Sarah's bulletin: 22 June 2010

Dear friends,

Apologies that this bulletin has been delayed from last Friday due to some gremlins, but that means it is arriving in your inboxes just before...

The budget

Of course no LibDem is looking forward to this and we have to grit our teeth. As Nick Clegg says:

"It will be a difficult budget - but remember, as you hear it, why we have to do this. Labour left our country with a mountain of debt. Every minute that goes by the government spends a staggering £80,000 on interest, that's over £800 million a week. If we don't take action now, the markets will force us into even more drastic measures as they have in Greece and Spain."

"Without action on the deficit, we will carry on racking up unaffordable debts our children will have to pay off. We will carry on spending more money on debt interest than we do on our schools. And we will undermine the economic growth needed to create jobs and opportunities for all of us. There is nothing fair, liberal or progressive about any of that."

"We have taken the difficult decisions with care, and with fairness at their heart. You will see the stamp of our Liberal Democrat values in [the] Budget. But nonetheless, it will be controversial. This is one of the hardest things we will ever have to do, but I assure you, the alternative is worse: rising debts, higher interest rates, less growth and fewer opportunities."

Language rights legislation a reality!

After that, some more obviously good news! Last week was a big week for me - the law on rights to interpretation and translation in police questioning and trials which I have been working on for months was passed by the European Parliament, so now it becomes law. As I've mentioned before I was the European Parliament's 'rapporteur' or spokesperson on this legislation and led our negotiations with the governments in the Council.

After a lively debate (you can read my speeches here) the law was passed with a whopping 637 votes in favour, and only 21 votes against and 19 abstentions. It was a near unanimous approval of the directive - something I was rather chuffed about, as that doesn't come often in the European Parliament! -- and I have even been told by some (although I must say have not checked this myself) that it's the biggest European Parliament majority ever seen for a piece of EU law!

The significance is that this is the first piece of EU law on suspects and defendants rights. It will apply not only to those extradited to another EU country under a European Arrest Warrant but also to anyone arrested abroad in Europe when on holiday, supporting a football team, or with work. As a patron of Fair Trials International and as an MEP involved in justice matters, I am all too conscious of the scandal of people getting documents and questioning in a language they don't understand

It was a busy week press-wise on this issue. I appeared on last week's BBC Parliament 'The Record: Europe' (broadcast on BBC Parliament, BBC News Channel and BBC World over the weekend - you can also watch it online here) and did an interview for Quadrant's European Parliament radio reports (which you can download here). I also wrote a letter to European Voice applauding the Spanish Presidency for its work and did an interview with the European Parliament's press service.

As well as the press releases I did which you can read by clicking on the links below, the story was picked up by The Parliament Magazine, Euractiv and international online news website The Global Herald.

Food labelling: 'traffic lights' and other matters

Good and bad news from the European Parliament on food labelling last week: in an extremely complicated set of votes that took almost an hour to complete, I am pleased to report that MEPs voted in favour of new transparency on country of origin labelling, but less thrilled that a majority rejected the 'traffic light' red-amber-green labelling system for nutritional value which I supported for its simplicity. At least new "provenance" labels for meat, dairy products, fruit and vegetables will mean an end to the food industry packing Danish-bred pork sausages in Britain - or chicken pieces from anywhere in the world - and calling them "British". Not that I have anything against foreign produce, but I believe in the right to choose, whether for food miles, animal welfare or patriotic reasons.

David Gray doctor struck off UK medical register

An update on the case of David Gray, the Cambridgeshire man who died after a German out-of-hours doctor Daniel Ubani injected him with a fatal overdose of painkiller. Mr Ubani has been banned by the General Medical Council from ever practising again in the UK. This isn't much consolation for the Gray family - or indeed for Dr Ubani's patients over in Germany where he continues to practise - but it is at least something. I was shocked to see last night on the TV news that David Gray's sons Stuart and Rory, with whom I have been working to get justice in this case, were arrested in Germany yesterday when they tried to question Mr Ubani who was speaking at a conference. I will continue to pursue the injustice whereby Germany ignored a British European Arrest Warrant, 'punished' Ubani with only a suspended sentence and allowed him to go on treating patients as if nothing had happened.

The Saville Bloody Sunday inquiry

Last week saw the release in the UK of Lord Saville's inquiry into bloody Sunday, where 13 unarmed civilians were killed in cold blood by the British army in Londonderry back in 1972, a terrible act of brutality. Cameron's unreserved apology was refreshing and together with the facts uncovered by the inquiry will contribute to the process of 'truth and reconciliation'.

