Responding to Lord Lawson’s call for the UK to leave the European Union Fiona Hall MEP, the leader of the Liberal Democrat delegation in the European parliament, commented:

 “It is absurd to suggest that we must somehow choose between trade with Europe and with the rest of the world. We are on the cusp of a game-changing trade deal between the EU and the US, worth billions of pounds to the British economy, and major trade agreements with India and Japan are also in the pipeline. To leave the EU now would be ridiculous. We would be turning our back to the global economy and jeopardising crucial trade and investment.”

“Moreover, the single market remains vital to jobs and growth in the UK. We continue to export more to the Netherlands than to China, Brazil, Russia and India combined, while 87% of small business exporters rely on trade with the EU. Just as we are finally beginning to emerge from a historic recession, it would be madness to gamble with our economic future by pulling out of the world’s largest trading bloc. Nigel Lawson got it wrong on the economy, wrong on climate change, and wrong on Europe. David Cameron should listen to the voice of British business, which overwhelmingly supports EU membership, not the voice of a Tory dinosaur who is unwilling to face up to the modern world.”

Lib Dem MEPs today called on all European political as well as national parties to include an election manifesto commitment to a Single Seat for the European parliament.

Speaking after a public hearing in the European Parliament in Brussels, senior Lib Dem MEP Edward McMillan-Scott, co-chair of the cross-party, pro-European, pro-democracy Single Seat campaign, commented: 

“A supermajority of MEPs now believe that the European Parliament needs a Single Seat, to save money, reduce our carbon footprint and enhance our capacity to hold other institutions to account.

“The campaigns leading to the May 2014 European election are the opportunity to test political commitment and public opinion across Europe for a logical rationalisation of our business.”

“The UK Coalition Agreement includes the pledge to press for the European Parliament to have only one seat, in Brussels. Liberal Democrats are at the forefront of the campaign for a more effective European Parliament that has the power to decide where and when it meets – in one place, to serve our constituents better and to cut costs.”

“Only public pressure can change the mindsets of political leaders across Europe. A year away from the Europe elections, we request citizens to ask their governments to back common sense and write to their heads of government asking for a Single Seat.”

In February, Liberal leaders meeting in Amsterdam, including the UK’s Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg MP, endorsed a political statement calling for EU institutional reform stating: “EU leaders and institutions should explore and set out priorities for EU-wide institutional reforms, including reviewing the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of existing agencies and institutions, options to move to a Single Seat for the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers in Brussels…”

Note to editors:

- Full information from the hearing (including the video recording) can be obtained here: http://go.alde.eu/events

- See the cross-party Single Seat campaign’s new pamphlet here.

Picture shows Matthias Groote MEP, Chair of the Environment Committee of the European Parliament (left) with Chris Davies MEP (right) and Bill the Cod.

The Irish Presidency will this evening be accused of deceiving MEPs over an issue key to reform Europe’s Common Fisheries Policy.

The preparation of long term management plans for every fishery is seen as crucial to the rebuilding of depleted fish stocks.

But since 2009, EU governments have blocked negotiations on their preparation in an argument with the European Parliament over the terms of the Lisbon Treaty.

Ministers say that governments have the right to set annual quotas, but MEPs say the treaty gives them the power to set guidelines.

MEPs argue that the Ministers have in the past been responsible for allowing over-fishing and the decline in stocks.

Chris Davies, a British MEP who founded the cross-party Fish for the Future group, has been amongst those pressing for negotiations.

He claims that the promises by Minister Simon Coveney to engage with the Parliament on the issue have not been kept.

Ahead of tonight’s debate he said:

“It’s bad that we have had only finer words but no action from the Irish Presidency.  It’s worse that assurances have been given only to be broken.

 “The Irish Presidency should take a lead and get us around the table.”

Senior UK Liberal Democrat MEP George Lyon today called on the European Parliament to scrap planned budget increases ahead of the next series of votes on EU spending in 2014.

Mr Lyon, a vice chair of the EU Budget Committee, has tabled amendments that, if implemented, would see the one off costs of funding the European election absorbed within a real-terms budget freeze.

Commenting, Mr Lyon said:

“At a time when finances are tight it is only right that the European Parliament exercise the same restraint as families and businesses across theUKwho are working hard to balance the books.

“The fact that we have already been able to cut travel costs and freeze allowances is welcome but it is clear that there is more work that needs to be done.

“Our priority has to be working for a stronger economy and a fairer society and helping people to get on in life. We need to be investing in jobs and growth and therefore it is essential that the one off costs of funding the European election is absorbed within a real terms freeze in the Parliament’s budget.

“This is not a party political issue and I would hope that MEPs from all parties will back my amendments.”

MEPs in Strasbourg today narrowly (334-315) rejected a proposal by the European Commission to delay the auctioning of greenhouse gas allowances to avoid a further drop in the price of carbon. The European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) was originally introduced to incentivise investments in low carbon technologies by putting a price on polluting greenhouse gas emissions.

