Ralph Atkinson

Fisheries - letter: Wasteful fishing (Letter from Struan Stevenson MEP to The Scotsman, p. 28) "The fact that 40 per cent of the world's fishing catch is wasted, illegal, unregulated or unmonitored and that each year, we take 38 million tonnes of marine life from the sea and throw it back (your report, 15 April) demonstrates clearly the extent of the crisis in the fishing industry. To dump that volume is unforgivable and environmentally unsustainable. The best way for the EU to protect fish stocks would be to ban discards immediately, insisting that everything caught must be landed, so that a million tonnes of fish is not thrown back into Europe's seas"

Fish stock scandal (Letter from Struan Stevenson MEP to The Herald, Scotland, p. 16): "The best way for the EU to show it is serious about protecting fish stocks would be to ban discards immediately, insisting that everything caught must be landed, so that a million tonnes of fish is not thrown back into Europe's seas. Not only would a discards ban give scientists a clearer view of the state of fish stocks, it would enable fisheries managers to see where juvenile and immature fish are being caught and temporarily close those fishing grounds to allow such stocks to mature. In any case, at a time of economic crisis, when many families are struggling to buy food, it is morally unjustifiable to dump healthy fish dead into the sea"

France/Fishermen: Damages move after blockade (Journal, Newcastle, 16 Apr): "Richard Ashworth, Conservative Euro-MP for Kent, has urged French fishermen to halt their demonstration and allow services to resume. He said: "People across southern England will be thinking, 'Here we go again'. Every time the French blockade a port it makes our lives across south-east England miserable - that's why the French do it.""

Blockade wins sympathy of Scots (Press and Journal, Aberdeen, 16 Apr): "Scottish Tory MEP Struan Stevenson condemned the port blockade which has caused cross-channel travel chaos for a second day, but he admitted the fishermen had a genuine grievance. "There is some sympathy among UK and particularly Scottish fishermen because the annual European quota limits agreed by ministers last December have turned out to be a real problem", said the MEP. "Certainly the Scottish fishing fleet had a successful year last year but in some places this year's quotas have already run out - and some fishermen are being forced to trawl to the far north in unsuitably small boats"

· Treaty - letter: Resist federal flag waving (Letter from Giles Chichester MEP to Western Gazette, 16 Apr): "The foundations are being laid for the European Union to become a federal state, which will result in considerable controls over our social, economic and political life. I remain firmly opposed to all EU federalist proposals, for I believe that Britain should continue its membership of the EU as an independent sovereign state. Lib Dem and Labour MEPs do not, however, share this view. They welcome the signing by Gordon Brown of the Lisbon "constitution" Treaty and will adopt any federalist-inspired measure which would ensure that Britain is absorbed into a United States of Europe."

European elections · Scotland: Tommy to stand in EU poll (Daily Record, Scotland, p. 2): "Firebrand Tommy Sheridan will stand in June's Euro elections, it was confirmed last night. He will fight under the banner of the trade union-led No2EU campaign, which wants radical reform of the European Union. He will be second on their list in Scotland."

MEPs locally · Northern Ireland/Media: Ministers under fire over press freedom (Belfast Telegraph, 16 Apr): "MEP Jim Allister said the letter displayed the Executive's tendency to clamp down on any criticism, and he believed other newspapers in the province had also come under governmental pressure. “The Belfast Telegraph's criticisms of the Executive were all legitimate. When a newspaper highlights a Government's shortcomings there should be an attempt to address the issues and restore public confidence. Not write a letter of complaint to the proprietor,” he added."

EU news · Sarkozy: Sarky Sarko: French President sneers at Obama after he is edged out of spotlight (Times, p. 33): "The US President is weak, the Spanish leader is dim, the German Chancellor is clinging on to France’s coat-tails and the head of the European Commission is irrelevant. That, at any rate, is the world according to President Sarkozy, who has spent the week airing his unvarnished opinions of Barack Obama and an array of international politicians — abruptly ending France’s honeymoon with the US and needling Washington on several strategic issues." (Charles Bremner) - Also: Dim, callow, irrelevant - Sarko's verdict on fellow leaders (Guardian, p. 1 - Lizzy Davies) · France/Fishermen: Channel port blockades halted - for now (Mail, p. 17): "Boats moved away from the harbour entrances of Calais, Boulogne and Dunkirk after the fishermen accepted a promise of almost £4million in French government aid. But the European Union immediately indicated that the payment could be illegal. 'Direct government aid to prop up fishing operations is not permitted under trade laws,' said an EU spokesman. 'The European Commission intends to investigate the government offer of aid.'" (Peter Allen)-

UK-EU · France/blockade - comment: Storm in a French port (Telegraph leader, p. 21): "The free movement of services around the EU is supposed to be policed by the European Commission. Yet there has not been a word from them, either. In the past, France has managed to escape fines that were imposed for restraint of trade, notably when Paris refused to reopen its markets to British beef after the BSE scare. France must recognise there is a price to pay for allowing international waterways to be blockaded in this way."

