Eurobloat #0055 • November 2014
November opened with a brand new Commission, a brand new president, and the same old habit of grabbing money and power while explaining that it was all for our own good. By the end of the month they had promised to multiply cash fifteenfold, voted to dismantle a search engine, and told us where to store our cooking oil.
Folly of the Month: 21 billion euros becomes 315, and nobody asks how
On 26 November Jean-Claude Juncker unveiled his flagship Investment Plan for Europe, a scheme to "jump-start" the economy with 315 billion euros of investment. The trick was that only 21 billion of that was real money, scraped from the EU budget and the European Investment Bank, with the remaining sum expected to materialise through an assumed multiplier of fifteen to one. The Centre for European Policy Studies politely called it "smoke and mirrors", which is the kindest possible description of a plan that turns one euro of public money into twelve euros of private investors who have not yet been asked. A new Commission, a new way to centralise spending decisions in Brussels, and a headline figure chosen to impress rather than to add up.
1. The man who survived his own tax havens
Just weeks into the job, Commission President Juncker faced a censure motion over LuxLeaks, the revelation that Luxembourg handed sweetheart tax deals to multinationals during his nineteen years running the place. On 27 November the Parliament rejected the motion by 461 to 101, with the mainstream groups closing ranks to protect their man, which tells you everything about how Brussels handles its own.
2. Parliament votes to break up a company it cannot name
On 27 November MEPs passed a resolution, by 384 to 174, calling for search engines to be "unbundled" from their other services. They carefully avoided naming Google, fooling absolutely nobody, in a non-binding vote with no legal force whose only purpose was to lean on the Commission. Brussels deciding which American firms are too successful is now a Thursday afternoon hobby.
3. Even the EU's own court admits free movement has limits
On 11 November, in the Dano case, the Court of Justice ruled that Germany could refuse benefits to a Romanian woman who had moved there without working or seeking work. For once Luxembourg conceded that nations may protect their welfare systems from those who arrive purely to draw on them. A rare and welcome outbreak of common sense, which the open-borders enthusiasts spent the rest of the month trying to explain away.
4. The 1.7 billion pound surprise bill
Britain was presented with a surcharge of 1.7 billion pounds, payable by 1 December, because its economy had performed too well. George Osborne then claimed to have "halved" it, while the Commission and the Financial Times pointed out that the supposed discount was simply Britain's existing rebate, money it was always going to get back. A bill nobody can predict, a "victory" that was an accounting trick, and a member state billed for the crime of growth.
5. The ECB quietly becomes everyone's bank manager
On 4 November the European Central Bank assumed direct supervision of more than 120 of the eurozone's largest banks under the Single Supervisory Mechanism. Some 6,000 institutions now answer, directly or indirectly, to Frankfurt rather than to their own national authorities. Banking union arrived with little fanfare, which is exactly how the most significant transfers of power tend to travel.
6. Triton replaces Mare Nostrum, then promptly does less
On 1 November Frontex launched Operation Triton, replacing Italy's Mare Nostrum. The EU operation arrived with under a third of the budget, around 65 personnel, and a patrol area limited to 30 nautical miles off the Italian coast. Brussels took control of a border mission and immediately demonstrated that it had neither a coherent plan nor any intention of paying for one.
7. Cameron says four years, Brussels says "calmly and carefully"
On 28 November David Cameron set out plans to make EU migrants wait four years for tax credits and social housing, to stop child benefit being paid abroad, and to deport those who fail to find work within six months. He warned that blocking him could put Britain's membership in doubt. The Commission's reply, that it would consider the proposals "without shutting the door", was the sound of an institution that had already decided the answer was no.
→ time.com
8. Your olive oil now needs a label telling you to keep it in the dark
On 26 November a Commission committee waved through amended marketing standards for olive oil, requiring the back label to advise storage in a cool, dark place, and demanding all mandatory information sit in one uniform block in the "main field of vision". This is the body that cannot manage a border mission or a coherent budget, busying itself with where you put the bottle. Six member states had the sense to abstain.
9. A new directive to make suing each other easier
On 26 November the Parliament and Council adopted Directive 2014/104 on antitrust damages actions, harmonising the rules under which firms can be sued across national courts for competition breaches. Sold as helping wronged businesses, it was another slice of national civil procedure quietly pulled up to the EU level. The lawyers, at least, will be delighted.
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