07/02/2014 Politics Europe

young giraffe. 18-month-old Marius has been put down by a in Denmark. I

am back at DPM. -- 3pm. Hello and welcome to Politics

Europe. Your regular guide to the top stories in Brussels and

Strasbourg. On today's programme, Europe under water as storms

continue to batter the continent. Could EU funds help to bring relief

to affected communities? A senior US diplomat in Ukraine apologises

following an apparent four letter outburst about the EU. Just

undiplomatic language or signs of a deeper rift? Is the financial storm

in the eurozone clearing up or does danger still lie ahead for the

single currency? And to infinity and beyond, are the billions ploughed

into the European Space Agency money well spent? All that to come and

more. First, members of the European Parliament have been in Strasbourg

for the regular session. What have they been getting up to? And what

has been going on across the continent? This is our guide to the

latest in Europe. Italy's President was given a hard

time in the European Parliament by Italian MEPs. Members of the far

right Northern League told him where to stick the euro.

Good news for air travellers. In addition to carry-on luggage, MPs

voted to extend carry-on. In a show of European unity, Italy joined

Britain in having some truly dreadful weather. There was flooding

in Tuscany. Gasps as the home affairs

commissioner described European Union corruption as breathtaking.

She put it at more than 120 billion euros, or the size of the EU's

entire annual budget. And as attention turns to the Winter

Olympics in Sochi, they were having a gay old time responding to

relations with Russia. They want Vladimir Putin to butt out.

With us are the Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford and Labour MEP David

Martin. Welcome to both of you. Let us start by talking about the

flooding. You want the European Union to get involved with funds to

help? There is an EU Solidarity Fund led by two of my colleagues. We have

called on the UK Government to make an application for these funds,

because what's not to like about getting some EU support for our

hard-pressed citizens and taxpayers? I am told you can only get help from

this fund if the direct costs exceed three billion euros or 0.6% of our

gross national income. We are not there. That is a national threshold.

You can also get money regionally. There are some hoops to jump

through. Thresholds are lower for a region. The government has declined

to do that, which is disappointing. I hope Owen Paterson will change his

mind on that. We are also encouraging local councils to apply

for another pot of EU money, which they could do. It seems to us, why

look a gift horse in the mouth? Some people in the Somerset Levels would

say that European rules have made it more difficult to dredge. What you

do with the soil when you dredge it? On the money issue, Labour in 2007

got ?164 million for the floods we had in that year. The reason we are

not applying is that it affects the rebate. We lose a third of that

money through the rebate. They are nervous about anything that detracts

from that rebate. In terms of European responsibility, we cannot

blame Europe for the rain and the floods. That is not what I said.

There is a huge argument over dredging policy and the EU has

backed the line of the Environment Agency... I do not think the EU

tries to tell local agencies... They have rules about what to do with a

soil once it's dredged. There has to be an environmental impact study. We

do not determine the outcome of the study. In their view, dredging

should not happen. The US Assistant Secretary of State

has apologised after a leaked telephone conversation emerged in

which she uses less than diplomatic language about the role of EU

diplomacy. Victoria Nuland was talking to the US ambassador to the

Ukraine about the growing crisis. Protestors have been demonstrating

for months after the Ukrainian government decided to do a deal with

Russia. Cathy Ashton met with the Ukrainian president just yesterday.

In the telephone conversation between the Americans, it seems to

have leaked from the Russians. She appears unimpressed. It would be

great to help glue this thing and have the UN glue it. And (BLEEP) The

EU. I think we need to do something to make it stick together. If it

does start to gain altitude the Russians will be working behind the

scenes to try to torpedo it. The US has refused to confirm or deny the

authenticity of the recording. A State Department spokeswoman told

reporters that they did not say it was inauthentic. Victoria Nuland has

been in touch with her EU counterparts to apologise for the

"reported remarks". Why would you apologise if you haven't done

something? What is your reaction? It is a bit unfortunate, her wording.

