Brussels threatens to sue Britain to let in ‘benefit tourists’

The Telegraph

Another day, another anti-EU story in The Telegraph. Normally I resist the urge to dissect articles like this, but this one is particularly annoying. The gist of the story is that the big bad bullies in Brussels want to change British (Rule Britannia, Britannia Rule the Waves!) law to encourage everyone in Europe to steal benefits from honest, hard-working, decent and down-to-earth English people. (more…)

A torrent of revolutions from across North Africa and the Middle East have fallen out of the speaker of my radio over the past few weeks. But while there is plenty of conflict and turmoil just over the Mediterranean, I get the feeling that people are ignoring the ongoing tension in Côte d’Ivoire. Whether this is just a case of the media being unable to focus on more than one thing at once, or something else, I can’t say, but if we compare the potential ramifications of the ‘Arab Spring’ conflict in Libya and elsewhere, with the consequences of the stand-off between Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouatarra, where the country could be in danger of returning to civil war, then surely a little more attention is warranted, is it not?

Though declared to be the winner of the much delayed (it was originally scheduled for 2005) 2010 Presidential Election, Ouatarra has, so far, only managed to take full control of the hotel in Abidjan where he is based, guarded by a significant number of UN ‘blue-helmets’, with Gbagbo refusing to hand over the reins. For the international community to do nothing in this case would be intolerable in the defence of democratic principles and the stability of West Africa. The already divided nature of Côte d’Ivoire, with a Muslim north and Christian south, and the fractious support for Gbagbo to remain in power, means that there is too much danger of an escalation of conflict in the country, and a potential return to civil war. Too many senseless acts of violence have already occurred. The question is of what should be done, and who should do it.

Though military intervention has been suggested, and arguments for it have been put forth, I would be concerned that the assessment of the resistance that will meet any foreign force attempting to oust Gbagbo is somewhat lacking.

“The mlitiary option will cause minimum loss of lives because Gbagbo is protected by a ‘rag tag’ band of soldiers. Besides, Ivory Coast does not even have a formidable air force. Neither appeasement nor sanctions is the way to force Gbagbo out of office. Sanctions will only go as far as blocking Gbagbo’s yes men from international travel.”

Tony Bello

In regionally comparative terms, the armed forces of Côte d’Ivoire are probably strong enough to pose a realistic challenge to an external force. The likelihood that a forceful intervention will be carried out, not by UN or EU forces, but by ECOWAS, enhances this problem. The capacity and experience of ECOWAS forces, when compared to those of the UN or the EU, is lesser. To act as the sole international force in an attempt to remove Gbagbo would probably mean a messy conflict, with a great degree of danger to ordinary Ivorians, caught in the middle of the fighting.

To discount military intervention and the option of doing nothing, we are left with sanctions. Though some sanctions have already been put in place, notably on cocoa exports, there is room for a more stringent set of sanctions to be enforced, especially on the part of the European Union. This solution would lessen the violent threat to civilians that military action would bring, and ultimately starve Gbagbo of the resources he needs to hold onto power. Rather than a clamour for battle, the international community (and this term includes directly neighbouring states) should seek to use every method of peaceful sanction, coupled with genuine attempts at mediation. For its part, the EU should move beyond the pointless waffle spouted by its High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton (PDF link), and seek to use its existing significant involvement in the country, and its capacity for meaningful actions, to encourage Gbagbo’s departure from office.

Photo by busy.pochi on Flickr. Used under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.0 licence.

Humour me for a moment, and go to the iTunes Store, Amazon MP3, or Spotify. I’m sure you will agree that the experience of buying music from these stores in the comfort of your own home is far more pleasant than the noisy and uncouth atmosphere of the average branch of HMV. Now, using the search box, try to find the song ‘Loca’ by Shakira. If you’re in the UK, then this toe-tapping number will probably not show up, or if it does, it will be on an obscure compilation album released by Sony Music Entertainment Austria.

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Perhaps it was just the novelty of it, or maybe I’m just too much of a political geek, but I was very happy to get the chance to sit in the back of the AFCO (constitutional affairs) committee in the EP today. I was mainly there for the morning’s discussion of the Duff Report, but seeing as I’ve previously blogged on the citizens initiative, I popped back after work to hear the concluding speeches on that. I kind of forgot to keep following what was going on with the Initiative over the past few months, but it seems it’s still doing the salami rounds, losing thin slices of legitimacy as a “citizens” initiative. Unfortunately I missed most of the summing up, as it was delivered by the Chair of the Petitions Committee, Erminia Mazzoni, and while I have nothing against her personally, she doesn’t half shout! She managed to drown out the interpreter on the headset I was using, even with the volume turned up.

Anyway, the Duff Report was my main focus, and seems quite interesting in its proposals. I hadn’t encountered it before today, but the idea of transnational lists for the European Parliament elections is one that has been floating around for a little while. Theoretically, I like the idea, but it looks like something that would be nigh on impossible to implement, requiring as it does, a treaty change, and by extension, consent from member states, which by even more extension means national political parties voting to give up some of their control over who can be the MEP for their ideological stand-point. Andrew Duff, the rapporteur on the Electoral Act, seems to think a constitutional convention is a good idea for bringing together the proposals on the matter of pan-EU MEPs into a concrete treaty change, but his enthusiasm for it begs the question of whether he paid any attention to the rhetoric that was flying around at the time of the Lisbon Treaty’s ratification. Frankly, I can’t see a way for a Europeanising treaty change, or constitutional convention to take place for a few years at least.

