SOUTH WEST FIRST
LETTER FROM STRASBOURG
SNOWBOUND
It
was just as well I didn’t have to be in Strasbourg for meetings at 4
pm, 5 pm, 6 pm or 7 pm because I was unavoidably detained sitting
stationary snowbound in a reputedly 15 km long traffic jam on a German
motorway. And I thought it
was just the UK that grinds to a halt at the first hint of snow!
PLAYING
CATCH-UP
AND LOST However, my Tuesday list of meetings certainly made up for
it, starting with a catch-up on emails and a preparatory meeting with
our UK Delegation (of
Conservative MEPs) accountant to discuss the draft budget for 2003.
At 9.30, I am off to find the room where there is a meeting of
the Research Committee Working Group on monitoring implementation of the
6th Framework Programme of European Research.
I fail and curse the French architect, along with the
Parliament’s management, for a room number 640 which is nowhere to be
found on the sixth floor.
SME
COMPETITIVENESS Next
meeting is easier because it is the new Director General for Competition
in the European Commission who comes to my office.
We discuss SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) policy, the
so-called competitiveness agenda and the piece of legislation for which
I am Rapporteur called the Measuring Instruments Directive.
CENTRE-RIGHT
OMBUDSMAN? At
noon we have votes culminating in the first round secret ballot for the
next European Ombudsman. My
UK colleague, Roy Perry from the South East Region, had succeeded in
being elected as the EPP-ED (European People’s Party-European
Democrats) candidate for the post and we had hopes that we would get him
elected as someone from the centre right and with strong, relevant
parliamentary experience (the outgoing Ombudsman was neither of these),
but it turned out that we were up against the Liberals and the Greens in
particular who were determined not to elect an MEP in the post.
More particularly the UK Lib Dems could not overcome their
political prejudice to bring themselves to support a British candidate.
So much for the nice peoples’ party as was.
GREEKS
RULE, OK? In
the final vote, a run off between Roy and the current Greek National
Ombudsman, Mr Nikiforos Diamandouros won by 294 to 215 with 26 blank or
spoiled (ie abstentions) votes. Perhaps
I should add that we have just begun the Greek Presidency of the Council
and the outgoing Ombudsman is Finnish, so you might be forgiven for
perceiving an element of buggins turn influencing the vote for a
southern country candidate.
MAKE
WAY FOR THE PRESIDENT After
that I have to attend the lunchtime meeting of the Bureau (or management
committee) of the UK Delegation where a fair chunk of time is taken up
discussing the budget. I have to leave early to take the Chair at the meeting of EPP-ED
members of the Industry, Trade, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE)
which normally runs from 2.30 to 3.45 pm.
However, the President of the Parliament, Pat Cox, had asked for
all other meetings to be suspended between 3 and 4 pm to encourage a
good presence in plenary for the Greek Presidency setting out their
stall for the year, so we had a shorter meeting than usual.
BETTER
THINGS TO DO I
cannot say whether there was a good turn out for the Greek Prime
Minister, Mr Simitis, because I used the time to better effect dealing
with various other matters. I noticed that the EPP-ED Italian delegation took advantage
of our vacating the room early to nip in and hold their meeting so they
missed their Mediterranean neighbours too!
CAUSE
FOR CELEBRATION? At
4 pm we have our UK Delegation full meeting and that is followed by
various bi-lateral meetings (that is a rather grandiose description for
having a cup of coffee with a colleague to discuss some specific matter)
until the special Reception given by Pat Cox to mark the 30th
Anniversary of UK, Ireland and Denmark joining the then EEC.
The main feature was film of the events and personalities of
thirty years ago. The Irish
have good reason to want to celebrate the Anniversary.
THEIR
NATURAL HOME Talking
of accession to the EU brings me to the people of Gibraltar who have
been denied representation in the European Parliament by a combination
of Spanish intransigence and Foreign Office pusillanimity.
Now, finally, reluctantly the UK must give Gibraltar the vote and
link it with a region in England and Wales.
I think the South West is the most obvious host region because we
are the closest geographically; we
have strong historical and cultural links, especially through a shared
naval and military tradition; we
have similarity of economic activity, especially with tourism, maritime
and defence-related industries; we
share a common sense of peripherality particularly in the Isles of
Scilly; and I believe that Gibraltarians who view themselves as a
national entity would feel more comfortable linked to a region
containing another community that also regards itself as a national
entity, namely Cornwall.
COULD
YOU WRITE IN SUPPORT OF GIBRALTAR?
If anyone agrees with this proposition,
how about writing a letter to your local paper to argue the case;
and you could write to the Electoral Commission,Trevelyan House,
Great Peter Street, London SW1P 2HW,
who are responsible for making a recommendation to the
Government. I think the
Gibraltarians deserve better than being linked with London or Wales
which is where I suspect the Labour Government and the Lib Dems would
like to lose them
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