Making the EU matter

With a food-safety authority in place, and car wars and health on his agenda, David Byrne is determined to show the EU exists to help its citizens.

It's just as well David Byrne isn't a golf addict. When he joined the European Commission, in September 1999, wags said the brief of health and consumer protection would leave the former attorney-general ample time to work on his handicap.

But his seat in Brussels was barely warm when his aides told him they had a problem - dioxin in Belgian chickens. That was followed by new outbreaks of BSE and foot-and-mouth disease, making Byrne one of the busiest and most visible commissioners.

"I would be delighted if I had more time to develop my golf swing, but I think I have played golf twice since I came to Brussels," he says.

With the food scares under control for now, Byrne has set himself a fresh challenge for the new year, nothing short of the holy grail of European politics: to make the EU matter to its citizens. "I sometimes think we don't sell ourselves hard enough," he says.

He plans to get into Europeans' hearts via their stomachs, with the new European Food Safety Authority.

Even hardcore Europhiles will hardly jump for joy at the prospect of another EU institution. Critics say faceless Brussels institutions are precisely what make the EU so distant and forbidding.

But Byrne is determined that the authority, which was signed into law last week, will be a new style of European institution that exists for the people and communicates directly with them.

The authority is an independent scientific body that, simply put, is responsible for everything that affects food safety in Europe.

The commission is recruiting experts to sit on a central panel, and each member state has a representative on an advisory forum. The Republic will be represented by Dr Patrick Wall, the chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.

With a budget of €40 million, the authority's brief covers everything from animal welfare to genetically modified foods. By communicating directly with the public, Byrne hopes the authority can restore and retain consumer confidence in food safety.

"There will always be food crises, but to maintain consumer confidence, consumers have to understand there is someone in charge, there is a plan and the plan works," says Byrne. "I'm not sure they were convinced of that in past crises. There seemed to be a number of different voices speaking on the subject."

Byrne is confident the authority won't encounter the mixture of arrogance and ignorance he experienced from many European governments during the BSE and foot-and-mouth scares. "I detect now that there is a significant degree of support for the commission. Member states work in a more co-operative and consensual way now," he says.

Once the authority comes on stream, later in the year, it should give Byrne more time to concentrate on other matters in his wide-ranging brief, which stretches "from e-commerce to animal feed".

Wearing his consumer-affairs cap, Byrne last year put pressure on European banks to lower their charges for bank transfers within the euro zone. He argued that there should be a standard charge for a transfer, whether the money is moved from Dublin to Cork or Dublin to Berlin. Anxious to avoid a public-relations disaster, the banks acceded to the commission's request. The regulation, which is applicable from July 1st, forbids banks from distinguishing between sending money from Cork to Dublin and Cork to Berlin.

Fees for euro-zone transfers have already fallen but the price across the euro zone is still not uniform. Banks can still set their own fees, and they don't have to charge the same as their competitors at home and abroad, but they cannot charge more for cross-border, euro-zone transfers than they do for domestic transfers.

He is also confident that price discrepancies on products across the euro zone will even themselves out over time.

"Don't underestimate the power of consumers and market forces," he says. "One car manufacturer has already said they intend charging the same price throughout the euro zone for each of their cars."

Indeed, 2002 could well be remembered as the year of the European car wars. Byrne is working with the competition commissioner, Mario Monti, on plans to end the so-called block exemption on cars when it comes up for renewal in September.

The exemption from common-market provisions has preserved the exclusive car-dealership system and its monopoly on car sales, service and distribution, which consumer groups say accounts for 30 per cent of the price of a new car. "We are looking at ways to remove the block exemption that consumers will get access to cars from wherever, to drive prices down," says Byrne. But the commission will have a fight on its hands. The German government, under pressure from its car lobby, including DaimlerChrysler and BMW, has already criticised the move.

Byrne could have another fight on his hands this month, in Malaga, when health ministers meet to discuss last year's European Court ruling on cross-border care. The European Court of Justice ruled that patients are entitled to treatment in another EU country, at the expense of their own health authority, if they face undue delays at home. The ruling struck fear into finance ministers around Europe, who are worried that cross-border care will put an undue strain on their budgets.

Byrne has the delicate task of balancing the worries of euro- zone governments with the entitlements of citizens on medical waiting lists. He knows cross-border care is a crucial way of making the EU matter to its citizens. "People's number-one issue in relation to their relationship with the European Union is health, and they expect to look to the EU in this area," he says.

Improved food safety, cheaper euro-zone bank transfers and car wars: it doesn't look as if Byrne's golf clubs will see the light of day this year, either - not that he's complaining.

"I want people to think: 'Hey, these EU guys are doing something for me.' "