It’ll be interesting to see how this one pans out though. I quite like the idea of pan-European MEPs—especially if they could represent the interests of Europeans who’ve ended up living outside their own state—and some of his other proposals are amusingly outlandish (harmonising electoral procedures/dates, votes at 16 in European elections*, making the Belgians accept noticeably fewer seats than the Dutch).

* I’m for votes at 16, but to introduce for only one election, and to try to do so in all member states at once?! Not an easy place to start.

Thanks to very little BBC reporting on it, it wasn’t until I noticed the European Council lanyards on the other people in the pub last night that I realised that there had been a summit during the day (somehow, despite working in the centre of Europe, and dealing with EU related things all day, I manage to miss the big stuff), but with the reports today of a confrontation between Sarkozy and Barroso, I’m glad that for once we see some passion in a European summit. It’s just unfortunate that it was over the appalling treatment of European citizens.

I’m a bit surprised that Sarkozy is still pushing on, claiming support from other heads of state and government, despite the fact that he really does seem to be standing alone on this one. I suppose it shows a modicum of decency in the leaders in the EU that there have been public condemnations of the French Government’s actions, and it certainly is nice to see a Commissioner willing to publicly criticise a member state, but I can’t help but feel that it is all a bit too little, and a bit too late. I don’t want Europe to be tiptoeing around, with everyone playing diplomacy. The EU should be part of the rough and tumble of politics, just like any national capital or regional government. Maybe the next time a member state does something reprehensible—though obviously it’d be nice if whatever it was simply didn’t happen—the Commission and Parliament speak out sooner.

I could never quite bring myself to proclaim, “anyone but Barroso”, last year when the post of Commission President was being considered—what with the implications that I’d plump for Wilders or Griffin instead—, but still, I really can’t say that I think he’s any good.

When I think of Barroso, I think of the grey concrete and soulless boulevards of the European quarter of Brussels. He is a civil servant and a bureaucrat; I can’t summon any idea of what he stands for, and, perhaps more importantly, where he wants to take the EU. Maybe this could be seen as a good thing, for the EU to have a settled time to get used to its new system with Lisbon &c., but while the EU is doing the equivalent of breaking in a new pair of shoes, where does it leave public perception and opinion of the Union?

Various blogs and newspaper articles have suggested that the post-war idealism of peace in Europe, brought about by the unity between nations, is meaningless to most people of my generation. Frankly they’re right. I still think it is one very positive contribution of the European project, but it isn’t something that can motivate people to accept what is still an oddity in most people’s conceptions of what a state is, and where laws come from.

Ultimately I wasn’t surprised by Barroso’s first State of the [European] Union. It was as much of a feast of buzzwords as many have predicted, and it didn’t really seem to say anything astonishingly new or push forward a continuing vision of where the European project is going. Perhaps it will prove a worthwhile contribution to the political process of the EU, with a growing acceptance that the citizens, and thus their representatives in Parliament, are prime, with the executive reporting to them, but I have little faith that this isn’t just going to end up like the sort of mechanical and contrived show that so much of EU politics and governance manages to perform. The fact that the compulsory attendance of MEPs was discussed before, with members being infantilized by a requirement to press voting buttons to confirm their presence is perhaps testament enough to the unnatural character of such an occasion.

Image from the European Parliament on Flickr, used under a Creative Commons licence.

Isn’t Europe supposed to be the continent where we look after people who have fallen on hard times, and provide them with the support that they need to get back on track, and make something out of their lives? Aren’t we supposed to have the European ideals of society and working together, rather than the harsher ‘every man for himself’ attitude that prevails in some other parts of the world? I’m asking because, for the past few weeks, the ugly discrimination and marginalisation of an entire group of people has not just walked into consciousness, but has paraded its way through the media and public debate.

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What a very long time it has been since I last wrote anything here on the Thursday Briefing. My failure to post has been caused by the need to devote all my time to writing a thesis and attempting to plan and execute an international move in just a fortnight (not a wholly successful endeavour). Thankfully now though, the thesis is done and graded, and as of tomorrow the stressful nightmare that is moving house will be completed, leaving me free to pursue my attempts to become a Eurocrat here in Brussels. I have a feeling that living in Brussels and working in, and around, EU politics will be nothing but good for this blog, especially as I will have enough free time to actually write stuff.

Anyway, with perhaps a little stutter, while I attempt to get everything settled (dealing with Belgian bureaucrats is not fun), the Thursday Briefing is back. I did have a chance to think about the content of the site though, and I plan to change the focus. This started out as an attempt at a hybrid Scottish-European-Green politics blog, but since I haven’t lived in Scotland for more than a year, I think it is time to change the focus to being a much more of a EU/Green blog. Not that I won’t ever write about Scotland or Scottish politics, but it only makes sense to focus on what I know, and that is the EU.

So, what started as a little experiment in CSS3 has now entered its second year of existence. Lets hope it can last to its third birthday.