URL: Latest posts
Spanish foreign minister formally requests Gibraltar sovereignty talks, hours after UK rules them out once more
The Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo Y Marfil has today formally requested the resumption of negotiations on the sovereignty of Gibraltar, in spite of the British’s refusal to do so without the consent of the inhabitants of th...
David Cameron stands firm on Gibraltar’s right to self determination during speech before the Council of Europe
British Prime Minister David Cameron was in Strasbourg this week to address the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (note: entirely different to the EU) of which the UK has now assumed the presidency.Following his speech delivered on Wedn...
Happy Birthday BloggingPortal.eu: three years young
Tomorrow (Thursday 26th) marks three years since the launch of BloggingPortal - a website ran by volunteers that now aggregates more than 900 blogs written in an array of European languages and each discussing European affairs and political activity.
Egg on your Face(book)? MEP Girling takes her Good Egg Bad Egg campaign online
Conservative MEP Julie Girling has this week taken her Good Egg Bad Egg Campaign onto the social network Facebook and is calling on users to speak up for the 'Good Eggs' and name and shame the 'Bad Eggs'.OK, OK please don't crack up, it may not be th...
Dobrodošli u Europsku uniju: Croatia votes overwhelmingly in favour of joining the EU
Croatia is finally set to become the 28th Member of the European Union in 2013 after its citizens voted to join the EU by a sweeping majority in a referendum held at the weekend.Despite the disappointingly low turnout (44%), the result delivered a gr...
'Gibraltar, Español!' - new Spanish foreign minister’s jovial quip angers the Rock
I think it's safe to say that Spain's new foreign minister José Manuel García-Margallo Y Marfil has certainly got off to a rocky start. Video footage has emerged of an ill-advised quip he made after a press conference in the European Parliament th...
Interesting Economist debate concludes 'this house does not believe Britain should leave the EU'
The Economist have been hosting a debate this week on their website with the motion for debate: "This house believes that Britain should leave the EU". Throughout the week there have been guest contributions both for the motion (Tory MEP an...
MEPs call for urgent and coordinated measures to halve food wastage in the EU
MEPs in Strasbourg have this week called for urgent and coordinated EU-wide measures to halve food waste by 2025 and to improve access to food for needy EU citizens in a resolution adopted on Thursday. It is estimated that almost 50% of edible and he...
MEP Girling posts her January vlog update and talks about her constituency at last!
Conservative MEP Julie Girling has this evening released her January video blog from Strasbourg. In this edition she discusses the elections in Parliament of a new President and Vice-Presidents ("staged and stage managed; not exciting and not ma...
Martin Schulz elected new Parliament President - some reactions from our MEPs
The result was as expected, but it was not the walkover that many (myself included) had expected. German MEP Martin Schulz (S&D) was indeed elected by the members of the European Parliament today in Strasbourg to serve as its new president with 3...
As MEPs meet to elect their new President, Giles Chichester is certain to lose his Vice Presidency position
MEPs are in Strasbourg this week where they will meet and elect the new President of the European Parliament as well as its 14 vice chairs. While the German MEP Martin Schulz is widely expected to be coronated in the final vote on Tuesday, one result...
Dartmouth: David Cameron must stop supporting Turkey's EU membership
UKIP MEP William Dartmouth has today called for David Cameron to stop supporting Turkey’s aspirations for eventual membership of the European Union in direct response to Turkish threats to jail the Duchess of York over a secret film on children aba...
Spain's governing PP confirm they want a return to the Brussels Process on Gibraltar
The ruling Partido Popular (PP) party in Spain has confirmed that they want a swift return to the Brussels process – a negotiation arrangement long rejected by Gibraltar as it concerns talks on sovereignty without giving them a voice.On becoming vi...
It's full steam ahead for HS2! But at a cost of £32.7 over 21 years, where are the benefits for the West Country?
It was one of the Government’s worst kept secrets, and a project to which a recent poll shows nearly two thirds of population are opposed or in favour of better spending the cash, yet it is happening.HS2, the proposed high-speed line connecting Lon...
Girling vows to fight the ‘Festive Flab’ as she launches 'Healthy Living' campaign and a Weight Watchers service for MEPs
It simply would not be Christmas without all the food, and diets are of course a popular New Year’s resolution. With that in mind, and as Parliament returns from its Christmas break, South West Conservative MEP Julie Girling has decided to this lau...
A European Financial Transactions Tax is ‘highly unlikely' – Sir Graham Watson MEP
A European financial transactions tax (FTT) is "highly unlikely", a senior Liberal Democrat MEP has said.French President Nicolas Sarkozy vows to press ahead with a tax on financial transactions in France to force the issue in Europe, despi...
SW MEP Watson to host meeting of European liberal leaders in London to address European economic growth
Leading Government ministers, party leaders and European Commissioners from Liberal parties across Europe are meeting in London today at the invitation of South West England and Gibraltar MEP Sir Graham Watson, in his role as president of the Europea...
JD Wetherspoon’s ‘Veto Ale’ to celebrate Cameron's ‘patriotic act’ is a clever stunt of tremendously poor taste
I have to admit I was not sure whether to laugh or cry when I first learned of the news that JD Wetherspoon – the UK’s largest, cheapest and most well-known pub chain – has introduced a 'Veto Ale' to celebrate Cameron's “patriotic act” at t...
Tory MEP Ashley Fox ‘bows to pressure and joins the 21st Century’
South West Conservative MEP Ashley Fox has today announced he has “bowed to pressure and joined the 21st Century” and has signed up for an account on the social networking site Facebook.On his website, he writes: “As probably its 850millionth(i...
MEP Girling praises EU Citizens' Initiative as 8Hour campaign hits 1 million milestone
Conservative MEP Julie Girling has welcomed the news that the one millionth signature from an EU citizen has been registered on the www.8hours.eu website - a campaign initiated by Danish MEP Dan Jørgensen calling for an end to long-distance journeys...