The Russians are trying to divide the US and the EU. Sometimes cursing

happens. I think what we need to do is reinforce working together

between the EU and the US. As the European Parliament has called for

this week, to offer financial assistance dependent on political

dialogue, constitutional change, the prospect of free elections, to be

prepared to take targeted sanctions against the thugs of the regimes and

the oligarchs supporting them, with asset freezes and travel bans, and

to reinforce the work of the citizens of the Ukraine. It is their

choice to make. We cannot determine what they choose. It shows that the

EU and its values of democracy and human rights are pulling power. We

knew that the Bush administration did not take the EU very seriously

as a diplomatic entity. This suggests that maybe the Obama

administration is not that different. It shows that while the

EU is trying to bring the two sides together, the US are still playing

power politics. She said that they were trying to get some credit for

any solution. I think that is a narrow-minded attitude. A difficult

one to handle. Do they have the same goals in the Ukraine? Fundamentally,

yes. No one is absolutely pure in all of this. All political forces

want to get some credit for a decent outcome. Broadly, we are on the same

page, to get peaceful political transition in Ukraine and allow the

people to make their own choices and not be bullied by Russia and a very

unpleasant regime, and to prevent violence and the prospect of civil

strife. I believe we are on the same page. There is a little rivalry. We

are on the same page broadly, in terms of stopping the violence in

bringing sides together. I think the US shows that they want to liberate

the Ukraine. Our job is to bring the two sides together. It is an

asymmetric dispute. Not just the EU, but the US has only soft power to

bring to this. You get the impression that it is not beyond the

bounds of possibility that Mr Putin could use hard power. Indeed. We had

a couple of Ukrainian MPs in Parliament two weeks ago. You can

never guarantee the Russian tanks will not roll over the border. The

Russians can come with more aid. There is a big difference in aid

between the two entities. Do you want to get into a bidding war? What

the EU can offer, which the US cannot, is the prospect of trade

relationships and, eventually, who knows? We should not close the door

on membership for Ukraine. That is something the US cannot offer. We

are in no doubt this is authentic? Yes.

The eurozone is still in one piece. The naysayers have been proved wrong

or rather still dangers ahead? We have been talking to MEPs in

Strasbourg. The financial storm that hit Europe

in 2008 wreaked havoc in the region. Even the most drastic action could

not protect economies from the continual battering of the European

downturn. A few years on, the euro is still here. Talk of a euro crisis

has subsided. Are there blue skies ahead? Opinion is divided. The

European Commission said that there are encouraging signs that the

economy is strengthening. It estimates growth in the eurozone of

1.1% for 2014, compared to an estimated 0.4% contraction for 2013.

Unemployment in the euro area is expected to remain a record 12.2%.

Globalisation is bringing a lot of pressure and possibilities. We have

to use those possibilities. If you are open for reforms and of the

possibilities for the chance, then Europe has a lot of power to be a

strong continent in the next decades. For some countries, the

storm clouds never went away. The forecast for Greece is still very

gloomy. The opposition says the Greek people are running of

patience. They do not see any hope. They do not see the future for their

children. They do not hope for better days for their country. Key

figures in the EU believe that more integration is the solution. A

common currency create stability, it is the main engine for growth. I am

very optimistic about that. It does not mean that we have overcome the

crisis. This crisis needs more reforms than we have already done.

The main reforms we need is to establish an economic, fiscal, and

banking union. You need co-operation and co-ordination free single

currency. There are voices still forecasting stormy times ahead. The

idea of a single currency for 70 different countries, is

fundamentally flawed. The plaster has been stuck. They are not

tackling the underlying problems. Member states are different. They

are different in their economies and cultures. They are different in

expectations. The EU has a lot to offer member states working

together, but I do not think economic unity is one of these

things. Things may be looking brighter on the surface, but the

long-range forecast is still very uncertain. With the region still

vulnerable to any changes. Politicians here hope the sun has

finally set on the crisis that many thought could end the whole project.

They are yet to find a way to more prosperous times.

We have a candidate in the forthcoming elections. Nigel Farage.

We are now entering the endgame in this 50 year political project. It

will all come to a dramatic had over the course of the next two years. He

turned out to be wrong? In time frame, but I am sure he is correct

about conclusion. If you peg your currency to Germany's currency, you

are in trouble. We learned that when we were finally able to do what we

should do, which is depreciate yet against that. Last time I checked,

the eurozone is still intact. Living standards are falling year after

year, throughout southern Europe. Eventually, the people will decide

it is unsustainable. Is that not the point, that the financial crisis may

be over, but it has been replaced by economic stagnation, and

particularly for the Club Med countries, a serious problem of

deflation. We are not out in the woods. There needs to be further

reform. We are stuck in the middle of the forest. There has been the

work to be done to get this stage. Nobody has said the long-term future

is secured. What I find absurd from the UKIP stands, is that it is

unpatriotic to want the EU to explode. Our reliance on it for

economic links and jobs in the UK rely on it.

George Osborne wants stability in the eurozone iin the eurozone

because he knows it is no good to be UK. That is a ludicrous piece of

spin. Do you want the eurozone to break up? If you are not all the

same long-term productivity path, you need to gently depreciate

against the currency, or all economic activity gets sucked into

Germany. That is what is trapping half are members of the eurozone.