UK relations with other member states French fishermen call off blockade...but warn: More chaos on the way (Express, p. 13): includes same quote from P&O, but also: "Haulier Rob Hollyman, of Youngs Container Transport Ltd, said: “...By allowing the fishermen to blockade the ports the French government has broken EU law about the free movement of goods and services. But our government and officials in Brussels are just too weak when it comes to taking on France.”" (Nick Fagge)

Sexism: Don't call a woman Miss says Brussels (The Sunday Post, Scotland, p. 1): "Conservative MEP Philip Bradbourn is calling on the Secretary General to reveal who authorised the publication of the booklet. He wants to know its estimated cost and details about its circulation. He described it as “a waste of taxpayers’ money” and “an erosion of the English language as we know it.”" (Adam Docherty).

Brussels ban is barmy (The Sunday Post, Scotland, p. 14): "If anyone in Beijing still yearns for the good old days of Mao's hard-line Communist regime, perhaps they should consider a move to Brussels. For if the latest piece of bureaucratic barminess to emanate from the European Parliament is anything to go by, the EU looks like becoming the inheritor of policies long abandoned by the modern Chinese leadership. (...) Now the EU is trying to impose the same grey conformity but using language rather than clothes. They've issued guidelines to their MEPs instructing them on how to use "gender-neutral" language. (...) The aim is that a woman's marital status, or even the fact that she is a woman at all, should never come into a conversation at the European Parliament. (...)"

Pollution: Pledge on pollution (Lincolnshire Echo, 14 Mar): "Hospital managers in Lincolnshire say they are prepared to respond to European plans to tighten controls on industrial pollution. The EU's Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directive seeks to put a new price on running boilers, which could affect about 70 hospitals nationwide...Conservative MEP Caroline Jackson said it means hospital boilers will be caught in the scheme."

Energy efficiency - comment (The Sunday Telegraph, p. 22): " The only reason why the Government couldn't abandon its crazy Home Improvement Packs was that their ridiculous Energy Performance Certificates are made compulsory by EU directive 2002/91 introduced to "combat climate change''. Doubtless the believers in global warming are quite happy to pay thousands of pounds a year for their faith. But for the rest of us this is all the most shameless excuse for stealing our money since they put a tax on windows." (Christopher Booker)

Taxes: Poverty - A new alms race to help the world's poor (The Observer Review Books, p. 26): "But the collapse in acceptable taxation occurs much closer to home. The European Union is the world's most serious and enduring experiment in internationally pooled taxation. Yet after 50 years, the EU tax rate is only around 1% of income. Even at that level, it has produced a backlash, as almost all of what the British pay in European taxation must be spent in the UK. European citizens accept high taxation because they see themselves as members of the same national societies, with a sense of common belonging that has built up over a long time. Singer attacks such sentiments of propinquity as selfish. I think he is wrong. The sense of concern for others that constitutes a nation is a precious asset that lifts us far beyond the parochial loyalties of family. Attacking it leads not to the universalism to which the author aspires, in which we identify equally with everyone on Earth, but to the retreat into charity-begins-at-home." (Paul Collier)

Euro

State of the euro: Cracks in the EURO (The Sunday Times Business, p. 5): "The economic downturn has exposed harsh differences between the European Union's members, with the stronger states likely to have to bail out their weaker neighbours (...) A handful of European countries are expected to need some form of bailout to repair their public finances, which have ballooned in the face of bank bailouts and a decade of consumerled growth. Ireland and Greece head the list, followed by Portugal and possibly Italy, Austria and Spain. If the euro is to hold itself together, it could fall to the stronger members, such as Germany, France and the Netherlands, to stump up the cash. (...) "The credibility of monetary union is at stake," said Jean-Claude Juncker, prime minister of Luxembourg, who heads the euro group of finance ministers, after revealing that expansion of the euro had been put on ice. (...)" (Iain Dey, David Smith)

Financial crisis: France and Germany reject Brown rescue plan (The Observer, p. 5): "Berlin and Paris are reluctant to go further, fearing the effects that an accumulation of debt across the EU could have on the credibility of the euro, whose members are supposed to keep spending and debt within strictly defined limits. Brown insisted that G20 countries had already agreed the "biggest fiscal stimulus in history" and said the need for more action would be kept under "review". He and the German chancellor had agreed on the need for tougher regulatory control of the financial markets and hedge funds - moves that he was confident Washington would also back." (Toby Helm and Heather Stewart).

Expense Allowance Abuse by MEPs	UKIP Nigel Farage - March, 2009 on the lack of democracy in the EU
Bob Spink MP (UKIP) - Conservatives are not being honest on Europe	NORTH AMERICAN UNION & RFID Chip TRUTH! Must SEE