Sarah's bulletin: 19 March 2010

Published on Fri 19th Mar 2010

Dear friends,

A big welcome to Edward McMillan-Scott!

You probably already heard the great news that the long-standing and distinguished member of the European Parliament Edward McMillan-Scott has joined the Liberal Democrats, bringing our delegation to 12 MEPs.

Edward was ejected from the Conservatives when he opposed the move to leave the mainstream centre-right EPP for an obscure band of extremists and then defied the new group's whip by running for - and winning - a vice-presidency of the European Parliament. He is very well-respected in the Parliament and was for a long time the Tories' most senior MEP. As his colleague on the Foreign Affairs, Human Rights and Civil Liberties committees I can vouch for his consistently strong record on human rights and democracy issues, which makes me especially pleased to welcome him to the Lib Dem delegation. He is a moderate pro-European politician who objected on principle to David Cameron's alliance with politicians who have anti-semitic, homophobic and racist backgrounds. In an Observer article last Sunday he spelled out his reasons for joining the Lib Dems, and describes how he wishes he had left the Tory party years ago when Hague was leader. We Lib Dems, a party of fairness, internationalism and integrity are pleased to have him on board!

And Nikki Sinclaire expelled from UKIP...

And while we are on the general topic of MEPs being expelled from right-wing parties, Nikki Sinclaire MEP was earlier this month expelled from UKIP after she refused to be part of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy group in the European Parliament that UKIP belongs to. This is another small and extremist group and she said her views were incompatible with those of some EFD members who espouse "anti-Semitism, violence and ... a single European policy on immigration". Seems that the Tories are not the only ones having issues with their bedfellows!

European Parliament Friends of Turkey

Last week in Strasbourg I attended the constituent meeting of the informal "European Parliament Friends of Turkey" group in the new EP. The group serves as a platform for MEPs to establish good working relationships between Turkey and the EU, with most (if not all) of us hoping for Turkey to join the EU, but all of us hoping to be supportive as 'critical friends' of Turkey's reforms (like a political solution to the Kurdish question, on which I am active) and European orientation.

The English-language Turkish daily newspaper Today's Zaman covered the new group - you can read the article for yourselves here.

The European Parliament "One Seat" campaign

I have co-signed a letter led by my Dutch ALDE colleague Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert which has been sent to Herman Van Rompuy and French president Nicolas Sarkozy arguing that the monthly trip to Strasbourg is a complete waste of money, environmentally unfriendly and a sore issue for voters. How we are ever supposed to convince citizens of the value of the European Parliament or indeed the European Union when we are forced to engage in this silly travelling circus is beyond me, and like the dozens of other MEPs who signed the letter I am mightily fed up with it and the way it depresses our efficiency and increases pollution.

Genetically modified potatoes contd.

I wrote earlier about how the Commission had approved a GMO potato for use in the paper industry and animal feed, and how I was against due to the way that these multinational biotech corporations enslave poor farmers in the developing world. Barroso has been seriously criticised for having so-called "steam rollered" the decision through the new Commission, but defended himself in plenary last week by saying that each member state could now decide whether or not they want to permit the cultivation of this potato. We must lobby Whitehall and Westminster hard to ensure that this potato is kept out of the UK!

Endangered species

EU and US proposals to ban trade in bluefin tuna were rejected yesterday at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) meeting in Doha, Qatar. It took the EU months of wrangling to agree to support a ban - apparently the Commission was originally only lukewarm - and MEP pressure may well have been decisive in firming up the EU position. But Japanese determination to carry on killing endangered fish and like on whaling its inducements to small countries to back it, has won the day on this occasion, although the fight must go on.

On polar bears, the US also took a lead to ban an international trade in slaughtered bears. Canada, which still allows 300 polar bears a year to be hunted for international trade and trophy hunting despite signs of population pressures, strongly opposed the US-led measure. The Times claims that the continuation of the ban on ivory sales is also set to fail partly due to lack of EU support, which is very disappointing since the European Commission replied to my parliamentary question that the EU was "unlikely" to support the resumption of trade in ivory products that Tanzania and Zambia want. Since even limited official trade causes a spike in demand and huge potential profits such as to incentivise illegal and ruthless elephant slaughters, this is very discouraging. The EU does not seem to have played either a united or a leading conservation role

Nissan's electric car and the need for standardised charging points

Nissan announced yesterday that it is going to start manufacturing the Leaf, the world's first mass-produced battery-powered electric car, here in the UK - great news for the North East and for Britain's much-needed 'green' industry. In addition in the next couple weeks there will be discussions in the European Parliament about the need for a common European standard for electric car charging points - and indeed I would say we need to go further and say we need a common international standard. How great it would be if central London was dotted with charging points, and silent, clean and green vehicles whirred around the capital, emitting nothing but water as opposed to the filthy pollution that is currently filling our lungs... now that would be a fine day indeed!

Lithuanian 'Section 28' style anti-gay law hits the statute book

Lithuania has now passed their law 'on the protection of minors against the detrimental effects of public information'. The original draft among other things forbade homosexual and bisexual 'propaganda' aimed at under-18s. This final version is at least less offensive than earlier drafts, and pressure from the European Parliament played a part. MEPs - except for the Tories, with their new homosexual-friendly image slipping due to their homophobic friends - strongly condemned these measures, and our efforts in Brussels and Strasbourg can make a difference, even if a modest one.

Northern line weekend closures

As you may have heard, the dreaded Northern line (my own, living near Angel) is set for huge upgrade works over the next two years. This includes a new signalling system that will allow trains to travel through faster and closer together - and hopefully avoid those endless announcements 'there are severe delays on the Northern line via Bank due to an earlier signal failure at ***insert whichever station it is this time***'. However, the way London Underground has planned to do it means that there will be countless early evening and no less than 82 weekend closures! I am supporting Caroline Pidgeon's campaign to try and convince TfL to close smaller sections of the line for shorter, more intensive periods. It has been shown that in general passengers prefer non-stop closure for 2-4 weeks rather than constant evening and weekend closures over 2 years, as with the latter you just never know what's going to be open when. Election time is a bad one for weekend closures when we all want to be out campaigning!

Thanks to LibDem pressure Commission to look into closing cheque loophole

Thanks to pressure from my colleague Sharon Bowles, Commissioner for the Internal Market Michel Barnier has promised to look into the different options for closing down the 'cheque loophole'. This is essentially a practice where cheques that are made out to a business can be cashed into an individual's account if that individual simply signs the back of the cheque - a practice banned in Britain but still permitted in other countries. This has led to Britons being defrauded of hundreds of thousands of pounds, and I am glad to hear that action may soon be taken to put an end to it.

Best regards,

Sarah Ludford