You are a Labour MEP. You are now in a situation where the eurozone has

resulted in mass unemployment. The kind we have not seen since the

1930s. We have, added onto this, this problem through in the southern

countries, of deflation. Once you get into deflation, prices continue

to fall. People will not spend today, because it will be cheaper

tomorrow. You never get out of the hubble. In some senses, I am halfway

towards that position. We have got through the crisis, the challenge

now was to sort out the muddle. We need to get people back to work. It

is economic, not financial? We have called for fiscal stimulus, we want

the youth back to work. We want to share borrowing costs sothat Greece

and others can borrow better, can get there economy moving. Remove

some of the debt burden by sharing the cost. Germany is sharing some of

the benefits it gets from the euro with the other member states. We

slide back to the same problem of over indebtedness. What is needed as

well is to tackle uncompetitive markets. We need investment in

productivity. Francois Hollande has talked about it, but has not

delivered. You pay over 40% of salary to employ someone in front.

-- in France. That is a huge deterrent. If you leave a generation

unemployed, you store up enormous problems. I am not in the French

government. You are allied with Francois Hollande book. The idea

that Greece, Spain, Portugal, are going to be able to compete in a

locked currency exchange rates with Germany is for the birds. It will

never happen. Germany has the scale, the brand, the infrastructure, the

relations, all on its side. Greece, it is a siesta country. It is not in

the culture. They will not be able to do it. Economic activity will be

sucked away from them. Every year they will get smaller and poorer.

Will the EU parliament put pressure on the Central Bank to become more

activist? There are a lot of calls to love bomb Europe with the money.

It needs to go around the major European banks and buy their loan

books and put cash onto the balance sheet of EU banks to they can start

to lend again. They have been doing a lot of that. We discussed this on

Thursday. The Parliament as a whole has argued for it. The British

Conservatives voted against it. You are quite right, we are down to

0.5%, 0.25% interest rate. That is not providing a stimulus. We need

quantitative easing. We need a sharing of borrowing and lending

costs. Only under strict conditions. Otherwise, taxpayers in Germany will

be responsible for bad banks. Dash back the taxpayers in general. There

is a lot to do one with. Thank you for joining us. The continent still

crippled by debt. Struggling to emerge from the financial crisis

onto the proper European footing. EU countries are still putting billions

of dollars into the space agency. Here is Adam. Europe's Mars Rover

crawls over the surface of the red planet. Except, it is really the

Netherlands, where you will find the research and technology centre of

the space agency. It is where most of the missions are planned and

built. This one takes off in 2018 and will have robotics designed by

an engineer from Greece. It is costing one billion euros plus. What

would you say to fellow Greeks? Those who are struggling

financially, to convince them this is worth investing in? This is

investing in research and development. Highi technology jobs

in Europe. Something Europe has been investing in. Missions are launched

in South America. Astronauts are trained in Germany. A new lab has

opened up in the UK. Back in Holland I donned some fashionable clothes to

meet a member of the team there. One of the pet projects is this probe,

which later this year will land on a comet. Hopefully. We can do things

together that a far bigger and far more ambitious than at an individual

level. It is a great example of European Corporation. The badges

come off at that point, when we are sitting in a control room waiting

for the results, we are all European. Walking around this place,

there are no EU flags. The agency is independent. It is funded and run by

20 member states, which confusingly include Canada. In terms of

countries, the UK is the fourth-largest contribute behind

France, and Italy. It spends about ?250 million. A few years ago we

upped contributions, making the UK a lot of friends around here. Each

member pays a basic subscription based on a national income. The more

you pay in, the more work is sent to your country. Member states than

pick and choose which missions to invest in. Some member states have a

specific interest for a specific launch. They will invest more in

launches than other areas. Some other member states do not have an

interest in launches at all. They do not have to put money in that

programme. Having said that it is not part of the EU, it does run

Europe's equivalent of a GPS system, which the EU pays quite a lot for.

The Lisbon Treaty also gave Brussels power to have its own space policy

for the first time. Prepare for Britain to go space mad. Next year,

we will have the first British astronaut to head into orbit on a

European mission. You have 30 seconds to give me your

views. It's a good thing? It is a great thing. A great example of

European Corporation. Get added value. There will be a new centre in

Oxfordshire. We have 30,000 people in Britain employed in space

technology. It is good for jobs, it is good for future prosperity. I

agree. It is a good thing. This is not about putting a man on the moon,

it is about industrial innovation. The cutting edge of innovation. It

is all good. And we get payback from this? A disproportionate benefit.

Britain has quite a name itself in space. All credit to the coalition

government for putting money into the European space agency. That is

it for today. Thanks to my guests. Goodbye.

For many it stayed dry today. We have had a few showers around and

there will be more