Three concerns” “

The energy crisis at the beginning of the year underlined the need for the European Union to develop a common energy policy: the question is tackled by CLARE COFFEY in the February number of “”Europe infos”, monthly review of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) and the Catholic Office of Information and Initiative for Europe (OCIPE). Other issues tackled by the review: the Directive on the liberalization of services and the protection of human rights. THE CHALLENGE OF THE FUTURE. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine over gas supplies “raised important questions pertaining to Europe’s energy security and Russia’s desire to re-assert itself on the international stage”, observes Coffey. “With the European Union importing up to 50% of its gas and 75% of its oil whilst the international battle for resources grows, the need for a co-ordinated EU-wide policy on energy is blatant”. Security, consumption, alternative sources of energy, sustainable development and climate change: these are the issues on the EU agenda which, as Coffey points out, “the Austrian Presidency has indicated as priorities” and to which “the forthcoming European Council (Brussels, 23-24 March) will be largely devoted”. “The European Commission – Coffey continues – is soon due to publish its Green Paper on security of supply and co-operation with Union supplies, whilst the Austrian Presidency is in the process of organizing a conference in Vienna entitled Energy paths, horizon 2050”. Among the various sources of energy, traditional and innovative, it seems that the debate on nuclear power is being re-opened in Europe, although positions on the matter are widely divergent: “France – concludes Coffey – is conspicuously nuclear dependent, the UK is reviewing its nuclear options, and Finland has committed itself to nuclear expansion whilst Germany remains resolute in its commitments to decommissioning”. WHAT SERVICES? “The draft directive for the regulation of services, known as the Bolkenstein Directive, is worrying European citizens”, says MICHAEL KUHN. There are three aspects, in particular, of the Directive approved by the European Parliament on 16 February that are giving rise to concerns among ordinary people. First, explains Kuhn, “everything that has so far been recognized as falling within the competence of the State (postal services, railways, supplies of gas, electricity and water, health or welfare services)” apart “from having great practical value, also has a strong symbolic value”. “The first reaction” to any changes to these services, he continues, “is the fear of seeing them fall into the hands of foreign businesses”. Despite the European Commission’s assurance that the opening of the services markets will lead “to a lowering of costs for consumers”, citizens “fear being faced by a new lack of visibility and transparency in the jungle of prices proposed by the new providers”. Lastly, “citizens once again have the feeling that the process of European integration is being reduced to mere economic profit”. MEPs, concludes Kuhn, “have understood the reasons why people reject the Directive” and pledged to make adjustments to it. CIA AND HUMAN RIGHTS. The revelations on the presumed existence of “secret CIA detention centres on EU territory have highlighted the vulnerability of human rights, even in Western democracies” and, at the same time, have prompted a firm reaction by the European Union. So says MARINA FEBO, pointing out that in response to the claims in the Washington Post on the secret prisons in which the CIA is allegedly “hiding, holding, interrogating and torturing prisoners in isolation”, even in some countries of the EU, Europe has immediately reacted, first of all, by the denial of such allegations by the states involved, such as Romania and Poland, which had been identified by Human Rights Watch as the destinations of secret CIA rendition flights, “but also including Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic”. Urged by the United Kingdom and Germany, continues Febo, “American Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice “denied the violations of laws” in Europe. Secondly, the European Union “has been very clear and determinate in its reaction, not just by condemning such illegal practices, but also by invoking articles 6 and – especially – 7 of the Treaty on European Union to remind EU member states of their obligations, particularly in respect for human rights”. Meanwhile a temporary committee has been set up in the European Parliament, to investigate the issues raised by the affair; the first results of this enquiry will be published in May. The Council of Europe has appointed Dick Marty, chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly, “to examine the issues and obtain all the essential information necessary to establish the truth: “The only effective way to combat terrorism – declared Marty – is to use decent moral means”. The EU’s stance, concludes Febo “is further proof that the EU is moving more and more in the direction of human rights and their protection”.