Home What's New Speeches & Articles Newsletter - Apr 2008 Biography Diary Contact Information Photo Album Parliamentary Highlights Publications Links MEPs' Transparency   Conservative Party Latest News from Conservatives.com Conservative Party Website
		Parliamentary Highlights This is for people who want more information on actual reports/legislation going through the Parliament. Summary of March Strasbourg Session (11-14 March 2002) Vitamins Directive - on Wednesday (13-03-02) Conservative MEPs won a three-year reprieve from a directive imposing new regulations on food supplements which threatened over 300 products currently legally and safely on sale in Britain. Despite opposition from Labour Members, the EP backed an amendment giving small companies three years, rather than 18 months, to comply with new safety assessments. Conservatives pledged to work at ensuring these assessments will be conducted as openly, quickly and cheaply as possible, so there is every chance that the products familiar to British consumers will remain available. Noise Directive - on Wednesday (13-03-02) Conservative MEPs also won cross-party support for a reprieve for pubs, night-clubs and orchestras from the proposed new Noise Directive. An amendment to exempt music altogether from the Directive and an amendment to allow exposure to noise to be averaged over a week were both passed. Without weekly averaging, measuring high noise levels at any single point in time would have made life impossible for many businesses; small manufacturers especially would have faced the risk of closure. Labour MEPs voted for many other provisions in the directive that will pile ever-more red tape on small firms - against the advice of their own Government and the Health and Safety Executive. Accounting standards - on Tuesday (12-03-02) The EP approved the Inglewood report which puts in place a regulation obliging European firms to switch to new accounting standards - set by the London-based International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) - by 2005 in most cases, and 2007 in all cases. The regulation will help ensure the accounts of European-listed companies are transparent, truthful and comparable across the EU and help prevent Enron-style collapses of companies based in the EU. Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) At a meeting of the FMD committee this week, Conservative MEPs stressed that the planned visits to the UK by the committee should be to meet those directly affected by the impact of the disease, such as farmers, livestock auctioneers and hoteliers. The committee will visit Cumbria, Wales, Northumberland and the West Country in April and June. Conservatives also welcomed the news that Nick Brown, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food during the epidemic, agreed to give evidence to the committee on 26 March. Steel - on Wednesday (13-03-02) The EP debated US steel tariffs. Conservative MEPs condemned the Labour Government over its dealings with Lakshmi Mittal and pointed out that his £125,000 donation to the Labour Party removes all credibility from any Labour claims to be capable of looking after the interests of British and European steel workers. Conservatives pledged to support Commissioner Lamy in his challenge to the US tariffs through the WTO and backed measured retaliation. Vibrations - on Wednesday (13-03-02) The Conciliation Committee agreed a final text of the Vibrations Directive. Conservatives welcomed agreement that farmers and foresters will be exempt from the directive until 2014 and that Socialist-proposed amendments that would have forced tractor drivers to dismount after only two hours would be dropped. But they deplored the fact that, without any quantified scientific evidence linking vibration to back pain, the Directive will still limit likely driving hours to seven which, at harvest-time especially, is completely unrealistic. Financial services - on Thursday (14-03-02) The EP approved three key directives: on prospectuses, market abuse and financial conglomerates. Conservatives welcomed the radical changes the EP made to the prospectus directive which involved rejecting many costly and unnecessary measures, such as a compulsory annual update of all prospectuses. But they condemned the outcome of the vote on the market abuse directive (MAD) with which, despite some improvement, serious problems remain: the wide definition of market abuse would criminalise innocent conduct that has the effect of distorting the market, even where this was not intended, and the directive retains provisions that would impose a whole range of costly and bureaucratic requirements on financial firms. Postal services - on Wednesday (13-03-02) The EP approved the common position on the directive on further liberalisation of EU postal services. This will open markets as follows: 100g and three times the basic tariff as of 1 January 2003; and to 50g and two and a half times the basic tariff as of 1 January 2006. The Commission will submit a report on the effects of the directive every two years (the first one no later than 31 December 2004) about developments in the sector, particularly economic, social, employment and technological aspects, as well as the quality of service. Energy liberalisation - on Wednesday (13-03-02) The EP approved two directives on the completion of the internal market in electricity and natural gas and common rules for cross-border exchanges of energy. Tobacco subsidies - on Thursday (14-03-02) The EP approved a report on a draft regulation setting premiums and quotas for leaf tobacco for the years 2002-2004. Through this regulation, the Commission is attempting to begin phasing out subsidies to tobacco growers. Conservative MEPs welcome this, although would like the phasing out to go further and faster. The EP however, took the opposite view and seeks to postpone the phasing out of these subsidies. All the main UK parties voted against the report. The Queen - on Wednesday (13-03-02) 14 of the 25 Labour Members present for a vote on a report on "Women and fundamentalism" approved an amendment stating that: "the separation of church and state [is] the most acceptable form of government in a democratic society" and calling on Member States to "retain their secular character, ensuring a complete division of responsibilities between Church and State." Conservative MEPs condemned this attack on the constitutional position of the Queen in England and Wales.