Letter from the European Parliament, Friday 3 April 2009

Published on Fri 3rd Apr 2009

While I was in Bulgaria on Monday addressing conferences of our two member parties there (both in government), news came out of Prague of agreement among our foreign ministers to invite Belarus to the EU's eastern neighbours partnership summit on 7 May, but not to receive President Lukashenko himself. Belarus is the only European country still to execute its citizens in peacetime; there is no media freedom to speak of and little political freedom. And none of our Leaders wishes to be photographed alongside its dictatorial President.

In Brussels the following day the EP hosted a cross-party conference on Belarus attended by some of the country's opposition leaders, journalists and other representatives of civil society. I urged them to redouble their efforts to make sure the country does not fall further under the sway of Putin's Russia. We debated with Council and Commission on Wednesday the proposed new EU-Russia partnership (on the basis of a report piloted through the foreign affairs committee by my Polish Liberal colleague Janusz Onyskiewicz MEP) and I had a sharp exchange of words with the Socialists, who have gone soft on their criticism of Russia's very poor human rights record. (My speech can be found in text or video recording on www.europarl.europa.eu. Or see page 7 of this document)

The signs for EU-Russia relations are not propitious: last week Russia objected to EU talks with the Ukraine aimed at modernising the gas transit system, threatening to reduce supplies unless they can approve the plans; and on the day of our debate Gazprom announced a contract to buy all 16 billion cubic metres per annum of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field's gas output from 2010, meaning that the EU's proposed new Nabucco pipeline will have nothing to feed it.

On Tuesday evening I met Howard Dean, leading US Democrat and Obama campaign manager, to discuss the new US administration and to pick his brains about his 50-state campaign strategy; this is the kind of thing we'll need in Europe if we ever have truly 'Europe-wide' EP election campaigns. I enjoyed supper with the UK's EU Commissioner Cathy Ashton, who is a long-standing acquaintance and who is making a much better fist of the trade portfolio than her predecessor Peter Mandelson.

On Thursday parliament voted to approve at first reading the new comprehensive EU anti-discrimination directive, which my Group succeeded in persuading the Commission to propose (who says Parliament cannot initiate legislation?). This means we can give it a second reading early in the next parliament.

I convened a meeting of the Welsh and SW England representatives in Brussels together with Jill Evans MEP (Plaid Cymru) and a representative of the company concerned to discuss a proposal for new ferry services between Ilfracombe and Swansea and Minehead and Cardiff, starting next year. We need a small amount of public money to build pier and jetty facilities and set up integrated transport links and Jill and I are determined to get EU funding for them.

I flew home to Bristol yesterday as the G20 summit got underway in London. I intend going nowhere near it. This morning I start a week's Easter break with my family. I'll write again in a fortnight's time.

Ps. I am still quite a long way short of raising the funds I need to secure re-election in June. If you can help, please send a cheque payable to South West England Liberal Democrats to me at Bagehot's Foundry, Beard's Yard, Langport, Somerset TA10 9PS. Thanks.