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BIG NEWS - After a long 10+ year battle, Gibraltar finally admitted as a full member of UEFA, Europe's football governing body
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After a long 10+ year battle prolongued due to Spanish claims over sovereignty of the Rock, the Gibraltar Football Association has been admitted as a full member of European Football's governing body, UEFA. The UEFA President Michel Platini made the...
SW MEP to join Bristol presentation team for Bristol's EU Green Capital 2015 bid
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South West Liberal Democrat MEP Sir Graham Watson will tomorrow welcome a delegation from the city of Bristol to Brussels and participate in the city’s pitch before judges to decide who will be crowned European Green Capital 2015. Sir Graham was p...
Bristol’s bid for European Green Capital award gets UK government backing #greenbristolbid
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Bristol's bid to be named 2015 European Green Capital, its third attempt, has got the full backing of the British government. Visiting the city on Wednesday, Liberal Democrat MP and Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Davey said to...
South West MEP says enough is enough, urges seabird death chemical to be banned
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South West Liberal Democrat MEP Sir Graham Watson has said enough is enough and is calling for Polyisobutylene, the chemical thought to be responsible for killing birds off the South West of England, to be banned. The senior MEP is urging the govern...
A former SW MEP makes surprise return on Labour list of candidates for 2014 election
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The Labour Party has revealed its list of candidates to contest the 2014 European elections in the South West and the surprise inclusion amongst the six is that of Glyn Ford, who has already been an MEP for 25 years (served the South West from 1999-2...
SW MEP objects on matter of principle to MEPs as candidates for EU Ombudsman
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The race is on to find the next European Ombudsman to replace the Greek-born Nikiforos Diamandouros when he steps down later this year as. Based in Strasbourg, Mr Diamandouros will be retiring on 1 October, 10 months before the end of his term of off...
Watson on Guantánamo Bay: it is ‘time for America to remove this stain on its moral integrity’
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South West Liberal Democrat MEP Sir Graham Watson has spoken out against the continued use by the United States of the Guantánamo Bay detention centre stating it is “time for America to remove this stain on its moral integrity” and that the camp...
SW MEP hails big step forward in EU fight against cyber crime as ENISA improvement package adopted
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MEPs this week approved a package of improvements to the EU’s cyber-security operations including measures agreed during detailed negotiations in Brussels led by the Parliament’s rapporteur South West Conservative MEP Giles Chichester. In painst...
UK needs more marine conservation areas like Lyme Bay to save fragile aquaculture
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South West Liberal Democrat MEP Sir Graham Watson has this week used a speech in the European Parliament to call for the EU to designate more marine conservation areas to protect the UK’s fragile aquaculture. Speaking on Monday evening in Strasbo...
Tory MEPs hit back hard at UKIP Farage's ‘mischievous’ claim to Iron Lady’s legacy
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The British Conservative MEP delegation have today angrily hit back at the claims made by UKIP leader Nigel Farage in an opinion piece in the Times (£) that his party were the successors to Margaret Thatcher’s heritage and that there would have be...
UK MEP accuses EU of a ‘cop out’ and ‘washing its hands of Gibraltar territorial waters’ dispute
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A UK Liberal Democrat MEP has accused the European Commission of “washing its hands of Gibraltar territorial waters” after receiving an unsatisfactory reply from the Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik to a parliamentary question. Chris Dav...
South West Conservative MEPs react to the death of ‘Iron Lady’ Margaret Thatcher
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Two of the South West Conservative MEPs have paid tribute to the ‘Iron Lady’ Baroness Margaret Thatcher, Great Britain’s first and only female Prime Minister to date, who died earlier today at the age of 87 following a stroke. Ashley Fox, who...
#Gibraltar Government to increase its presence in Brussels; CM wants visits at least twice yearly
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Following their successful busy and high-level visit last week, the Government of Gibraltar is considering strengthening its presence in Brussels, the Chief Minister today revealed, adding that he hoped he and his deputy would make business visits to...
‘It's a bit like asking a fisherman not to fish’ - Gibraltar MEP says it’s a little odd to be told to stay out of local politics
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Liberal Democrat MEP for Gibraltar Sir Graham Watson has labelled it a little odd to be asked to stay out of local politics by the leader of the Gibraltar opposition Daniel Feetham and stands by the comments he recently made on GBC about former chief...
Third time lucky? Bristol makes the final shortlist for 2015 EU Green Capital award
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The capital of the West Country, Bristol, has made the final shortlist for the European Green Capital award for the second year running and in its third attempt. In the final shortlist for the 2015 award, Bristol will face off against two European C...
With new EU funds, Devon ‘can emerge from economic downturn with renewed vigour’ say Lib Dem MEP and MP
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South West Liberal Democrat MEP Sir Graham Watson has this week penned an editorial with the Liberal Democrat MP for Torbay Adrian Sanders in which they argue that a long-awaited EU funding boost for Devon could be transformative for the region. Dev...
MEP welcomes £2m Atlantic Array wind farm investment for Devon businesses
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Liberal Democrat MEP Sir Graham Watson has welcomed the news that £2 million worth of contracts to build and maintain the proposed Atlantic Array offshore wind farm in the Severn Estuary have been awarded to Devon businesses. A further £1.98 millio...
MEPs begin discussions in Committee on sensitive EP single seat report
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Members of the European Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs Committee have held their first exchange of views earlier this week on the controversial question of where the seats of the EU institutions should be located, which is the subject of a rep...
Gibraltar Government makes historic, high-level, packed-agenda visit to Brussels
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A delegation of senior members of the Government of Gibraltar has made a busy but no doubt constructive 48-hour visit to Brussels this week for a large number of high-level meetings on matters relating to the Rock and the EU hosted by Liberal Democra...
Gibraltar CM makes history as he addresses MEP Committee on Brussels visit
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This morning, as part of the Government of Gibraltar delegation’s visit to Brussels, the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo addressed the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) of the European Parliament and gave a presentation on onli...
