Europe Day! May 9: A Marriage of Reason but not of the Heart

As the European Union writes on its website:

On the 9th of May 1950, Robert Schuman presented his proposal on the creation of an organised Europe, indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations.

This proposal, known as the "Schuman declaration", is considered to be the beginning of the creation of what is now the European Union.

Today, the 9th of May has become a European symbol (Europe Day) which, along with the flag, the anthem, the motto and the single currency (the euro), identifies the political entity of the European Union. Europe Day is the occasion for activities and festivities that bring Europe closer to its citizens and peoples of the Union closer to one another.

Raf Casert of the AP points out, however, that:

"In EU, Europe Day stands for little: integration may make life easier, but no celebration.... [the EU] has always been a marriage of reason, rarely the heart."

Today is Europe Day

Leigh Phillips at the EUObserver notes that Europe Day celebrated amid growing criticism of ECB, but points out that:

"On 9 May 1950, one of the two main founders of the EU, Robert Schuman, presented his proposal for an organised Europe, known as the "Schuman declaration" - considered to be the birth of the European project."

The fact is, outside of a few, even in Europe, nobody knows that today is Europe Day.

EU European Union Cookie Law Comes into Effect on May 26, 2011: Compliance and Consent

Pinsent Masons LLP at OUT-LAW News writes about compliance and consent as regards the new EU cookie law which goes into effect on May 26, 2011.

The UK has New Supreme Court Justices Appointed including the First Appointment Directly From the Bar

Image linked from BBC News

Are you up-to-date on The Supreme Court and the United Kingdom's legal system?

Did you know that Her Majesty The Queen signed a warranty granting "Courtesy titles for Justices of the Supreme Court" of the United Kingdom so that all Justices are addressed in a similar manner as "Lord" or "Lady"? The non-peerage title is good for life and the spouse of a "Lord" is also to be called "Lady".

There is a changing of the guard in process at the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. Just last month Sir John Dyson, now Lord Dyson, was sworn in as the UK's 12th Justice to fill a post vacant since the Court started its work in October, 2009. Afua Hirsch has the story and we link to a photograph of the current Court via Akira Suemori of the AP at the Guardian.co.uk website (the Supreme Court website has the same photo):





Is Dyson (back left) that tall or did they just put the other tall guys on the chairs? Check out the article.

This month, as reported in the Guardian by Owen Bowcott, two new Supreme court judges have been appointed to replace retiring Lord Saville and imminently retiring Lord Collins, Lawrence Antony Collins, Baron Collins of Mapesbury, PC, who in his younger days received an LL.M from Columbia Law School in New York.

One appointee is Lord Justice Wilson of the Court of Appeal for England and Wales and the other is Sir Jonathan Sumption OBE QC, soon to be a non-peerage "Lord", "the cleverest man in Britain, with “a brain the size of the planet” and fees to match", a lawyer whose salary of £206,857 at the Supreme Court will be considerably less than the £1 million plus he reportedly earns annually in representing the likes of Russian self-made billionaire Roman Abramovich, now owner, among other things, of the Chelsea football club.

The appointment of Sumption is being touted as bit of a sensation in the UK as it is the first time a barrister has ever been appointed directly from the Bar to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, although other judicial appointments from the Bar have been made in the past.

EU Directive on Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Goes into Full Force on May 1, 2011: Alternative Medicines to be Sold Must Be Registered for Safety and Efficacy

After a seven-year transition period which started in 2004, alternative, herbal, Ayurvedic, Chinese, African, etc. medicines must be registered in the European Union for safety and efficacy as of May 1, 2011, or they may not be sold as "medicines".

The EU Directive on Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products does not prohibit the sale of traditional herbs or plants but they can not be sold as "medicines" without registration, which requires proof of safety and efficacy.

The EUROPA Press Release of April 29, 2011 by the European Union provides as follows:

"Traditional herbal medicines: more safety for products put on EU market

From tomorrow, EU citizens can be reassured that the traditional herbal medicines they buy in the EU are safe and effective. The expiry of the 7 year transition period set out in the 2004 Herbal Directive (2004/24/EC) means that only medicinal products which have been registered or authorised can remain on the EU market after 1 May 2011. The Herbal Directive introduces a simpler registration procedure than for other medicinal products, in respect of the long history of use of traditional herbal medicinal products. At the same time, the Directive provides the necessary guarantees of their quality, safety and efficacy.

John Dalli, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, said, "We have now reached the end of a long transition period which has given producers and importers of traditional herbal medicinal products the necessary time to show that their products have an acceptable level of safety and efficacy. Patients can now be confident about the traditional herbal medicinal products they buy in the EU."

Simplified procedure

In order to protect public health, all medicinal products, including traditional herbal medicinal products, need a marketing authorisation to be placed on the EU market. The simplified procedure introduced by the Herbal Directive allows these products to be registered without the safety tests and clinical trials that a full marketing authorisation procedure would involve.

Instead, an applicant who wishes to register a traditional herbal medicinal product must provide documentation showing that the product in question is not harmful in the specified conditions of use. They must also provide evidence that the product has a proven track record, ie. that it has been used safely for at least 30 years – 15 of these in the EU.

