Ambassador's Corner
WEEKLY MESSAGE FROM AMBASSADOR JOHN BRUTON
March 19, 2008
St. Patrick's Day in Seattle
This week I visited Seattle in Washington State where I had the honor of being
Grand Marshall of the city's St. Patrick's Day Parade. The St. Patrick's week
committee provided a wonderful welcome for all the visitors. Among those
prominent were John Keane, Tom Quinlan and Daniel McKevitt – all Irish born but
proud Americans too.
I had the opportunity at the Parade to meet with
Washington State Governor
Christine Gregoire (whose name prior to her marriage was Christine O'Grady), and
with the Mayor of Seattle, Greg Nickels
[on right in top photo below]. [Governor Gregoire is second from right in the
lower photo below.] Both of them have given important
leadership on climate change in the Pacific North West.
The colorful Parade along 4th Avenue in Seattle was the centerpiece of a whole
week of celebrations. Seattle was not a major center of Irish immigration, but
its Irish community is very active and I met many Irish born people, including a
person from my home town in Dunboyne, and a priest, Father Hugh Duffy, SJ, who
taught me in school. Ireland was represented at the events by Trade Minister,
John McGuinness TD, and Mayor of Galway, Tom Costello.
Baallyfermot, Dublin, Irish Dancers
I gave a lecture on EU/US relations at the University of Washington and met
students from all over the world who are studying there. The
University of Washington is an EU
Center of Excellence. There are 10 EU Centers of Excellence in universities
in the US, which are financially assisted by the European Commission. The
centers offer EU and EU-US focused courses for undergraduate and graduate
students, promote the related research interests of advanced graduate students
and faculty, and conduct educational outreach programs to local communities.
I also addressed the Seattle World Affairs Council, a body specializing in
public education about international affairs. I was introduced there by Bill
Gates, Senior, the father and namesake of the founder of Microsoft. The World
Affairs Council honored Professor Roy Prosterman, the Seattle-based founder of
the Rural Development Institute, which has mobilized lawyers and other
specialists to help transfer land into the ownership of small farmers in
countries like China, Ukraine, India and Vietnam. It is only when people have
secure title to property that they have the collateral to borrow to develop a
business, so this work is vital to economic development in these countries.
Bainbridge Island
I took some time for tourism, taking the ferry to Bainbridge Island, which faces
Seattle. Twenty thousand people live on this beautiful wooded island, which was once a
center of the lumber industry. It was originally settled by Norwegians and
Swedes. It also had a large Japanese-American community, who were interned in
March 1942 because of security concerns. Their sad history is described in a
very interesting exhibit in the Museum of History on the island.
Seattle from Bainbridge Island
I also visited the Emerald Downs Thoroughbred racing stables and race track with
Tom Quinlan and learned a lot of inside information about this very important
industry. I hope to put this new knowledge to good effect at the Derby in May!
Countering the Ballistic Missile Threat – Rules of the Road in Space
The Hague Code of Conduct (HCoC) against Ballistic Missile Proliferation was
established in 2002. It calls on its 128 participating states to exercise
maximum restraint in developing, testing, and deploying WMD-capable ballistic
missiles. Under the Code, participants have to provide reports on their missile
inventories and activities. Furthermore they are required to give advance notice
of their ballistic missile and civilian rockets firings to avoid any confusion
and misunderstandings.
In view of the alarming trends in ballistic missile proliferation at the dawn of
the 21st century, HCoC is a vital instrument for prevention, transparency and
confidence building. If all states give notice of missile launches, accidents
will be avoided. Everyone will understand the purpose of a launch and no one
will mistake a launch as hostile that actually has a legitimate purpose. This
code is like a sensible system of traffic management in space.
The European Union is deeply concerned at the fact that Russia has announced in
early January 2008 that it would no longer provide advance notice of its missile
launches for one year. It is believed that Russia's' justification for this move
is partly a response to a persistent failure by the United States to submit any
advance information about its launches since the inception of the code. In fact,
almost two-thirds of the notifications since 2002 have been submitted by Russia
alone. Furthermore, China says that since participating states like the US do
not honor their obligations under the code, they see no reason to join HCoC at
all. I regret that we made little progress in our discussion with Ambassador
Mahley.
I find the attitude of the US, Russia and China unsettling.
As permanent members of the UN Security Council, these states should act as
responsible stakeholders on the global stage. Yet an uncanny pattern emerges of
the US and others disclaiming the multilateral mechanisms they helped set up and
choosing instead to do it alone or work in ad hoc coalitions.
I hope that the United States will reconsider its approach on this matter.
Caring for the elderly – public opinion speaks
As Europeans live longer and the baby boom generation grows older, the need for
long-term care increases. A
special Eurobarometer survey published this week
contains some interesting findings which show the scale of the challenge
policymakers face as Europe’s population ages.
According to the survey (Health and Long Term-Care in the European Union), 93%
of Europeans believe that public authorities should provide appropriate home
and/or institutional care for elderly people, and around 9 in 10 believe that
family carers should be given the opportunity by the state to take a break or
reduce working hours and receive an income for their duties.
Interestingly, most people (71%) believe dependent people have to rely too much
on relatives. Most are against the notion that close relatives should provide
care for elderly or infirm relatives (58%). Yet many (45%) expect to be looked
after at home by a close relative should they become sick or dependent! This
corresponds to the percentage (45%) who believe nursing homes offer insufficient
care.
The cost of professional care for elderly or infirm relatives is clearly a
worry. Only 31% of Europeans believe it is available at an affordable cost, and
a majority of Europeans (70%) believe it should be obligatory to contribute to
an insurance scheme to finance their care if they need it. Just under a quarter
(24%) of Europeans are saving money or have insurance to pay for future care.
The extent to which people are actually doing this varies greatly by country, by
age and by level of dependency. For example, the percentage of people who have
already saved money or taken out insurance for their old age ranges from 14% in
Bulgaria to 48% in Belgium.
There is widespread opposition to the view that that, if a person becomes
dependent and cannot pay for their care out of their own income, property they
own should be sold or borrowed against to pay for it. Exactly the same number
agree as disagree with the idea that children should pay for care if a parent's
income is insufficient.
These figures show a lot of unresolved dilemma in peoples mind on those issues.
The tax implications of some of the things people want are substantial, and need
to be factored in to opinion poll questions if one is to get realistic answers.
Holiday
I will be back in Ireland for two weeks holiday since today, so there will be no
Weekly Message until I get back.
Please send me your
comments about this or any of my weekly messages or other EU matters. I
look forward to hearing from you!
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