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Dear colleague,

Please find attached the December issue of Strasbourg Round-up which I hope you will find of interest.
Wishing you all the best for the festive season.

With best wishes
Gary Titley
.......................................
Euro Office
16 Spring Lane
Radcliffe
Manchester
M26 2TQ
Tel 0161 724 4008
Fax 0161 724 4009
www.garytitley.com

MEPs digest shock announcement

MEPs arrived in Strasbourg for the final plenary session of the year, still digesting the news that Gary Titley plans to stand down from the Parliament at the next European Elections in June 2009. Explaining his reasons, he told his shocked colleagues that the constant travelling had taken its toll.

Gary also made clear that he could no longer tolerate shifting the Parliament “lock, stock and barrel” to Strasbourg one week a month. “This is not only a colossal waste of time and money, but also seriously undermines the standing and effectiveness of the Parliament,” he explained.

A guarantee for Fundamental Rights in the EU

The European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights was formally signed in Strasbourg this month by the leaders of the European Council, Commission and Parliament. The Charter sets out a range of civil, political, economic and social rights for people living in Europe. It includes the right to join a trade union, the right to start a family and to have personal data protected. It also gives individuals the right to challenge any decision taken by their national government or the European Union.

Speaking on behalf of Labour MEPs after the signing ceremony, Gary said: “The rights listed in the Charter of Fundamental Rights already exist in British law. That is why UK government ministers negotiated a special guarantee to make sure this will not have unintended consequences on our legal system. The Charter will, though, be binding on the European institutions.”

Treaty of Lisbon

Once the Charter of Fundamental Rights had been signed in Strasbourg, the spotlight switched to Lisbon and a gathering of EU Leaders, who were in the Portuguese capital to sign the new Reform Treaty. The ratification process now begins in earnest and all 27 member countries have pledged to get it onto their respective statute books before the 2009 European Elections.

Then EU Leaders headed off to Brussels for a summit meeting, marking the end of the six-month Portuguese EU Presidency. The main items on the agenda were how Europe should face up to globalisation and the challenges of migration.

MEPs rein in EU spending
A big ticket item this month in Strasbourg was the Parliament’s approval of the EU budget for 2008. MEPs have worked hard to ensure that projects at the heart of the EU agenda get the funding they need to succeed. Whilst every member state, including Britain, benefits from those projects, the EU budget only costs member countries less that 1% of their national income.
For the very first time ever, growth and jobs edge out farm subsidies to take the lion’s share of the budget. Exceptionally, extra money was allocated to the Galileo project, which is designed to create a satellite navigation system for the EU. This will give us independence from the America’s Global Positioning System (GPS), though Galileo is designed to work with GPS to improve accuracy. Funding was also granted to EU missions in Kosovo and Palestine to help secure peace deals.

Car spares
The UK long ago ended the regime whereby car spares and body parts can only be manufactured by the big car companies. And now the rest of the EU is set to follow suit, after MEPs passed a new law in Strasbourg this month, allowing small companies to produce parts and panels, provided clearly defined safety standards are met.
Gary helped to steer these measures through Parliament. He said: “Many people on the continent have been in the position where they have had to wait weeks and sometimes months for spare parts to arrive and then find that the costs are astronomical. This law will make it easier and cheaper to get the parts they need to fix their cars. And not before time too.”

MEPs target air pollution

The European Parliament passed a new EU Air Quality Directive this month to specifically tackle the amounts of dust, dirt, soot and smoke in the air we breathe. The new law will reduce pollution by banning the most dangerous particles. The European Commission estimated some years ago that exposure to air-borne pollution was responsible for reducing average life expectancy by as much as nine months. This equates to approximately 3.6 million life years lost or 348,000 premature deaths a year in the European Union.

Peace Plan for the Balkans

There was good news for the troubled Balkan region this month, after EU leaders agreed to speed up partnership talks with Serbia. With Kosovo set to declare independence from Serbia against its wishes in a matter of weeks, a peaceful future for Kosovo is currently the biggest test for EU foreign policy. Preparations are being stepped up for a huge peace keeping mission if Kosovo carries out its threat to break away from Serbia. The plans include sending 1,800 police, judges and prosecutors to help secure stability.

Gary, who helped draft accession agreements for countries that joined the EU in 1995 and 2004, said: “It is shameful to think that less that 10 years ago, ethnic cleansing was taking place in our very own back yard. The EU itself is the world’s biggest peace process. We have a duty to help try and bring peace to the region by offering the ultimate prize of EU membership”.

And Finally…

Just when the UK had managed to shake off its football hooligan image abroad, all the hard work was undone in Strasbourg this month. At the Charter of Fundamental Rights signing ceremony, UKIP MEPs and some Tories - adorned in t-shirts and carrying placards demanding a referendum on the EU Reform Treaty - tried persistently to shout down the speakers with football-like chants, including the Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates. Gary Titley said that the conduct of this “band of right wing little Englanders” made him feel ashamed to be British. “They have done great harm to the image of our country abroad. Human rights should be welcomed, not drowned out by lager lout-type behaviour.”


Gary Titley MEP
December 2007