Libertas a pan-European political party? What a farce!

The handling of whether Declan Ganley's private company Libertas, already masquerading as a pressure group in Ireland, should be allowed to register as a European political party and gain public funding, has been completely farcical.

On Monday, the European Parliament’s Bureau, made up of the President and the 14 Vice-Presidents, examined their application. To qualify for funding as a European political party, an organisation must have elected representatives in he national parliaments or in the European parliament in at least one quarter of the member states. Libertas claimed to have that, producing signatures from just 7 countries - all elected originally for other parties.

The bureau decided to approve the application. Although it seems perverse to award public money and recognition as a pan-European party to an organisation that has no members and has never put up candidates in an election before, the bureau presumably felt that they Libertas met the formal criteria. The decision at least allowed the Parliament to avoid any charges of bias against eurosceptics.

Since then, the waters have been distinctly muddied. First, an Estonian Liberal MP, Igor Grazin, who was one of the signatories to establish Libertas, and whose party is already affiliated to the European Liberal Party, denied having signed any such papers. Yesterday, he was joined by Bulgarian MP Mintcho Hristov. So far only one of the alleged supporters (Finnish MP Timo Soini) has admitted to having joined Libertas, stressing that he had joined in a "personal capacity" and that his national political party were definitely not affiliates!

There are also questions about the other alleged signatories. One, Lord Alton of Liverpool is a (crossbench) peer in the House of Lords and is therefore not elected, while the three MEPs (Phillippe De Villiers, Jean Marie Couteaux and Georgios Geourgiou) are all currently members of the IND-DEM in the European Parliament and,will, presumably be campaigning under that banner in the European elections this June.

The leaders of the political groups (Conference of Presidents) today took the only sensible decision and requested the Bureau to suspend the decision, pending an investigation of the signatures. If they are indeed false, it would amount to an attempt to defraud the taxpayer.

But the controversy over the signatures is still only part of the problem. In my mind, there is clear conflict if members who are affiliated to one party can simultaneously affiliate to another to get extra funding. It would effectively mean that, if I wanted to, there is nothing to stop me and a six colleagues from other countries, maybe all from the Socialist Group, setting up our own "party", and instantly gaining access to some 200,000 euros of taxpayers’ money for campaigning purposes, even if we intended to stand for our original party and not the new one!

It would be astonishing if the Bureau had approved Libertas’s application without verifying that signatories were genuine and without taking legal advice on whether a member affiliated to one party is able to count as an affiliate for another. If this is the case, then they have let down parties with genuine members and potentially wasted public money on an organisation that is really nothing more than a phoney pressure group.Post date and time

Weaker pound can help Yorkshire & Humber’s economy

The soaring value of the euro (and corresponding drop in the exchange rate of the pound) has been given extensive coverage in the media but it is not entirely bad news.

Because the EU budget is calculated in euros it means that the value in pounds of the EU regional funding we receive has suddenly risen dramatically. In 2009, Britain is set to receive around €3 billion in structural funds, worth approximately £2.2 billion this time last year. With the pound having lost around 25% against the euro since then, the amount, at the present exchange rate, would be around £2.85 billion - an extra windfall of over £600 million.

Yorkshire & Humber receives a significant amount of this, and should consequently be a beneficiary of this extra European money. What is imperative now, is that the government, our region’s development agency (Yorkshire Forward) and businesses make sure they make the most of this windfall by spending it on job-creating investments, training programmes and regeneration projects.

Another benefit in the rise of the euro is that its higher value means that there is a corresponding increase in the purchasing power of our main export market. This increases export opportunities for local firms to the eurozone. Again, Yorkshire & Humber is particularly well placed to take advantage of this, with the Humber ports our export highway to the continent.

Lords skewer Open Europe

It was interesting to read yet another authoritative report from the House of Lords EU committee, this time on the future of European Regional Policy, but with unusual entertainment values as it contained some magisterial rebukes of the eurosceptic pressure group Open Europe.

Amongst the Lords' conclusions were that the EU structural funds, though not without fault, were "effective and, in general, fit for purpose". One of the purposes of structural funds is to support projects in the poorest regions, so it was welcome to read the committee conclude that "the evidence we received suggests that the size of the funding distributed to the poorest regions under the Convergence Objective is approximately correct" adding that "the absorption cap in the poorest countries operates at an appropriate level to match the ability of regions to use the funds."

