European Parliament TTIP vote cancelled because of huge public pressure say Green MEPs

In unusual circumstances, the planned vote in the European Parliament on TTIP tomorrow (The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) – an EU-US trade deal currently being negotiated, has been cancelled.

The official line from the Parliament is that because more than 200 amendments were tabled the vote should be postponed to enable the Trade Committee to consider the amendments before tabling them for a future plenary session.

The controversial deal seeks to remove standards and protections that are currently enshrined in laws across the EU and US. Examples of these regulations include labour rights that protect people at work, environmental regulations and food safety laws.

Included in the agreement is a clause called the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) which many MEPs have warned would allow corporations to sue Governments in secret courts if a Government passed laws which limited a corporation’s profits or activity. 

More than 2 million EU citizens have signed a petition against the deal.

Keith Taylor, Green MEP for South East England, said:

The decision to cancel the vote on TTIP stinks of political parties in the European Parliament running scared of the huge public opposition to TTIP.

TTIP represents a monumental power grab by corporations and it must be stopped in its tracks.

Molly Scott Cato, Green MEP for South West England said:

This attempt to remove the right of all MEPs to vote on this very important report on TTIP is nothing short of a scandal. Thousands of constituents have emailed me today and I will not be cheated of my right to represent their will to oppose ISDS and the undermining of European protection of environments and animal welfare.

Jean Lambert: Ongoing EU-funded search & rescue programme needed in the Mediterranean

A ten-point action plan has been revealed by the European Union in the wake of large-scale loss of life in The Mediterranean, promising to both increase control as well as rescue operations. The European Commission said the plan, approved by EU Foreign and Interior ministers at an emergency meeting in Luxembourg, will be presented at a summit today, Thursday the 23rd. Commenting, Jean Lambert, Green MEP for London said:

It could not be clearer that immediate action is needed to prevent further loss of life. We need an ongoing EU-funded programme for search and rescue of refugees because individual governments can no longer cry crocodile tears while at the same time refusing to support rescue missions. We must of course work to combat despicable smugglers, but acknowledge that desperate people take desperate measures. What worries me about this plan is the focus on smugglers and on return programmes. It looks as if we are just pandering to fears instead of really getting to the root of the problem.

No-one should be fooled, FRONTEX is border control, not a rescue operation. Unless Libya and Syria can experience prolonged stability people will continue to do what they have always done throughout history: try and reach safety. While the EU is not above criticism, it is our own Government that decides the level of support for the Italian Government.

The European Parliament will have a co-decision role on any proposal to adapt the EU budget, and Greens call on all political groups to consider this in the ongoing negotiations on the 2016 EU budget and put pressure on the European Commission and EU governments.

Next week the plenary agenda of Parliament in Strasbourg will include a formal  Oral Question ( for which Jean was a co-signatory) with Council and Commission statements on the situation, Jean concluded:

We need a common European approach based on solidarity and humanity. The overwhelming majority of refugees are not in the EU: if Germany had the same proportion of refugees as Lebanon, there would be more than 20 million to support. The real crisis here is for those seeking sanctuary, not for the EU.

Greens call for more regulation of tobacco industry that 'profits from death'

In the face of mass-lobbying by the tobacco industry Greens in the European Parliament are set to vote in favour of protecting people’s health by increasing the regulation of smoking.

Keith Taylor, the Green Party MEP for the South East, is backing Cancer Research UK in calling for strong regulation of tobacco products.

The European Parliament will vote next week on the Tobacco Products Directive. Proposals supported by Mr Taylor include increasing the size of health warnings on tobacco products and banning flavoured cigarettes.

Mr Taylor said:

Next week I’ll be joining my fellow Greens in the European Parliament in taking decisive action to protect people’s health.

I’ll be voting to protect young people from products aimed at enticing them to begin smoking.

The tobacco companies lobbying against this piece of legislation are shamelessly trying to protect their profits by blocking new rules that will prolong the lives of thousands of people.

In the UK 80% of smokers start by the age of 19 and more than 207,000 children, some as young as 11-years-old, start smoking.

We have a duty to protect the most vulnerable - our children in the UK and right across Europe - from the dangers of tobacco, which causes debilitating disease, costs economies millions in healthcare and lost labour, and continues to kill 100,000 people in the UK alone every year. 86% of lung cancers are a result of tobacco use.

Mr Taylor went on to say:

It’s no surprise that a quick look into the people behind pro-smoking campaigns shows that they are funded by the tobacco industry. ‘No, Thank EU’ for example is a front for the shadowy lobbying firm ‘Forest’ which is mostly funded by the tobacco industry.[2]

I hope that MEPs from the other political parties follow Greens in rejecting the desperate crowing of the tobacco lobby by voting for increased regulation of this industry that profits from death.

1)      http://www.forestonline.org/about/faq/

CONSUMING TO DESTRUCTION

Dr Shahrar Ali, Green Party candidate for the European Parliament London region said,"The government may be busy congratulating itself for facilitating consensus at the G20 summit. But there has been wanton disregard of the climate change emergency."

"By ignoring the systemic causes of financial instability and promoting economic growth at all costs, the G20 leaders unwittingly conspire to bring the devastating harms of climate change ever closer."

Dr Ali continued, "The recent film Age of Stupid showed just how oblivious go-getting entrepreneurs could be to the unsustainability of their actions. Just see how the managing director of a low cost airline could have his supposed moral purpose coloured by the prospect of a fast buck."

"No, G20. Until or unless the cost to the earth is factored into the economic equation, through the promotion of sustainable green industry and a rejection of over consumption, there can be little cause for celebration."