Subscribe

Sign up to receive David's regular newsletter, covering a varied and interesting account of the European Parliament's activities that affect Scotland.

    • Please enter a valid email address.

    • The Labour Party and its elected representatives may use the data you have supplied. If you do not wish to be contacted by the Labour Party please unsubscribe by clicking here.

Strasbourg Round-up February 2011

Welcome to my Strasbourg Roundup. This is a very brief update to let you know what happened at the February plenary session of the European Parliament.

EU - South Korea Free Trade Agreement
I am very pleased that this week the Parliament approved a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with South Korea. As a member of the International Trade committee and member of the Korea Delegation in the Parliament I have been closely involved throughout the negotiating process, and as an MEP for Scotland I am particularly pleased that this deal with have a huge benefit for products such as Scottish whisky, with the reduction of tariffs for Scottish businesses when exporting to South Korea. For more information on the FTA and the benefits for Scotland follow link.

Bus passenger rights
Thanks to approval by the Parliament this week, you now have far more passenger rights when travelling by bus and coach - similar to air passenger rights on flights. For journeys over 250km, such as Glasgow to Liverpool, you now have the right to compensation for major delays, cancellations, overbooking and lost or damaged luggage. A deal was struck between the Parliament and the Council to ensure passengers have decent rights, without placing too big a burden on small companies. Disabled passengers will also benefit from further rights, with new requirements for scheduled coach operators to ensure their staff are trained in assisting passengers with disabilities. These are small changes which will make a huge difference to disabled passengers.

CO2 reduction in van emissions
A compromise was reached on regulations to limit the CO2 emissions from commercial vans in the EU. Unfortunately the targets were not as ambitious as I had hoped, but the deal reached, of around a 27% reduction, is certainly a step in the right direction. The key is to develop new technologies which will help the industry produce cheaper and greener vehicles, and by supporting manufacturers who produce ecological vehicles this regulation will improve environmental standards as well as boost EU jobs and competitiveness.

Fake medicines
The European Parliament continues to crack down on counterfeit medicines. Recent scandals in the UK of fake medicines finding their way into normal drug distribution has highlighted the importance of EU coordination to track imported medication. Many counterfeits which are imported look very convincing, and medical staff cannot identify fake packets. The new regulations will ensure all packets of drugs have a serial number which pharmacists can check on a database, to ensure they are legitimate. This will also allow a quick response throughout Europe if a medicine which has made its way to a pharmacy is discovered to be fake.

Robin Hood Tax
While in Strasbourg this week I promoted the Robin Hood Tax campaign, which Labour MEPs strongly support. It is time banks paid their fair share, and a very small tax on global transactions would raise billions for vital services. I encourage everyone in Scotland to support Oxfam and the STUC in promoting this initiative - it's time the Tory-led government in Westminster stopped sticking up for the banks instead of the people of the UK!