Tag Archives: european commission

The Voice

Renew Europe sets criteria for Commissioner hearings

By The Voice | Thu 26th September 2019 - 8:20 am

Ahead of the hearings of the Commissioner Designates, the Renew Europe Group, of which Liberal Democrat MEPs are a part, has outlined a common approach to be followed in order to guarantee a fair, transparent and objective evaluation process.

The hearings are a vital process to ensure that the future College will be in the position to deliver on the commitment made by President-elect of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, before the Parliament and reflected in the mission letters given to each Commissioner.

Dacian Cioloș, President of Renew Europe Group, speaking in Strasbourg said:

We will analyse the future Commissioners on

…

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Mark Valladares

19 December 2018 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 19th December 2018 - 11:45 pm

As displacement activity, as opposed to actually doing something practical as the country careers towards a cliff-edge Brexit, arguing about whether or not Jeremy Corbyn called Theresa May “stupid woman”, or said “stupid Tories” or “stupid people” seems to hit the spot.

* deep sigh *

It’s so much more courteous down the corridor in the House of Lords…

And the Press Team are still hard at work…

  • Tory immigration plans would bring chaos, not control
  • Corbyn must apologise for PMQs remarks
  • Cable: EU planning reinforces PM must rule out no-deal

Tory immigration plans would bring chaos, not control

Responding to the Government’s immigration white paper, Liberal Democrat …

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The Voice

Lib Dem MEP Catherine Bearder on Lord Hill’s EU appointment: “A victory for British influence in Europe”

By The Voice | Wed 10th September 2014 - 4:00 pm

Catherine Bearder - Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC-BY-SA 3.0When David Cameron appointed Lord (Jonathan) Hill, an influential but anonymous Tory peer more used to operating in the background, the fear was he’d be sidelined by new European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker – especially after David Cameron’s attempt to veto Juncker’s candidacy. The portfolio for paper-clips (or trombones as they’d be known in Brussels) or some such. But, as ITV News reports:

In fact he’s been given one of the big economic jobs, and perhaps the one best suited to a UK Commissioner: financial services. Given London’s dominance and the EU’s known desire to clamp-down on everything from bonuses to a Financial Transaction Tax, this could hardly be better. It has long been the UK’s view that financial services regulation is best, where possible, left to the domestic regulator, and we can expect Lord Hill to take policy very much in that direction.

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Posted in Europe / International | Also tagged , and | 53 Comments
Catherine Bearder MEP

Catherine Bearder MEP writes…Working with the new European Commission

By Catherine Bearder MEP | Sat 19th July 2014 - 12:30 pm

Charlemagne is back in EuropeWhile the UK media has been focusing on Cameron’s cabinet reshuffle and what it means for the Tories’ 2015 election strategy, an even bigger shake-up has been taking place in the running of the European Union. A bit like during the Lib Dem European election campaign, the most frequently heard words this week in Brussels and Strasbourg have been “jobs, jobs, jobs”, and this time it is all about our own.

The last time we were in Strasbourg two weeks ago the Parliament sorted out who got what …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged and | 4 Comments
Antony Hook

Antony Hook asks… Juncker nominated as next President of the European Commission – What happens next?

By Antony Hook | Fri 27th June 2014 - 8:53 pm

EU flagToday the European Council nominated Jean-Claude Juncker to be the next President of the European Commission. The heads of government of the 28 states voted overwhelmingly for Juncker. Only the UK’s David Cameron (European Conservatives and Reformists) and Hungary’s Viktor Orban (European People’s Party) voted against.

Juncker’s nomination reflects not only the European People’s Party’s status as largest group in the Parliament but also that it supplies more of the states’ heads of government than any other party. The Council’s nominee will go before the Parliament in its plenary, 14-17 …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged , , , , and | 33 Comments
Matt McLaren

Opinion: What’s going on in Brussels? Nominations to the European Commission

By Matt McLaren | Tue 24th June 2014 - 3:00 pm

Charlemagne is back in EuropeFollowing on from my post last week on post-election developments in Brussels, here’s the second of two updates. Whilst yesterday’s focused on developments concerning the formation of political groups in the Parliament itself, today’s will address issues regarding nominations to the European Commission.

It now looks likely that at its meeting later this week (from 26th to 27th June), the European Council (made up of the Heads of Government from all 28 EU countries) will nominate the Parliament’s preferred candidate for the …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 26 Comments
Mark Valladares

European elections: vote Conservative, get Liberal?

