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Strasbourg Round-Up Sep 06

Labour comes home to the North West

The second European Parliament Strasbourg plenary session in September coincided with Labour’s Annual Conference in Manchester – the first time the party had held the conference in the city for 90 years. More recently, Manchester has undergone dramatic changes – in no small way thanks to EU funding and the city’s Labour council working in partnership with the Labour government.

Manchester impressed, both delegates and Ministers alike. In fact the only ones who left Manchester disappointed were the pundits expecting a week of infighting and backbiting! Before Gary Titley flew off to Strasbourg, he addressed the conference, reporting back on Labour’s work in Europe. He also chaired two important conference debates.

“Everywhere you have been this week, you will have seen evidence of the benefits that Europe has brought to this city,” Gary told the gathering. “European money has helped transform Manchester and this region. The opportunities provided by the European Single Market have re-invigorated this city and turned it once again into a power-house of the British economy.”

Urgent call for action in Darfur

Labour MEPs backed a European Parliament resolution in Strasbourg, urging the Sudanese government to allow a UN peacekeeping force into Darfur. The move came amid mounting international concern about the situation in Sudan, where Arab militia have stepped up attacks on the black minorities and forced them out of their homes.

An estimated 450,000 people have already been killed, 3 million displaced and 90% of black African villages destroyed, while access for humanitarian aid is minimal. The mandate for the current African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur expires at the end of the year but the Sudanese government has repeatedly refused to accept a UN force in its place.

After the Parliament passed the resolution, Gary sent a letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair on behalf of Labour MEPs, urging the government to take swift action over Darfur. Gary wrote: “Only twelve years ago the world witnessed the terrible genocide in Rwanda and promised it would never happen again. We have to act very, very soon if we are going to keep that promise.”

Romania and Bulgaria get the go-ahead for EU membership

Romania and Bulgaria will become official members of the EU on 1 January 2007, the European Commission announced this month. Both countries were given the green light after they had made progress fighting corruption and recognising minority rights. But the Commission warned the new entrants that they should not take anything for granted and if the reform process faltered, they could expect hefty penalties.

Gary, a widely acknowledged expert on EU enlargement, welcomed the decision. “These two countries are a far cry from the run-down communist states of old,” he said. “Romania and Bulgaria were once bywords for Ceaucescu excess and malnourished orphans. Now Britons are buying holiday homes there. Allowing them in to the EU is more good news for Britain”.

Romania and Bulgaria’s entry will boost EU membership to 27. Over recent years, trade with these two countries has more than doubled, securing thousands of jobs right across the UK and here in the North West.

One million signatures to end Strasbourg ‘travelling circus’

MEPs have moved a step closer to abandoning their “travelling circus” to Strasbourg. The monthly trek, long regarded as a waste of time and money, can only be scrapped if all EU member governments unanimously agree. In a move to put pressure on EU leaders, an online petition was set up earlier this year to scrap the Strasbourg gatherings, The www.oneseat.eu campaign has now collected one million signatures, which were handed over to the Finish Presidency this month.

Gary said: “This shows that it is not only MEPs but ordinary people who are fed up with this chronic waste of time and money. EU leaders cannot ignore one million people. I have said so many times before that the money we spend travelling to and from Strasbourg could be put to far better use.”

Tories show their true colours

Infighting was evident amongst Tory MEPs again this month. Hard-line eurosceptics split the Tory group in the European Parliament by joining forces with UKIP and voting against a report by one of their own MEPs. Christopher Beazley, an EU enthusiast, suffered the humiliating rejection of his report by his own eurosceptic colleagues. For them, Beazley committed the cardinal ‘sin’ in the report of recommending that Europe is part of the school curriculum.

Commenting on Tory disarray, Gary said: “The Tories are all over the place. They are split down the middle on Europe and David Cameron knows it. His MEPs are stabbing each other in the back left, right and centre. Powerful voices in their party are hell-bent on taking Britain out of Europe and leaving us dumped on the sidelines alongside a motley collection of xenophobes, isolationists and other odd-balls.

This, though, is but the latest in the ongoing saga of Tory disunity on Europe. David Cameron recently frustrated several Tory MEPs by reinstating the Tory Whip to Roger Helmer MEP. He is a staunch eurosceptic, who was thrown out of the party last year for publicly humiliating the Tory Leader in the European Parliament. In another sign of infighting, Tory MEPs have refused to back their colleague Nirj Deva as a candidate to succeed Kofi Anan as UN Secretary General.

And Finally....

North West LibDem MEP Chris Davies had his attempt to meet up with vice girls ruined this month at his party’s conference. Davies was reported to have told his assistant to invite women from the English Collective of Prostitutes to a fringe event as part of his campaign to legalise brothels. Davies said: “I was deadly serious. Unfortunately my assistant thought I was joking and the invites never got sent. Instead I shall be demanding the legalisation of cannabis.”

Gary Titley MEP
September 2006