Malcolm Harbour

Malcolm Harbour (born 19 February 1947, Woking, Surrey) has been a British MEP from Conservative and Unionist Party since 1999. He is the coordinator for the centre-right MEPs on the Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, a member of the Delegation for Relations with Japan, as well as a substitute member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy.

He studied Engineering and Management, and worked in the fields of design, development, product planning, sales and marketing.

Background

Before becoming an MEP, Harbour had a long career in the motor industry, starting as an Austin Engineering Apprentice in 1967, co-founding a consulting and research company, Harbour Wade Brown in 1989, and the International Car Distribution Programme (ICDP) in the early nineties.

On Harbour’s website it says: “His companies have carried out business research and consultancy for all the major European, US and Japanese car makers, governments, dealers and suppliers. In a 1997 survey by a leading car magazine, he was listed among the 200 most influential people in the world car industry.” After becoming an MEP in 1999, he remained an advisor to ICDP and was a Director until 2005. Corporate members of ICDP include the European Automobile Manufacturer’s Association (ACEA) – the main car lobby organisation in Brussels – as well as some of the most active car companies involved in lobbying the EU on policy such as BMW; Daimler, Fiat, Ford, Renault and VW.

Harbour has been one of the key MEPs in recent years to have helped frame the debate on fuel efficiency and climate change in favour of the motor industry. Pressure has been growing on car manufacturers to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from cars to mitigate climate change. The industry’s response since 1991 has been to advocate an alternative ‘integrated approach’ to emissions reductions, which critics say is an attempt to shift the responsibility away from the industry and onto others, such as drivers, town planners and governments.

Register of Interests

• Founder Partner (1989-1999), Harbour Wade Brown International, Warwick - Automotive Research & Consulting Company
• Founder and director (1993- ), International Car Distribution Programme Ltd, Solihull - Car Distribution Company
• Project director (1998-1999), Three Day Car Programme, Solihull, Bath, Cardiff - Program examining the total automotive supply chain

Conflicts of Interest

Harbour has advocated the industry’s preferred ‘integrated approach’ through two organisations: the ‘high level stakeholder group’ CARS 21 (Competitive Automotive Regulatory System for the 21st Century), and the Forum for the Automobile and Society, a joint Parliamentary / industry organisation of which Harbour is a founder and co-Chairman.

CARS 21 was set up in 2005 by EU Enterprise and Industry Commissioner Gunter Verheugen, and the then President of the car industry’s main lobby group in Brussels, the ACEA, Bernd Pischetsrieder, “to boost the competitiveness of the European car industry”.

In December 2004, internal Commission documents show that Pischetrieder wrote to Commissioner Verheugen that an “integrated approach [to CO2 emissions reduction] would substantially increase the cost-efficiency and the effectiveness of measures by distributing the burden more evenly.”

CARS 21 subsequently proposed an integrated approach to CO2 reduction in its final report in 2006. The report has since been used by the automotive industry and its supporters as a quasiofficial reference point in the debate on fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions from cars. This is interesting given that CARS 21 was set up to look at competitiveness. For example, Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne, then chair of ACEA, said in 2007: “It is essential that the recommendations of the high-level group CARS 21… are respected,” and “To approach CO2 emissions reduction just with automobiles is against the spirit of CARS 21.”

Harbour also argues that CARS 21 “will provide the context for subsequent detailed legislation”. In September 2007, he produced an Opinion Report for the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, which called on the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the recommendations of CARS 21, including an “integrated legislative approach”.

The joint Parliamentary / industry group, the Forum for the Automobile and Society, of which Harbour is co-Chairman, has also been a strong advocate of the ‘integrated approach’ to CO2 reductions in cars, and has promoted positions identical to the car lobby. In November 2007, the Forum organised one of many seminars on the integrated approach. It was co-chaired by Harbour. At the meeting, the Director General in Europe of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, Hiroki Oti, urged all the stakeholders at the meeting to come forward to “advance” the integrated approach concept.

Harbour denies that the Forum for the Automobile and Society is a lobbying group. He also says: “CARS 21 was not an industry-led body at all.” He adds: “The European Parliament is a different animal to many other parliaments in that we are dealing with highly technical issues and all I plead guilty to is that I do know something about the industry.”

Harbour in the Car Club

Malcolm Harbour is a leading pro-car voice in the European Parliament. However, he has denied being a “lobbyist for the car industry”, arguing: “I do not support the industry stance automatically.” Through his interest and involvement in the automotive industry, Harbour has been loaned numerous cars and accepted free trips from car companies.

In 2004, Harbour and his wife were guests of Jaguar at the British Grand Prix. He was also loaned a Jaguar S-Type for “appraisal” for a week. In the same year, Harbour also accepted on loan a Rover, two Ford Focuses, a Peugeot 406, a BMW, a Land-Rover Discovery and a Toyota Prius. He attended the British Grand Prix in 2005 as a guest of Michelin, and the Belgian Grand Prix with Toyota. He also enjoyed cross-country driving instruction courtesy of Land Rover, and a visit to a car design centre followed by a trip to the Frankfurt Motor show, courtesy of General Motors.

In 2006, Harbour drove a loaned Range Rover, a Toyota, two Alpha Romeo’s and a Ford. Harbour and his wife were also guests of Toyota at the British Grand Prix. In 2007, Ford, Fiat and Honda all loaned him cars and he enjoyed the British and Belgian Grand Prix courtesy of Toyota, and the Lichfield Festival, concert and dinner courtesy of BMW. In January 2008, at the same time as he handed back the keys of a loaned Land Rover Freelander, Harbour was quoted as saying he was working on a compromise solution on CO2 that “does not damage the auto industry”.

Harbour argues that he drives cars “because I need to know what is going on. I do it deliberately. I declare it because I feel I have nothing to hide. I am not even required to declare it under the rules, but I believe it is appropriate to do so.”

Resources

• CARS 21, EU car industry: Commission announces initiatives to boost competitiveness, 13 January 2005, accessed 10 November 2008.
• European Commission, CARS 21 - A Competitive Automotive Regulatory System for the 21st century, 2006, accessed 10 November 2008.
• European Parliament website - MEP Directory: Malcolm Harbour, accessed 10 November 2008.
• Forum for the Automobile and Society website, accessed 10 November 2008.
• Rowell, Andy, Too Close for Comfort?, Spinwatch, July 2008.
• Tory MEPs website, West Midlands Conservative MEP Team: Malcolm Harbour, accessed 10 November 2008.