http://www.northdorset-libdems.org.uk/articlearchive.php Recent Press Articles from North Dorset Liberal Democrats en-GB North Dorset Liberal Democrats http://www.northdorset-libdems.org.uk/ Prater Raines Ltd http://www.praterraines.co.uk/ (c) 2010 North Dorset Liberal Democrats 2010-07-30T02:53+01:00 United Kingdom http://www.northdorset-libdems.org.uk/articles/000078/grahams_blog_friday_16_july_2010.html The European Parliament rises today for its summer recess, which this year is one week longer than usual. We do not return until 30 August, and there was a sense of demob happiness among MEPs. I was surprised to be the only UK Lib Dem MEP who attended Wednesday evening's summer drinks reception thrown by the Brussels local party of the UK Liberal Democrats; we have many members who live and work in Brussels, for the EU institutions or in other areas, who all have a valuable contribution to make, and the event was well supported. 2010-07-16T00:00+01:00 http://www.northdorset-libdems.org.uk/articles/000077/grahams_blog_friday_9_july_2010.html It is now a year since the start of the European Parliament's current (2009-14) mandate; this week it was felt in two ways. First, MEPs - over half of whom are new - looked and sounded exhausted during the final plenary session before the summer break. Second, this week's votes were of considerable importance. 2010-07-09T10:00+01:00 http://www.northdorset-libdems.org.uk/articles/000076/grahams_blog_friday_2_july_2010.html The EP's Liberal group met in Bilbao this week, at the invitation of our colleagues in the Basque National Party. In addition to our normal business they were able to show us the achievements of the Basque country in economic and social development, which are impressive. To me, it showed all the arguments for effective regional government with democratic oversight and control, which added poignancy to the meeting I had with representatives of Gloucestershire First (in Brussels, on Thursday) at which we discussed the likely impact of the abolition of the RDAs and the establishment of LEPs on the south west of England's ability to achieve similar. 2010-07-02T10:00+01:00 http://www.northdorset-libdems.org.uk/articles/000075/grahams_blog_friday_25_june_2010.html Probably the most important EU development this week was the agreement in Madrid between the European Parliament and the European Council (which represents the governments of the 27 member states) on the setting up of the new European External Action Service (Diplomatic Corps). Provided for in the Lisbon Treaty, this body should be up and running by the end of the year. Parliament has won the right to full oversight of its activities, including scrutiny of its budget, which will be managed by the European Commission. At least 6 in every 10 of its officials will be permanent EU employees, which should ensure that their primary loyalty is to the EU as a whole rather than the member state from which they come. The agreement reached between the negotiators has now to be formally approved by each institution. 2010-06-25T09:00+01:00 http://www.northdorset-libdems.org.uk/articles/000074/grahams_blog_friday_18_june_2010.html Parliament has been in Strasbourg this week for formal debates and votes. One year on from the EP elections and five months after we approved the new European Commission, things are beginning to move again. 2010-06-18T09:00+01:00 http://www.northdorset-libdems.org.uk/articles/000073/grahams_blog_friday_11_june_2010.html Sorry not to have written for the last fortnight. The week of 24 May was a Parliamentary recess week, during which I represented Parliament's Liberal Group at a conference in Beijing at which 100 parliamentarians from across the EU met the Chinese Communist Party; and the week of 31 May was a UK school holiday week during which I sailed a 28' boat from Plymouth to Brest with my fifteen year old son. 2010-06-11T14:00+01:00 http://www.northdorset-libdems.org.uk/articles/000072/grahams_blog_friday_21_may_2009.html At the Party's special conference in Birmingham last Sunday to debate the new governing coalition I was truly proud to be a Liberal Democrat. We had a first class debate about the challenges ahead; and of over 2000 members present only a dozen voted against the coalition agreement. We may have needed, as I suggested to delegates, 'the longest preparatory process in political history' (since David Steel told us in 1981 to go back to our constituencies and prepare for government); but we got there. 