The new EU Environment Commissioner is from Malta (and I’m told is a hunter (does anybody know whether this is true please?), and is certainly a former Tourism Minister) named Karmenu Vella.
His role could have been written by George Osborne – ‘Protecting the environment and maintaining our competitiveness have to go hand-in-hand’.
The new Environment Commission ‘gets’ maritime and fisheries in a new portfolio too.
He has to assess the need to merge the Birds and Habitats Directives – presumably he’ll be in favour of shooting blanket bogs and burning Hen Harriers.
Well, I guess he might be fantastic at the job.
Who would have bet on that?
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Sorry Mark, very bad joke – you can not be serious!
Mark W – if a joke, it is Mr Juncker’s joke.
The anti-nature sickness that has gripped the UK since this government came into power is now EU-wide then. This can’t be allowed to stand – surely an outcry will remove him from the post?
Jane – I guess he might be the perfect person to clamp down on illegal hunting…
Is there a vacancy for EU Childcare Commissioner? I hear King Herod is available
There are times when one really feels very depressed and angry about politics and politicians, this is one of those times.
I don’t know Karmenu Vella all that well, but the party he’s a member of is so much in bed with the hunting lobby that they’ll soon be having their baby. Although they’ve done well in a number of other areas, they’ve undone decades of work in enironmental issues – reintroduced finch trapping, sent the police after environmentalists (the minister in charege of police is a former legal representative of the hunting lobby), expanded development in areas where development was previously prohibited, sanctioned a number of illegal developments etc. I sincerely hope that the EP rejects this particular role.
Is there any way of signalling disapproval with this awful appointment. Talk about putting foxes in charge of the henhouse.
John – I guess you could vote UKIP next May but that isn’t an option that strongly appeals to me. Write to your MEPs just to make a point?
The answer will probably be ‘Don’t prejudge the man, judge him on his record’ and there is some fairness in that, of course.
It isn’t a move that fills me with much hope though…
Unfortunately even voting UKIP would leave Europe under this man’s influence.
It would at best leave us with a continuation and greater influence of this government with its environmental policy unmoderated by Europe. At worst it would give UKIP some influence.
As we draw closer to next Thursday’s vote the possibility of endless anti environmental governments draws closer.
Frazer was right: “We’re doomed Mr Mainwaring, we’re doomed!”
Actually I wonder if Frazer left a spare bedroom back in Scotland?