deal that does not see an increase in real terms. Personally, I think there’s a lot of sabre rattling going on and the bravado of many MEPs will buckle the moment there is a deal and leaders like Merkel, Rajoy and Hollande get on the ‘phone and order their MEPs to back it.

However, in preparation for this fight, MEPs have been using the talks around the 2013 budget as a proxy battle for the tough negotiations ahead next year.

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1 Dec 2012 05:39:04

Martin Callanan MEP's monthly report focuses on the failed EU budget summit and plans for a new President of Europe

Martin Callanan MEP is Chairman of the European Conservatives. Follow the ECR Group on Twitter.

So it was the summit that very few people thought would reach a deal on the next EU seven year budget. And - guess what - it didn't.

Before Prime Ministers met in Brussels for the "extraordinary" meeting of the European Council, the leaders of the parliament's political groups held a debate with Commission President Barroso, outlining what we hoped to see from the meeting.  

My argument was that the EU is not short of money but it just spends it badly. In particular, the Court of Auditors has found that around 4% of the budget is spent in error, 40% of the budget is spent on agriculture, and of the 6% spent on administration, hardly any cuts have been proposed. The number of EU agencies has doubled in eight years, whilst pet projects like the House of European History, a new building for the European Central Bank, and a European Parliament film prize continue without check. And of course, we will waste around 1.5billion Euros on travelling backwards and forwards to and from Strasbourg over the next budgetary period.

I went to the summit on Thursday and Friday and spoke to people in the press room and conducted a number of interviews. It struck me that, despite this being a major European summit, there was a lack of news about. Generally, positions had been well aired before, and negotiations were good-humoured without any major spats to report on. Probably the most surprising development was that, for the first time in many years, France and Germany did not turn up to the meeting with a pre-cooked common position. Instead, Angela Merkel seemed generally to support David Cameron and the other significant "Friends of Better Spending" (as they've eloquently been dubbed in Brussels).

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1 Nov 2012 07:50:14

Martin Callanan MEP's monthly report focuses on the Strasbourg Circus and the EU budget debate

Martin Callanan MEP is Chairman of the European Conservatives. Follow the ECR Group on Twitter.

STOP THE STRASBOURG CIRCUS!

Last week the European Parliament met for two sessions in Strasbourg. The EU's Treaties say that we must hold 12 sessions per year there. Normally, to make up for the lack of a sitting in August, we have two sittings in either September or October. This means that we spend the month shuttling between the two sites. However, thanks to the efforts of my South West colleague Ashley Fox, the European Parliament is only making eleven trips to Strasbourg this year. Ashley was able to secure cross-party support for an amendment to the parliament's calendar which brought the two post-summer sessions into one week, with a fallow day in-between. The move saved around 15 million Euros and 1600 tonnes of CO2.

Of course, it has also been challenged in the European Court of Justice by France and Luxembourg. France has an obvious financial interest in keeping the 'Strasbourg Circus' whilst Luxembourg is the site of the parliament's 'Third seat', housing many of the administrative functions, so it also had a concern that it could be next if the parliament were to centralise in one place. We will know the result of the European Court case in the next few weeks and I sincerely hope that - for once - common sense prevails.

MEPs only have limited powers over our calendar and eliminating the monthly shuttle would require a Treaty change that only national governments can agree. We are putting pressure on our own government to raise this matter at the European Council. After all, ending the Strasbourg Circus is one of the few bankable European policies in the UK Coalition Agreement so let's put the issue on the table - especially as budget negotiations begin. Sign Ashley's petition calling for action by the UK Government here.

THE EU BUDGET TALKS

Speaking of EU budget talks, Westminster is not the only place where the debate about the future of the EU budget is heating up. In Strasbourg, MEPs are getting very vexed by what they see as David Cameron's 'Anti-European' stance. Last week we debated three budgets: the annual budget for 2013, a resolution on the next seven-year budgetary framework, and a so-called draft amending budget authorising yet more money for this financial year because some major EU programmes have run out of dough.

Continue reading "Martin Callanan MEP's monthly report focuses on the Strasbourg Circus and the EU budget debate" »

20 Oct 2012 05:20:54

Martin Callanan MEP: Cameron attends first ECR leaders summit

Martin Callanan MEP is Chairman of the European Conservatives.

Follow the ECR Group on Twitter.

Before every summit the major political families hold a meeting to discuss their perspectives, prepare strategy, and to give parties that may not be in government an opportunity to make their voices heard in front of those around the Council table.

