David Martin, MEP

European Report September 2010

David Martin MEP, September 2010

Parliament condemns French ‘anti-Gypsy policy’ as racist

This month in Strasbourg, the European Parliament issued an ‘extraordinary denunciation’ of France, telling the right wing government of Nicolas Sarkozy that it must stop its expulsion of Roma gipsies.  President Sarkozy, who now sees the French National Front as a major rival, has been accused of stirring up racism.  The resolution, demanding the French ‘immediately suspend’ the expulsions, and expressing ‘deep concern at measures taken by France and other Member States (including Italy) in targeting Roma and travellers’, was passed by 337 votes to 245 in the right dominated European Parliament.  Led by the Socialists this was a significant victory for the left in a Parliament which is controlled by the Conservative European People’s Party (EPP).  Last month French police expelled 977 Roma, mostly to Romania, and demolished 128 camps, according to official French figures.  The Gypsies from Romania are EU citizens and enjoy the right to freedom of movement in the European Union.  The result of the vote was also seen as a fiasco for the centre-right EPP, the strongest grouping in the European Parliament, representing Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats from Germany, Silvio Berlusconi’s deputies from Italy and Sarkozy’s own Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) MEPs.  However, the vote showed many moderate Conservatives were deeply uneasy at the shift to the far right.
The Left in the European Parliament were also deeply unhappy with the appeasing attitude of the European Commission in doing too little too late.  The Parliament’s resolution condemning the moves will put the Commission under renewed pressure to begin legal action against the French authorities for failing to reflect the rule of law in the way it was targeting the Roma as an ethnic group.  The European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso, has only made things worse by reaching an accommodation with Sarkozy stating the issue had become: ‘extremely politicised’. With reference to Jean-Marie-Le Pen’s far-right National Front Party, said that: ‘It’s a mistake to say that freedom of movement must be absolute.  Doing that, you’ll create plenty of Le Pens’.  This again smacks of appeasement.          

UK Tories and their political ‘friends’ abstain on critical vote

The UK Conservative MEP Timothy Kikhope (nicknamed Captain Mainwaring by The Guardian) has become joint chairman of the European Conservative Reformist (ECR) group in the European Parliament.  He will share this joint leadership role with Michal Kaminski the Polish politician who has strange views on wartime fascist massacres.  There was much speculation about the direction this odd couple will lead the group?  They abstained on the vote condemning expulsion of the Roma.  Captain Mainwaring urged the Parliament not to be too hasty in its condemnation.   

Marine Le Pen claims Front National less right-wing than Tea Party

Marine Le Pen, daughter of the notorious far-right Jean-Marie le Pen, and an MEP from the Front National believes that, not only in France but all over Europe, the time is right for a less histrionic, more pragmatic form of populist nationalism. She believes this should be ant-immigrant but ‘not racist’; anti-European Union (EU) but not anti-European; anti-globalisation but not anti-free-market’. Every country is different she says (as a good nationalist) but the rise of Geert Wilders in the Netherlands and Gianfranco in Italy and the middle class populist right in Flanders all point in the same direction.  According to La Figaro, Marine Le Pen ranks right behind Sarkozy as the politician the French trust most to ‘combat insecurity’. Sarkozy stands at 28%, Marine Le Pen 21%, with Socialist Dominique Strauss-Kahn third on 19%

SNP MEP splits with Salmond on Scottish National referendum

Alyn Smith MEP has broken ranks publicly with First Minister Alex Salmond over his decision to shelve plans for an Independence referendum.  Alyn Smith accuses the First Minister of losing his bottle.  He said the First Minister should have been brave enough to give the Referendum Bill a ‘square go’.

Barroso delivers State of European Union address

The President of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, delivered the first annual State of the Union address to the Parliament at the September Plenary in Strasbourg. While Barroso focused on unemployment in the European Union, I was disappointed that he did not properly address the deeper issues that unemployment is causing throughout the Union. We need a serious effort to tackle the poverty and social exclusion which the financial crisis is making worse. The inequalities between rich and poor within the Union is shocking, and it is disappointing that the President did not use this historic occasion to set an ambitious agenda for change in Europe. This was doubly disappointing as 2010 is the official European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. The much needed financial transaction tax which would be a huge help in reducing inequalities was only given a scant reference, and the outrageous recent deportation of the Roma in France was ignored. I hope in the future the State of the Union address will be used to properly address and tackle the concerns of European citizens.  To read more about the State of the Union Address have a look at my new blog at: http://eutribune.wordpress.com/2010/09/08/ under the heading ‘Big Brother Buzek backs down over the State of the Union Address by Barroso’.

Animal testing revision does not go far enough

I was disappointed that a revision of the current animal testing regulations did not go nearly far enough in protecting the rights of animals. While a report adopted at the September Plenary in Parliament will somewhat improve the outdated legislation on scientific experiments on animals, it falls vastly short of the robust legislation needed to protect animals from pain and prolonged suffering. What we need to move towards are clear restrictions on the use of non-human primates, a ban on the use of wild-caught animals, an unequivocal obligation to use non-animal alternative methods when scientifically available and a ban on experiments which involve severe and prolonged suffering.

Floods in Pakistan

An important debate was held on the role of the EU in the aftermath of the floods in Pakistan, during the September Plenary. As the world's largest aid donor the EU has a vital role to play in coordinating aid to the region. Member State governments in Europe must also fulfil their responsibilities and provide high levels of aid for such a devastating disaster. I am pleased that the immediate coordination efforts of the European Commission in responding to the crisis have been timely and effective, and I hope governments continue to match their public statements of sympathy with real aid.

Cariforum Committee

I have been elected Chair of the Cariforum - EC Parliamentary Committee. In 2008 an Economic Partnership Agreement was signed between the European Union and 15 Caribbean island states (collectively referred to as Cariforum). The Committee will monitor a bilateral trade agreement which is designed to promote development in the Caribbean countries which suffer heavily from the effects of climate change and migration. The committee will be made up of MEPs and MPs from national parliaments in the Caribbean states. I am honoured to have been elected Chair of the committee.

Lisbon Seminar on Sport

The European Parliament Office in Scotland held another of their information seminars on the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty.  Not a lot of people are aware the impact that the Lisbon Treaty is going to have on sport: from the increase in funding for sports events, to the drawing up of rules about how many home players professional football teams field, and the establishment of European wide training qualification.  For a discussion on the 6+5 rule in football visit my blog at: http://eutribune.wordpress.com/2010/09/06/lisbon-treaty-can-help-nations-encourage-national-talent-and-save-beutiful-game/

DAVID MARTIN MEP, Midlothian Innovation Centre,
Pentlandfield, Roslin, Midlothian
EH25 9RE, Tel 0131 440 9040,
david@martinmep.com    www.martinmep.com