The President of the European Commission Jose Barroso (below, right) today addressed MEPs in Strasbourg in his inaugural ‘State of the Union’ address on the Commission’s vision for the future of the European Union.

While no Obama in terms of oratory skills, I have heard worse speeches than the one he delivered today. A high point was the re-statement of the Commission’s commitment to continuing work on developing the Single Market, including the creation of a single EU patent and reducing red-tape for SMEs looking to conduct business cross-border in the EU. This is critical. The Single Market is surely the EU’s greatest tangible achievement, and the Commission is right to target it as a crucial area where the EU can really add value to the lives of European citizens.

I also liked the proposal of a ‘European Vacancy Monitor’ to show EU citizens where job opportunities exist for them beyond their home market. Lack of job mobility has been a key hindrance in developing the Single Market. This could be a good step in helping to address that.

I did not like however the President’s words on the sustainability or otherwise of national budgets. Mr Barroso has clearly come along way from his early leftish political leanings. He now claims that “debt and deficit lead to boom and bust”. My fear is that in following the mantra of rightwing governments across Europe the President is now committing the Commission to a similar mindset. This is despite the very strong arguments – which I support – that the recovery is not yet secure and that cuts, if they are necessary, should be well targeted and gradually introduced, rather than ’slash and burn’. The previous Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer believed that the UK could only afford to cut its deficit by half over four years without damaging economic prospects.

The Commission does not have direct power over national budgets, but it will still influence how European finance ministers adopt the various proposals around economic governance under consideration. It is of concern that Mr Barroso has joined the apostles of austerity – Osborne, Merkel et al – just when the Commission should be devising strategies for growth in Europe.

Last week the European Parliament reached agreement with national governments and the European Commission on the creation of a new European supervisory architecture for financial services.

I was one of the five MEPs on the Parliament’s negotating team (see photo, right, of trialogue negotiations), my chief responsibility being for the creation of the new European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority. It was a hard slog. In the end we had around 25 trialogues, which is the technical term for the negotiations. I believe that must be quite near a record!

The reason why the negotiations were so ardeous was that the legislation is so important and far-reaching. The purpose is to prevent another breakdown of communications between national supervisory authorities, as occurred between the UK, Iceland and the Netherlands over Icesave, or between the Belgian and Dutch authorities over Fortis.

I won’t go into all the details on the powers of the new authorities here,  interested readers can find out more at – http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/infopress_page/042-80951-245-09-36-907-20100902IPR80950-02-09-2010-2010-false/default_en.htm

Suffice to say that all parties came out of the negotiations fairly happy with the outcome. The powers of the new supervisory authorities are concorrent with the roles bestowed upon them. National governments retain ultimate responsibility, as should be the case given that they are the ones responsible to tax-payers for bail-outs. However, the new bodies have enough teeth to help overcome some of the problems witnessed during the last crisis. I am very pleased with the result.

The last fortnight has seen the European Parliament’s ECON committee, on which I sit, vote on two very important and high profile pieces of legislation to reform Europe’s financial services industry.

Last week MEPs voted in favour of ambitious reforms of the supervisory framework under which cross-border banks, insurers and fund managers operate in Europe. This included a vote on the establishment of a European insurance and pensions authority (known as EIOPA), for which I am the Parliament’s lead negotiator.

Members of ECON voted to give significant powers and responsibilities to EIOPA, more than I had recommended on the basis of my experience of the insurance industry. Nonetheless I support the Parliament’s ambition to ensure that real change to how we regulate financial services occurs following the financial crisis, and I am now in negotiations with representatives of national governments and the European Commission arguing this point.

Earlier this week MEPs voted on the highly controversial AIFM Directive to regulate hedge funds and private equity. All parties involved agreed that these important parts of the financial system need regulation. However, the poor drafting of the initial proposal and subsequent efforts from some quarters to impose additional measures restricting access to non-European funds or investors led to wide spread criticism of the legislation, particularly from the UK, which is home to the vast majority of such ‘alternative’ funds.

Despite my support for many aspects of the legislation, I was one such critic, particularly of the third country restrictions. I think these restrictions not only amount to a form of protectionism by Europe, but will also reduce investment options for our pension funds, which is ultimately negative for European citizens. As a result I voted in favour of a number of alternative amendments that better reflected my view, and abstained overall on support for the legislation.

As with the supervisory legislation mentioned above, negotiations on the AIFM Directive will now start between Parliament, national governments and the European Commission with the aim of beginning the introduction of the legislation in 2011.

I have added my name to that of thousands of people from across the UK and Europe who have called for an end to the suffering caused by the long-distance transportation of horses to slaughter.

Every year around 100,000 horses are transported the length and breadth of the continent. These horses can travel for days in cramped conditions, often without proper rest, food or water.

I signed a European Parliament Written Declaration calling for the European Commission and Member States to scrutinise a dossier of evidence on horse transportation with regards to the rules on animal transport laid down in EU rules.

This Written Declaration, which is a chance for MEPs to voice their views on a particular matter of concern, follows on from a petition collected by the charity World Horse Welfare, which seeks to ensure fair protection for horses worldwide.

It is my hope that this Written Declaration will go some way towards ending the suffering of horses in the EU and improving animal welfare more generally.