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Strasbourg Round-Up

The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, was in Strasbourg this month to address the European Parliament in his capacity as President of the European Council. He used the occasion to set out his plans for the meeting of EU leaders at Hampton Court that was due to take place the following day.

The Prime Minister told MEPs that it was necessary to get Europe moving again - and moving in the right direction. With 20 million currently unemployed in the EU - half of whom have been out of work for over a year - the Prime Minister said that joint European action to get people into work would form a key element in a plan to face up to the economic challenges from China and India.

Speaking after the Prime Minister's speech, Gary Titley said: "Europe can't keep asking Tony Blair to perform miracles. Governments have to put their money where their mouths are by pulling their weight and starting to implement the agreements they've signed up to. Only then will our economies get moving again."

The European Parliament was told that, within hours of the Asian earthquake early in October, the European Commission had pledged over €3 million to provide emergency relief to the victims of the disaster. This was soon followed by a further allocation of €10 million. In addition, the Commission was already making plans for medium and longer term assistance, involving the reconstruction and rehabilitation of homes, roads and other crucial infrastructure.

"This tragedy is the latest in a series of natural disasters this year,” said Gary. “Once again it is the very poorest that have been hit the hardest. With thousands dead and many more homeless and vulnerable to extreme weather and the spread of disease, these people desperately need our help. Labour MEPs are also giving their support to calls for a future international fund to respond speedily to disasters like the Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the Asian earthquake.”

MEPs gave the green light to measures to reduce gases with a high global warming potential that are used in car air conditioning systems. These gases, explained Gary, are thousands of times more environmentally lethal than carbon dioxide. The plan is to phase them out in new cars from 2011 and in all vehicles by 2017.

Welcoming the move, Gary said: "Hurricane Wilma is the third hurricane we have seen in the past few weeks - and the destruction is down to global warming. Scientists estimate that some fluorinated gases can remain in the atmosphere for up to 50,000 years. That’s why we need to act before it’s too late. These measures will help us to meet our Kyoto targets.”

One of the major topics on the Strasbourg agenda this month was the EU’s budget for 2006. Labour MEPs backed calls for a greater focus on research and education and an increase in money for the structural funds to assist Europe’s poorest regions. They also want to see tobacco growing subsidies scrapped. Gary said: “It is important that we concentrate on jobs and training. By increasing the amount of money available for education, skills and research, we can help people help themselves into more and better quality jobs."

The UK Independence Party has never been slow to criticise the so called 'EU gravy train'. Just recently, its East of England MEP, Tom Wise, denounced the EU as "a hideous waste of money". But now Wise is at the centre of yet another UKIP controversy, following shock revelations in the Sunday Telegraph.

The paper alledged that Wise had been collecting £36,000 in parliamentary allowances to pay his researcher and then pocketing all but the £6,000 that he actually paid her in wages. Wise denied any personal profit from the money, claiming in true Father Ted style that he was merely "looking after it." This sorry excuse does not explain, though, why he was so quick to hand the money back, once the accusations came to light.

Earlier this month, Gary welcomed a group of Quakers from Westmoreland to the European Parliament in Brussels. He hosted a reception to mark the launch of a book entitled "Preparing for Peace" - an analysis of the usefulness of war in today's world. The event was a thorough success, with people queuing out of the door to grab a copy of the new book.

Talking of Brussels, the European Parliament building there was decorated in pink to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Day, shortly before MEPs left for the October Strasbourg session. The aim was to make people aware that this dreadful disease doesn’t have to be fatal. About 90 per cent of all breast cancer patients might be cured if diagnosed and treated early.

Gary got a painful reminder this month why he has long campaigned to end the European Parliament's monthly trek down to Strasbourg. A journey which should have taken a few hours, turned into a full day, as anything that could go wrong did go wrong. Gary's usual early morning flight to Basel was cancelled, only to be rescheduled to Zurich from where Gary was supposed to complete his journey by rail. But the flight arrived late, leaving Gary to make a frantic dash for the train, only for it to pull away in front of his eyes as he reached the platform.

After waiting patiently for hours for the next one, a barely audible public address system blurted out that the train had been cancelled. Still determined to reach his destination, Gary eventually made the 200km journey on a rickety local train, calling at every alpine village along the way. Finally, late on Monday night, our intrepid traveller pulled into Strasbourg battered and bruised, ready to face a gruelling week in the Chamber.