By Mark Valladares | Thu 22nd May 2014 - 10:58 am

election day 2014It’s polling day here and, indeed, in the Netherlands, as four days of voting for the European Parliament kick off. And, just possibly, whilst the Liberal Democrats are predicted to suffer losses here in the United Kingdom, the groundwork for the appointment of a liberal as President of the European Commission might be being prepared.

Christopher Flores, writing in the EU Observer, explains how;

Should a left coalition be blocked, the left will likely rally around one candidate in hopes of salvaging the loss of the Parliament by being able

…

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 5 Comments
The Voice

Guy Verhofstadt joins fellow Commission presidency candidates for first TV debate

By The Voice | Thu 8th May 2014 - 3:03 pm

Guy Verhofstadt, former Belgian prime minister and Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party nominee for the presidency of the European Commission, joined the three other main contenders for the job — Jean-Claude Juncker (European People’s Party), Martin Schultz (Party of European Socialists) and Ska Keller (European Green Party) — for the first ever televised debate between Commission presidency candidates.

You can watch a video of the debate, which was hosted by Euro News, below:

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Henk van Klaveren

Fraser Nelson is wrong: Cameron’s supposed EU re-negotiation allies are set on a very different path

By Henk van Klaveren | Fri 28th March 2014 - 1:00 pm

european union starsLike so many Eurosceptics, Fraser Nelson was at it again this morning in the Telegraph: taking a couple of things they heard from foreign politicians and adding it all up to make something that matches exactly what they want: less Brussels.

Nelson was continuing his theme from the Spectator a couple of weeks ago, describing a Northern Alliance Cameron had been building to reform the European Union in his image. There is one problem with all that: it simply is not true.

In the UK, the Dutch are …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , and | 8 Comments
Andrew Warren

Opinion: European Commission is right to demand Ed Davey and the Coalition re-thinks on nuclear power

By Andrew Warren | Sun 23rd March 2014 - 2:30 pm

Shearon Harris Nuclear Plant - Some rights reserved by John O DyerIn October 2013, Lib Dem energy secretary Ed Davey set out his arguments for reversing his long-held antipathy to nuclear power. On behalf of the Coalition, he is applying to the European Commission to ensure that the measures he is promoting – to ensure construction of the first new nuclear power station in the UK for a generation – are compatible with the Single Market.

But now the Competition Directorate of the European Commission has sent a 70-page rebuttal to the UK Government, completely rejecting its arguments for subsidising the building of the Hinckley B nuclear power station in Somerset.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 41 Comments
Mark Valladares

ALDE to select candidate for president of the European Commission

By Mark Valladares | Sun 15th December 2013 - 12:20 pm

The ALDE Party has called an extraordinary Electoral Congress to advise the ALDE Party Bureau to choose a candidate for the President of the European Commission. This congress will take place in the afternoon of the 1st February 2014, in Brussels. Liberal Democrats are the biggest delegation with the total of sixty-two votes.

There are only two declared candidates so far, Guy Verhofstadt, Leader of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament, and former Prime Minister of Belgium, and Olli Rehn, Vice President of the European Commission, and Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, a key portfolio over the past …

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Posted in Europe / International, Events and News | Also tagged | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

Gibraltar: Lib Dem MEP Graham Watson calls on EU Commission President to intervene

By Stephen Tall | Sat 17th August 2013 - 10:25 am

GibraltarSelf-determination — the right of nations to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or interference — is a pretty fundamental principle of international law.

It’s the basis on which British sovereignty in the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar is founded. 11 years ago, the people of Gibraltar were asked in a referendum if sovereignty of the territory should be shared between the UK and Spain: 98% said no.

So it’s little surprise that the past weeks’ sabre-rattling by a Spanish government desperate to distract …

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The Voice

What can be done about food waste?

By The Voice | Sun 4th August 2013 - 11:40 am

It is a little known fact that the European Union has a target for reducing food waste, aiming to reduce the 2011 level by half by 2020. Astonishingly, it was estimated that 89 million tonnes of food were wasted in 2011 across the European Union. As part of their efforts to reach their target, the European Commission have recently launched a public consultation on the subject.

In response, the House of Lords European Union Committee has launched an inquiry, seeking to establish a common understanding of the issue, identify and scrutinise proposed EU-level solutions, consider their implications and identify …

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Chris Davies

Chris Davies MEP writes…Britain betrayed

By Chris Davies | Wed 17th April 2013 - 9:03 am

European Union flagIt’s good to know who your friends are, and when it comes to combating climate change they don’t include Britain’s Conservative MEPs and their UKIP collaborators.  In a European Parliament vote yesterday they tipped the balance, securing the deferral and probable abandonment of attempts to ensure that the carbon market continues to function, and sending out a signal that the EU is no longer interested in promoting low carbon investments.

