International

Robert Skidelsky, photo Chris Boland, CC

In each part of this series of ‘summer blogs’, one of the basic goods identified by the Skidelskys in their book How much is enough? takes centre stage. Instead of a society in which everything is determined by the market and by an everlasting hunger for more money and more consumer goods, the Skidelskys search for a different kind of society, one which revolves around truly essential things. Having dealt with health, respect and friendship, this time I will look at ‘security’.

I will be continuing my weekly blogs during the next few weeks, but with the European Parliament in recess, these will appear rather different to the normal run. The next five weekly blogs will be devoted to the book by the father and son team of Robert Skidelsky and Edward Skidelsky, How Much is Enough? The book is a direct attack on the way in which we bound ahead towards ever more economic growth, without this leading to more wellbeing. The  Skidelskys define seven basic goods, necessities which we really must have. In each of these weekly blogs I will go into one or more of these basic goods and discuss what the implications of European Union policies are for each of these. Another world is possible, in Europe, too.

The media are happy: Dutch MEPs will be heavily represented on important committees in the European Parliament. These include in particular the Economic Committee, which five Dutch Members will sit on. In my view this is a miscalculation: this committee has in recent years in short order approved new laws restraining speculative behaviour by financial institutions. These laws were in our opinion unsatisfactory, but the fact remains that in this matter the legislative process is almost complete, which means in a committee of this nature one will principally be debating motions on policy. The SP has consciously chosen trade and the internal market as the sharp end: my prediction is that it is in precisely these areas that there will be much to do in the coming period.

Earlier this month I was approached by the major anti-corruption organisation, Transparency International, with a request to establish ‘Intergroup’ – an all-party group of MEPs who share an interest in a particular issue. Naturally, I reacted positively. In the last few years I’ve built up an informal network, which would now have to be formalised. The first steps have been taken: numerous MEPs reacted with enthusiasm to my proposal. If the initiative is successful, we will have another pressure group to counter corruption and nepotism.