Ireland: MEP Colm Burke campaigns in Waterford

MEP Colm Burke has issued the following statement:

In my recent campaign visit to Waterford jobs, jobs, jobs” was key message from people and also that the Government must apply for European funding for Waterford immediately. The message from the people of Waterford could not be clearer; Waterford has suffered more than most counties from the economic downturn. Many people I have met on the canvass are struggling to cope and are desperate for the Government to take a proactive lead in ensuring that Waterford receives its fair share of support and European funding.

I voted recently in the European Parliament to change the criteria under which applications can be made for the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund. It will now be easier for EU funds to be deployed to help laid off workers in Waterford Crystal and in downstream companies which have also been affected.

The Government must apply for monies from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund as a matter of urgency to deliver benefits for the laid off workers in Munster. The Government has no reason not to submit an application now. Any delay on the Government’s part will only further prolong the struggle being experienced by Waterford workers and their families.. There is also nothing preventing the Government from now putting mechanisms in place to prepare for the retraining and up skilling of those that have been made redundant.

Under the new rules, member states will be able to apply for financial support for businesses that lay off 500 or more workers, as opposed to the current threshold of 1,000.Over the next two years, the level of EU-provided financial support will increase to 75%, compared to the current 50%,. The ball is now in the Government’s court to proceed with an application. If it is successful the EU will provide €3 to match every euro the Government puts forward, up until now it was euro for euro.In real terms this should mean greater funding to help retrain and upskill and give entrepreneurial advice to workers laid off. It sends a strong message from the heart of Europe that funds are there to help those who, through no fault of their own, are affected by this crisis. Assistance of this kind is paramount so that those laid off can recover and drive Ireland out of recession.

Colm Burke MEP tackles problem of rogue doctors struck off the medical register in one member state of the EU, but who move elsewhere to practice

The problem of so-called rogue doctors - medical professionals who have been struck off the medical register in one member state of the EU, but who move elsewhere to practice - is being addressed by FG MEP Colm Burke in the European Parliament as co-author of the Cross-Border Healthcare report for the European Parliament's Internal Market Committee. Thankfully an integrated approach to this problem has begun to evolve.

Colm Burke states:

Addressing this crisis has been a high priority of mine since I became a Member of the European Parliament in 2007 and I have sought put an end to this problem by amending the Cross-border Healthcare Directive. This can be achieved by setting up an EU-wide medical registry, to prevent dodgy doctors and quacks from unscrupulously crossing borders to practice illegally. My amendment states in clear terms how this can be achieved, it is through focused legislative action at the EU level that we can tackle this crisis.

My amendment reads "There shall be an EU register of professional medical practitioners who have been struck off the medical register or are subject to restrictions or disciplinary procedures by the relevant authorities of any Member State in the EU." I have secured enough backing in the European Parliament to support this measure. This amendment should be voted through in May, and then we can start compiling an EU register of struck off doctors, so that Irish patients are not put at risk by being treated by these unscrupulous operators from other countries.

Video:Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan attacks Gordon Brown -the devalued Prime Minister of a devalued government

Prime Minister, I see you’ve already mastered the essential craft of this Parliament – that being to say one thing in this chamber, and a very different thing to your home electorate. You’ve spoken here about free trade, and amen to that; who would have guessed, listening to you just now, that you were the author of the phrase ‘British Jobs for British Workers’, and that you have subsidised - where you have not nationalised outright - swathes of our economy, including the car industry and many of the banks.

Perhaps you would have more moral authority in this house if your actions matched your words. Perhaps you would have more legitimacy in the councils of the world if the United Kingdom were not going into this recession in the worst condition of any G20 country.

The truth, Prime Minister, is that you have run out of our money. The country as a whole is now in negative equity. Every British child is born owing around £20,000. Servicing the interest on that debt is going to cost more than educating the child.
Now once again today you tried to spread the blame around, you spoke about an international recession; an international crisis. Well, it is true that we are all sailing together into the squall – but not every vessel in the convoy is in the same dilapidated condition. Other ships used the good years to caulk their hulls and clear up their rigging – in other words, to pay off debt – but you used the good years to raise borrowing yet further. As a consequence, under your captaincy, our hull is pressed deep into the water line, under the accumulated weight of your debt. We are now running a deficit that touches almost 10% of GDP – an unbelievable figure. More than Pakistan, more than Hungary – countries where the IMF has already been called in.

Now, it’s not that you’re not apologising - like everyone else, I’ve long accepted that you’re pathologically incapable of accepting responsibility for these things these things - it’s that you’re carrying on, wilfully worsening the situation, wantonly spending what little we have left. Last year, in the last twelve months, 125,000 private sector jobs have been lost – and yet you’ve created 30,000 public sector jobs. Prime Minister you cannot go on forever squeezing the productive bit of the economy in order to fund an unprecedented engorging of the unproductive bit.

You cannot spend your way out of recession or borrow your way out of debt. And when you repeat, in that wooden and perfunctory way, that our situation is better than others, that we’re well place to weather the storm, I have to tell you, you sound like a Brezhnev-era Apparatchik giving the party line. You know, and we know, and you know that we know that it’s nonsense. Everyone knows that Britain is the worst placed to go into these hard times. The IMF has said so. The European Commission has said so. The markets have said so, which is why our currency has devalued by 30% – and soon the voters, too, will get their chance to say so.

They can see what the markets have already seen: that you are a devalued Prime Minister, of a devalued Government.

Expense Allowance Abuse by MEPs (Alleged)

Hans-Peter Martin and RTL in the fight against alleged abuse of expense allowances:
A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in Brussels earns approx. 14,700 euros per month (~£11,587), according to this RTL Report (in German with English subtitles). How much the MEPs have to work (or don't work) for their €14,700 is the subject of this on-site RTL investigation in Brussels. The video is about MEPs who sign in on attendance lists and then allegedly disappear immediately for their weekend.

Independent Irish MEP Kathy Sinnott appears in this video. She explains clearly that she has already been working seven hours up to seven o'clock. The Munster MEP warns him "Be very careful about using this and what you report about me". In actual fact Kathy Sinnott is not abusing the scheme. She explained clearly on RTE radio-in an interview with Myles Dungan- this morning that she can actually verify her claims to have worked up to seven o'clock.

Burma crisis-Shatter and Higgins condemn Government and EU

Today in the Dail, Deputies Alan Shatter (FG) and Michael D Higgins (Lab) condemned the lack of Irish government and EU activity on the Burmese crisis. Their condemnation is justified.
UK Socialist MEP Glenys Kinnock has said that the EU commitment to human rights will be questioned if foreign ministers 'backtrack' on Burma next week.
Kinnock urged EU governments to support Burma's pro democracy movement and called for stronger sanctions on imports of gems timber and metals. She also said that an investment ban should not be ruled out.
Unfortunately the international response is too little too late. The UN Security Council-constrained by Russian and Chinese objections - has been pussyfooting around the issue. The brutality of the junta has gone unpunished. The reign of terror continues. Is there any politician of stature on the world stage who would propose a military force and ensure that such a force came into being? A ban on investment in Burma by EU and US companies is a sine qua non if the junta is to be removed from power. Of course Chinese and Russian companies might try to fill the vacuum.
In summary severe sanctions, a ban on investment by EU and US companies, and a threat of military intervention by the international community might serve to concentrate the minds of junta leaders. Unfortunately sanctions may be a double edged sword and might impact too severely on some of the poorer elements in Burmese society. This is a risk which must be taken.