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Listed below are comments made by euroscot between Thursday, 1st October 2009 and Saturday, 21st November 2009.

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• Out to launch 5:07pm on 21 Nov 2009 How might Scotland be affected in this crucial public service? Perhaps not too badly.
  
  More background. The US security advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, wants the alliance's S-G to rewrite Articles 5 and 13 of Nato's charter. At present members have agreed that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all; and consequently a member shall take such action as it deems necessary to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.
  
  ZB thinks the discretion should be removed. In addition he suggests that members should be thrown out of the alliance if they fail to meet their obligations or allow their military to fall below an adequate level.
  
  Euro Defence Spending and NATO
  
  "Over the past decade, the average non-US NATO member defence budget was approximately 1.4% of GDP. This is in direct contravention of a pledge made by NATO defence ministers in 2002 (and repeated again in 2006) to spend a minimum of 2% of GDP per annum on defence."
  
  
• Out to launch 2:02pm on 21 Nov 2009 Choices on defence?
  
  Security, and how best to pay for it, is a work in progress.
  
  The Nato defence alliance is writing a strategic concept for the 21st century, which will undoubtedly influence thinking on the military within Europe. A former security advisor to the US presidency favours a global security web, and suggests that the West's Nato [regional defence alliances are permitted by the UN Charter] should link up eventually with Central Asia's CSTO and the East's Shanghai Cooperation Organisation; however he suggests this web would be outwith the control of the United Nations.
  
  Paying for security? Unfortunately Britain is ceding the opportunity to have significant input to economic decisions in the European Union.
  
• EU opts for Belgian leader 11:59am on 21 Nov 2009 Did Britain pursue the wrong priority? [#36 and #66]
  
  Gordon Brown accused of taking 'wrong' EU job
  
  Despite pressure from the Treasury to seek an economic portfolio in the new European Commission, Mr Brown decided to accept an offer from the Party of European Socialists bloc for a Briton to take the foreign policy job.
  
• EU opts for Belgian leader 8:54pm on 20 Nov 2009 Further to #36. Ireland may be penalised too.
  
  French EU commissioner may get internal market portfolio
  
  France is expecting to get the internal market and financial services portfolio in the next European Commission following its support for a Briton winning the post of EU foreign policy chief. . . The internal market dossier has never been held by a French national but Paris recently made it clear it would like to be in charge of the area following a five-year reign by Ireland's Charlie McCreevy, whose regulatory light-touch and strong belief in the good of free market forces has been source of irritation in the French capital.
  
  Britain, whose City of London is the centre of much international financial activity, has a strong interest in who is in charge of financial services - and had pushed to have it made a separate dossier. [But the deal to remove Baroness Ashton] means that Britain has been taken out of the equation when it comes to handing out portfolios. . .
  
  Germany, which did not put any names forward for the two new top posts, is also looking for a weighty economic portfolio in the commission.
  
• EU opts for Belgian leader 11:00am on 20 Nov 2009 It's instructive that Germany and France weren't interested in holding the two new 'top' posts. Germany is said to prefer holding a leading economic post in the EC, and France wants at least to retain the presidency of the ECB.
  
  Furthermore transferring Baroness Ashton to a post with doubtful authority in Europe's foreign policy certainly removes Britain from a key EU economic post - trade policy; but London's part in the global financial crisis probably caused many to conclude that it has forfeited any right to a role in European economic affairs.
  
• Asset bubble, Chinese toil and American trouble 3:20pm on 19 Nov 2009 The Fraser of Allander report contains a section on the big public spending department, Defence. Defence is said to be the handmaiden of foreign policy - which policy sets the nation's international profile.
  
  It's an interesting time for the world of defence because the UN, NATO and the EU are all thinking of the way ahead. Perhaps the EU will be the most influential. In fact NATO met in Edinburgh on Tuesday to hear the plans of its new secretary-general.
  
  Edinburgh also featured this week in news from the British-Irish council. The BIC includes representatives from the British and Irish governments, the devolved institutions of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the British crown dependencies of the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey. Westminster launched the BIC as part of the Good Friday agreement with a duty to 'exchange information, discuss, consult and use best endeavours to reach agreement on co-operation on matters of mutual interest. Suitable issues for early discussion in the BIC include approaches to EU issues.'
  
  However despite widespread support for basing the BIC's secretariat in Edinburgh, Westminster overruled the choice. Such is EU politics in London?
• Squeezing the gas pipeline 4:09pm on 12 Nov 2009 Scottish and Southern Energy, the country's largest gas supplier, is forecasting price rises for gas consumers over the next couple of years.
  
  Oddly this week's report from the International Energy Agency suggests that prices should drop because the United States will be importing less.
• Renewable euros 11:05am on 06 Oct 2009 "Energy policy is one of the big failures of the European Union in the last fifty years, particularly bearing in mind that we started out as a coal and steel community." This was said by the EU's ambassador to Washington, former Irish PM John Bruton. But he was hopeful of improvement.
  
  The current Taoiseach, Brian Cowan, thinks the British-Irish Council has potential: he particularly welcomed the initiative of Scotland in putting forward energy as a work stream for the grouping. Can Scotland deliver?
  
  
  
• Virgin territory 3:26pm on 05 Oct 2009 From comments on a previous post: Reputational repair for Scottish finance
  
  The G20 thought that the worldwide financial collapse was largely the result of loose regulation.
  Holyrood could surely take the initiative here and investigate what prevents the public's financial watchdogs from barking. Maybe the political process insisted on 'light touch' regulation. The Fraser and Crerar official inquiries certainly hinted at this.
  A thorough inquiry might have wide lessons and help to restore Scotland's reputation in finance.
  
  What's stopping Holyrood?
  
• Virgin territory 9:35pm on 01 Oct 2009 Holyrood's inquiry asked what needs to change in financial services. One response stressed that Scotland is part of the global economy; we should take note of the new regulatory structure being built by the G20 Governments - who have effectively replaced the United Nations in financial matters and become the world's economic council.
  
  Can we influence the decisions of the G20? Not easy, Scotland's politics aren't accustomed to looking outwards. Another response to the inquiry said that many of the policy levers - including agenda setting for international meetings - rest with the UK Government rather than the Scottish anyway.
  
  But to give ourselves half a chance, Holyrood's economy committee should hurry up with its inquiry. Finance ministers and central bankers from the G20 countries are due to meet November 7-8 in Scotland.
  

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