Cameron selling off yet more British capability - and the reason is? Yup, got it in one!

The story broke this past week that Prince William had lobbied David Cameron with a view to his (Cameron's) thinking again about the 'sell-off' of the RAF Search & Rescue service, which no doubt has its origins in this story from the BBC. One aspect of the BBC report I do find slightly illogical, but then as it involves something a politician (Mike Penning - Shipping Minister) said, maybe not.

"Our seas are becoming busier, with larger ships and increasing numbers of offshore renewable energy platforms making key areas of our seas more congested......There are also increasing numbers of people using our beaches, coastlines and seas for leisure activities......The lack of national co-ordination between the centres can result in limited resilience and an uneven distribution of the workload, especially during busy periods."

If seas are becoming busier and increasing numbers of offshore renewable energy platforms (which politicians put there in the first place!) coupled with increasing numbers of people using beaches, coastlines and seas for leisure activities, one would have thought that more coastguard stations were needed - not less!

Ah, but the telling phrase is that of the last sentence: "The lack of national co-ordination between the centres.....". Had Penning just been speaking about the UK, the word "national" would not have needed to have been used - would it? The addition of the word "national" leads one to believe that there is inter-government involvement.........?

Sure enough - enter the European Union and the European Maritime & Safety Agency (EMSA)! The homepage of their website is here, a potted history and level of activity is here and the current situation and EMSA's 'make-up' is here.

As we all recall, transport is a shared competence with the European Union (Article 4(g) TFEU) of which maritime activity is but a part. The fact that EMSA has been created means that at some time in the future our nation's coastguard will become subservient to EMSA - one only has to read the EMSA documents to which I link to appreciate that simple fact.

A study to assess the feasibility of setting up a European Union coastguard may have been shelved, but that will not stop the project eventually progressing:

"....the issue is by no means dead in Brussels. Gesine Meissner, the MEP in charge of co-ordinating the parliament’s position on maritime policy, repeated the call for the creation of an EU coastguard at a debate hosted by Italy’s permanent representation to the EU earlier this month. The commission has confirmed that it is working on a second feasibility study, though this too is behind schedule. While definitions of what constitutes a coastguard vary from country to country, there is common agreement that any such EU body would be built upon the European Maritime Safety Agency...."

"there is common agreement that any such EU body would be built upon the European Maritime Safety Agency" - so our government have already conceded the right of this nation to manage its own coastguard agency! Therefore it follows that, in their bid to cut costs, our government are implementing what they believe will be acceptable within the 'embryo' EU plan. 

Hence one can now understand the inclusion of the word "national" in Penning's statement!

And they say politicians are not devious?


Afterthought: Do go and sign this petition - for what it is worth.................