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Strasbourg Round-Up Feb 07

Titley calls for a carbon neutral parliament

 Gary Titley has fired off a letter to the newly elected President of the European Parliament, urging him to make energy, climate change and migration his top priorities. Hans Gert Pöttering was elected overwhelmingly by MEPs last month in Strasbourg.  He will serve a two and a half year term of office until the next European Elections in 2009. 

Writing in his capacity as Labour’s Leader in Europe, Gary told President Pöttering that the parliament would need to change the way it worked, if it was to “rapidly develop coherent responses to the challenges of a globalised world”. Referring specifically to the issue of climate change, Gary wants the parliament to closely examine all its activities with a view to making itself carbon neutral. 

“Increasingly we will find it more difficult to demand higher standards in this field unless we put our own house in order,” he warned. “A commitment to making the parliament carbon neutral would I think bring great prestige to your Presidency”, he added. 

 CIA rendition flights.

 A long awaited report by a special committee, set up to investigate alleged CIA rendition flights, was unveiled in the parliament this month.  The report said that the CIA operated more than 1,245 flights in EU airspace over a four year period and noted that secret detention centres may have been located in American military bases. It claimed that some of these flights were used for the "illegal transportation of detainees" - commonly known as "extraordinary rendition."
 
Denouncing extraordinary rendition “as an illegal instrument used by the United States in the fight against terrorism,” the report went on to condemn the “acceptance and concealing of the practice, on several occasions, by the secret services and governmental authorities of certain European countries”. Labour members were part of the large majority of MEPs that voted in favour of the report.

 Speaking later, Gary said: "Allegations of people being grabbed off the street and then flown half-way around the world are very serious indeed. I am glad to say that the committee found no smoking gun in this report and no case to answer as far as the British government is concerned. Instead, we have a collection of circumstantial evidence that, while harrowing, should not be used to create false claims and conspiracies."

 EU Spring Summit

 Each spring, EU heads of government meet to discuss progress on the Lisbon strategy - an ambitious plan to generate economic growth and create more jobs across Europe. Ahead of the meeting next month, MEPs passed a resolution highlighting the areas they believe governments must improve on.  These include key issues like balancing labour market flexibility with employment security, a greater emphasis on education and training and faster progress towards a common EU energy policy. 

Addressing the parliament, Gary said:  "This spring’s Council has got to show that the European Union can produce concrete results for its citizens. If we fail to deliver action at this summit, it is going to undermine all the plans of the German Presidency."
 

Also on the EU leaders’ summit agenda will be climate change – an issue that was the subject of another resolution by MEPs this month, in response to the European Commission's recently announced energy and climate package. The resolution, backed by Labour MEPs, called for a limit in the rise of global temperatures to 2°C above pre-industrialisation levels and for industrialised countries to reduce emissions by 30% by 2020, compared with 1990 levels.

 EU to launch missing children helpline

 It was announced this month in Strasbourg that EU is to set up a single hotline for parents to report missing children. Calls to the new phone number - 116000 - will be free of charge. The service is expected to be launched in time for the summer holidays.

Many of the EU's member states already have their own missing children hotlines, but this will be the first cross-border service of its type. According to a European children's organisation, at least 120,000 children in the EU live outside their home country without direct parental supervision.

Welcoming the initiative, Gary said: "It is credit to the EU that so many young people have the opportunity to move freely across Europe, be it to study or simply visit friends and relatives. However, we need to make sure they are safe when they do this. Hopefully these plans will tackle every parent's worst nightmare and help set minds at ease."

 And finally,

 Ex-chat show host turned MEP, Robert Kilroy-Silk, finally proved that he has lost the plot this month by accusing high street favourite, Marks and Spencer, of dirty tricks. In a written question to the European Commission, Kilroy-Silk called for M&S changing room mirrors to be withdrawn after his wife and daughter claimed that they were misleading. He said the mirrors are conning women into believing that they look thinner than they really are. M&S immediately denied the allegation, insisting that its mirrors were "bog-standard''.

Gary Titley MEP

February 2007