This presentation was given to an audience of UK civil servants and business people on 17th November 2009, in Brussels. I was a guest speaker on the Industry & Parliament Trust\'s European Study Programme for Industry.

1. Demystifying the EU
“From Theory to Practice”
Bill Blakemore for the
Industry and Parliament Trust
17 November 2009

2. Brussels and the EU
• Why come here?
• What can you achieve?
• How can you achieve it?
17 November 2009

3. About Bill Blakemore
• Involved with EU for 9 years
• 4 years – BT Government
– eForum FP5 project
– EU funding in ICT
– EU procurements
• 5 years – independent consultant
– EU ‘expert’: rapporteur, evaluator of
proposals & projects
– Bidder then Project manager:
Eurosparks
– Influencer: cross-border transport
legislation
17 November 2009

4. My induction to Brussels
The EU - a legislation machine
17 November 2009

5. Co-Decision
Process:
18 months +
17 November 2009

6. 17 November 2009

7. The SPARKS story
17 November 2009

8. It started with London parking tickets
17 November 2009

9. A growing problem of
unfairness...
Daily Mail, Monday 16th July 2007
17 November 2009

10. London has a problem with
foreign vehicles
Dutch Vehicle:
BG-SL-3*
46 PCN’s for
Congestion Charge
avoidance
German Vehicle
B CC 654* French Vehicle :
549 QAJ 7*
49 PCN’s from not
paying Congestion 112 PCN’s for
charge over 6 months
7 On-street
Congestion
contraventions Charge avoidance
in 6 months
(out of maximum
17 November 2009 possible 120 days)

11. Not just parking and congestion
• Wide use of civil
enforcement
• Imminent
introduction of
the Low Emission
Zone in London
• London 2012
• Other road
charging schemes
17 November 2009

12. • 3m+ foreign registered vehicles
enter the UK each year
The scale of
• 142,000 foreign registered
vehicles in the UK at any point
the UK
• In London foreign registered problem
vehicles represent 3% of all
traffic
• In SE & major cities FRV’s are up
to 2% of traffic
• Cars make up 87% of the foreign
registered vehicle stock
• HGV’s make up 9% of the
foreign registered vehicle stock
• 1 coach in 15 is an FRV (1300 at
any one time on UK roads
17 November 2009
12

13. Most FRV’s do comply with rules, but:
UK FRV ‘Behaviour’
• FRV’s twice as likely to fail to pay
congestion charge.
• Hard core of frequent offenders
abuse parking and bus lane rules
• 11% of the FRV’s (15,000
vehicles) remain in UK beyond
the 6 months deadline for DVLA
re-registration.
• FRVs are 30% more likely to be
involved in an accident than a UK
registered vehicle
• 60% of HGV’s that fail VOSA
roadside test for mechanical
faults are FRVs
• FRVs are more likely to be caught
on camera speeding
17 November 2009

14. Speeding FRVs in North Wales
• 3,536 vehicles - number of foreign registered
vehicles recorded speeding on camera in North
Wales constabulary region in 2007/08
• If North Wales experience is mirrored across
UK: 84,000 FRV speeding offences are not
prosecuted each year
17 November 2009 14

15. FRVs not just a UK problem
• Applies to all enforcement where
the driver is not stopped.
• Camera enforcement rendered
ineffective
• Eg: the Bruges experience:
– 24,000 parking tickets
– 4,800 from FRV’s
– 60% of those are French
– No payment
• Dublin motorway ring road
• Low emission zones across
Europe
17 November 2009

16. To enable the
The SPARKS Objective
enforcement of
traffic regulations
to be equally
effective
against all vehicles,
irrespective of
nationality
It’s a question of
fairness.
17 November 2009

17. We bid for EU funding to do a legal
study:
“ What is the treaty basis for EU to
fix the problem?”
17 November 2009

18. The European
Commission began
to get active too
they had a
consultation....
17 November 2009

19. ... then they proposed a directive
• Legal mechanism for access to registration data held by
foreign authorities
• Network infrastructure to provide connectivity
• Standardised notification of penalties to individuals
• Scope limited to road safety offences
• Enforcement through other EU legislation
17 November 2009

20. Good and bad
• New obligations to share data
• New infrastructure to automate it
• But not addressing the scope we wanted
• And only “half a directive” – where was the
other bit?
17 November 2009

21. How can you point the EU in the
direction you want to go?
17 November 2009

22. Can you get others to work with you ?
17 November 2009

23. Our challenge: get MEP’s on side to
change the text
17 November 2009

24. And influence the Governments to
support the legislation
17 November 2009

25. Where are we now?
HALF TIME
• But the break is nearly over
• New proposal is being developed
• Lisbon Treaty has changed things
• New campaign to run next year
17 November 2009

26. Lessons for you
17 November 2009

27. Know what you want to achieve
here
• You have to be patient and determined
• You have to have money and influence
17 November 2009

28. 17 November 2009

29. 17 November 2009

30. 17 November 2009

31. 17 November 2009

32. Is there EU money to contribute to
help you achieve your aims?
• Research?
• Key policy initiatives?
17 November 2009

33. FP7 (Seventh Framework Programme)
2007-2013
• €53.2 billion over 7 years - 3% of GDP by 2010 on
research
• Cooperation programme “fosters collaborative research
across Europe and other partner countries, according to
themes are: health; food, agriculture and fisheries, and
biotechnology; information and communications
technologies; nanosciences, nanotechnologies,
materials and new production technologies; energy;
environment (including climate change); transport
(including aeronautics); socio-economic sciences and
the humanities; space and security”.
17 November 2009

34. 17 November 2009

35. Solidarity and Management of Migration
Flows Programme (€4Bn over 7 years)
• European Refugee
Fund: €699m
• External Borders Fund:
€1,820m
• European Fund for the
Integration of Third-
country nationals:
€835m
• Return Fund: €676m
• http://bit.ly/4fRqPj
17 November 2009

36. Be prepared for the long haul
17 November 2009

37. Bill Blakemore
bill@sparksnet.org
Tel. +44 118 9313616
www.sparksnet.org
17 November 2009