We decided that the European Conservatives and Reformists group was now sufficiently established to start holding our own family gathering before yesterday's EU summit. Our two Prime Ministers make up the third most powerful voting block in the European Council, and they were joined by leaders of our parties in Italy, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Latvia, Belgium, Slovakia, Georgia, Poland and the Netherlands.

We had arranged for the Prime Ministers to give a 'doorstep' statement to the cameras as they went in to the meeting and arranged a press pen. Cameras from stations right across the EU turned out in force and we were delighted by the interest in our meeting.

After a short bilateral meeting between Prime Ministers Cameron and Necas of the Czech Republic, we moved to the main meeting room where I opened the meeting and every Party leader was given an opportunity to speak. The discussion was particularly informative and I think buoyed our Prime Ministers ahead of the summit. For the first time, here was a European meeting that was praising Margaret Thatcher, talking about less and better Europe rather than more, seeking common sense solutions instead of ideological ones, and arguing for taxpayer value. It was a breath of fresh air.

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12 Oct 2012 10:48:42

Martin Callanan MEP: Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to the EU is "downright out of touch"

By Peter Hoskin
_{Follow Peter on Twitter}

Martin Callanan MEP, the Chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists and frequent ConHome contributor, has issued the following statement about the Nobel Committee's decision to award its Peace Prize to the EU:

“The Nobel committee is a little late for an April fools joke.

20 years ago this prize would have been sycophantic but maybe more justified. Today it is downright out of touch.

Presumably this prize is for the peace and harmony on the streets of Athens and Madrid.

The EU's policies have exacerbated the fallout of the financial crisis and led to social unrest that we haven't seen for a generation.

The Nobel Peace Prize was devalued when it was given to newly-elected Barack Obama. By giving the prize to the EU the Nobel committee has undermined the excellent work of the other deserving winners of this prize.”

I'll try to collect more Tory reaction here, as it comes in...

21 Sep 2012 06:16:53

Martin Callanan MEP: European leaders think that a corner has been turned — it hasn't

Martin Callanan MEP is Chairman of the European Conservatives. Follow the ECR Group on Twitter.

After what has been a relatively quiet summer compared to recent years, the ‘crisis’ returned with a vengeance before Eurozone leaders’ tans had even begun to fade.

Once again, it was the European Central Bank that would step in with another measure to buy time and prolong the really difficult decisions. Previously, the ECB had created some breathing space in this crisis by what it called a LTRO – Long Term Refinancing Operation. Essentially, the ECB gave financial institutions loans at a one percent interest rate, in the hope that they would use the money to buy up government bonds and release the pressure valve.

The markets liked it, and for a short while, yields dropped. When they returned to unsustainable highs a few months later, the ECB did exactly the same thing: LTRO2. Unfortunately, the temporary nature of the action was far from sufficient for the markets and pretty soon we saw pressure rising again in Italy and Spain.

Aware that LTRO3 would be an incredibly expensive way of staving off the inevitable for a few more weeks, the ECB finally decided to move towards more direct intervention, with the ECB itself able to buy up bonds on the secondary markets, but with more strings attached than a Thunderbirds puppet. 

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13 Jul 2012 07:55:36

Martin Callanan MEP: Europe's vacillation in the face of crisis

Martin Callanan MEP is Chairman of the European Conservatives. Follow the ECR Group on Twitter.

Despite a pointless fiscal compact treaty, bailouts for Spain, Portugal and Ireland, cheap ECB money being pumped into Italian banks, and deeply unpopular cuts across much of the EU, very little has changed in the eurozone. The single currency is still in freefall. The markets have not seen anything like the permanent solution that they demand. Our political leaders are still vacillating, issuing statements saying that they stand behind their currency yet not moving from their entrenched positions to take some definitive action. In the European Parliament, people are becoming more frustrated with every non-decision taken.

I don't think that nearly enough credit has been given to William Hague. Had he not led such a spirited campaign as Leader of the Opposition, there is a strong possibility that we would also be entangled in this wicked web, facing Hobson's choice of giving away the remainder of our economic sovereignty to European bodies, and sending money that we don't ourselves have to our eurozone partners.

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25 Jun 2012 08:16:38

Planet European Parliament, billions of miles from reality

Martin Callanan MEP is Chairman of the European Conservatives. Follow the ECR Group on Twitter.

The European Parliament increasingly resembles the mirror universe from Alice Through the Looking Glass. When you step through those doors it's like you enter a parallel universe completely detached from reality.

Nothing summed this up better than a debate we had last week ahead of the EU's make-or-break summit next week.

