 Ambassador's Corner WEEKLY MESSAGE FROM AMBASSADOR JOHN BRUTON March 30, 2007 Last week I had a very large number of meetings with members of Congress. These meetings coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome.
Since coming to Washington as European Commission Ambassador over two years ago, I have put very special emphasis on developing the closest possible contacts with Members of Congress. This is really important because, as is sometimes not realized outside the United States, the Congress is a separate but equal branch of government with the Administration. In countries with parliamentary systems, the focus of diplomacy tends to be mainly on the administration. But in the United States of America, contacts with the Congress are just as important and, sometimes even more important, than with the Administration.
 Albio Sires
Last week I met the new member of Congress for the Jersey City and Newark areas of New Jersey, Albio Sires [left]. Jersey City itself has become a major financial centre and many of Albio’s constituents also work in the financial centre in New York. We discussed the need to harmonize the regulation of the financial industries on both sides of the Atlantic so as to minimize distortion, provide the best service to customers and secure employment. Albio Sires's district includes Newark airport, the world famous Ellis Island and the birthplace of Frank Sinatra in Hoboken.
Gary Ackerman
I accompanied [EU External Relations] Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner to a meeting with Congressman Gary Ackerman, who represents the Queens Borough of New York. We had an intense discussion on the Middle East Peace Process, a matter upon which the Commissioner has worked extremely hard. Gary Ackerman was concerned about talking to the Palestinian Unity Government before the Hamas portion of it had explicitly recognized the legal status and formal right of Israel to exist. I said to him that my experience of the Irish Peace Process had led me to believe that, where conflicts have deep roots, formal recognition of legal status usually comes as the result of a negotiation, rather than prior to it. The formal recognition of Northern Ireland by the Irish Republic was the result of the Irish Peace Process, not its precondition.
Steve Buyer
 I met Congressman Steve Buyer, a Republican from Indiana, and we discussed energy issues. He told me that six CEOs of the largest power plants were testifying in Congress on the increasing dependency of the US electricity industry on coal. Given that coal burning emits more greenhouse gases than other power sources, this makes the development of technologies to prevent the CO2 from coal plants escaping into the atmosphere very urgent. Congressman Buyer is a strong supporter of research on this.
I discussed with him the situation of injured soldiers returning from Iraq. He himself is a veteran of the first Gulf War of 1991 and is exceptionally experienced in this matter.
Steve Israel
Congressman Steve Israel, Democrat of New York, said that he intended to devote up to 75% of his time in Congress in this term to the urgent issues of energy conservation and climate change. He was concerned that the amount of federal R&D on renewable energies had fallen since 1978. He said he was traveling to India in the immediate future to discuss energy issues and the impact that the rapidly expanding Indian economy might make on climate change. He argued that the US should cooperate closely with India and China on energy issues, as they too were as vulnerable to the effects of climate change. He told me that he was proposing legislation to establish a “global green fund” to provide money specifically for renewable energies and combating climate change in all the countries of the world.
He also outlined his ideas on healthcare. He accepted that healthcare insurance would remain primarily a matter for individuals and their employers, but said the federal government should subsidize a programme to support “wellness,” i.e. preventive medicine and support for lifestyle changes.
Baron Hill
 Congressman Baron Hill, Democrat of Indiana, was also a strong supporter of technology to ensure that coal use did not generate greenhouse gases. He told me that a military base in his district was considering the installation of a clean coal facility to meet its power needs. Indiana is very rich in coal reserves. He has also been a strong promoter of wind energy, and said that utility companies in his district have supported a 15% target for wind in their energy mix. He also supports further research into hydrogen fuels.
Joe Donnelly
The main topic of my meeting with newly-elected Democratic Congressman Joe Donnelly was my visit to South Bend in his district and US agriculture policies. He believed that cellulosic ethanol would be commercially viable within five to ten years. In the meantime, corn-based ethanol would probably ensure that corn prices remained high. But he felt that government subsidized crop insurance for farmers was still necessary as the market had not yet fully settled down.
We discussed the situation in Iraq and he said that he favoured a policy of discussion with Iran and Syria, as well as the other neighbours of Iraq, in order to stabilize the situation there.
John Hall
I met Congressman John Hall, one of the Democrats, who took a Republican seat in  New York and helped change the majority in the House. His district includes the US military academy at West Point. He enrolled in the University of Notre Dame at the age of sixteen but later quit college to pursue a music career as a singer and song writer.
Like many other members I have met, he is deeply interested in solving the global warming and energy independence issues. He is a skeptic about nuclear power, claiming that it only survives because it has been indemnified against claims. He told me that a lot of new sites for hydroelectric generation have been identified in New York and that work is also being done on identifying sites to generate electricity from the movement of the tides.
Wally Herger
Congressman Wally Herger, of Chico in California, is the top Republican member of the Trade Subcommittee of the Ways and Means Committee and is a very important contact for the European Union in Congress. We spoke about the need to make regulation governing business on both sides of the Atlantic compatible so as not to waste resources.
We discussed the prospects for the Doha Trade Round and he was supportive of the idea of moving quickly to resolve outstanding difficulties. I told him of EU concerns about some proposals before Congress to impose political sanctions extra-territorially, in a way that might breach WTO rules and lead to unnecessary divisions between allies who are working to the same goal.
 Carolyn McCarthy
I met Carolyn McCarthy, Democrat for New York. We discussed the funding of educational exchanges between the EU and the United States.
Carolyn is a nurse by training and works tirelessly on nutrition and health issues. She has been particularly active in food and nutrition labeling issues, seeing the linkages between better consumer information and improved health. Like Steve Israel, she feels that preventative policies can restrain soaring health care costs.
Visit to Indiana
Last week I visited South Bend in Indiana. I gave talks at the University of Notre Dame, one of the leading institutions of higher education in the United States. I visited its world renowned cancer research centre. I also gave a talk at the Adams High School, where I was very impressed by the level of knowledge of the students and the quality of the questions I was asked about the European Union.
I was delighted to have had the opportunity of meeting with the Mayor of South Bend, Stephen Luecke. He gave me a very interesting outline of the functions that his city government performs. It is funded mainly by property taxes. Seventy-five percent of its expenditure goes to police, fire protection and parks. About 10% goes to street repairs and the rest is divided between economic development and administrative matters. Stephen has been reelected many times and his job is a full-time one. We had a detailed discussion on elementary and high school education and on how Europe and the United States can share experiences in this area. Please send me your comments about this or any of my weekly messages or other EU matters. I look forward to hearing from you!
|
