Dec 11th - 12th Dec 2008 - Brussels Commentary

11 December 2008

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Brussels Commentary Dec 11th - 12th Dec 2008 European Council Summit at the Justus Lipsius Buliding. The screech you get as some one tries to leave a store with goods unpaid was heard in Brussels today, triggered by me, but on my way in, not out. Obviously, I should not have tried to break into the building with a duff pass and my claim that it had worked the day before was no excuse. As the screech announced its rejection my pass was promptly confiscated by the chief gateman, orders are orders. This was at the Council summit, debating the Irish "No" vote and climate change, where MEP political group leaders are normally allowed in to all sessions. (I was standing in for Nigel who had unbreakable commitments in the UK). Apparently, the rules say that all group leaders are part of an MEP delegation, led by the Parliamentary President in person. If the president is not present no other MEP can be either. Hans Gert Pottering was scheduled for day 1, somewhere else day 2, so my pass was good for Thursday, not Friday. They have never bothered to use this rule before but we have got them bothered and invoking it now can only be on our account. By the way, this is a bonus of our Ind-Dem group membership because passes for this kind of event are only available to group leaders or their nominee. Only one other MEP from the UK was there, Graham Watson, leader of the ALDE group. No Tory leader, he's not the group leader. At least on Thursday I caught the Hans-Gert Pottering press conference, Breath-taking. Much time at this summit was devoted to the Irish "No", so he got questions about that. He said that, while he was not telling the Irish what to do, "they had been glib in the referendum and by voting "No", because they could not understand the treaty, they showed they had not taken it seriously"!! That, of course, is the point. Ireland has a constitution so, if they can not understand a 250 page document which alters their own constitution, they are more than entitled to say "No", in fact it is the only sensible course to take. So we must now look forward to the next time round, Oct 2009 is suggested. Meanwhile we ask ourselves, if the concessions offered to Ireland become legally part of the Lisbon treaty does that mean that the Irish will have a different treaty to the rest of us? If so when will everyone else ratify the new treaty? Moreover, if the Irish get concessions because they said no, how many other countries are going to think that they too could have got things going their way by also saying "No"? Derek Clark MEP Brussels Dec 12th 2008