UK Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies, the environment spokesman for the Liberal Democrat (ALDE) group in the European Parliament, commented after the vote:

“MEPs have turned their back on the future. 

“Conservative MEPs determined the outcome and showed their contempt both for the needs of British industry and the climate change policies of the coalition government.

“Concern about the dire financial situation faced by many countries has taken precedence over the desire for Europe to develop new low carbon technologies. 

“By refusing to endorse the Commission’s proposals I fear that MEPs have betrayed Europe’s long term economic interests.”

The leader of the Lib Dem delegation in the European parliament and European energy spokesperson, Fiona Hall MEP, added:

“British Tory MEPs must be held to account for wrecking the EU emissions trading scheme. Their votes to reject the Commission’s proposals have pulled the rug from underneath new green technology and jobs and undermined efforts to get a global climate change agreement.

“At the point where China and the US are getting serious about tackling climate change and countries around the globe are introducing their own emission reduction schemes it goes completely against common sense for the EU to effectively abandon its own initiative instead of working to improve it.

The Commission proposals have now been referred back to the Environment Committee. The Commission has said it will ‘reflect’ upon the decision.

Carbon prices in the UK leave UK manufacturers paying more for their electricity than their EU competitors and the EU plans would have reduced that gap.

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

The following 16 out of 27 Conservative MEPs co-signed the Kohola amendment to reject the ETS backloading proposal: Callanan, Girling, Yannakoudakis, Kirkhope,Chichester, Fox, Foster, Ford, Hannan, Campbell Bannerman, Bradbourn, Andreasen, McClarkin, Ashworth, Tannoch, Macintyre.

For further information on last ditch attempts to convince Conservative MEPs to vote in favour of the proposals:

 http://www.euractiv.com/uk-europe/ex-tory-ministers-maggie-wanted-news-519122?utm_source=EurActiv%20Newsletter&utm_campaign=24fc08028f-newsletter_daily_update&utm_medium=email

Sharon Bowles MEP, Chair of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, today welcomed the vote in favour of the Capital Requirements Directive and Regulation, which implements Basel III – the international accord which sets global standards for banks – into EU law. 

While in recent weeks the hotly politicised subject of capping bankers’ bonuses has dominated the headlines this measure is in fact part of a much larger raft of legislation which will increase banks’ resilience to future financial crises by requiring them to have higher capital buffers to absorb losses and hold more easy-to-sell liquid assets. In addition, the regulation and directive introduce various other measures to strengthen corporate governance and transparency, and encourage growth and lending to the real economy in the EU.

Sharon Bowles MEP said:

“After more than thirty rounds of negotiations, this agreement will make our banking sector more resilient and brings us in line with international standards.

“Europe applies these rules to all banks, not just the big ones like in the US, so the rules are more complex and take account of the range of smaller banks and varying business models.

Encouraging banks to lend:

“Helping banks to lend to small businesses and incentivising trade finance will be key to securing Europe’s recovery. With growth scarce, it is the wrong time to treat trade unfavourably and so we have recognised the lower risk of short term trade finance loans that are underpinned by the traded goods and services.

National flexibility:

“Within an EU framework we have also retained flexibility for countries to impose stricter requirements on banks to address bubbles in the economy such as the housing market and enable ring-fencing of retail operations.

Bonuses:

“The bonus cap inevitably takes the limelight – realignment of the pay/bonus ratio to reasonable proportions reduces perverse incentives to risky behaviour even if total pay stays the same.

“It should be remembered that banks have a monopoly on liquidity and lending, both of which are ultimately provided at public expense. For this reason I do not think it is appropriate to roll out the same bonus cap across all financial services legislation.

Transparency:

“When it comes to transparency we will get to find out which banks pay their fair share of tax and where. In times of austerity paying your fair share of tax is imperative. Banks are at the core of the economy – which is symbolic – and the march into all sectors has begun.

“Light will now be shed on what is pledged to whom through enhanced disclosures of repo transactions and asset encumbrance.

“Authorities will now also be required to check an EU-wide bankers blacklist to see if bankers have been sanctioned for misbehaviour in the past.”

UK Liberal Democrat MEP George Lyon has today warned that addressing the horse meat scandal will require an EU-wide solution.

Mr Lyon, a member of the EU Agriculture Committee, was commenting after the EU Commission published the result of testing which found the presence of horse DNA in almost 5% of beef samples taken from across the continent. He said: 

‘What these test results underline clearly is that this is an EU-wide problem that demands an EU-wide solution.

‘Horse meat has not only been found on our supermarket shelves but in our schools and other parts of the public sector. Dressing up horse as beef on this scale amounts to massive consumer fraud and those implicated in the scandal need to be held to account.

‘People need to have confidence that they are getting the meat they are paying for during their weekly shop. We need to see urgent action to boost traceability across the continent and ensure that consumers are protected.’