For many of the single currency's strongest advocates, the types of proposals on the table now - a banking union, more power for the ECB, common debt instruments - were all envisaged as part of the inexorable march towards the U.S of Europe. I believe that this crisis highlights the failure of the euro - because it was a political project rather than an economic one. Federalists see it as a success because finally they will use the cover of fear to instigate the real objectives of a federal Europe.

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5 Jun 2012 06:27:18

Martin Callanan MEP: Europe seems destined to hold jobs summit after jobs summit, growth debate after growth debate, dinner after dinner - but delivering little more than words

Martin Callanan MEP is Chairman of the European Conservatives. Follow the ECR Group on Twitter.

Jobs and growth has become the new motherhood and apple pie in Brussels. In typical Eurocrat fashion they have already created new words to sum up what we need: growsterity or even growtherity.

They say we need to grow our economies whilst continuing to pay down debts.

It is, of course, something that we Conservatives have no problem accepting. We know that the private sector is the train's locomotive and the state is the carriage. For evidence of this, you only need to read the excellent column by City AM editor Allister Heath last week laying out some of the many studies showing how lower taxes and less public spending lead to greater consumption and investment.

Cutting the size of the state carriage will make that locomotive move faster.

Unfortunately, across the EU, socialist parties are attempting to play a very dangerous and irresponsible game. They are trying to tell the voters that economic growth is possible - just as long as we start to grow the state again using the old policies of borrow, tax and spend. Nowhere is this more prevalent in the UK where Labour has gone far further than even President Hollande, who has accepted that all countries need to live within their means. Labour is now even further to the left of the economic scale than a French socialist who proposed a 75% rate of income tax.

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11 May 2012 08:19:36

Martin Callanan MEP: Denying the Greek people the chance to leave the Euro is prolonging their heart-breaking misery

Martin Callanan MEP is Chairman of the European Conservatives.

In last month's column I promised ConHome readers an update following the election results in France and Greece, and the recent developments in the Netherlands. The events of the past weekend were not at all surprising. Governments across Europe have been pounded by the economic crisis with almost every one losing office whenever it goes to the country. The voters have swung in all directions, not just to the left - with many swinging out to the extremes.

The Netherlands

The collapse of the government in the Netherlands was always a distinct possibility. The minority coalition of the Liberal Conservative VVD and the Christian Democrat CDA relied on the votes of Geert Wilders. A few months ago the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) published a new economic and fiscal outlook which predicted the deficit would hover around 4.7 percent for several years - far too high for the EU and likely to be incompatible under the 'European semester'. So the government set about finding between 10 and 18 billion Euros of extra cuts and tax increases. Wilders pulled his support for the government and it fell.

A five party agreement (including the Dutch Christian Union, whose MEP Peter Van Dalen sits in the ECR) has enabled a budget to be passed and an interim administration will tide the country over until the September 12th elections. The Netherlands needs economic reform - of the housing market, health care and the labour market. Wilders' PVV was one of the main roadblocks to achieving such reforms - so ironically his exit from the governmental agreement has created a new political arrangement in the Netherlands that might be able to make some headway. It is unfortunate that the Dutch political discourse has had to be so pre-occupied with meeting the EU's debt targets, rather than putting 100 percent of their energies into achieving growth.

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25 Apr 2012 15:18:53

There's one place in Europe which is a stranger to austerity. Guess where?

By Tim Montgomerie
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It is, of course, the EU itself.

While the EU's great project - the €urozone - imposes terrible austerity on nations like Greece the Brussels empire keeps growing. European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso confirmed he wants an extra €9 billion from member states - an inflation-beating 6.2% increase.

Martin Callanan MEP said the EU was "out of touch with the real world":

"On the one hand the commission is telling governments to slash their deficits whilst on the other it is demanding more taxpayer money for the EU. To ask for an almost seven percent increase is simply out of touch with the real world. The EU budget battle is symbolic of the problems with Europe today. Instead of asking how we spend money better, the commission wants to spend more. Rather than striving for more bang for our buck, the commission continually demands more bucks. The EU budget should focus on those areas where it adds real value such as investment in cross-border capital projects. Far too much EU money is used to supplant revenue programmes that should be funded by national exchequers. We will maintain maximum pressure to ensure the budget reflects the mood across the continent. Businesses, governments and taxpayers are having to live within their means, and the EU should as well."

Over at The Telegraph, Mats Persson draws up a list of savings that the EU could make.

My own top saving recommendation would be the closure of the Strasbourg parliament. It costs €457 million and is unused for 300 days of every year. More from Ashley Fox MEP.