Graham's blog entry 6th July 2007

Written by Graham Watson MEP on Fri 6th Jul 2007

I returned to Brussels on Monday from the Tällberg Forum in Sweden with a new resolution: henceforth to make my travel carbon neutral by offsetting it with investments in tree planting or carbon-reducing technologies. I have tried for some time now to persuade the European Parliament to go carbon neutral and I will launch a new campaign on Tuesday; but there is no excuse for not leading by example.

Environmental issues are still a major feature of the EU's agenda. The 27 environment ministers met on Monday to discuss the EU's emissions trading scheme which started in 2005. They called on the Commission to bring forward proposals to revise it in the light of experience and to include aviation and possibly land use, forestry and land transport. But at the same meeting they upset some environmentalists by reclassifying incineration of municipal waste from 'disposal' to 'recovery'.

I was involved in hosting two groups of visitors on Monday and Tuesday: the Council of the e-parliament, involving visitors from Africa and China; and the UK Lib Dem working party on EU policy. It meant 'hot dining', which I hate, i.e. taking a starter and a main course with one group and then dessert and coffee with another. But the former allowed us to assess the progress we've made over the five year gestation period of the e-parliament initiative and to plan its launch now that the financial backing is in place; and the latter allowed us to highlight examples of the benefits of Britain's EU membership (and bemoan the lack of backbone of some of our MPs in Britain's nihilistic and never-ending debate about its place in Europe).

Wednesday and Thursday saw me addressing two 'summer schools' of youth activists, taking place in Brussels. The first was that of the Liberal Youth Movement of the European Communities (LYMEC), in whose creation in 1976 I played a not insignificant role. The other was a conference of young Italians from the liberal democratic and social democratic parties which are merging to form Italy's new Democratic Party. I reflected at both that most achievement comes from the dreams of youth pursued in later life. But I fear my reaction at their age might have been 'what kind of rubbish is that old fart talking?!'.

Opponents of GM crops suffered a setback on Wednesday when the European Food Safety Authority authorised Monsanto's genetically modified maize MON863; this is resistant to certain insects and some scientists claim it causes health problems in rats when used in experiments. It was first approved by the European Commission in January last year. Science now tells us it is safe; but not that planting it is wise. Without the insects, how will the birds survive?

I also spoke at a conference on Euthanasia organized by my colleagues Chris Davies MEP and Marco Cappato MEP. A copy of my speech will be posted on my website (www.grahamwatsonmep.org) soon.

Because I had to be in Brussels on Thursday I missed the visit of the EU Commissioner for Regional Policy (Danuta Hübner, from Poland) to the South West. She is a good friend to our region and must have visited us more than any other single region in the EU. As I alighted from the aeroplane at Bristol Airport last night she was in the departure lounge waiting to take the same flight back out to Brussels and we'd not even time to take a coffee together.

This morning I address the Devon and Cornwall Business Council in Lifton. This afternoon I visit a company called eco-solutions which makes paint strippers without using dangerous chemicals. This evening I'll be in Chippenham talking to Liberal Democrats from North Wiltshire. But no politics tomorrow since I've been inveigled into taking my teenage daughter to the Live Earth Pop Concert at Wembley Stadium.