Mairead McGuinness MEP HARD WORKING, STRAIGHT TALKING Winter 2012
Irish EU Presidency Ireland assumes the Presidency of the European Council on January 1st. This is the seventh time we have held the Presidency and there are high expectations on us to deliver on a number of big political issues. The greatest challenge will be to agree a budget for the EU for the period 2014-2020, known as the Multiannual Financial Framework or MFF. This is a highly sensitive political issue and reaching agreement will be extremely difficult, but essential, if we are to continue with many EU policies. Already the stage has been set for cuts to the budget as originally proposed by the EU Commission. An agreement early in 2013 is vital in order for detailed work on many policy areas to advance. The future of the EU budget has very real implications for Ireland, especially when it comes to reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, the Common Fisheries
Policy and Horizon 2020, the budget for research and innovation.
fostering the emerging green economy will also be addressed.
As a country, Ireland has a well-earned reputation for managing efficient and impartial Presidencies with clear, achievable goals and objectives.
Fighting poverty and social exclusion will figure prominently on the Presidency agenda given the inclusion of poverty reduction targets in the Europe 2020 strategy. The Irish Presidency will also address the linkages between hunger, nutrition and climate justice, ensuring that these are adequately reflected in international development goals post-2015.
Our Presidency will focus on a number of priority issues but the main concern is the promotion of sustainable economic growth and the creation of jobs. Some 3.5 million jobs have been lost since the eurozone crisis began, so growth and employment will be centre stage. Of particular concern is the alarming rise in youth unemployment and here too the Irish Presidency will focus on efforts to tackle the problem. Developing foreign trade markets, encouraging the effective implementation of research and innovation policy and
Our Presidency is also an opportunity to promote Ireland as a trading and tourism nation. At home, the Government will bring the Presidency into towns and villages across the country, directly involving local people in showcasing Irish culture. Ireland will be both centre stage and in the “hot seat” for the first six months of 2013. It is a very good opportunity to build our international reputation as a hard-working and progressive Member State. We will need all of our collective skills of mediation and negotiation to work through the many challenges we face.
Come and See.... Each year we are delighted to welcome visitors to the European Parliament. The trips take place in spring and autumn and are designed to show at first hand the work of the Parliament and the role of MEPs in framing legislation. The trips are also an opportunity to visit EU Member States and better understand the EU project. The trips – to Brussels and Strasbourg – include a visit to the Parliament combined with a briefing session. Visits to various cultural sites and city tours are also included. If you would like to be part of these organised visits to the Parliament, please contact Emir Smith on 041 685 4633.
Contact Mairead Email: mairead.mcguinness@europarl.europa.eu Website: www.maireadmcguinness.ie
Constituency Office: Mentrim, Drumconrath, Navan, Co. Meath Tel: +353 (0)41 685 4633 Fax: +353 (0)41 685 4634 Brussels Office: Tel: +32 (0) 2284 7214 Fax: +32 (0) 2284 9214
News in Brief Winners and losers For Ireland, the CAP debate has mainly been about the winners and losers at farm level. The Commission’s proposal for a flat rate payment per hectare by 2019 has caused concern among farmers in Ireland with high per hectare payments, while those who farm with low or no direct payments are looking forward to higher payments.
Facts but no figures.... As we approach 2013 the work on reforming the CAP should be nearing completion.
In an ideal world we would know by now how much money is available in the CAP budget. But the situation at EU level is far from ideal. For the first time in the history of the EU, real cuts are being proposed to the overall budget for the next programming period from 2014-2020. Several Member States believe that with austerity measures being imposed on national budgets, austerity should also be on the agenda for the EU budget.
There are a number of Member States with historic-based payment systems. Ireland is one of them.
In agriculture, cuts to the budget for direct payments and rural development seem inevitable, arising from proposals tabled by Council President Herman Van Rumpoy, despite strong lobbying from Ireland, France and other Member States. The European Parliament is faced with the dilemma of continuing its work in the abscence of an agreement on the budget, which may not be clear until February.
The pace of convergence of direct payments and the method of convergence has yet to be decided. Within the Parliament and the Council there is still no agreement on this, but there is a consensus that the current system cannot continue. However, if there is no MFF agreement there will be no CAP reform. We then face an entirely unique situation with a rollover of the current budget based on the 2013 figures, plus 2pc for inflation. On the face of it this is a better position when it comes to the budget. What is less clear, however, is will we rollover the current CAP or reform it?
IFA President, John Bryan, Meath farmer Martin O’Brien, EU Commissioner Dacian Cioloş, Mairead and IFA Deputy President, Eddie Downey debating CAP reform.
Greening For MEPs, the most controversial elements in the CAP proposal are the greening measures and the allocation of 30pc of the direct payments budget to comply with these measures. The idea is to make agriculture contribute more to climate and biodiversity challenges. The three greening measures would require farmers to have crop diversification, to maintain permanent pasture and to have ecological focus areas on their holdings. As one of the negotiators on the direct payments report, I am working hard to modify the proposals to make them more practical at farm level.
Markets Market support measures have received too little attention in the reform debate. We need to have the tools and the money to respond swiftly to crises in agricultural markets. We also need to work on fixing the food supply chain. Efforts to reach a “gentleman‘s agreement” between farmers, retailers and other stakeholders in the food chain have run aground, without agreement at EU level. Martin and Angela O’Brien and their son William on the O’Brien family farm at Lobinstown, Co. Meath with Mairead and the EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dacian Cioloş.
