Newham Borough Liberal Democrats

Sarah's bulletin: 2 October 2009

Irish vote on Lisbon treaty

The Irish will go to the polls (again!) today to deliver what will either be a final blessing, or a deadly blow, to the Lisbon treaty. If the Irish vote 'Yes', and Vaclav Klaus in the Czech Republic drops threats to delay ratification, the much-needed Lisbon treaty will take effect. I firmly support the treaty, as it is necessary to ensure that EU decision-making operates in a more streamlined way now that there are 27 member states, and will give the EU a clearer voice on the international stage. The point was put very well by Philip Stevens in the Financial Times yesterday when he wrote that Europe needs the Lisbon treaty to "exercise the leadership necessary to protect and project the open, rules-based system on which its prosperity and security depend".

You can read his article in full here.

Tory MEP praises Liberal Commissioner

Tory MEP Neil Parish this week praised the Danish agriculture and rural affairs commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel. He was quoted in the Western Morning News as saying that "unlike other Commissioners … she understood the politics of the European Parliament and was always open and frank whenever she came to answer our questions. She was always available whenever I needed to work with her and she always gave very direct answers."

Mariann Fischer Boel is from Venstre, the Liberal party in Denmark (same party as Anders Fogh Rasmussen, ex prime minister and now Secretary-General of NATO) which belongs to the ALDE group in the European Parliament. Nice to hear the Tories commending one of our Commissioners so generously!

Balkan visas liberalisation

This week I presented my opinion on visa-free travel for short visits to the EU for citizens of western Balkan countries to the Foreign Affairs Committee, and the vote will be held next Tuesday. I have been coordinating extensively with the main rapporteur in the Civil Liberties committee. The motive for allowing visa-free travel for tourists, students and businesspeople is to widen horizons, broaden outlooks and combat the kind of insular and nationalistic attitudes still all too prevalent in the region.

We seem to have majority EP backing that a new Regulation on visa waiver should cover all 5 countries (Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia, but also Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina) although with differentiated implementation according to the speed with which they meet all the border security and law enforcement tests. The fear is that if the last 2 are left to a new proposal next year, all kinds of distortions will be created. We have to persuade the Council of Ministers of this, so the debate is set to continue in the months to come!

No hiding place for bad drivers?

A new European law came into force this week whereby Member States can pursue motorists for traffic offences committed abroad, so they do not get away with it. The British government for instance will collect fines when notified that UK citizens have been guilty of speeding, drink-driving, failing to wear a seatbelt or running a red light in France, and vice versa. The fact that the government which gets its own citizens to cough up keeps the money is a neat incentive.

Unfortunately, London's congestion charge was not included in its scope, although I and others worked hard on this, and despite the fact that every year the total cost to London for non-payment of the congestion charge, parking and traffic fines incurred by EU citizens is calculated to be £24 million. The other gremlin is that because Britain is not in the eurozone, the weak pound means that many British fines, when converted into Euros, fall below the €70 threshold and so are not enforceable back in the driver's home state. Many foreign motorists will therefore dodge speeding fines because of currency fluctuations… an unfortunate side effect of not being part of the single currency.

Galileo satellite navigation system

The EU has launched its own free satellite navigation system thanks to its Galileo project, a rival to the GPS system which is run by the US military. The European 'geostationary navigation overlay service' (Egnos) boosts existing satellite navigation signals over Europe, and will improve its accuracy from 10 metres to 2 metres, making it much more useful. The scale of the Galileo project, €3.4 billion, with 30 spacecraft being sent into orbit, is something Britain on its own would never be able to achieve, and is another example of why - the sum being greater than the parts - European cooperation can take us so much further than we could ever get on our own.

Turkish and Kurdish communities

Last Sunday I enjoyed a fundraising concert hosted by the Halkevi community centre at the Hackney Ocean to raise funds for their new building in Dalston. I have long worked with Halkevi, which serves Turkish and Kurdish speaking people in London, and greatly support Turkey's accession to the EU. It really is so important that Turkish and Kurdish democracy and human rights issues get the attention they deserve, and I will continue to urge my colleagues in Brussels to ensure that the Kurdish community is well-represented in Turkey's accession negotiations. You can read more about the event here.

I also today held a meeting today with Fevzi Hussein and his colleague Ismail Veli of the London-based organisation Embargoed! which campaigns for an end to the isolation of the people of North Cyprus. Among other things, we discussed property issues and the state of the current talks between the Turkish and Greek Cypriots. I also met in Brussels this week the Turkish Cypriot negotiator Ozdil Nami who I have known for many years. It is essential that a solution be found soon

European Court of Justice likely to support EU action on mobile roaming charges

The Advocate-General at the ECJ has advised judges - who generally follow the advice - that the European Union does indeed have the right to set mobile phone charges for making calls abroad (known as "roaming") across Europe. This follows the directive agreed earlier on in the year between the Parliament and the Council to reduce the ridiculously high tariffs mobile phone companies impose on customers.

The case was brought by Vodafone, Telefonica/O2 and T-mobile. Cheekily, while they have been fighting the Commission decision in court, Vodafone and Orange have been running massive ad campaigns in Britain boasting how "they" reduced roaming charges this summer!

London City Airport meeting with Leyton and Wanstead Liberal Democrats

Tonight I am off to a public meeting being held by Leyton and Wanstead Liberal Democrats, where I will speak alongside LibDem London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon and campaign group "Fight the Flights" against the plans to double the number of flights going in and out of London City Airport by the end of next year. The meeting is being held tonight at 7pm at the Quaker Meeting Hall, Bush Road, Leytonstone, E11 3AU. If you are affected by the planned increase in flights at London City and can get there, please do come along!

Best regards,

Sarah Ludford