13/02/2005
For a change, Bookerâs picture story in his
column today has nothing directly to do with the EU, although there is a delicious, EU-related link with the Metric Martyrs judgement. It concerns a fight-back against the growing scourge of âfixed penaltiesâ issued by an increasing number of public authorities, invoking the Bill of Rights. It is, therefore, well worth reading.
Of equal interest is Bookerâs second story, which concerns what the Government describes as âa small, technical and non-controversialâ Bill now being nodded through Parliament.
This will give the equivalent of diplomatic immunity to the employees of a range of âinternational organisationsâ, mostly organs of the EU. The âprivileges and immunitiesâ it grants will be enjoyed not just by staff members of these bodies, but to all members of their families and âhouseholdsâ.
Although questioning of this curious Bill has been led by the tireless Eurosceptic Lord Pearson of Rannoch, it has raised the eyebrows of even such a committed Europhile as Lord Wallace of Saltaire. He was surprised to discover that, since his wife is a director of the Robert Schuman Centre, part of the European University Institute, he will share her âimmunity from domestic taxationâ and other privileges, as her âdependent spouseâ.
The danger of this Bill, according to Lord Wallace, is that it will create âtwo classes of people- those of us who are subject to domestic law and pay our taxes and parking fines, and an increasing number of people who do notâ. While insisting he is a âstrong supporter of the further development of the European Unionâ, he regards âthe powers, privileges and status of the Commission and many of its agencies with mixed feelingsâ, fearing that âthere is a real danger of a popular backlash against the emergence of this privileged eliteâ.
The significance of this is that, as Lord Wallace himself pointed out, there are ever more of these EU bodies whose staff enjoy privileges above national law. In response to a question from Lord Pearson, the Government itself only named 28, ranging from the European Railways Agency and the European Plant Variety Office to the European European Monitoring Centre for Racism and Xenophobia, although the Foreign Office concedes its list will have to be updated âas new bodies are addedâ.
What the Foreign Office would never explain, however, is how these fast-proliferating organs in many ways now represent the true government of our country. Just why therefore the privilegentsia which works for them should be granted the immunities traditionally accorded to diplomats of a foreign power is likely to inspire not just puzzlement but, as Lord Wallace suggests, very great resentment.
For his third story, Booker recounts how, in cranking up its propaganda campaign for the EU constitution, the EU commission has opened up a new section of its website under the title â
Get Your Facts Straightâ.
This is dedicated to countering all the dreadful lies about the EU peddled by journalists in the British press.
A typical "Euromyth", claims the Commission, is that the EU plans to ban famous advertising slogans such as "Guinness is good for you". Typical Eurosceptic lies, it says. âSlogans like âGuinness is good for youâ will still be with us. In fact the EU has no plans to introduce any new legislation at allâ.
Martin Callinan MEP, a Tory who sits in the relevant committee of the European Parliament, sends me the text of a regulation currently going through the system which states that âbeverages containing more than 1.2 percent by volume of alcoholâ shall not âbear health claims of any kindâ. It will become illegal for any âfood or nutrientâ to make claims implying that it provides âgeneral non-specific benefitsâ or promotes âoverall good health and well-beingâ.
In other words, it is perfectly true that to use the slogan âGuinness is good for youâ is to become a criminal offence - and when the Commission says this is a âmythâ what it really means, as on so many other issues, is the precise opposite.
The final story has absolutely nothing to do with the EU. It cones under the heading: âyou couldnât make it upâ. Writes Booker:
Doctors in Essex have been startled to receive from the âEssex Public Health Resource Unitâ a booklet entitled âInformation Packâ. When they open it, they find its 34 glossy pages are blank. When the GP who sent it to me enquired what was the purpose of this gift, he was told it was âfor making notesâ. It is good to know that all those billions of our money devoted by Gordon Brown to the NHS are being so wisely spent.
Actually, I though it might be an EU commission publication, giving all the reasons why the organisation is democratic.