Letter From Europe by Chris Davies, Liberal Democrat

MEP for the North WestNO sooner was England knocked out of the World Cup, than Tony Blair was off to Spain to talk with other EU Prime Ministers. Their agenda was difficult. How to develop a common asylum and immigration policy?

How to meet the costs of enlarging the European Union to include the countries once trapped by Stalin on the other side of the Iron Curtain?

In the end they all achieved some things, but no one achieved everything. That's the way things go.

Back here the newspapers complained that the heads of government were out of touch, and used jargon which was hard to understand. "Ordinary people" weren't interested in Europe and would rather watch football, they said.

But do birds fly? Do fish swim? Of course most people would rather watch football, or have fun in some other way, than try to follow the details of difficult EU debates. Surely we elect Prime Ministers to do these things for us.

Yes, the decision-making system needs to be as open and easy to understand as possible. And yes, politicians should try and explain what they are doing. But why should the EU be criticised for the fact that newspaper journalists have to work to understand the same jargon as Prime Ministers?

Given that the European Union already has 11 official languages, shouldn't they must be grateful that the jargon is almost always in English?

TOO MUCH HOT AIR

MEPs on the European Parliament's Environment Committee have been discussing ways to get companies to reduce energy use and cut emissions. It's all part of the EU efforts to deal with the problem of climate change.

Both Europe and the USA recognise that global warming is a threat. The big difference is that we want to do something about it, while the Americans hope that other people will do it for them.

I've just learnt that in much of California it is effectively illegal to hang washing out on a line? Apparently the appearance of washing lines can reduce the value of neighbouring property, so they are banned.

Instead of letting the sun and the wind dry the washing for free, the Americans say it must be put into a tumble-dryer, using energy and creating global warming emissions in the process. It seems a high price to pay for the future of life on the planet.

STRONG EUR0, WEAK DOLLAR

WHILE on the subject of the USA, I remember one financial pundit predicting back in January that the value of the euro would sink to just 80 cents against the dollar during the course of this year.

As I write, the euro has just hit 99 cents, and looks set to climb higher.

Meanwhile the value of the euro against the pound is 12 per cent higher than at its lowest point a couple of years ago.

Back then I had a tough task defending the benefits of the euro against all the British sceptics who derided its early fall in value, and condemned it as "weak".

"You just wait," I was forced to say. "Currencies have to be looked at in the long term. He who laughs last laughs longest."

It looks like I may be proved right. Certainly the new strength of the euro against the pound will help manufacturers here in the North West export into the eurozone, it also makes it very much easier for Britain to adopt the common currency without any great difficulty at all.

Chris Davies Lib Dem

MEP for the North West