Eurosceptics often try to argue that the administration and award of structural funds is both costly and inefficient. However, the committee found that "objections about the cost of management of the funds are overstated" adding that "the funding and scope of the Convergence Objective, which supports the poorest regions, is appropriate and it should remain."

But equally diverting - and also amusing - was the way that the committee, which consists of experts on European policy from across the political spectrum, dismantled the 'evidence' submitted by Open Europe.

Even the Tory members of the committee were not receptive to Open Europe's arguments, with former First Minister of Northern Ireland and now Conservative peer David Trimble responding to O'Brien's statement that: "It is a question of whether you believe you can win the argument better in Westminster…or in Brussels. Where do you feel that Northern Ireland has more clout?" with "at least in Brussels they listen to you. I do not know that the Treasury does!"

Furthermore, Open Europe were so shameless as to cite a mere press report as the source for their outlandish claim that administering structural funds costs the UK £670m per year.

As cross-bench peer Lord Kerr put it: "the Press Association does not make up a number. They report somebody giving a number" adding that "I am sorry but it will not do to tell us that this is (from the) Press Association".

Indeed, Liberal Democrat peer Lord Watson was moved to comment that:

"I am now really startled that you provide this type of evidence. It is quite clear that you are saying that you cannot get disaggregated data. Nevertheless, you offer this enormous eye-catching sum and, as we have just seen, it clearly does not stand up".

Certainly, it is difficult to imagine that a reputable think-tank would source their 'evidence' using press reports. It's a bit like seeing a Sun or Daily Mail scare story (which is probably what Open Europe did) and then claiming that to be the truth!

With the Open Europe team admitting that their claims about the cost of structural funds were not entirely accurate, Lord Kerr offered this magisterial rebuke:

"I think that is a very interesting admission of defeat. There are a number of statements in the evidence and in the press releases about the evidence which are, I think we have established, guestimates; they are speculative. The list of horror stories is sourced to newspapers. I think one needs to be told facts rather than report like a very much fear will read perhaps in the Mail on Sunday that £670 million must be the UK cost of running the structural funds because it is in "evidence" to a House of Lords committee. I think that is very dangerous."

It seems that these rather feeble contributions, and the collapse of their so-called 'evidence' under cross-examination, were Mr O'Brien's last contribution as director of Open Europe. I understand that he has just been appointed director of the right-wing think-tank Policy Exchange which was, incidentally, the organisation responsible for the widely discredited report about Britain's northern cities, which David Cameron described as "nonsense from start to finish". Let's see how he fares.

Flood-hit areas should recieve all £110million

The decision of the Treasury to pocket nearly £80million of the £110million allocated to Britain from the EU’s Solidarity Fund following last summer’s floods, is regretable.

Unfortunately the issue is further clouded by Conservative attempts to blame Tony Blair and some newspapers proclaiming a “Brussels snatch”.

As the press release from Local Government Minister John Healey explains, the reason only £31million will go to the areas hit by last year’s flooding is to do with the way the UK rebate works.

The rebate refunds to Britain roughly two-thirds of the deficit between the annual total of EU monies raised in the UK and of EU expenditure in the UK. As a result, any extra sums spent in Britain, such as the solidarity fund grant, reduce the UK's deficit. This in turn reduces the size of the eventual rebate by a sum equivalent to two thirds of the extra expenditure in question.

So in short, the Treasury is retaining such a huge chunk of money meant for the flood-hit areas so that it will not lose out when Britain's rebate is calculated.

Throughout the year there will be many issues that effect the amount Britain receives in the rebate and this is of course inevitable but I find it astonishing that the Treasury is guarding against a dip in Britain’s rebate at the expense of hard-hit flood victims and their devestated towns. After all, when extra money comes to farmers through agricultural spending or to poorer regions through structural funding, it does not retain the money in this way.

In our region Hull, Doncaster and Sheffield amongst others all suffered severely from the flooding and I voted for this money in the European Parliament to help them recover. The full £110million should be spent on the areas affected, not hoarded by a mandarin in the Treasury.

You can read my letter to John Healey by clicking here.

Regional funding has helped Yorkshire; now can the EU help our rhubarb farmers?

I spent this morning in Sheffield, which looks more impressive each time I visit, at the launch of the EU Regional Funding for Yorkshire up to 2013, with Commissionor Daunta Hübner and John Healey MP giving the key note speeches. South Yorkshire has benefitted the most due to its Objective One status over several years now and it has been key reason behind the area’s impressive economic regeneration. The level of funding Yorkshire will receive will now drop because of enlargement, but the region will still receive a substantial amount of money to help ensure its growth.

