For anyone used to the politically motivated diatribes against the European Union that pervades so much of our national press, it comes as a refreshing surprise to browse through written specialist and trade press where a quite different attitude to Europe is often on display.

Thus, I noticed that Electronics Weekly (8th Nov) says that:

"With the coming into force of the RoHS directive this year, the European Union can be proud that its electronics industry has, for the most part, responded admirably… electronic equipment now being produced will not have a harmful legacy for future generations. Europe's determination to implement green policies, when the easy option is to do nothing, also benefits the entire world as other countries try to follow Europe's lead and environmentally aware multinational companies are standardising on RoHS compliant products to sell worldwide'.

The journal Public Private Finance says (13th Nov) that, as regards recycling, EU pressure on Britain is highly beneficial - indeed, the UK "deserves to be punished. The UK's record on recycling is shameful. It dumps more rubbish on landfill sites than virtually any other EU country. Some 75% of local authority rubbish, about 26m tonnes, was land filled in the UK in 2003-4, compared with 38% in France and just 20% in Germany."

New Scientist, in a leading article (11th Nov), criticises the Common Fishing Policy, not on the usual grounds that it has restricted fisherman fishing by imposing tough quotas, but on the grounds that it has not been tough enough. It says:

"Early one morning next month, bleary-eyed European ministers will probably allow fishermen to take just enough of the few cod left to allow the depleted fishery to stagger on. If they followed scientific advice for a ban on cod fishing, the number of cod would grow, and after a few years catches would boom. But that would involve short-term sacrifice, and no minister will bite that bullet. We need mechanisms to make them. Europe pays farmers not to farm but to be stewards of the countryside. Why not do the same for fishermen?"

The Grocer magazine also carries an article on the Common Fishing Policy, contending that it is actually working, at least for some stocks, albeit not yet for cod.

Computeractive (9th Nov) praises EU plans to lower carbon emissions and cut the EU's energy consumption by a fifth by 2020. It supports suggestions that manufacturers should be - 'forced to label the energy efficiency of their products so consumers can decide to opt for low-energy models. The proposed regulations would impose EU standards globally because manufacturers seeking to sell their products in the EU would have to comply with these "minimum energy performance standards".'

Lloyd's List (8th Nov) praises plans to redefine sea voyages between EU member states as national rather than international as a 'huge step forward for the protection of EU seafarers jobs'.

Yet, not all is bliss for the EU in the specialised press. Marketing Week (9th Nov) quotes the European Automobile Manufacturers Association as campaigning to stop the EU from tightening laws reducing carbon emissions from new cars. It says that consumers prefer 'larger, safer vehicles' to 'fuel efficient' ones. And, "rather than have the EU regulate anything, let's have some more global warming", they might well have added.