Local Newspaper Column - June 2005

Published on Thu 7th Jul 2005

July sees the G8 summit and the beginning of the six-month UK Presidency of the EU. I am glad that the government made two of its priorities the same - poverty relief and climate change. Removing the burden of debt on the developing world is of major importance. But "making poverty history" also means giving it free and fair access to the world's markets.

The EU is already moving in the right direction. It has committed itself to reaching, by 2015, the UN target of 0.7% of GDP in aid. And it will participate fully in the Doha Development Agenda, a World Trade Organisation initiative.

It has begun on a reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, with our farmers already adjusting to the beginning of the end of production subsidies. Changes to the "sugar regime", with its system of import tariffs, are also under way. But we have to be very careful how we go about this or certain parts of the developing world will actually become worse off as a result.

The CAP is clearly in need of still further reform, but the purpose must be to help eliminate poverty, not just shift it from one location to another. So whilst I can agree that it takes up a disproportionate amount of the EU budget and that the whole basis of raising and spending money needs a thorough rethink, I am really concerned about the current failure to reach financial agreement in the shorter term.

I believe, too, that the approach, so far, of some member states, the UK included, to both the size and the use of the budget, will have adverse effects on both economic cohesion and on research and development.

No one ever doubted that the amount of structural funding available to Scotland would go down, given the needs of the newer member states. But neither the Commission nor the Parliament want to see the drastic reduction here that would follow from some of the proposals.

Recently in the European Parliament, the Prime Minister spoke of "a union of values, of solidarity between nations and people". I hope that this understanding is followed through the UK Presidency, the financial debate included.