http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/articlearchive.php Recent Press Articles from Graham Watson MEP en-GB Graham Watson MEP http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/ Prater Raines Ltd http://www.praterraines.co.uk/ (c) 2008 Graham Watson MEP 2008-12-05T15:43+00:00 United Kingdom http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/articles/000118/grahams_blog_friday_28_november_2008.html Under a recent change to the organisation of our Parliament's work, four or five individual weeks every year have been set aside as weeks in which no committee meetings are scheduled, so that MEPs can travel beyond the EU without disrupting committee work. This past week was one such; among those travelling were a delegation from the EP's international trade committee, to India. They were unfortunate to be in the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai when a terror attack left over 100 dead and 900 injured; and very lucky not to be among those in either category. My Liberal Democrat colleague Ignasi Guardans from Spain was on the trip, sitting outside on a terrace when the terrorists struck; a former colleague, now Tory MEP Sajjad Karim was in the lobby when the shooting started. Another British Tory and a German Social Democrat were led to safety through the kitchens. 2008-11-28T18:00+00:00 http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/articles/000117/grahams_blog_friday_21_november_2008.html In Strasbourg this week for our formal debates and votes, the European Parliament turned its attention to immigration. The Commission has proposed the first two planks in what will eventually be a common immigration policy. They must be agreed unanimously by the member states before they become law and Parliament is only asked for its opinion. We backed with large majorities a measure to open the door to legal migration for highly skilled migrants (the so called blue card scheme): and a proposal to give them the same rights as our own workforce. My Group abstained on the Blue Card proposal because Parliament voted so many amendments to the Commission's text we would have wrapped the blue card in red tape! But we support the principle. 2008-11-21T11:00+00:00 http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/articles/000116/grahams_blog_friday_17_november_2008.html The EU is frequently lambasted in the British press for not having it s accounts in order. This criticism is partially unfair, since 80% of EU funds are spent in and by the Member States and it is in this area that the European Court of Auditors has not been satisfied. It came as a relief, therefore, that on Monday the auditors signed off the EU's 2007 accounts, for the first time in many years. Of course they identified areas where improvements are still needed, especially in agricultural spending; but the overall opinion was an unqualified OK. 2008-11-17T09:24+00:00 http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/articles/000115/grahams_blog_entry_friday_7_november_2008.html Parliament returned to Brussels after a week's break intrigued to know whether the USA would dare to vote into office its first ever black President. It did, and immediately drew attention to the embarrassing absence of a single black or coloured face among 27 EU Commissioners, or indeed among the heads of state of government of the 27 EU member states. Given the diversity of our people, there is something wrong with our politics. 2008-11-07T09:08+00:00 http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/articles/000114/grahams_blog_entry_friday_24_october_2008.html The roof of our debating chamber having been repaired, the European Parliament was back in Strasbourg this week (as the law says we must be) for four days of formal debates and votes. We voted (at first reading) the EU's draft budget for 2009, which means we agreed what we think should be the spending priorities and how much money we think should be allocated to each budget heading. There will be now be a month of negotiations with the Budget Council (27 finance ministers) before a final vote in December. Though the European Parliament cannot increase the budget, the Member States have to get our agreement to how it is spent. 2008-10-24T17:37+00:00 http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/articles/000113/grahams_blog_friday_17_october_2008.html There has been so much 'summitry' in recent days it is hard to keep abreast of it all. The meeting of heads of state and government last weekend in Washington DC and in Paris succeeded in preventing a further crash in stock markets; for a week, at least. They also led to a lot of hubris; Gordon Brown as 'saviour of the free world' (tabloid press), Monday as 'the best day for Europe since the launch of the Euro' (a former merchant banker and MEP). They demonstrated conclusively, however the deep degree of today's inter dependence between hitherto sovereign states and the overwhelming case for a common response to common challenges. 2008-10-17T17:00+00:00 http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/articles/000112/grahams_blog_friday_10_october_2008.html I had the pleasure this week of spending Monday in my constituency, showing the EU's Energy Commissioner (Andris Piebalgs, a Latvian LibDem) the opportunities for renewable energy generation on the Severn estuary. We were briefed first by Regen South West, then by the Regional Development Agency, on current renewable energy generation in the region and potential future development: then we took the Commissioner to the top of the hill above Uphill (Weston-super-Mare) to see where one of the possible barrage schemes might make landfall. We took him therafter to Bristol Port to discuss the impact a barrage or tidal fence might have on shipping and to see the Port's plans for more wind turbine capacity. My view remains that a series of tidal lagoons would probably be our best option; they could generate more energy than a barrage and be on-stream up to five years earlier. But a political decision is needed at cabinet level in Whitehall (due next Spring) and a proper enquiry thereafter to examine all the options. 