Overcapacity and unemployment in this sector has made it a sensitive issue. Britain, for whom this was not such a hotly publicised matter, was minded to support Germany to gain support from that country for our efforts to safeguard thousands of UK jobs in the city threatened by the proposed withholding tax. This sort of deal on unrelated issues remains endemic to the secretive way the Council of Ministers does business behind closed doors. Transparency is still more of a slogan than a reality. Whilst there was much lip service and fanfare paid to opening up Council decision-making during the British Presidency, new Labour in government has discovered the seductive charms of secrecy as a way of doing business.
Democracy is the loser.
Greening the government at home and greening the EU budget remains of pivotal importance but as yet progress is slow. Environmental sustainability, whilst now enshrined in the Amsterdam Treaty has not extended to fisheries and agriculture, or trade policy. Furthermore, the structural funds need an eagle eye kept on them to ensure that the fine words in Agenda 2000 are matched by green policies in their implementation. Climate change is slipping away from being tackled. Governments around the world fear the effects on their industries or their votes from policies needed to make progress.