Giles Chichester

Giles Chichester (born 29 July 1946, London) an English politician and has been an MEP for the Conservative and Unionist Party since 1994. He is a member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), the Temporary Committee on Climate Change, and the Delegation for Relations with Australia and New Zealand, as well as a substitute member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection and the Delegation for Relations with the United States.

Having studied Geography, he worked in publishing in management positions. He is the director of Guildford Timber Co. Ltd, New Zealand, since 1975, and the director of Silverstream Forests Ltd, New Zealand, since 1986. He is also the chairman of the industry lobby organisation, European Energy Forum (EEF) since 2004.

Background

Giles Chichester is also a long-term nuclear supporter and was both chair of the European Parliament’s powerful Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) from 2004 to 2007 and has been the president of the industry lobby organisation, European Energy Forum (EEF) since 2004.

Chichester recently resigned as Chairman of the Conservative Party in Brussels after breaking the rules on MEP’s expenses. While the scandal led to him being chided for a lack of judgment, he is now coming under increasing scrutiny for his links to commercial interests. As President of the EEF, Chichester receives no money, but he heads an organisation labeled “the submarine of the energy industry,” whereby “discussions which start at the EEF usually end up at the Parliament”.

EEF refers to itself as a “neutral” forum. This is impossible to verify as its discussions are only open to members – Pascale Verheust, EEF’s Director of Coordination, describes it as a “closed club”. It is funded by its membership and, according to an informed source, annual revenue is over one million euros. However, EEF refuses to disclose its exact budgets and it has not filed any accounts. According to the Legal Service of the Commercial Court of Brussels, the Association Europeenne de l'Energie (EEF’s legal name), is a foreign (French) association that is legally obliged to submit accounts since 2006.

EEF’s members include over a dozen companies or associations with nuclear interests. So Chichester was Chair of a pro-nuclear lobby group at the same time as being Chair of ITRE, the Parliament’s industry committee, which has responsibility for key nuclear issues including nuclear safety, decommissioning and nuclear waste disposal.

Register of Interests

Chairman, European Energy Forum, Forum concerning energy related subjects

Conflicts of Interest

Chichester is still President of EEF and, while no longer Chair in 2008, he is still a member of the ITRE Committee. Within the Committee, he has been personally responsible for four important Committee reports since 1999. This includes the significant Green Paper on ‘Security of Supply of Energy in Europe’. He was also Rapporteur for the ‘Directive on Security of Supply of Electricity and Infrastructure Investment’, adopted by Parliament in mid 2005.

There is also evidence that MEPs involved in EEF have tabled amendments for parliamentary reports that are very similar to each other in content. For example, in 2006, a report was written for Parliament’s Industry Committee on the European Commission’s Green Paper for a ‘European Strategy for Sustainable, Competitive and Secure Energy’. Two members of the Committee, Chichester, President of EEF and Edit Herczog, a Socialist MEP and EEF board member, tabled over 20 identical amendments for the report even though they notionally come from different ends of the political spectrum.

Asked by Brussels corporate watchdog group, Corporate Europe Observatory, if any of these amendments were written by the European Atomic Forum (FORATOM), Chichester’s assistant replied that the MEP did not feel obliged to respond but said “this is how the system works.”

When asked if he felt there was any conflict of interest between being an MEP and his activities either as President of the European Energy Forum, or from accepting hospitality and gifts from the nuclear and energy industries, Chichester replied: “My answer is no in both cases.”

Nuclear Hospitality

As well as being Chair of the pro-nuclear lobby group, the European Energy Forum, Chichester’s other potential conflict comes from the hospitality he has accepted over the years from the following nuclear and energy companies: RWE, Areva, Paks Nuclear Power Company, Enel, the Slovenian energy utilities, Statoil, Euroheat and Power, Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique, Eurelectric, the Czech Energy Utility company, Total Fina Elf, Verbundnetz Gas, Swedish Power Association and Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company, Canister Nuclear Laboratory, International Association of Oil and Gas Producers, TVO, FORATOM, and the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant in Bulgaria.

While many of Chichester’s free trips are to nuclear power plants, in May 2007, he was Areva’s guest at the America’s Cup yacht race off Valencia.

Resources

• Chichester, Giles, Register of Members’ Interests, 2007, accessed 10 November 2008.
• Chichester, Giles, Register of Members’ Interests, 2008, accessed 10 November 2008.
• Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, Draft Report (PE 378.549v01-00) Eluned Morgan, European strategy for sustainable, competitive and secure energy - Green paper (2006/2113(INI), Amendments, 19 October 2006, accessed 10 November 2008.
• Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, Draft Report (PE 378.549v01-00) Eluned Morgan, European strategy for sustainable, competitive and secure energy - Green paper (2006/2113(INI), Amendments, 19 October 2006, accessed 10 November 2008.
• Conservatives Abroad Autumn Conference 2007, 12-13 October 2007, accessed 10 November 2008.
• Corporate Europe Observatory, Nuclear Power Grab? Corporate Lobbyists and MEPs Working in Tandem to Spin Nuclear Energy as Sustainable, December 2006, accessed 10 November 2008.
• European Parliament website - MEP Directory: Giles Chichester, accessed 10 November 2008.
• European Parliament website, Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, accessed 10 November 2008.
• Rowell, Andy, Too Close for Comfort? Spinwatch, July 2008, accessed 10 November 2008.