http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org/articlearchive.php Recent Press Articles from Graham Watson MEP en-GB Graham Watson MEP http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org/ Prater Raines Ltd http://www.praterraines.co.uk/ (c) 2010 Graham Watson MEP 2010-07-31T23:52+01:00 United Kingdom http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org/articles/000139/grahams_blog_monday_22_june_2009.html The European Council meeting (aka heads of state and government summit) last Thursday and Friday unanimously nominated Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso for a second term. They also reviewed progress in getting the economy back on track and in fighting climate change, but that appeared to attract much less attention; and, to be frank, their decisions in these areas were less newsworthy. The big questions now are 'can they secure a majority for Barroso in Parliament and, if so, when?' 2009-06-22T17:00+01:00 http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org/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/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+01:00 http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org/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+01:00 http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org/articles/000102/powering_europe_with_africas_aid.html The Mediterranean Union could help Europe switch to clean energy. 2008-07-11T21:27+01:00 http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org/articles/000077/build_a_barrage_not_a_nuclear_plant.html Following Business Secretary John Hutton's Commons statement giving the go head for a new generation of Nuclear Power stations in the UK, local Lib Dem MEP for the South West and Gibraltar, Graham Watson, whose constituency has a site at Hinkley near Bridgwater, Somerset, which is short listed for further nuclear plants said; 2008-01-10T17:00+00:00 http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org/articles/000073/spot_the_difference.html Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne have each served longer in Brussels and Strasbourg, in our mother-in-law of parliaments, than at Westminster. From 1999 to 2004 (in Chris' case 2005) they were colleagues of mine: indeed, they served under me first as Leader of the ten UK Liberal Democrat MEPs and then (from 2002) as Leader of the European Parliament's Liberal Group. I think I can fairly say I had the privilege to get to know both of them well; over more years, certainly, than my counterparts in the Commons. 2007-12-04T12:55+00:00 http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org/articles/000062/broadening_horizons_why_our_children_should_learn_chinese.html IN 2000, the Nuffield Languages Inquiry concluded: "English is not enough"; "Young people from the UK are at a growing disadvantage in the recruitment market", "The UK desperately needs more language teachers". 2007-09-19T13:15+01:00 http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org/articles/000035/changing_times.html In 1994, when I was first elected as MEP for the then Somerset and North Devon constituency, concerns about the environment and recycling were sidelined to the fringes of 'main' political debate. Today, some twelve years on, it is testament to the conviction of the green movement, not to mention some irrefutable evidence on climate change, that green politics has moved to the forefront of our debate. 2007-01-01T00:00+00:00 http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org/articles/000003/mobile_roaming_charges.html On the now infamous date, 11th September 2001, former European commissioner Mario Monti was in Barcelona for a speech on competition in high-tech sectors in which he outlined some of the EU executive's concerns over market failings in the telecoms sector, highlighting amongst other things, the excessive mark-up by mobile phone operators between the real cost of calls and what they charge customers when roaming abroad. This conclusion followed a sector inquiry the previous year which had identified that there were insufficient incentives on companies to reduce prices under the current system. Unsurprisingly, his speech failed to hit the news headlines. 2006-10-21T00:00+01:00