That Was The Week That Was 15-19 May 2023
The Basketballification of the European Project
Have you noticed how like a game of basketball the European law-making process has become? In basketball, the score is inevitably level with two minutes to play. They should make it a two-minute sprint, which in effect it is, and then you could go to a game and still have time to catch a movie or go to dinner.
What, you may ask, has this to do with the European legislative process? Once upon a time, the process moved with the grace and dignity of a cricket match – a real cricket match, not a limited overs one. There was a rhythm to it. Each side had a couple of goes to make changes. Time was not the enemy. We stopped for lunch and for tea. It was very civilised.
Recently, this has been upset. We are now seeing the big member states, and their influential lobby groups, wait until the absolute last minute – the Very Last Minute – to try to styme the process. A few months ago, we saw the German car industry cut up rough with the Fit for 55 sustainable fuel regulation. The car industry refused to support the initiative to phase out all internal combustion engines. Germany came along with the car industry like a caravan down the Autobahn. It insisted that e-fuels also be mandated as an alternative fuel source, more than likely driving up the cost of e-fuels for the aviation industry, as demand for it rises.
This week, it was France’s turn to wait until the very last minute to aim for a big three-pointer. It has delayed the Refuel EU legislation. This includes the framework for SAFs. This time, the argument is about whether to include nuclear power as a clean fuel. The French nuclear industry must have put a reactor against the government’s head. France is arguing for it to be included, but Germany is against the proposal. Well, it would be, wouldn’t it, having closed their nuclear reactors after the Fukushima disaster. The Airlines four Europe came out with a strongly worded statement noting that the fundamental block for investment in something new like SAFs is stability of policy making. Which is exactly what we are not seeing here.
A stand-off like this is, sadly, not new for European aviation. For many years – since the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, frankly – Britain and Spain have argued over the status of Gibraltar’s airport, given that it is not in the town or castle, nor is it in the port, which is what was ceded by Spain. To get back to cricket for a moment, this complication was long known – for more than three hundred years – so it was factored into the calculations and often meant that the outcome of a legislative process was a draw. Reign stopped play, if you like. A draw is very cricket. Instead, at the moment, we are watching that mad, last two minute, scramble. Please.
But there might be a glimmer of an idea there. If we are going to get into these big state stoushes about something like nuclear power, why not put all the nuclear reactors on Gibraltar? We know how to handle that.