tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411161795798360588.post8177547677830804426..comments2024-03-02T10:38:04.108+00:00Comments on Borthlas: Jobs based on a different future, pleaseJohn Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07447224248021209852noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411161795798360588.post-33193854526590474142012-06-26T11:53:30.936+01:002012-06-26T11:53:30.936+01:00"State ownership of resources is also questio...<i>"State ownership of resources is also questionable under EU law isn't it?"</i><br /><br />I cannot quote chapter and verse here, but it isn't quite as simple as that. The EU certainly does not mandate that 'resources' cannot be state-owned - if it did, the the Crown Estate could no longer exist, for instance. So passing ownership of Crown Estate property in Wales to the Welsh people, to be exercised through the National Assembly would not be a problem. (And without having checked it in detail, I suspect that there is a degree of state ownership of resources in most EU countries.)<br /><br />It gets more complex when we talk about ownership of the companies which exploit those resources - and, as I implied in my previous comment, that's where the bulk of any profit would end up. Again, the EU does not ban state ownership of enterprises per se - the railway system in many European countries, for instance, is state-owned. (And state-owned countries can even buy up private companies elsewhere - Arriva Trains, for instance, is now largely owned by the German state through the state-owned railway company).<br /><br />There is an issue about taking private owned companies into state ownership (nationalisation, in effect), but that wasn't a bar to the state taking huge equity stakes in the banks as a result of the financial crisis. EU competition law is a complex area, but it should not present insurmountable obstacles to any Welsh Government which was serious about making sure that Wales benefited from her own natural resources. Where there's a will...<br /><br />I agree with you, though, that the suggestion of simply increasing prices for exported water and energy is over-simplistic.John Dixonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07447224248021209852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411161795798360588.post-44802046247589053752012-06-26T10:01:18.494+01:002012-06-26T10:01:18.494+01:00The mind boggles, it really does.
"If we had...The mind boggles, it really does.<br /><br />"If we had control of our water and energy then we could limit what went across the border. Instantly putting their prices up and ours down"<br /><br />Wouldn't 'they' just reduce their prices to match ours? Isn't that how competition works?<br /><br />State ownership of resources is also questionable under EU law isn't it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411161795798360588.post-82223728666885164412012-06-26T07:59:31.377+01:002012-06-26T07:59:31.377+01:00Whilst I'd certainly agree that we need to hav...Whilst I'd certainly agree that we need to have control over our own natural resources (and control means rather more than just control of the planning regime, which is all that some seem to be asking for), I wouldn't agree with your approach to economics here. The point of having control is surely to close the gap in earnings, not to depend on cheaper labour in Wales, isn't it? And charging more for exported energy and water may well run into a few little difficulties with EU rules...<br /><br />Increasing the gap between costs and prices would certainly increase the profit levels; but Wales, and the people of Wales, would only benefit directly from such an approach if the etnerprises concerned were state-owned, and the profit used to fund state services; it would otherwise simply disappear into the pockets of the business owners.John Dixonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07447224248021209852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411161795798360588.post-60959152627629818162012-06-25T18:35:30.968+01:002012-06-25T18:35:30.968+01:00We need jobs, that is obvious. But we should be in...We need jobs, that is obvious. But we should be in a position where companies are begging us to let them in.<br /><br />If we had control of our water and energy then we could limit what went across the border. Instantly putting their prices up and ours down. Combined with our cheaper labour costs this would make Wales a far more attractive place to do business than England.<br /><br />Labour would never sign up for this and we're still waiting for Plaid to start making it's economic case.Welsh not Britishhttp://www.welshnotbritish.comnoreply@blogger.com