Large oil, gas, diamond and logging companies will be obliged to disclose full information on all projects where payments to governmental authorities exceed a threshold of 100.000 Euros under new rules negotiated between MEPs and ministers from all 27 EU Member States last night.

The Leader of the Liberal Democrat delegation in the European Parliament, Fiona Hall MEP, who steered the legislation through the Development Committee and was a key MEP for the insertion of the county-by-country and project-by-project rule, commented:

“At last we have legislation in place which requires companies to publish what they pay. This marks a major step forward in the fight against corruption. Until now, many billions of euros every year have been siphoned off into private pockets instead of being spent on vital public services such as health and education.”

Sharon Bowles, who chairs the influential Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and authored several amendments to the proposed directives,
said:

“Multinational extractive companies can no longer get away with opacity as these new rules on country by country and project by project reporting will shine a light on the darkest corners of corporate activity in the developing world, to the benefit of civil society.

“The deal reached last night is an important first step on the road to commercial tax avoidance with mining and logging companies now having to own up, and pay up what they owe to other countries.

“I have been fighting for these kinds of disclosures since becoming an MEP, and have successfully campaigned for banks to report on a country level.”

Rebecca Taylor, the Liberal Democrat European spokesperson on legal affairs, said:

“We must now strive to achieve a global standard for all sectors, not just the industry sectors agreed last night. Local communities must be able to find out how much a company has paid their governments and fight for a fair share of profits and taxes.”

The new rules are part of the revised Accounting Directive and will ensure multinational extractive companies are more transparent in their accounting practices and will include:

• Mandatory financial reporting on a country and project level
• Mandatory reporting of any payment to a government over 100,000 EURO
• European Commission to look at extending reporting requirements to additional sectors within 3 years of the rules coming into effect

Ends

Note to editors:

The negotiated Accounting Directives seeks to improve transparency in financial reports from multinational companies making it a requirement for companies to publish in full any payments made to governments for each single country they operate in, also known as Country-by-Country Reporting.
The European Parliament and the Council will now have to adopt the negotiated texts separately before they can be signed into law.

Senior UK Liberal Democrat MEP Sharon Bowles has called for a Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry should the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) Hearing on 25 April not answer the many questions hanging over the Cyprus affair.

Sharon Bowles, who chairs the influential ECON Committee said:

“We will have an ECON Committee hearing on 25 April with the Troika and Mr Dijsselbloem, President of the Eurogroup to get to the bottom of the Cyprus bailout affair. If we find the answers insufficient the Liberal Group in the European Parliament will call for the immediate setting up of a Committee of Inquiry to report back at the latest before the summer recess.

“It is critical that we fully understand the events that led to the unfolding of such a disaster and why there have been misunderstandings and poor communication, given that these appear to have influenced the outcome.”

Ends

Note to editors:

For more information on the procedure of setting up a Committee of Inquiry, please see a blogpost from Lib Dem MEP Andrew Duff, the party’s European constitutional spokesperson.

http://andrewduff.blogactiv.eu/2013/04/09/a-committee-of-inquiry-into-the-handling-of-the-cyprus-bail-out/

The Government has been branded “beyond complacent” after it stalled on banning chemicals which could damage bees.

Catherine Bearder, a Lib Dem MEP for the South East of England, is backing calls to suspend the use of neonicotinoids amid fears of the impact on the bee population.

Members of the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee have demanded a moratorium on use of the chemicals.

However, the UK Government is still unconvinced and is asking the European Commission to launch a major study to settle the debate.

But Catherine said: “This is beyond complacent. Britain cannot continue to flap around on the issue. We all know how important bees are to our biodiversity.

“A host of experts are concerned about the impact of neonicotinoids and still the Government is dithering and wants more tests.

“Well, get conclusive results and prove them wrong, but until then surely the most sensible step is to err on the side of caution and introduce a temporary ban?”

Catherine has written to Owen Paterson, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), to urge the Government not to stall on the issue.

In January, she urged the UK to pay closer attention to what was sprayed in fields and coated on seeds.

Catherine added: “The Government should learn from previous mistakes. Remember dithering on tobacco in the face of evidence it caused cancer and dithering on CO2 emissions in the face of evidence that it caused climate change?

“When will they learn and act on evidence on bees before it is too late? Concerns have been raised about the potential impact of a ban on food production.

“But in the opinion of many of my constituents bees are too important to our crops and therefore our long term food supply, so why take the risk?”

The British Beekeepers Association estimated between 40,000 and 50,000 beehives in South East England.

ENDS

Notes:

1)       Catherine criticises lack of action and writes to DEFRA in March: http://bearder.eu/en/article/2013/671433/mep-criticises-delay-on-pesticide-ban
2)      Catherine calls for European Commission to act in January: http://bearder.eu/en/article/2013/654161/european-commission-stung-on-bee-health