Members of the group of socialists and democrats in the European Parliament face the problem of how they’re going to remove the stain which they have had to carry as a result of the Qatar corruption scandal. As of now, the MEPs and former MEPs who were arrested or named all are members of this group.
For a long time, socialists were most consistent in the EP to raise their voice about the rule of law, the defence of human rights and the fight against corruption and tax evasion. This position was adopted with what at times I considered to be an exagerrated zeal.
That the scandal has emerged right inside the group of socialists was/is obviously, rather shaming. It renders the group vulnerable to the accusation of hypocrisy.
I know how in most cases this is just not true. There is a difference between wanting to become more saintly that the most saintly; and that of hypocritically camouflaging wrongdoings for which one is responsible. But it’s quite easy to confuse one attitude with the other.
So it will be a huge challenge for the socialist group to clean the stain now attached to it. I’m not so convinced that the problem will be solved by jacking up the routines that have been used to express scandal at what others do.
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STATE AIDS...
... have become a sacred cow for the EU. Every development or almost must be scrutinised by the Commission which needs to give its Nihil Obstat for many projects before they can be launched by any member state. In this way, projects can be disallowed to prevent them from committing the mortal sin of obtaining unacceptable leverage via state aid, subsidy, call it what you will. You see, this might weaken the integrity of the single European market.
That peril gets referenced all the time. It seems to divert attention away from being kept focussed, as it should, on the need to ensure that action to sustain competition does not end up blocking projects that should be given priority. I am much afraid that actually, this is happening.
In which case, the matter goes beyond sacred cows. Perhaps better say: European policies regarding state aids might have become the tail that wags the dog.
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PENSIONS
A huge political and social controversy has built up in France. The government wants to introduce changes to the country’s pensions systems by which all will need to work longer before reaching pension age. Workers and employees in all sectors are saying no. They consider that the change is unfair.
On average, people are living much longer than what they did even forty years ago. Pensions need to be paid for a longer span of time. It does not appear feasible for the existing fund from which pension payments are made to cope with the requirements that will be ongoing.
To keep pensions afloat there is no other alternative but to increase the years of work.
This corresponds to how children and young people had better spend more time at school. If our lifetime has been extended, what’s wrong with extendng the years of schooling and later of work, before the years of “rest” ring in? Such a change has got to be implemented, but it must be done fairly. Not an easy task.