Sarah's bulletin: 5 March 2010

Dear friends,

I write to you from Washington DC this week where I'm visiting as vice chair of the European Parliament's delegation to the United States in order principally to discuss how to make the cooperation between MEPs and Congressmen more effective in view of our multiple shared interests - and some disagreements. But while here we have been asked extensively about the prospects of a new agreement on SWIFT banking data to replace the one which the European Parliament rejected a few weeks ago. Hopefully those negotiations will get underway soon - but this time, with MEPs fully involved and our views counted!

Paying UK taxes

As I am sure you are aware, it was revealed this week that Lord Ashcroft, the peer who has directly or indirectly donated over £5 million to the Conservative party, is non-dom for tax purposes, and has been for the last ten or so years. This has allegedly saved him millions in UK tax on his earnings overseas.

It is absolutely disgraceful that a person can legislate, in the House of Lords or elsewhere, on behalf of UK citizens and not pay full UK tax. This reminds me to confirm - in case you were wondering - that MEPS, while now paid under a system administered by the European Parliament to whom we pay an initial flat rate tax, then pay a top-up to HMRC so that overall we pay the full UK applicable rate of income tax and national insurance. Quite right too, and LibDems insisted on this since anything else would be intolerable.

Bosnian Ejup Ganic arrested in London

Last Monday former Bosnian deputy President Ejup Ganic was arrested at Heathrow airport due to a Serbian warrant for alleged war crimes. Of course all well-founded accusations of war crimes must be thoroughly investigated, but there is almost certainly nothing in the allegations against Ganic as the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia decided not to pursue them. It looks like Serbia is being petty here - no doubt for domestic Serbian consumption while Karadic is on trial in the Hague. Serbia would do better to concentrate on delivering the 2 main remaining Hague indictees, including Radko Mladic.

Gay rights victory in Poland

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled on Wednesday that Poland may not discriminate against homosexual couples in recognising cohabitation rights. Poland has a clause in its constitution that states that marriage is "a union of a man and a woman" and used this to refuse to register a tenancy that a gay man wished to inherit from his deceased partner. But Poland also in its law recognises some rights for "de facto marital cohabitation" but it refused to recognise cohabitation of gay partners The court said that discrimation was unlawful and the law must be understood to include persons in a same-sex relationship.

While it accepted Poland's constitution, the court said the country needed to strike a balance between protecting the family and human rights legislation on LGBT people. This is another step forward in the incremental improvements in European human rights law for gay people, although much work remains to be done for full equality.

Barroso unveils 'EU 2020' economic stimulus plan

Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has called for EU member states to engage in more economic 'cooperation' and 'coordination' (two of the EU's favourite words) in his 10-year plan to boost the bloc's economy. This is all very well, but I join many of my colleagues in the European Parliament and pressure groups in saying that none of this is any use if it isn't going to be properly and swiftly implemented. We have seen too many plans for jobs, training and sustainable development come and go.

My Lib Dem colleague Sharon Bowles, chair of the economic and monetary affairs committee, will play a crucial role in putting together the final strategy and ensuring that it makes real progress in putting money into much-needed European research, skills & innovation.

GMO potato given the green light

The European Commission controversially this week approved Europe's first genetically modified potato for cultivation in the EU. This is apparently for use in the paper industry and potentially for animal feed, not for eating. But I am opposed to GMOs, not so much personally on health grounds - I'm not convinced they will make us ill - but due to their impact on the environment, reduction in bio-diversity and restrictions on what third world farmers can do with their seed. I am particularly dismayed at reports that Barroso and John Dalli, the new health and consumer affairs commissioner, appear to have torpedoed it through the Commission and not allowing the full Commission to debate the issue.

Campaign for a fair deal for energy entrepreneurs

I have joined Good Energy, a (and my own) renewable electricity supplier, in its campaign against moves that will penalise the many people who installed microgenerators before the recent announcement on the new feed-in tariff. These 'microgenerators' who were ahead of the curve will be given an extremely low rate per unit of electricity produced, only one-fifth of that offered to householders installing new units.

It is deeply unhelpful to constantly chop and change incentives such as this one. It is precisely this kind of lack of consistency and long-term stability that so curses British public policy. I have signed the petition on microgenerators here - and suggest you do the same!

European Parliament allowances

You may have heard or seen the recent news stories - some more accurate than others - about the European Parliament increasing its budget for staff, including MEPs' own staff. The justification for this is that the Lisbon treaty, which recently came into force, greatly increases the Parliament's workload - especially in my field of justice and home affairs. On the other hand of course, all public bodies are having to tighten their belts these days, we with them. In the end, like the majority in the Lib Dem delegation, I abstained since I felt the new resources were justified, but not now, but the vote passed nonetheless.

Protected designation of origin status - for black pudding and rhubarb!

You will be pleased to know that 'Yorkshire forced' rhubarb, a British favourite, has been granted geographical protection status by the EU, giving it the same level of protection from counterfeits as Parma ham from Italy or Champagne from France. Black pudding is fighting for similar recognition, but Manchester and Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis have got into a power struggle as to where black pudding was invented... a 'bloody' mess! (Black pudding is made by cooking blood...) Good luck to the winner, this is a great scheme to protect local food identity and I'm delighted more British products are joining it.

New EU rules for mobile internet

Following on from the success of EU legislation to cap 'roaming' mobile phone call and text charges within the EU, new rules came into force this week giving customers the right to have phone operators warn them or cut them off when their mobile internet phone bill hits a pre-agreed amount such as £50. This is very good news for those of us who are 'Blackberry addicts' or 'iPhone enthusiasts', as customers often get back from abroad only to be stung by phone bills in the 100s of pounds!

Farage: the show goes on

Last week I commented on Nigel Farage's arrogantly rude insults to Herman van Rompuy. See the letters about Farage's tirade from my colleagues Fiona Hall MEP to the Times and from Catherine Bearder MEP to the Independent, likening him to a school bully and saying that he deserves a 'European ASBO'. Farage was fined almost £2,700 for his comments by the European Parliament president, but still refuses to apologise for what he said.

But it is ironic that a number of Eurosceptic commentators (see this piece in the Daily Mail) bemoan how the United Kingdom is losing influence in the EU. If we behave in petulant and destructive way that the likes of Farage, the Tories and the British tabloid press are prone to, then a loss of influence is hardly surprising! Meanwhile, just to show the idiocies of all this, the Guardian is reporting that Germany is becoming more and more alarmed as what it sees as a British 'power grab' under Ashton in the EU's foreign policy.

Best regards from Washington! Next week Strasbourg - but in between an Islington dinner to look forward to with Bridget Fox, our next MP, and Vince Cable.

Sarah Ludford