News From Bill Newton Dunn MEP

2.46.00pm GMT Thu 11th Mar 2010

Bill Newton Dunn MEP in the European Parliament

The EU has a new Executive body in place - the Commission - which was voted into office in February by the parliament.

Initiatives are starting to emerge.

On Climate Change, the new Commissioner (who was the Danish Minister for the Environment and chaired the UN Copenhagen summit last December) has proposed how to reinvigorate world talks to deal with Climate Change. She proposes - rightly in my view - to raise the EU's own goals to cut back our emissions from 20% to 30% by 2020. The detailed document can be downloaded from the link at the bottom of the article if you would like to read it at

On the Economic financial crisis - mainly but not only in Greece - the creation of a European Monetary Fund is being discussed. The underlying problem is that the countries which chose to join the Euro-currency zone thus agreed to run their economies with German discipline and to give up the right to devalue their currencies. Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal promised to do that, did not, and are now suffering. The UK stayed out - both Conservative and Labour preferring to continue devaluing our currency.

Visit Brussels in April !

For anybody who would like to visit the parliament in Brussels, Julie Hirst is organising a group to come on 7th and 8th April. You can email her for details on julie_hirst2000@yahoo.co.uk

General Election ?

In Brussels, EU business will continue - because there is always an election somewhere among the EU's 27 member states

UKIP disgrace continues

Nigel Farage MEP has been fined about 3000 euros (the maximum possible under the rules) by the parliament's President for the insults he made to Belgium in the chamber last month and which he refused to withdraw. Yesterday another UKIP MEP, the Earl of Dartmouth, was ejected from the chamber for his language. In the previous parliament (2004-09) two UKIP MEPs were sent to prison in the UK.

All the best,

Bill ND

Related Link:

Climate Change Policy after Copenhagen .