Demystifying the EU - from Theory to Practice
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17 November 2009 Demystifying the EU “From Theory to Practice” Bill Blakemore for the Industry and Parliament Trust
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This presentation was given to an audience of UK civil servants and business people on 17th November 2009, in Brussels. I was a guest speaker on the Industry & Parliament Trust\'s European Study Programme for Industry.
Transcript of Demystifying the EU - from Theory to Practice
17 November 2009
Demystifying the EU“From Theory to Practice”
Bill Blakemore for the
Industry and Parliament Trust
17 November 2009
Brussels and the EU
• Why come here?
• What can you achieve?
• How can you achieve it?
17 November 2009
About Bill Blakemore• Involved with EU for 9 years
• 4 years – BT Government
– eForum FP5 project
– EU funding in ICT
– EU procurements
• 5 years – independent consultant
– EU ‘expert’: rapporteur, evaluator of proposals & projects
– Bidder then Project manager: Eurosparks
– Influencer: cross-border transport legislation
17 November 2009
The EU - a legislation machine
My induction to Brussels
17 November 2009
Co-Decision
Process:
18 months +
17 November 2009
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The SPARKS story
17 November 2009
It started with London parking tickets
17 November 2009
A growing problem of unfairness...
Daily Mail, Monday 16th July 2007
17 November 2009
German Vehicle
B CC 654*
49 PCN’s from not
paying Congestion
charge over 6 months
7 On-street
contraventions
French Vehicle :
549 QAJ 7*
112 PCN’s for
Congestion
Charge avoidance
in 6 months
(out of maximum
possible 120 days)
London has a problem with
foreign vehicles
Dutch Vehicle:
BG-SL-3*
46 PCN’s for
Congestion Charge
avoidance
17 November 2009
Not just parking and congestion
• Wide use of civil enforcement
• Imminent introduction of the Low Emission Zone in London
• London 2012
• Other road charging schemes
17 November 200912
The scale of the UK
problem
• 3m+ foreign registered vehicles enter the UK each year
• 142,000 foreign registered vehicles in the UK at any point
• In London foreign registered vehicles represent 3% of all traffic
• In SE & major cities FRV’s are up to 2% of traffic
• Cars make up 87% of the foreign registered vehicle stock
• HGV’s make up 9% of the foreign registered vehicle stock
• 1 coach in 15 is an FRV (1300 at any one time on UK roads
17 November 2009
Most FRV’s do comply with rules, but:
• FRV’s twice as likely to fail to pay congestion charge.
• Hard core of frequent offenders abuse parking and bus lane rules
• 11% of the FRV’s (15,000 vehicles) remain in UK beyond the 6 months deadline for DVLA re-registration.
• FRVs are 30% more likely to be involved in an accident than a UK registered vehicle
• 60% of HGV’s that fail VOSA roadside test for mechanical faults are FRVs
• FRVs are more likely to be caught on camera speeding
UK FRV ‘Behaviour’
17 November 200914
• 3,536 vehicles - number of foreign registered
vehicles recorded speeding on camera in North
Wales constabulary region in 2007/08
Speeding FRVs in North Wales
• If North Wales experience is mirrored across
UK: 84,000 FRV speeding offences are not
prosecuted each year
17 November 2009
FRVs not just a UK problem
• Applies to all enforcement where the driver is not stopped.
• Camera enforcement rendered ineffective
• Eg: the Bruges experience:
– 24,000 parking tickets
– 4,800 from FRV’s
– 60% of those are French
– No payment
• Dublin motorway ring road
• Low emission zones across Europe
17 November 2009
The SPARKS ObjectiveTo enable the
enforcement of
traffic regulations
to be equally effective
against all vehicles,
irrespective of nationality
It’s a question of fairness.
17 November 2009
We bid for EU funding to do a legal study:
“ What is the treaty basis for EU to fix the problem?”
17 November 2009
The European Commission began
to get active too
they had a consultation....
17 November 2009
... then they proposed a directive
• Legal mechanism for access to registration data held by foreign authorities
• Network infrastructure to provide connectivity
• Standardised notification of penalties to individuals
• Scope limited to road safety offences
• Enforcement through other EU legislation
17 November 2009
Good and bad
• New obligations to share data
• New infrastructure to automate it
• But not addressing the scope we wanted
• And only “half a directive” – where was the other bit?
17 November 2009
How can you point the EU in the direction you want to go?
17 November 2009
Can you get others to work with you ?
17 November 2009
Our challenge: get MEP’s on side to change the text
17 November 2009
And influence the Governments tosupport the legislation
17 November 2009
Where are we now?
HALF TIME
• But the break is nearly over
• New proposal is being developed
• Lisbon Treaty has changed things
• New campaign to run next year
17 November 2009
Lessons for you
17 November 2009
Know what you want to achieve here
• You have to be patient and determined
• You have to have money and influence
17 November 2009
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Is there EU money to contribute to help you achieve your aims?
• Research?
• Key policy initiatives?
17 November 2009
FP7 (Seventh Framework Programme) 2007-2013
• €53.2 billion over 7 years - 3% of GDP by 2010 on research
• Cooperation programme “fosters collaborative research across Europe and other partner countries, according to themes are: health; food, agriculture and fisheries, and biotechnology; information and communications technologies; nanosciences, nanotechnologies, materials and new production technologies; energy; environment (including climate change); transport (including aeronautics); socio-economic sciences and the humanities; space and security”.
17 November 2009
17 November 2009
Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows Programme (€4Bn over 7 years)
• European Refugee Fund: €699m
• External Borders Fund: €1,820m
• European Fund for the Integration of Third-country nationals: €835m
• Return Fund: €676m
• http://bit.ly/4fRqPj
17 November 2009
Be prepared for the long haul
17 November 2009
Bill Blakemore
Tel. +44 118 9313616
www.sparksnet.org
