Focus article on the EU - 2006 (Liberal Democrat European Group (LDEG))

Liberal Democrat European Group (LDEG) <info@ldeg.org>

On the Subject of Straight Bananas…

Euromyths are often used as negative spin on the European Union. Maybe you remember the one about straight bananas. Some of the press would have us believe there are hundreds of thousands of bureaucrats sitting around in Brussels dreaming up such ideas. In reality there are only about 26,000 workers employed by the Commission, similar to a large city council. This is because most EU work is done by national governments, which also manage 80% of the budget. When our government implements EU policies it sometimes tries to add a little extra of its own and then blame that good old scapegoat Europe.

Far from trying to control us all, the EU operates under the principle of subsidiarity, which means that policies should be made and implemented at the lowest possible level - local community, regional, national or European. The Commission can only draft policies that need to be dealt with at a supra-national level.

Farmers often blame the EU for delayed payments but the chaos in England over the new single farm payments is due to our government's IT system. The common agricultural policy (CAP) was established to deal with post WWII food shortages but became a victim of its own success. In 2003 CAP reform broke the link between subsidies and production in order to emphasize the environment, food quality and sustainable farming. Unfortunately the IT system dealing with the new payments is causing delays for English (not Scottish or Welsh) farmers, many of whom have still not received vital payments.

Has anyone ever seen a straight banana?

Carol Weaver (December 2006)