Flash the raccoon is no ordinary animal. He’s one of Scotland’s most-loved ‘therapets’ – an animal whose presence has a therapeutic value, particularly for older folk and children with learning or developmental difficulties. He is owned by Sean Carr and Liana Kontou of Party Animals, a great business in West Lothian that won the 2015 West Lothian’s ‘Favourite Business’ award.


So when the rumour started flying around that Flash was “about to be deported under new EU legislation”, you can imagine how many worried constituents, as well as local MSP Angela Constance and local MP Hannah Bardell, got in touch to ask me to intervene.


This is why we need to talk about the EU. Complex documents writen by folk who only speak European Legalese being filtered through a media that doesn’t have the resources (or in some cases, the inclination) to sort the meat from the gristle is a recipe for disaster.


Now, let’s use Flash as an example of how the EU really works.


The proposed Alien Invasive Species Regulation by the European Commission would have outlined measures to ban certain plants and animals from Europe. We need to protect native biodiversity, so December 2014 saw the European Parliament agree with the Council of Ministers and the European Commission and pass primary legislation on invasive alien species.


The legislation placed a responsibility upon the Commission to submit a draſt implementing act by January 2016 laying down the list of species considered invasive.


But these proposed laws were widely criticised as covering too many, too few, or simply the wrong species, and of not giving enough clarity on the implications for animals.


Ordinarily, legislation can’t pass without the European Parliament voting in favour, but this Regulation would have been adopted via implementing acts. The decisions requiring implementing acts are complex and require expert knowledge that most MEPs simply don’t have, which is why we can’t just throw them out. But we can object to them and make the Commission reconsider if we feel it has exceeded its powers or simply got it wrong.


I hadn’t heard much about therapets 40 February 2016 Young Flash


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