Although I am fully aware of the pointlessness of the exercise, I would like to continue my habit of pointing out what the European institutions have done for the citizens this week. I know that this kind of scribbling is not what's going to make the general public aware of what the EU does every day to serve their interests. But you never know; sow the right seed, something may come of it.
Piracy and counterfeiting. The European Commission has proposed to bring in, throughout Europe, heavy criminal sanctions for piracy and counterfeiting (see our bulletin 8989). I know what will happen: people will say that the EU will concentrate on small dealers and fake beauty products or ladies' handbags or luxury watches. In reality, this has become a sideline. Counterfeiting is now seen as an organised crime issue, and the consequences can be disastrous for entire sectors of European industry, and sometimes deadly dangerous for the consumer (fake drugs, dubious foodstuffs, dangerous toys). Fraud has taken on amazing proportions (to give you one random example, 11 ships full of counterfeit clothing were seized by the Estonian customs authorities) and the profits for the criminals have been described as "phenomenal". We should not see the damage to the citizens as consumers alone, but also the unemployment this causes and the crumbling away of economic activity in entire regions of the Union.
Saving the sea. The legislative procedure to approve measures aiming to prevent, fight and punish the pollution of the sea caused by ships has just been completed (see our bulletin yesterday). This is a field in which national measures are ineffective, because oil slicks and other similar disasters do not respect national boundaries: the infraction is committed in the waters of one country or out at sea, and it is the coasts of other countries which are ruined, together with the related economic activities, not to mention the seabirds. The EU has taken up and reinforced international legislation in terms of criminal sanctions, checks and procedures. European law will allow not only the captain and the builder or owner of the boats at fault to be prosecuted (as the international Marpol convention already does), but also the charter company and the classification company (which certifies the state of the vessel). The phasing out of single-hulled oil tankers has become definitive. The European seas are becoming safer and cleaner.
Protecting food. The Court of Justice has validated (with a few precautions) European directive on food supplements, which puts an end to certain forms of abuse which could mislead the citizens and damage their health. This puts an end to the famous case involving vitamin- and mineral-based supplements included in foodstuffs. The directive, which will enter into force next month, contains the list of products which are allowed; the maximum quantities will be laid down at a later date (vitamins can cause liver problems, for example, if taken in excessive quantities) by the European Food Safety Authority installed in their new headquarters in Parma. Despite the protests of the producers, scientific circles have welcomed the European rules, because "the consumption of food supplements has reached a dangerous level: supplements contain everything (up to and including heavy metals) in non-specified quantities". Supplements have not been banned, but they are delimited by a "positive list"; those which are not on the list are banned. The Court of Justice rejected the formula of a simple "negative list" of banned products (an alternative supported by the producers which brought the case in the first place), because this would allow new products to be used which had not been subject to a prior scientific evaluation (see our bulletin 8990). The Alliance for Natural Health, which supported the proceedings, said that it was satisfied with the ruling the costs the Court has recognised that natural vitamins as part of a normal diet should not be subject to limitations.
Bolkestein directive: dead and buried. The European Parliament has buried the "Bolkestein directive, on the freedom to provide services, as proposed by the previous European Commission, for good and all. One Parliamentary committee excluded non-economic services of general interest (education, healthcare, etc) from its scope, other got rid of the so-called "principle of country of origin" to govern the applicable legislation, and the State aid necessary to ensure "universal service" and other essential missions of the services were authorised. It was the path of the European legislative procedure which allowed the initial form of the Bolkestein directive to be directed. And, it has to be said, this directive was one of the main reasons behind the rejection of the European Constitution in France, even though it is proposed when the Constitution did not exist even in draft form, and even though it is to be radically changed while the Constitution is at deadlock. What a waste, caused by ignorance and dishonesty. (F.R.)