Strasbourg
Commentary Plenary Session April 15 - 18 2013
Much more voting
in Strasbourg these days since they have to cancel the mini plenaries
in Brussels due to the debating chamber there collapsing. Voting
sessions extended.
Tuesday
We at least helped to send a Greenhouse Gas emissions report back
to committee. Does not get rid, but puts it off. But two reports on
Credit Institutions, which will affect the City of London very badly,
were adopted with huge majorities.
Wednesday.
Massive number of individual votes on "discharges", for
example, the European Police College, European Medicines Agency &
European environment agency. All of these votes authorise using funds
with the money already spent!!
Thursday
Outline approval of a new census. This is to establish the EU
demographics. But the info will be collected like an ordinary
"head-count" census in each member state and then used by
the EU to tabulate where every body has come from. That means using
personal data without permission and looks like it will contravene
the data Protection Act, not that this will bother the EU. It is no
coincidence that today there were several votes on reports designed
to ease the way for EU membership to places like Serbia, Montenegro
and Turkey.
Otherwise leading
MEPs are getting hot under the collar about Hungary with many
allegations of denial of Human Rights and so on resulting from a
re-write of the Hungarian constitution with a new amendment. It is
claimed that this will undermine their Constitutional Court leading,
for example, to the homeless being criminalized and that homosexuals
will be persecuted. This is countered by documents from Hungarian
MEPs saying that the new amendment does nothing of the sort.
Difficult to know
where the truth lies, except that a few sessions ago The Hungarian
President, Viktor Orban, spoke in the Parliament and was viciously
attacked by the usual suspects demanding that he answer their claims
in a special meeting which he would be forced to attend. He
maintained a dignified silence and simply said that he would not
attend such a meeting, better described as an inquisition. The
Parliament is now instituting "Infringement proceedings "
against Hungary.
General
business. Olly Rhen, Swaboda,
(socialist leader);Verhofstadt and others all said we need a EU a
Banking Union. Well, at least that would hasten the end. Swaboda even
said the Commission were democratically elected!!
COUNTY COUNCIL ELECTIONS,
MAY 2nd.
Well
done everybody!!
As a result of
the terrific response here and across the country we have two Party
Election broadcasts, which I suppose you have seen already. You may
also have seen the report by Patrick O'Flynn in the "Express"
recently of Nigel's progress through the East Midlands. This was a
two week nation-wide tour where he took a largely coastal route
starting in Cornwell, up to Hadrian's wall and down through the East,
calling at places with a 100% UKIP candidate list. So it was
Gainsborough, Lincoln, Boston/South Holland & the Deepings,
(Tuesday) then Corby, (Margo's great result) Geddington, and
Kettering (Wednesday) and then off to Huntingdon. Tuesday was
disrupted by his going to Grantham to sign the Thatcher Book of
Condolence.
In Patrick
O'Flynn's article you may have noted a comment of an interjection
by a, "Local Tory Councillor". This was none other than Jim
Harker, Tory leader of the Northamptonshire County Council!. I
happened to park next to where Jim was standing with a group of
despondent Tory members. Having dispensed with polite formalities he
asked me why UKIP were fielding candidates in these elections when
County Councils were nothing to do with "Europe". I
responded with, "Our County Councillors will do their best to
stop Northants CC from spending £200,000 per year for 8 years on an
office in Brussels. His reply was to say that it was only £140,000
for 3 years and that would bring in hundreds of thousands of pounds
in European Money to help Northants businesses!
So, no connection
between a County Council and the EU there then! He looked so
miserable that I let him off my next comment, "There is no such
thing as "European Money" and that this would only be some
of our own money coming back to us, after the EU had extracted a
hefty surcharge".
You will have
seen that we are now rated at 16% in the Polls so beware of the dirty
tricks brigade. That's already started with the Tories in the South
West, and it will spread. Julie Girling, Tory MEP S.West, has
produced an A5 leaflet attacking us and which her office is mailing
out to Tory canvassers. It starts with detailing the hundreds of
thousands of pounds we, UKIP MEPs, claim for travelling, hotels,
offices etc etc, all of which is tax payers money. True, but then the
Tories are the same, or more so as they have more MEPs than we!
It goes on to say
how we have lost MEPs to other parties, without mentioning our
acquisitions, where, I think we have the best of the bargain! It then
says how lazy we are! Well, Nigel does not spare himself and I know
what the others do. Me, ? look at my website and realise that this is
only a bare bones outline. When not mentioned I am at the office
dealing with emails that come in every day, I know I've got a pile to
come home to. Yes, I answer every one except the impossibles.
This rag goes on
to specifics. It claims we have caused a rise in sugar prices but
this was the result of voting to preserve small British farms and
jobs against French interventionism.
It claims we
voted against Discards in the fishing policy. Not True. In fact,-
*UKIP voted for
Am 119 which strengthened the obligation to land all catches
(discards ban)
*UKIP voted
against and helped to defeat amendment 297 which would have weakened
the discard ban
*UKIP voted for
more protection for small scale and coastal fishing
*UKIP voted to
keep EU meddling away from inland waters
*UKIP voted
against the EU taking control of the sea bed
This pamphlet
also claims that we voted against legislation giving rights to
victims of crime , and against protecting children from exploitation
and pornography, both in the "Victims Rights Package". Yes
, we did vote against this because the UK already has its own
legislation offering a higher level of protection than that proposed
by the EU legislation. Evidently, the Tories want to lower the
protection.
The pamphlet also
says we voted against Human Trafficking, of course we did.!!
Derek Clark MEP
Strasbourg 18th April 2013
(at 4.20 pm and
its even better to be on my way home this afternoon!)