Following that I drove to Janet Oldroyd’s farm in Carlton to learn more about how Yorkshire rhubarb is produced. Huge, dark sheds contain thousands of stems of forced rhubarb, with the eerie silence inside only punctured by the popping of the stems through their pods.

As I have mentioned before, Janet and the other rhubarb growers are applying for Protected Designation of Origin status, which requires products to have features and characteristics which must be due to the geographical area.

Yorkshire rhubarb is so renown because the frost, soil and rainfall combine to create the perfect conditions for forced rhubarb, while the special techniques accrued by generations of growers ensure that it cannot be replicated.

Rising temperatures mean that it is becoming increasingly costly for growers to produce consistently large harvests, which makes it all the more important that Yorkshire rhubarb is awarded PDO status, so that growers can charge the price their product deserves and consumers can buy it, confident they are getting the real thing.

Good to see this story about the impact of the EU’s Objective 1 regeneration programme on the South Yorkshire economy. Employment rose by 14% in the region between 2000 and 2005, a rate that is three times higher than the national average.

The tangible effect of regeneration programmes on economic competitiveness - through training and developing skills, job creation and support for local businesses and entrepreneurship, should not be understated. Objective 1 research has shown that employment in the financial services sector in South Yorkshire has increased by 93% since 2000, while the creative and digital industries have grown by 58%. Indeed, since 2000, Objective 1 programmes have resulted in £800 million of funding to regenerate South Yorkshire and have helped create around 26,000 jobs.

In a meeting with Flood’s Minister John Healey yesterday, MEPs were told the good news that Britain is due to receive £115million pounds from the European Solidarity fund, following this summer’s flooding.

It will constitute the second largest payment in the fund’s history with the money going towards paying for the expense of the emergency operation that followed (shelters, temporary accommodation, and restoring utilities) and rebuilding damaged infrastructure like bridges.

It is not yet known how much our region will receive but large parts of South Yorkshire and much of Hull were severely affected by the flooding and I’m sure they will receive the money they need.

The news also vindicates the government’s decision to make a patient and careful analysis of just how much damage was done rather than rushing in with a quick application just to win a few easy headlines.

On another matter of European funding, I have received an answer from a parliamentary question I asked in September concerning congestion in Hull.

Anyone who has used the A63 will know that Castle St in Hull is regularly gridlocked, partly because it is part of the Limerick to St Petersburg Trans-European Network, which carries the bulk of northern England and Ireland’s trade to the continent.

Because of its importance to trade I asked the Commission whether European money would be available to improve the current situation (a short tunnel is one idea), as the road also hinders Hull’s development somewhat by cutting the waterfront off from the rest of the city.

The Commission has since responded and have made clear that Hull could potentially receive some funding or failing that a loan from the European Investment Bank.

I spoke in Monday's parliamentary debate on the natural disasters that blighted parts of Europe this summer.

Inevitably, the debate tended to focus on the more recent fires in Greece which have left scores dead and large swathes of the country torched - their worst since 1857, apparently - but I was able to ensure that the floods in Yorkshire and other parts of Britain were not neglected.

They are mentioned in the Parliament's resolution too, endorsing the case for EU solidarity aid. Britain has now formally requested such aid, and the general consensus in debate was that the Commission must release the money rapidly.

I was pleased to see the establishment of the European Research Council (ERC) which heralds new opportunities for both the European Union and Yorkshire region.

With a budget of 7.5 billion euros (£5billion) to 2013, the Council aims to aid scientific research across Europe to promote excellence and improve the EU’s economic position on the world scale. The ERC will provide opportunities for promising up-coming researchers and anticipates that the quality of scientific research will improve, leading to new products and services.

The announcement of this funding is particularly good news for the Yorkshire region which boasts excellent scientific research units at Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield and York universities.

The BBC quote Gill Wells, the head of non-commercial and European research development at the University of Sheffield, who predicts that the ERC grants will be highly competitive while the university has already established an administrative structure to encourage researchers to launch investigative teams.

The ERC is exciting news for the whole of Europe, but especially our region, which should benefit from the development of young research panels and a sharp increase in opportunities for funding.