Europe’s emissions trading system is the largest in the world and is driving down CO2 emissions from power stations by …

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Joe Bourke

Opinion: Rock Salmon and Chips anyone?

By Joe Bourke | Tue 28th August 2012 - 1:30 pm

Fish and Chips

Before the rise in popularity of Indian curries, kebabs and Chinese take aways, battered fish and chips were considered the British national dish. Rock salmon was a staple – among the cheapest offerings in fish and chip shops around the country. However, demand for “rock salmon” devastated the shark’s population off the coasts of Britain and France, where the spiny dogfish is widely considered to be critically endangered.

The Common Fisheries Policy was introduced by the European Union in the 1970s to ensure a profitable and sustainable fishing industry – an objective in which it has completely failed.

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Chris Davies

Chris Davies MEP writes: Conservatives and climate change – Tuesday’s revealing vote in Strasbourg

By Chris Davies | Mon 4th July 2011 - 12:49 pm

While Energy Secretary Chris Huhne is at the fore of efforts in the European Council to raise EU ambitions for reducing CO2 emissions, Conservative MEPs are refusing to back the Government’s position, and look set this week instead to demonstrate their real views about efforts to curb global warming.

At issue is a vote due to take place in Strasbourg on Tuesday that will determine the Parliament’s stance on the European Commission’s strategy to promote a low carbon economy. The result is on a knife edge.

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Posted in Europe / International, News and Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , and | 21 Comments
Antonia Mochan

The Independent View: How do you know what to say about Europe?

By Antonia Mochan | Sat 8th January 2011 - 2:25 pm

Rightly or wrongly, the Liberal Democrats are as seen as the most pro-European of the three main political parties. The UK debate on the European Union is often framed in terms of “Europhiles v Eurosceptics”. However, it’s my experience, after 2 and a half years as the European Commission’s head of media in the UK, that most people don’t really have much of an opinion either way. They care about things that affect them personally, and probably don’t see the EU very present in their daily lives. European debates, either in the UK or at EU level, have a tendency …

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Posted in Europe / International, Op-eds and The Independent View | Also tagged | 11 Comments
Antony Hook

Opinion: dark Tory reasons surround Clegg for Commission idea

By Antony Hook | Thu 23rd December 2010 - 12:53 pm

The Sunday Times(£) has played echo for anonymous “Downing Street sources” briefing that “if it looks like he will lose his Sheffield Hallam seat, there will be an emergency exit strategy which could see him land one the big jobs in Brussels” namely becoming a Member of the Commission.

The “Downing Street source” behind this must not have Nick Clegg’s or the Liberal Democrats’ interests at heart. It feeds the narrative of “Nick Clegg under siege” of which “Nick Clegg may lose his seat” is the hyperbolic epitome.

Nick Clegg would be extremely well qualified for the Commission, although …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 24 Comments
Helen Duffett

Tories send advance party to reassure Brussels

By Helen Duffett | Mon 22nd February 2010 - 7:07 pm

The Telegraph reports that shadow Business Secretary Ken Clarke is going to Brussels tomorrow for “secret talks” with members of the European Commission:

Mr Clarke, who will be accompanied by Mark Prisk and John Penrose, junior shadow business ministers, is expected to seek concessions on financial and employment regulations during the meetings, which are not listed on the European Commission’s official diary.

Fiona Hall MEP, Leader of the European Liberal Democrats, said,

The question is what deal will he do? Will he sell out his own beliefs or those of his anti-European colleagues?

and suggested that such secret talks meant that “the …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged and | 3 Comments
Diana Wallis MEP

Opinion: The Member States should each propose one female and one male candidate for the next European Commission

By Diana Wallis MEP | Thu 19th March 2009 - 3:21 pm

Simone Veil’s historic address to the European Parliament on the subject of gender equality last week, thirty years after her election as the first President of the directly elected European Parliament prompted us to observe that the current college of European Commissioners (where only a third of whom are female) does not exactly shine in terms of gender balance. We believe that a further step is needed, drawing on the model of the European Court of Human Rights.

Judges at this court are elected from a shortlist of three candidates put forward by governments. Only lists containing at least …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged and | 9 Comments
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