2008-10-10T08:00+00:00 http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/articles/000111/grahams_blog_friday_3_october_2008.html My week again started on a Sunday, when I left home for Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan. This week the European Parliament has been in recess and I often use these occasions to take a delegation of LibDem MEPs somewhere interesting. In view of the recent conflict in Georgia I felt it would be useful to repeat a visit I made 30 months ago to three Southern Caucasus countries: Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. 2008-10-03T12:30+00:00 http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/articles/000110/grahams_blog_friday_26_september_2008.html The European Parliament met in full sitting this week for our formal debates and votes. Again we were in Brussels instead of Strasbourg, though our Strasbourg chamber has been repaired and we'll be back there next month (despite the best efforts of many Liberal Democrats to keep us permanently in Brussels from now on). We gave a first reading to Bills on telecommunications (reinforcement of consumers' rights, better co-ordination of radio frequencies, co-ordination at EU level of the work of national regulatory bodies); and a second reading approval to a package of maritime measures (a draft directive on flag states and another on ship owners' liability in the case of accident) which will now go to conciliation with the Council and then a third reading. (For readers unfamiliar with how we pass legislation, 'conciliation' is the process of hammering out agreement between 27 government ministers and 27 MEPs on a final text which then has to be approved by Parliament and the Council of Ministers.) 2008-09-26T09:30+00:00 http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/articles/000109/grahams_blog_friday_19_september_2008.html This week saw the launch of Europarl TV, a new webTV channel designed to give people balanced and fair coverage of goings-on in the European Parliament. Hitherto we have broadcast live coverage of the sittings of the House, but often these make tedious viewing for all but the the MEPs themselves or the professional EP-watchers. Europarl TV should offer viewers a wide choice of material to watch at the time and place of their choosing and will offer four channels: Your Parliament, for those with a particular interest in EU politics: Your Voice, aimed at the general public; Young Europe, designed for school children and Parliament Live, a continuous live broadcast of debates and events in Parliament. Anybody with internet access can watch Europarl TV on the website, www.europarltv.europa.eu. 2008-09-19T12:00+00:00 http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/articles/000107/grahams_blog_12_september_2008.html The BBC Trust, set up recently to oversee output (after the BBC's row with HM the Queen), visited Brussels on Monday. 2008-09-12T10:27+00:00 http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/articles/000106/grahams_blog_friday_5_september_2008.html I write this at Brussels airport, waiting for a delayed flight to London. I have meetings in London this afternoon about my Chinese language teaching scheme for SW schools (up to nine schools this year from five last year; there will be a conference about it at Exeter University on the morning of Friday 17 Oct, with EU Commissioner for Multilingualism Leonard Orban). Then an evening speaking engagement with Kensington and Chelsea LibDems. 2008-09-05T19:00+00:00 http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/articles/000105/grahams_blog_saturday_30_august_2008.html The European Parliament returned this week after its four week annual summer recess. The first Group meeting after the summer recess is normally the easiest of the year; chairing the meeting of my sun-tanned and relaxed colleagues this week was no exception. There were two potentially fissiparous items on our agenda. The first was agreeing the text of a draft resolution on Palestinian prisoners in Israeli gaols (a staggering 11,000 people, including children as young as 12 and 13 who are often treated abusively); my Group is as divided as any other on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but we succeeded in reaching broad agreement nonetheless. The second was reaching agreement on the conflict between Russia and Georgia, where our MEPs from the former Soviet bloc tend to be more harshly disposed towards the Russians than some of the "western" europeans. There will be an extraordinary meeting of the European Council (our heads of state and government) on Monday followed by a statement to the European Parliament and a debate in which I must represent the views of our members. I set out my own views on the conflict during the summer break in an article on The Guardian's website (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/18/georgia.russia). I am pleased to report that the balance of views in my Group is not too far from the line I took then. 2008-08-30T21:00+00:00 http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/articles/000104/the_eus_russian_role.html The European Union must not abandon Georgia to Putin's whim: its neutrality and trade influence are key to resolving this conflict. 2008-08-18T15:12+00:00 http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/articles/000108/why_our_schools_should_look_east.html Last autumn South West MEP Graham Watson piloted a scheme to bring chinese teaching assistants from Taiwan to five secondary schools in the region. As schools across the South West break up for summer and the Olympic Games take place in Beijing, Graham Watson talks about the expansion of his scheme this autumn and argues why learning chinese should be given top priority in our schools. 2008-08-01T09:00+00:00