Brussels to Belfast
Referendum lock in force
Voters will have the final say over transfers of power from the UK to the EU, as part of the new referendum lock. The relevant section of the European Union Act 2011 came into force on 19 August.
This gives Northern Ireland voters similar rights to those in the Republic. However, it breaks with the British convention of ratifying treaties through Parliament.
If UK Government decided that a treaty would cede sovereignty, it would be obliged to hold a referendum. That treaty could only be ratified if a majority of the electorate voted in favour.
Europe Minister David Lidington said the law would help to repair the “disconnection” between UK voters and the EU. This follows on from Conservative and Unionist manifesto commitments in 2009 and 2010.
Labour refused a referendum on Lisbon but allowed 26 days of parliamentary debate. David Miliband, as Foreign Secretary, said that Parliament’s decisions may sometimes be “unpopular, but that does not mean they are wrong.”
Dodds criticises budget rise
Increases in the EU’s budget are “unjustifiable” when member states are suffering austerity, Diane Dodds has stated.
She was speaking as MEPs analysed the Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014-2020, which may cost €1.03 trillion at current prices (€140-150 billion per annum). The current 2007-2013 framework was allocated €862 billion (around €120 billion per annum). This is a 20 per cent increase in cash terms.
The Commission, in her view, was “consumed by greed not just for money but for talking.” Dodds demanded a veto from David Cameron.
Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski pointed out that the UK’s national budget was growing, both for 2011 and 2012.
He added that the multi-annual approach set ceilings on spending but it was wise to set aside money for reserves.
Stop food waste: Nicholson
Food waste must be brought under control, Jim Nicholson warned as the European Parliament debated EU food aid to people on low incomes. The scheme supports 13 million people within Europe and provides 440 million tonnes of food per annum, mostly via charities.
The MEP, who is also a farmer, recalled how the EU had “beef mountains, butter mountains [and] milk lakes” when he was first elected in 1989 but these are now
gone. While the Common Agricultural Policy produced the necessary food, he said that the EU was not necessarily the right distributor.
MEPs criticised the Commission for cutting the programme’s funding from €500 million to €113 million. This followed a European Court of Justice ruling against buying food for the scheme on the open market.
Palestine visit
Bairbre de Brún visited Palestine in early July as part of a delegation from her left-wing GUE/NGL group. The MEPs called for the recognition of a Palestinian state, which was declared by the PLO in 1988. The UN General Assembly is due to debate recognition in September. The UK and other EU governments claim that this will disrupt the Middle East peace process.