Bradford Council yesterday launched a booklet celebrating the city’s achievements with the European Union money it was granted through its Objective 2 status.

Between 2000 and 2006 Bradford received £47million which it spent on 195 different projects, helping to regenerate some of the most deprived parts of the city.

What the Objective 2 team in Bradford has done so well is to identify exactly what the city needs and then help provide it. One example is Bradford Youthbuild Trust, which has used its European grant to redevelop its training centre and now provides young people with comprehensive training in the construction industry and the city with highly skilled youngsters.

There is also the University of Bradford’s Institute of Cancer Therapeutics, that not only researches new techniques and treatments into cancer but also promotes high-technology start-up companies with its excellent facilities, leading to more employment opportunities in the city and attracting new businesses.

It is impossible to do justice to just how much European funding has benefited Bradford but the Telegraph and Argus do a good job and I would also highly recommend getting hold of the booklet, which is called European Impact. If you would like a copy please email my office at richard@richardcorbett.org.uk.

Of course it is not just Bradford which has benefited from the European Regional Development Fund in Yorkshire and the Humber. The communities of Hull, North East Lincolnshire, Wakefield, Kirklees (Objective 2) and South Yorkshire (Objective 1) have also seen just how crucial the ERDF is and how it gives businesses and individuals opportunities to develop, which were previously inaccessible.

I spent some of Friday at PATH, a charity which is celebrating 21 years of helping Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) people overcome barriers and fulfil their employment potential by offering Positive Action Training.

PATH is in part funded by the European Social Fund and it is nice to see EU money used so successfully with the charity having made a real impact across West Yorkshire since 1985.

Increasingly, employers are going to PATH in order to help realise a truly representative workforce, something many still struggle to do genuinely, with the likes of ITV and Customs and Excise benefiting from the charity’s expertise.

I met with PATH manager Hughbon Condor, chair Elain Gentles, and Fundraising and Marketing Manager Bronagh Campbell to discuss how the charity can access new European funding and how it can expand its outstanding work into more of the private sector.

There is still under-representation of BMEs in the West Yorkshire workforce, particularly in more senior roles, something PATH is working to change.

For more information on PATH and to see if you are eligible for one of PATH’s courses visit their website at www.pathyorkshire.org.uk

Following the meeting we decamped to Maureen’s West Indian Restaurant in Chapeltown, for a sumptuous lunch which gave me the chance to try curried goat for the first time, and I can heartily recommend it!

For some time, the European Union has had a firm commitment to medical research, and with some of the finest research scientists in the world, the United Kingdom was always going to benefit.

The EU has given a grant of £8m to Sheffield University to advance knowledge of stem cells and their potential.

As you may know, stem cells, when taken from an embryo, can be directed to grow into any part of the body, from bones to the brain. This technique could, in theory, be developed in to a new form of regenerative medicine which could cure a wide variety of diseases and disabilities.

I understand that this research is seen as controversial, and that is exactly why we need the tight regulations and ethical control placed upon it, but with this technology lives really can be saved and improved beyond measure – and Yorkshire scientists will be at the very heart of it.

Perhaps the most high profile vote in the Strasbourg session this week was on funding for scientific research across Europe.

At first glance this may seem a fairly straight forward issue but it became a deeply contentious one because of the proposal to offer financial backing to stem cell research.

Despite the controversy surrounding research in this field I, and the Labour MEPs as a group, felt it was important to vote in favour of the proposal.

Stem cell research offers hope to people suffering from the likes of Alzheimer’s, cancer and Parkinson’s, all terrible diseases which we must do our utmost to discover new or improved treatments for.

Europe’s tight regulations and strict ethical codes mean that it is better for the research to take place here rather than countries with less stringent rules.

It is also good news for Yorkshire and the Humber. The University of Sheffield’s Centre for Stem Cell Biology has been at the forefront of these experiments, with scientists having already made a breakthrough on IVF treatment.

In general, British universities claim 20 per cent of all research money allocated by the European Union and with Sheffield, Leeds, York, Hull, Bradford and Huddersfield all hosting excellent universities the Parliament’s vote is great news for them too.

Click here for more details on the University of Sheffield's breakthrough on IVF treatment.

The new website for the European Unit of Kirklees (Huddersfield) Economic Development Service is now live: www.kirklees.gov.uk/european

The new site includes an overview of the EU, a summary of the different types of European funding, and a list of links to other websites to help with applying for funds.