HOW TO GET OLDER BUT WISER
Is it sensible for healthy people to completely retire at fifty-five or earlier, only to spend the last thirty years or so of their lives economically inactive? That’s one of the questions being asked in a major debate across Europe about retirement and pensions. The population in Scotland and across Europe is shrinking but the older sector is getting larger and staying healthier for longer. As a result we are being warned that there could be a serious decline in living standards because fewer people will be earning and paying tax or national health contributions. This is not necessarily a doomsday scenario. Staying healthier and living longer is a great gift. But we need a way of making sure our economic circumstances are also healthy. The European Union proposes that there must be a faster pace of debt reduction such as mortgages (as high levels of debt are not compatible with a falling gross domestic product). They also believe there should be more employment opportunities for women and older people and pensions and health care systems need to be more flexible to meet changing lifestyles.

PETS ON THE MOVE
Pet owners will soon be able to travel more easily with their animals throughout the EU. Vaccination and testing 3 months before travel will normally be required for entry, although pets from countries where rabies is under control will only have to be vaccinated. Scotland and the rest of the UK along with Sweden and Ireland will have stricter controls, requiring a test 6 months after vaccination, and will keep the quarantine system for pets coming from countries where rabies is still endemic. Electronic microchips are to be introduced as well as an EU passport for animals to make identification easier. Good news for millions of EU citizens who until now have faced serious problems when travelling with their pets from one country to another.

GREY DAY FOR SALMON
Farmed salmon are about to lose their traditional pink colour under new EU food safety laws – unless a new, harmless additive can be substituted for an existing pigment . The European Commission is concerned that the chemical being fed to farmed salmon to give them a more attractive colour may have adverse effects on people’s eyesight. Wild salmon is naturally pink due to its consumption of large amounts of shrimp but the majority of salmon sold in Scotland comes from specialist farms where the fish are fed on cheaper alternatives. Consequently, farmed salmon in its natural state has a lustreless grey colour which most farmers enhance with a chemical pigment called cantharaxanthin. The Commission have now slashed by a third the amount of the chemical that can be used because experiments have shown that if large amounts of the fish are consumed, elements of the pigment accumulate in the retina and can impair vision. Farmers are naturally concerned that sales will plummet as their salmon will look less attractive but there are other additives that can be used to produce the same colour without the risk. However, producers will have to move fast as the new directive will be introduced into UK law by the end of the year.

BRITS ARE RELUCTANT EUROPEANS
Britain's role as the reluctant European is reinforced by a European Commission survey which shows 65% of Britons feel no affinity for the European Union. The proportion putting national identity before European is the highest in the EU - but the 24% of Britons who feel ``very or fairly attached'' to the EU is not the lowest, they are pipped by the Finns. The sight of the European flag - 12 gold stars on a blue background - stirs few British souls. When shown the flag, 73% said they had seen it before but only 56% knew it had any link to the EU. Despite the low general levels of knowledge about the EU, however, Britons managed to beat the Dutch in a simple EU-related quiz, coming fourteenth out of fifteen!

John Purvis is a member of the Committee on Industry, External Trade Research and Energy and Vice Chairman of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. He can be contacted by e-mail at jpurvis@europarl.eu.int or visit his website on www.scottishtorymeps.org.uk.