Peter Jackson column

Nov 18 2004 By Peter Jackson, The Journal

Scarcely a month goes by now without Chancellor Gordon Brown having a pop at the European Union.

This week, armed with a Treasury-commissioned report, he has accused EU countries of discriminating against UK companies in favour of their own firms.

And we are not talking small potatoes here - according to the report, the market UK firms are being excluded from is worth £1,000bn.

The European Commission's initial answer was a dusty one, declaring rather huffily that it was a pity it hadn't been given sight of the report before Mr Brown went public with it.

This is surprising, because, only in January of last year, the Commissioner for the Single Market Frits Bolkestein was pointing to similar problems.

He claimed the internal market had "transformed Europe beyond recognition", but, he said he hadn't got the powers to force cheating governments to stick to the rules.

The Treasury's report singles out France, along with Spain.

Certainly, I know of one major North-East company which was denied a major French contract on the grounds that its annual report was not published in French.

If this was a situation the Commission admitted in January 2003, then surely it is only reasonable for Gordon Brown to raise it again.

However, maybe there's more to this than meets the eye.

As I indicated, Gordon Brown has form when it comes to mounting attacks against the EU.

In June, he was vowing to preserve the Government's red lines on tax and the economy, attacking tax harmonisation plans as "fatally flawed" and saying the EU must face the need for economic reforms.

In September, he said the EU must sort out its problems with economic growth, urging "a sense of urgency" in tackling economic reform. A day later, he was at it again, insisting the UK's rebate on its contributions to the EU budget must be retained and having a swipe at a proposed budget increase of 30pc, labelling it "unacceptable".

Then, last week, the Chancellor's old enemy, Peter Mandelson, now European Commissioner for Trade, entered the fray with a speech widely seen as an attack on Gordon Brown. Mr Mandelson condemned "exaggerated gloating" about the state of the British economy. Many suspect the exaggerated gloater he has in mind is none other than Gordon Brown.

These are serious issues, of critical importance to British business.

Let us hope British business interests do not suffer in the working out of a decade-old political feud.