We've all heard of the wine lake but were you aware of the toothpaste mountain?
Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot was put on the spot this week in the European Parliament about the restrictions on liquids that can be carried onto planes. The rules are unclear, the application arbitrary and the contribution they make to public safety dubious. How is a 100ml tube of toothpaste safe but the 125ml tube I had in my hand luggage the other day dangerous? New proposals are apparently under discussion and will be published soon which will hopefully balance the need to control what we carry on aeroplanes with measures which will actually make us safer. That's my real concern: are the current rules effective in protecting us? With all this faffing about the size of liquid containers isn't there a risk that other dangers are being missed? The Commission admits that law-abiding citizens are having thousands of bottles, tubes and other receptacles confiscated every week. What happens to these things? Where do they go? Are they recycled, burnt or put into landfill?
These questions were on my mind during the votes this week on the Waste Framework Directive. This was the first time the Framework had been updated for 25 years and very much sticks to the principle that we must reduce how much waste we produce, reuse more products and recycle as much as is economically feasible. We are running out of space to put landfill and must get on top of our rubbish situation, although perhaps not literally. Our performance on waste is terrible compared to other European countries. Labour has been much better at talking movingly about climate change and the environment than actually doing anything to improve our response to the problem. The Waste Framework Directive was adopted with wide support in the Parliament and will challenge our Government to do more on waste in particular and climate change and the environment in general.
I know climate change is bad and we must do more to prevent it but walking to the Parliament from my hotel this week in glorious, warm sunshine I couldn't help but think: "maybe this global warming thing isn't all bad". Strasbourg should have snow at this time of year but on Thursday it was warm enough to not need a jacket when sitting out of the wind in the sun. The skiing in the nearby Vosges mountains has been abandoned and in Strasbourg they've hardly had any snow all winter. Deep down I know climate change is very serious but it doesn't half cheer you up if you can walk to work without feeling like you've moved to Siberia by mistake - which was how I felt in my first winter as a MEP in Strasbourg 12 years ago.
P.S.
The events around the outbreak of bird flu in Holton also kept me busy this week. I was in touch with officials from Defra and the Commission who I worked with when I was helping to write EU legislation on avian influenza and pandemic preparedness in 2005. I discussed the link with Hungary with Hungarian MEPs on the Environment Committee and did a number of radio and TV interviews for East Anglian media about the story. The interaction between the media, public and officials in responding to the threat presented by bird flu is extremely important. The situation is constantly changing and so we have to remain vigilant but not panic.
