Republican News · Thursday 12 June 2003

Government stands back as EU wields the power

BY ROBBIE SMYTH

What do Sellafield, British Energy, EU Commission accounting standards, the CAP, Poland voting to join the EU, the draft EU constitution, Atlantic Dawn, BSkyB, Ntl and Chorus have in common?

They are all areas where the EU is impacting this week on Irish political and economic life, with little real government involvement. For example, Fianna Fáil EU minister Dick Roche has welcomed the latest draft of the new EU constitution and commended the "common sense" behind it.

Roche said tha, "the general principles for institutional reform set out by the small states have been quite clearly adhered to". Great, so nothing to worry about then, is there?

COMISSION IN CONTEMPT

What does the minister think of the revelations that the EU Administration Commissioner Neil Kinnock had pressurised the Commission's internal audit service from going public on concerns about the quality of EU accounting procedures for its §100 billion budget?

Memos between the budget department's top officials show serious differences about the quality of accounts for 2001.

A leaked memo from Jules Muis, head of the Commission's audit unit, states that "the Commission could be held in contempt of due diligence by having the continued the practice of overstating knowingly the quality of the accounts".

In May 2002, Marta Andreasen, the former EU chief accountant, was suspended after making public her criticism of the EU's accounting system. A year on, there still are serious problems in this area and little evidence of the institutional reform that Dick Roche can see.

What is getting minister Roche's attention is the Polish referendum on EU entry. This was, he said, a "hugely significant step in healing the wounds of the past". Polish turnout was 58% and the yes camp racked up 77.45%. It still leaves more than half of the electorate either not voting or opposed to EU membership, hardly a ringing endorsement for the EU.

SELLAFIELD

Closer to home are the dangers from Sellafield and other British nuclear installations. The 26-County government is taking the British government to the UN International Court at the Hague over its decision to commission the Sellafield MOX reprocessing plant in December 2001.

Though belated, it is a positive step in asserting Irish rights to an environment safe from the threat of nuclear power. However, the Dublin government could also be making complaints to the EU Commission over state aid for the other nuclear companies, such as the loss making British Energy (which lost £4.29 billion last year).

The British government lent BE £650 million and have agreed to pay £2.2 billion towards the company's costs of decommissioning outdated power plants. It is not the Dublin government that is taking BE and the British government to task by complaining to the EU competition commissioner. It is US companies that have lodged the complaint.

IGNORANT MINISTERS

Maybe Irish ministers are ignorant of how the EU works. Yesterday in Leinster House, Sinn Féin spokesperson on Fisheries, Martin Ferris TD, raised the issue of the licensing of the §63 million super trawler Atlantic Dawn in the Dáil.

Ferris tabled the question following queries from fishermen, and in light of last week's RTE Prime Time exposé of the role played by senior government figures in securing the license in 2001. It is alleged that the decision by the then Minister Frank Fahey to issue a temporary merchant licence to the Atlantic Dawn in clear and conscious breach of EU law.

While huge efforts could be made to get Atlantic Dawn an operating licence, it seems that there is not as much time available for other matters. BSkyB, NTL and Chorus have been operating in the Irish TV market for in some cases decades without coming under the remit of Irish communication regulators. Now, because of an EU directive due to come into force in July, these companies will not be regulated.

WHO IS TO BLAME?

It is the same government department that issued the licence so speedily for Atlantic Dawn that is now patiently waiting, it claims, for ComReg the communications regulator, to provide the details necessary to produce legislation that make these companies accountable for billing and quality of service. They are now blaming ComReg for leaving it "a little late".

Finally, there is the little issue of the CAP, which is being substantially altered in ongoing EU negotiations. This week, Germany and France have agreed a deal on the CAP changes, setting the agenda for the other EU states.

It seems that despite promises of reform and new constitutions, the last week has shown that the EU is still a place dominated by large states with an Irish government not fully engaged in the day-to-day realities of the effect the EU is having.