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A Tale of two visits
This is to be a tale of two visits. The first was to the Airbus and
Astrium plants in Toulouse at the end of the group week before the last
Strasbourg session. Airbus is one of the two major world aircraft
manufacturers while Astrium makes satellites for all sorts of earth
observation applications. Both companies have significant UK operations,
not least Airbus at Filton, Bristol where my son works for them.
Dizzy heights Nauseous lows
The bad news, for me, was being attacked by a stomach bug from
something I ate in Brussels. Dizziness and nausea make it difficult to
concentrate, especially when it lasts for days. So, if I am looking a
little pale in the photo (click
here for photo) with Neil Parish, my south west colleague,
outside the mock-up of the forthcoming A380 you know the reason. Which
is also the reason why I was tie-less, not because I was trying to do a
Cameron!
Sneak preview
We were asked not to take any photos inside the mock-ups for fear of
leaking design and layout details but I can say it all looks pretty
impressive. Airbus is a big European success story having started from
scratch some decades ago to match Boeing in sales and it seems a pity
British Aerospace has decided to sell its 20% stake (so as to be able to
buy defence suppliers in the USA it would seem).
Commissioners contingent
Sandwiched between visits was Strasbourg week which seemed mostly
about Commissioners coming to give an account of themselves to my
Industry, Research and Energy Committee. Four Commissioners, for
Information and Communications Technology (Mrs Reding); for Industry,
Space, SMEs and Enterprise (Mr Verheugen); Research (Mr Potocnic);
Energy (Mr Piebalgs), report to us on a regular basis while two others,
Mr Barrot (Transport) and Mrs Kroes (Competition), are responsible to us
for part of their portfolio.
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West/East Interface
The second visit was actually a Conference held at the end of
Strasbourg week in Riga, Latvia. This was a Parliamentary Conference on
Energy co-operation in the Baltic Region. I was there as President (or
Chairman) of the European Energy Forum (www.f-e-e.org)
which was organising the event. The Baltic region is at the interface
between Europe and Russia and Latvia is right in the middle of it.
Latvia is also where energy Commissioner Piebalgs hails from so he had
good reasons for attending and making the keynote speech.
European Energy Forum
The Forum usually runs dinner debates in Brussels and Strasbourg
aimed at bringing MEPs, the industry and Commission officials together
to discuss the full spectrum of energy issues. We also organise visits
to power stations and other energy facilities so as to better inform
ourselves. This conference was a much bigger affair as we invited
regional parliamentarians and members of the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe who were holding committee meetings in Riga at the
same time. I met Conservative MP Nigel Evans and former MEPs (click
here for photo) with Baroness Hooper {CON} and Gordon Adam
{LAB}).
The Chamber of the Saiema
We were allowed to hold the conference in the Chamber of the Saiema
or Parliament of Latvia. (Click
here for photo of me opening proceedings with Madame Speaker
Udre sitting behind.) We had about 120 attending including
Parliamentarians from Russia, Finland, Norway, Poland, Portugal,
Germany, Spain, Romania as well as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Another high spot was a very frank address by Gregorz Wosniak the Polish
Minister of Economy (click
here for photo). |
Cameron and the EPP-ED
I daresay most people who receive this newsletter
are aware of the EPP-ED (European Peoples Party – European Democrats)
issue. That is to say the pledge given by David Cameron during his
leadership campaign to take Conservative MEPs out the day after he
won.
Problematic pledge
He won’t be the last politician to make a promise that seemed easy
at the time but turned out to be very problematic. Had he been able
to consult us, we might have been able to brief him on how things work
in the European Parliament, why we have this alliance in the
centre-right and how difficult it would be to create this alternative
group he desires.
Inconsistent
It seems bizarre that in the midst of his deliberate
re-positioning of the Conservative Party towards the centre ground
away from the splits and disunity caused by rightwing extremism, over
the European issue in particular, that he should be trying to push us
out to the extreme right wing. He has even reversed the policy of re-patriation
of fisheries policy in recognition that it has to be reformed within a
European context.
Keeping our commitment
Along with all other MEPs and PPCs at the last European Elections,
I gave a written commitment to honour the terms of our allied
membership of the EPP-ED for the lifetime of the Parliament until
2009. We gave that commitment in our manifesto. Does Mr Cameron
really want Conservatives to break their word? If he wants change in
Europe, and don’t we all, let him do it the Conservative way, from
within.
Be brave Dave
There is a big opportunity for new leadership in the centre right
there for the asking. Be brave Dave, it takes a big man to recognise
reality and admit he was wrong.
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