Seven years to register

The Herbal Directive was adopted by the European Parliament and the Council on 31 March 2004. It gave an exceptionally long transition period of 7 years for manufacturers to register their traditional herbal products already on the EU market when the Directive entered into force.

Applicants have had 7 years to apply to the competent authority in the Member States(s) where they wanted to market their product. If, by 30 April 2011, a herbal medicinal product is not registered or authorised, then it may not be on the EU market after 1 May 2011. After this date, producers of traditional herbal medicines can still apply for a registration through the simplified registration procedure.

The Herbals Directive:

• Does not ban traditional medicines from the European market. On the contrary, it introduces a lighter, simpler and less costly registration procedure than for other medicinal products. Plus it has given producers of traditional herbal medicinal products an exceptionally long transition period of 7 years to register their products.
• Does not ban vitamins, mineral supplements and herbal teas.
• Does not ban alternative therapies and therapists, homeopathy, plants or books on plants.

Background

Some plants contain substances that may be used to treat diseases. Medicinal products that are made from these substances are known as "Herbal Medicinal Products". Even though they are natural, a number of these products may be harmful to health. Therefore, these products are covered by pharmaceutical legislation, which aims to protect public health by ensuring the safety, efficacy and quality of medicinal products.

"Traditional" herbal medicinal products are a sub group of herbal medicinal products that have been in use for at least 30 years, including at least 15 years in the EU, and that are intended to be used without the supervision of a medical practitioner and are not administered by injection. This category is not limited to European traditional herbal medicinal products; it can also include Chinese and Ayurdevic medicinal products.

The Herbals Directive updated the 2001 Directive on the Community code for medicinal products for human use (Directive 2001/83/EC) by introducing a simplified procedure specifically for traditional herbal medicinal products.

Link to MEMO/11/71

Further information:

http://ec.europa.eu/health/human-use/herbal-medicines/index_en.htm

"

Hat tip to EUobserver.

The Recession: Profits Not Taxes or Wages in the UK, Germany and the USA Were Stoked by Economic Recovery and Bailouts

Nick Pearce of the influential Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) in Wages, profits and the recovery: cui bono? asks:

"Where has the lion's share of the recovery gone in different countries: real wages or profits? This is a question asked by the Economist this week, off the back of a very interesting briefing note from BCA Research."

The results are clear. Profits in the U.K., Germany and the United States have skyrocketed, as banks and other enterprises stuff their pockets with bailout cash and similar benefits, while taxes are reduced and wages even more so, in comparison, increasing the already gigantic gap between the haves and have nots.

The average wage-earner and citizen is being ripped off royally while a small minority are laughing all the way to the bank.

As the old saying goes, fools and their money are easily parted.

Hat tip to the Alex Harrowell at the blog, A Fistful of Euros.

Germany and Austria Open Labor Markets on May 1 to EU Member States in the East Who Joined in 2004: Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Hungary, Slovenia

As reported by Markus Dettmer and Jan Puhl at the Spiegel Online, the seven-year moratorium on full integration of citizens of the EU Member States added in 2004 by the European Union ends on May 1, 2011. Actually, this applies to 8 of 10 added in 2004: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, of which Cyprus and Malta of course are not in Eastern Europe and were exempted from the moratorium.

For the last seven years, citizens of those EU states could not legally reside or work in Germany or Austria, because Germany wanted the moratorium to protect its own workers in a then down-turned economy.

The booming economy in Germany in particular has changed the market for labor dramatically since that time and Germany now, for example, is looking for new sources of labor, as reported in the Spiegel.

Much of the available skilled labor and many of the best IT experts and programmers from those EU Member States have been absorbed in the interim by countries such as Britain, Ireland, Sweden and the Netherlands, so that no one expects a major exodus to Germany and Austria on the 1st of May, "May Day", (which fittingly, is a national holiday in Germany and Austria, indeed, Labor Day, a day traditionally reserved to hold demonstrations on behalf of worker's rights and among much of the citizenry a day on which to take a long walk in nature, or to raise a Maypole (German Maibaum) on village squares throughout the land as a symbol of the returning Spring. It is a day for feasting and celebration.)

Obviously, some specialists in other Western EU Member States will be able to accept better compensation packages in Germany and Austria, but the cost of living is also higher, so that an increase in salary does not necessarily mean an improvement in the quality of life or in purchasing power. Moreover, things in the Member States in the East have also improved in those seven years so that many skilled workers now have no great incentive to leave their own EU Member State just to work elsewhere in the European Union. Western EU industry has come to them in those seven years, rather than vice versa.

As the Spiegel writes:

""This hesitant attitude, based on fears of a possible negative effect on the German labor market, now turns out to have been a huge mistake," says Klaus Zimmermann, the head of the Bonn-based Institute for the Study of Labor. At a trade conference in Warsaw this week, Zimmermann said German companies shouldn't wait for the people of Poland, the Czech Republic and the Baltic states to turn up, but should actively recruit them while there's still time."