2010-05-21T00:00+01:00 http://www.northdorset-libdems.org.uk/articles/000071/grahams_blog_friday_14_may_2010.html The beginning of my week was dominated by the suspense involved in the outcome of two series of late night meetings. As with all the best stories, both had happy outcomes. The EU's finance ministers agreed in the early hours of Monday morning on a EUR 750 bn standby package to support the euro against the international speculators. And at around the same time the UK's Liberal Democrat MPs agreed nem con to the proposed coalition agreement with the Conservatives. In neither case were the circumstances those we would have chosen; yet in both cases imaginative leadership and a shared sense of responsibility led us to a successful conclusion. 2010-05-14T12:00+01:00 http://www.northdorset-libdems.org.uk/articles/000070/grahams_blog_friday_7_may_2010.html One of the frustrations of being elected to a supra-national parliament is that business does not grind to a halt simply because one of the twenty-seven member states has a national parliamentary election. So although I have been been as active as I could reasonably hope to be - campaigning in West Dorset, South East Cornwall, Newquay and St Austell, East Devon, Chippenham, Gloucester, Wells, Bridgwater, Somerton and Frome and Bristol NorthWest - I have been bogged down too much in European Parliamentary duties such as leading a visit of the delegation I chair to India, having to attend meetings to do with Moldova (I am Parliament's rapporteur for the new agreement the EU hopes soon to sign with Moldova), chairing meetings of the all-party renewable energy super grid group, etc: and, this week, voting on issues as diverse as animal welfare and the accounts of the EU's executive agencies. 2010-05-07T09:00+01:00 http://www.northdorset-libdems.org.uk/articles/000069/grahams_blog_thursday_22_april_2010.html Parliament met in Strasbourg this week and has been very quiet indeed. No votes, an agenda which finishes formally on Wednesday evening, and the only MEPs present being those who live within easy car or train distance or those (like me) who were unable to get home at the end of last week. 2010-04-22T10:30+01:00 http://www.northdorset-libdems.org.uk/articles/000068/grahams_blog_friday_16_april_2010.html I've heard many excuses in my life for missing a canvassing session, but try this one for size: a cloud of volcanic dust closed down the airports of a quarter of the continent and I was stuck at work! It's crazy but it's true. And I regret it's the reason why I'll be on the boulevards of Brussels rather than those of Barnstaple this afternoon. Moreover, I missed the first televised debate of the election campaign yesterday evening. In Brussels we receive BBC TV by cable, but ITV (via Sky) is available only on satellite. 2010-04-16T09:00+01:00 http://www.northdorset-libdems.org.uk/articles/000067/grahams_blog_friday_9_april2010.html This week has been a UK school holiday but not a European Parliament holiday week. We resumed on Tuesday, as Gordon Brown went to the Palace to seek a dissolution of the House of Commons. 2010-04-09T13:30+01:00 http://www.northdorset-libdems.org.uk/articles/000066/grahams_blog_friday_19_march_2010.html Readers curious about the secret I could not let you in to in last week's newsletter may have noticed that the news (embargoed for Saturday) leaked out last Friday night. Tory MEP Edward McMillan-Scott, former leader of the UK Tory MEPs and now a Vice President (deputy speaker) of the EP, joined us last week. He is the third Tory MEP I have persuaded to join the Liberal Democrats in my fifteen years as a MEP. (The first was James Moorhouse and the second Bill Newton-Dunn.) It's not hard to coax them over, though deep reserves of patience help: their former party's position on Europe is now so permeated by prejudice that no self-respecting pro-European can stay there. 2010-03-19T10:00+00:00 http://www.northdorset-libdems.org.uk/articles/000065/grahams_blog_friday_12_march_2010.html Parliament has been in Strasbourg this week for four days of formal debates and votes. We had our first debate with external relations commissioner and EU high representative Baroness Catherine Ashton on foreign policy. I think she acquitted herself well. Despite starting with virtually no support she has gathered good people around her and gave a competent, if not quite visionary, view of her plans to set up the EU diplomatic service which our governments committed themselves to in the Lisbon Treaty. She has taken a lot of flack, some of which a man would not have received. I appealed to colleagues, on International Women's Day, at least to give her a fair hearing. 2010-03-12T13:00+00:00 http://www.northdorset-libdems.org.uk/articles/000064/grahams_blog_friday_5_march_2010.html I am particularly pleased to see that the President of the European Parliament used new powers to dock the allowances of UKIP's Nigel Farage MEP, who refuses to apologise for having last week insulted gratuitously the new President of the European Council. It is thanks to an initiative I took in the last parliamentary mandate that such powers exist. 2010-03-05T09:00+00:00