Strasbourg Roundup February

Hello and welcome to my Strasbourg roundup.  Once again it was a busy plenary session, below is a brief summary of the Plenary, and my subsequent meetings and discussions.

Mahmoud Abbas addresses Parliament

This month Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian President addressed the European Parliament.  The ongoing violence and murder of innocent Palestinians is a disgusting situation which needs to come to an end.  The ceasefire which is in place now needs to be followed up by a lasting peace deal to ensure the safety of all involved.  Parliament recently postponed the vote on improving relations with Israel.  I asked a question last month in Strasbourg to find out whether the European Council plans to re-evaluate trade relations with Israel.  My question can be viewed here: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+QT+H-2009-0012+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN

Council Statement on Guantanamo prisoners

The council made a statement to Parliament urging that member states accept prisoners detained at the US military base Guantanamo Bay.  In adopting a joint resolution, the European Parliament welcomed President Obama's decision to close Guantanamo Bay.  Many MEPs called on member states to facilitate the closure of the facility within one year.

Legislation passed to crack down
on employers of illegal immigrants

I voted in favour of a package of amendments to the directive against the employment of illegal immigrants.  The sanctions directive sets out that employers of illegal immigrants would be penalised while the immigrants themselves would be granted legal conditions of employment.  This is important progress in ensuring that in Europe employees are treated fairly and equally, and sweatshop conditions are not tolerated.

Other Meetings:

Meeting with Trade Commissioner

I met with Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton with the specific objective of discussing the upcoming Economic Partership Agreement for CARIFORUM states.  However, it's also important to maintain dialogue with Commissioner Ashton and her cabinet in order to ensure that when things like the full renegotiation of the CARIFORUM EPA occur, good relations and regular dialogue are the norm to ensure effective cooperation.

Launch of documentary on Primate trade

I spoke at Animal Defenders International's launch of the documentary investigating the laboratory primate trade.  I feel strongly about protecting the plight of primates which can only be protected by investigations such as these which support my call to end testing on non-human primates.  The documentary can be viewed at http://www.savetheprimates.org/primateban/news/

Interview with HSI

I took part in an interview on Thursday with the Humane Society International.  By continuing to listen to Animal rights organisations which have millions of members I can keep in touch with issues which are important to people.  I acted upon such concerns when I called for a ban on the trade of seal products within Europe.