In that context I was interested to learn last week from Irish MEP Sean Kelly MEP that the European Union was in fact the biggest contributor to the "International fund for Ireland" that finances cross-community projects to bring the two sides together in Northern Ireland. The United States, Canada and Australia also contributed, but 57% was apparently EU funding.

Israel, Turkey and Gaza flotilla

You can read my comments in the European Parliament here; I also appeared on Irish channel RTE and was interviewed by Turkish Newspaper Cumhuriyet. I hope the same clarity, truth and accountability - though not the same 12-year duration - will prevail in the Israeli inquiry into the chain of events that led to the deaths of nine Turkish men and women and many injuries aboard a flotilla of ships off the coast of Gaza. I am not one of those rushing to judgment on a precise attribution of responsibility as I want to see a thorough investigation and I do not believe is a one-sided affair; I will include in this Friday's bulletin an article I am writing for another paper.

World refugee Day

Last week was refugee week here in the UK, culminating on Sunday in World Refugee Day (and last Monday was the 25th anniversary of the Schengen agreement, allowing freedom of movement within the EU!). All sorts of cultural events have been going on to deplore the plight but also celebrate the contribution of refugees and asylum seekers in Britain. And indeed there was something to celebrate, with the publication of a rare survey that surprisingly found that most feel welcomed by the average Briton. I am glad the British still hold onto their age-old tradition of welcoming asylum seekers! You can read more of my comments here, and can listen to a radio interview I did about this for London-based Colourful Radio's breakfast show last Thursday here.

Re-election as Council member of Liberty

I am pleased to say that I was last weekend re-elected as a council member of leading human rights campaigning NGO Liberty. I have been a council member of Liberty six years now, and look forward to 2 more years of working together in the defence of fundamental rights, especially now that with the new coalition government civil liberties should once again gain the respect they deserve in the UK policy debate.

70th anniversary of Charles De Gaulle's London broadcast and Churchill's finest hour speech

Seventy years ago Charles de Gaulle delivered his radio broadcast from London to encourage the French to rise up and fight the Nazis, while on the same day Winston Churchill delivered his "finest hour" speech to the House of Commons. Timothy Garton Ash wrote this excellent comment piece which I encourage you all to read in the Guardian, describing just how much Churchill and De Gaulle have shaped their countries' history since WWII, and what Sarkozy and Cameron have to learn from them. I know this is stretching it rather, but I like to think that in some (small!) way the EU began in London all those years ago when the British cabinet unsuccessfully proposed a radical union of Britain and France...

The EU's accession to the European Convention on Human Rights

I have mentioned this in previous bulletins, but just wanted to add that I am very pleased that Justice Secretary Ken Clarke approved the mandate for negotiations for the EU's accession to the European Convention on Human Rights. He must have accepted the main argument for it, which is that accession to the ECHR will afford citizens protection against the action of the Union similar to that which they already enjoy against action by all the Member States; all the more relevant because the Member States have now transferred substantial powers to the Union.

Burmese democracy and Aung San Suu Kyi's 65th birthday

It was Aung San Suu Kyi's 65th birthday this Saturday, which was celebrated simultaneously all over the world - including the Yangon home of one of her colleagues, but sadly she herself did not have the opportunity to attend any of her birthday parties, still being under house arrest. The Burmese pro-democracy community sprung into action and both President Obama and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called for her release. Suu Kyi's NLD party is a sister party of the Liberal Democrats, who are steadfast in their support of the Nobel laureate, but the ruling junta shows no inclination to set her free any time soon...

Clegg's languages a boost to Britain's foreign policy

Many of you will have been made aware now that Nick Clegg is fluent in five European languages - English, French, Dutch, Spanish and German - something we internationalist liberals cite with much pride. Well, his language abilities are now being put to excellent use improving our relationships with Spain, Germany and France. See this Times story and the Guardian's report to see just how much good this is doing!

Best regards,

Sarah Ludford

CORRECTION:

Please note that the reference to ritually slaughtered (halal and kosher) meat in the item originally included on food labelling should have read as follows:

"I opposed a proposal to require all halal and kosher meat that has been ritually slaughtered according to Muslim and Jewish rites to be labelled as such. The rationale was said to be that if the meat is distributed in the general market, consumers need to know that such meat has not been pre-stunned. I am not convinced that this apparent 'solution' is a good and sensible one. Some of my objections are: that there is a risk of stigmatising such meat, and the religious communities which practice such methods; that the implication might be conveyed that all supposedly pre-stunned animals die without any welfare concerns; that one-dimensional labelling of only ritually slaughtered meat would not distinguish between different forms of stunning of other meat; that it might in practice prejudice the very continuation of ritual slaughtering. I have often pointed out that, though not religious myself, I respect others' religious faith. I do believe the EU needs to reflect very carefully on this aspect of a labelling regime."