This was an EU Commission initative, which I have been monitoring closely. Unfortunately producers were not convinved that this would strengthen their place in the supply chain, essential if they are to get a fairer share of the final consumer price. If in future there is less money in the CAP budget we will have to find ways of securing better returns for farmers from the marketplace.
MEPs get hundreds of emails every day and each one receives attention. This is one of the primary ways we have of keeping in touch with our constituents. Email me at mairead.mcguinness@europarl.europa.eu
Safe Medical Devices My work on the environment committee is wide ranging, from dealing with the Water Framework Directive, to antimicrobial resistance and more recently medical devices, with my appointment as lead negotiator for the EPP GROUP for a major review of legislation in this area. We all have family and friends whose lives have been improved because of modern medical technology, which can give dramatic results and allow people to live pain-free. The EU’s regulation of this industry and the devices it produces is over 20 years old and in need of renewal. The Commission has made a proposal to update Europe-wide rules, and its remit extends to devices as simple as items like sticking plasters, to pregnancy tests, contact lenses and even X-ray machines, pacemakers, breast implants, hip replacements and HIV blood tests. Our approach to this legislation will be influenced by recent issues including problems with some metal-on-metal hip replacements. The scandal of fraudulent silicone breast implants is also in our minds. We must update the legislation to ensure that patients’ confidence in
medical devices remains high and that we spot problems where they arise in the supply chain. The MedTech sector is an important industry in the EU and in Ireland. We will work to ensure that the sector continues to grow and provide new and innovative technologies and job opportunities. In Ireland, 25,000 people work in MedTech jobs – which makes us, per capita, the biggest medical technology employer in the European Union. Ireland is also at the cutting edge of the industry. We produce 33pc of the world’s contact lenses, and some 30 million people – 25pc of the world‘s population that have diabetes – rely on an injectable device manufactured in Ireland. The new rules are expected to be adopted in 2014 and come into effect between 2015-2019.
News in Brief Scam alert Since becoming an MEP, I have pushed for action to tackle the problem of marketing scams affecting businesses, such as those of misleading directory companies. Businesses and individuals in Ireland and across Europe have contacted me about the misleading and aggressive sales techniques employed by two companies in particular. Now my campaigning alongside MEP colleagues has delivered results. The measures to tackle the problem, announced last month by the EU Commission, will target the activities of dishonest traders who use misleading marketing practices, such as sending out forms asking businesses to update details in their directories, apparently for free, but then applying substantial fees and threats for payment. The Commission is now planning to ban practices such as concealing the commercial intent of a communication and step up enforcement of the rules in cross-border cases.
did you know? Ten kilos of waste, which is the average amount produced per week by one family, if treated in a waste-to-energy facility can give you 7 showers of 5 minute duration, 8 hours of heat for your home and power for a laptop for 3 hours a day for 2 months.
Mairead with Jane Hennessy from Indaver Ireland Ltd. at an exhibition in the European Parliament demonstrating waste-to-energy in daily life.
Antibiotics and Health Antimicrobial agents – such as antibiotics – have dramatically reduced the number of deaths from infectious diseases during the 70 years since their introduction. However, overuse and misuse of antibiotics is leading to concern that bacteria are adapting and finding ways to survive their effects, ultimately becoming resistant – making our current army of antibiotics no longer effective. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control estimates that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) results in 25,000 deaths a year and related costs of over €1.5 billion in healthcare expenses and productivity losses. On November 18th, we marked the European Antibiotic Awareness Day – an annual European public health initiative to raise awareness about the threat to public health of antibiotic resistance. Prudent use of antibiotics can help stop resistant bacteria from developing and help keep antibiotics effective for future generations.
Mairead with Grace O‘Shaughnessy at the Third Age National Conference on ‘An older wisdom, a younger vision – Europe’s recovery through inter-generational solidarity’.
Citizens to the fore Ireland will have been a Member of the EU for 40 years in 2013, but just how aware are we as citizens of our rights and responsibilities? Next year, 2013 is the European Year of Citizens – an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the EU and what it means for all of us. The ideas behind having a year devoted to citizenship is best summed up in the vision statement: The better the men and women of Europe understand their rights as EU citizens, the more informed the decisions they can take in their personal lives, and the more vibrant democratic life in Europe can be at all levels. Find out more about the European Year of Citizens by visiting www.ec.europa.eu/citizenship.
MEPs get hundreds of emails every day and each email receives attention. This is one of the primary ways we have of Follow me onEmail: Twitter @maireadMcGMEP or Facebook Mairead McGuinness keeping in touch with our constituents. mairead.mcguinness@europarl.europa.eu Website www.maireadmcguinness.ie
Visitor Group May 2012
an Parliament in Strasbourg in May.
A group from Ireland East with Mairead in the Europe
Students from Scoil Cholmcille, Skryne, Co. Meath welcomed Mairead to their school for the raising of their Green Flag.
Mairead with Robe rt Devlin, General Manager of the Meade Po tato Company an d Managing Director Philip Mea de Sr. at the Mea de Potato Company farm in Lobinstown, Co. M eath launching Nationa l Potato Week.
Dawn Meats stand of Waterford-based Mairead at the exhibition n Tarmey, Joh with s ing Championship during the National Plough cell and Pur an Fint n, heli Cat ia don, Cel Ger Kennedy, Eddie Con Fern Sargeant.
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