Ambassador's Corner

WEEKLY MESSAGE FROM AMBASSADOR JOHN BRUTON

October 2, 2007 

Commissioner Olli Rehn

Last week the EU Commissioner responsible for the enlargement of the European Union, Mr. Olli Rehn, visited Washington.

Originally the EU consisted of only 6 Member States and now it consists of 27. In most cases, the new members entering the Union are somewhat less well off than the existing members. At each stage of enlargement, as the membership increased from 6 to 27, all of the existing members had to agree to take in each of the new members. Taking in new members meant agreeing to share the budget of the EU with the new Member States and to give them power of decision-making. It also meant agreeing that workers from the new Member States would be free to come and live and work in all the other Member States. That is similar to all 50 of the individual States in the US and the 32 States of Mexico agreeing that every Mexican be free to work anywhere in the US, and vice versa.

Olli Rehn told his US audience that the enlargement of the Union had led to a big increase in trade between old and new members – 5 times as much trade is now taking place as before enlargement. Despite the increased numbers at the table, EU decision-making has continued to go forward as efficiently as before. The most recent new members, Bulgaria and Romania, have transitioned well into the Union, updating their law enforcement processes as they did so.

Olli Rehn (left) told us about the state of membership negotiations with Croatia, Turkey and FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia). He mentioned some outstanding problems Turkey has to deal with – religious freedom, freedom of speech, and relations with Cyprus.

Commissioner Rehn has recently published a topical pamphlet entitled “Europe’s Next Frontiers.” I enjoyed reading it.

On the question of Turkish accession to the European Union, he says:

“It is not possible to maintain the current status quo in EU-Turkey’s relations: either we stick to our commitments on the accession process – with the final outcome strictly dependent on Turkey’s ability to meet the criteria fully – or we risk disappointing and alienating Turkey from the wider European political community, which certainly is not in our interest.”

He also deals with the relationship of Europeans and Islam. He says:

“Islam cannot be regarded as a foreign religion, since 12-15 million Muslims form a part of Europe’s religious and sociological map.

“There are differences between first- and second-generation immigrants and their expectations towards their host countries. Young European Muslims are more inclined to see Islam, rather than their home country or town (in their parents country), as their main source of identity."

In my opinion, this issue of identity politics is crucial. The European Union’s task is to enable people to feel comfortable with several coexisting identities or loyalties – their loyalty to the state of which they are a citizen, their identity with their ancestral country and religious tradition, and also a loyalty to the European Union and its values. The latter task is a vital one. I believe it requires the creation of a European “demos,” or public forum of debate, alongside the national demos in each Member State.

Senator Barbara Mikulski

I met Senator Barbara Mikulski, a Democratic Senator from Maryland. We discussed the close links between the EU and the US. She said the EU was a potent force in encouraging Member States, and would-be Member States, to follow predictable rules on transparency, the rule of law, democracy and the respect for contracts. This greatly assisted US goals in foreign policy.

We had a detailed discussion on food quality and health issues. The world-renowned US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) is headquartered in her state, and I told her that the EU was very pleased at new arrangements allowing better sharing of information on particular food and drugs between FDA and the EU authorities, so as to protect consumers from suspect products. I said that EU and US need to work together to recognize mutually the validity of one another’s food and drug safety procedures, so as to avoid costly duplication.

She told me she was very concerned about the possible impact of climate change in her state. Much of the population and economic activity of Maryland is located very close to sea level, and a rise in sea levels caused by the melting of the Arctic ice cap would have a disastrous effect. She had asked for a special Senate hearing on this subject. She said that photographic data collected by NASA since the 1950s showed how rapidly the polar ice cap was melting.

Barbara originally graduated as a social worker. As a Senator, she considers herself now to be “a social worker with power.”

Climate Change

I attended two interesting meetings in Washington last week on climate change. There was general agreement that a global deal on climate was essential, and that the task would be to convince the participants that the deal would be “fair.”

One participant predicted that the Arctic ice cap would actually disappear by 2030 on present trends. He claimed that an expanse of ice the size of Florida has disappeared in a recent 6-day period.

There was some support for the idea of a carbon tax in the United States, rather than a cap and trade system. One difficulty is that a carbon tax would not necessarily achieve predictable results in carbon reductions and this might not fit so easily into the framework of an international agreement. There were also worries that many exemptions from the tax would be obtained as it passed through the legislative process in Congress.

Some argued that outright government bans on certain types of carbon wasteful activities or products would be effective, e.g., on incandescent light bulbs and on high emitting road vehicles.

To meet its energy needs and to supply consumer products to Western countries, China was building pulverized coal plants at a very rapid pace. These plants were only 28% efficient in their use of carbon. A technology for “ultra super critical” coal plants existed and such plants would have 42% efficiency. Persuading China to use such technologies is a key goal.

Wind and solar power were also very promising but electricity distribution grids were not located conveniently to the best sources of wind and solar energy. A major investment in the grid was necessary. Silicon for use in solar panels was in short supply and that could be a constraint.

The best ways to mitigate climate change are the ways that actually save consumers money. A standard incandescent light bulb costs €1 and uses €15 of electricity a year. Replacing that with a low energy bulb at a cost of €5 will cut the amount of electricity used from €15 to €3 a year. So the net saving to the consumer, from changing the light bulb, is €8 in the first year and even more in later years, for an action that will directly help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Insulation improvements and better systems of water heating are other examples of actions that actually save consumer money. In contrast, some of the more high profile measures, like switching power stations from coal to gas or installing carbon capture and storage will greatly add to consumer costs through electricity bills because the consumer will end up paying for the huge investment involved.

It is important to give electricity utilities a direct financial incentive to promote conservation. De-linking an electricity or gas utility’s revenue from the amount of electricity or gas it sells is one of the ways California has used to stabilize its energy consumption.

Winchester, Virginia

Last weekend my son and I visited Winchester, which is situated in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. It was the site of five major battles during the Civil War, and changed hands numerous times. Its old town has been tastefully restored, and it has an interesting Civil War Museum. Winchester was the birth place in 1932 of the late Patsy Cline, a world famous country singer who died tragically in 1963. It also has close association with the early military career of George Washington in the Virginia militia.