News from
David Sumberg MEP
December 2001
Conservative Member of the European Parliament for the North West of England
WHERE WERE YOU WHEN TERROR STRUCK?
Everyone of my generation can remember what they were doing when they heard that President Kennedy had been assassinated. Everyone of a younger generation can probably recall how they heard of the death of the Princess of Wales. To these two tragic events, a third can now be added; September 11th – the attack on the Twin Towers.
I was in the European Parliament in Brussels, attending a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee. As I was sitting there, my mobile phone went off and I left the proceedings to take the call. It was my son, a journalist, to tell me the news. Returning to the Committee, the terrible news was spreading throughout the committee room and very soon we adjourned our proceedings – no one had the heart for further debate.
The European Parliament, indeed Europe generally, has strongly supported the United States in the action it has taken. I am glad that this is the case. What happened on September 11th affects all of us – wherever we live and whatever we do. Our sense of security has gone. We have to eliminate and destroy terrorism or it will eliminate and destroy us.
Perhaps Europe has learned the lessons of history for which the continent paid a terrible price. Appeasement of evil never works.
COME ON GORDON – DO YOUR DUTY
I’ve had a bit of good news from the European Commission – the body which amongst its responsibilities includes enforcing European laws. You may find it surprising to learn but the Commission is going into battle on behalf of the hard-pressed British consumer, particularly when they travel to Europe. As readers will know, we can no longer buy duty-free goods when we go on holiday to the Continent. That’s because Europe is now one single market with no distinction between shopping in Manchester or Munich. But in return for this lost perk, we’re allowed to nip over to Europe and buy tobacco and alcohol at cheaper European prices. Sadly this news does not seem to have reached the ears of HM Customs, who have been putting returning travellers through the third degree about how many cigarettes and bottles of beer they are bringing back home. Your ‘fags and booze’ must only be for personal consumption, not resale. But Gordon Brown’s officials are taking a very harsh view about how much the average Brit can actually smoke or drink. A couple from Oldham and a coach party from Sale have complained bitterly to me about the way in which they were recently treated on their return from France.
So I protested to the European Commission and asked them to do something about the matter. And they have. They’ve decided that the customs officers are not acting lawfully and they’ve told the British government in no uncertain terms that if they don’t observe the law, they will be taken to the European Court of Justice to ensure that our citizens are treated like everyone else in Europe.
So come on Gordon Brown – play fair! Don’t let the case come to court, don’t waste our precious taxpayers’ money on fighting it; just let ordinary holiday makers enjoy the cheaper prices of continental Europe.
EUROPE – A NEW TOWER OF BABEL
I’ve written before about the problems of a parliament conducting its business in different languages – eleven of them at the moment and expected to rise to twenty should the EU reach the target of 27 member states when it takes in the countries of Eastern Europe.
Nothing wrong with that you may say. After all, 2001 is the European Year of Languages, designed to celebrate our Continent’s richness of culture and history. According to current thinking on multilingualism, the use of all eleven languages lends legitimacy to European bodies. Every MEP is on the same level – limiting the official languages by contrast would put at a disadvantage members from those countries which do not speak those languages.
But I’m not sure about all of this. For this lofty idealism comes at a price. A European Parliament report has calculated that if only six new countries with five new languages joined the EU in time for the next European elections in 2004, 512 new interpreters will have to be hired for the Parliament to do its business. And the current translation and interpretation of the whole EU will increase by millions of pounds.
I think the time has come to rethink the idealism of the original founders of the European Union, which then only had six member countries. Thanks mainly to Uncle Sam, English has become the unofficial working language of the Parliament in all informal meetings. A recent survey showed that 82% of the Dutch think everyone should speak English (their MEPs often make speeches in English anyway) and that 78% of Spaniards share that view, and despite the common view that the French are paranoid about their own language, it is very surprising to find from the survey that 60% of French people agree about the primacy of English. And so they should for it is estimated that two billion people speak English, a third of the world’s population.
So maybe it’s time to change. To make English the language of Europe. After all, if we have a single market, and some, but not me, want a single currency, why not a single language? It would save the European taxpayer a small fortune, and I’m certainly in favour of that.