Stephen Spillane's My Opinion: European Parliament

Showing posts with label European Parliament. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Yea, another think post

Yup, I've gone on posted my 6th post over on thinkaboutit.eu. This one is about the EPP-ED and their new tag-line..

I got a press release today from the EPP-ED Group of the European Parliament. In it they inform me of an event to launch their new tag-line. The tag-line is “Europe’s Driving Force” (now you see why the UK Conservatives left them).

Read Full Post, dont forget to rate it! Thanks! :)

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

5 things UK Conservatives need to learn about European Parliament

This is inspired by yet another post on ConHome where they get things wrong. Not sure if this would qualify as one off Joe's Five Things?! would it Joe?

Number 1: They are not members of the EPP.

Number 2: They are members of the ED - European Democrats, who are seperate to the the EPP.

Number 3: Because of this distinction they do not take the EPP whip.

Number 4: They sit as part of the EPP-ED Group in the Parliament which is completely seperate to the EPP apartus as a political party.

Number 5: They can leave quite easily and the EPP wont miss them that much, I would say.

This as also been posted on thinkaboutit.eu. Please rate it over there! Thanks

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Dialogue TV - Help Shape the EPP's Manifesto

Image via Wikipedia

The European Peoples Party have launched an online consultation on their draft manifesto (availible here in PDF). They have called it Dialogue TV. It is a multimedia site with video's on the major subjects in the manifesto.

The major subjects are:
1. Creating Prosperity for Everyone
2. Making Europe a Safer Place
3. Combatting Climate Change
4. Tackling the Demographic Challenge
5. Uniting Europe on the World Stage

What are the EPP hoping to get from Dialogue TV?

The EPP hope that Dialogue TV will approach and actively engage European citizens in a dialogue. A high aim considering how many EU citizens visit the EPP website? The EPP also want Dialogue TV to present the EPP's. program and ideas ahead of the European elections in June 2009.

This is going to be hard sell as it has to compete with the likes of Party of European Socialits "Yourspace" and also disinterestin the European ELections.

So people this is your chance to influence the EPP's (and therefore Fine Gael's if you are in Ireland) Manifesto. Take the Opportunity! Start the Dialogue!

Friday, January 23, 2009

What will I be up to in Brussels?

This is one of the most asked questions about my upcoming trip to Brussels for the Thinking about it competition so here goes an idea of what I will getting up to.

Monday sees me in a hotel all day at talks from fascinating people. After a welcome, Tony Barber of the FT, Mark Mardell of the BBC and Stefan Happer of Politikportal (German) and Brussels Media (English), will be talking to us about blooging about the EU and the relavance of these elections. After that Piotr Kaczynski of CEPS will be telling us the hot topics of 09. The last talk before lunch sees a talk on Vlogging from Raymond Frenken of EUX.TV.

After Lunch sees a discussion around is Blogging Journalim involving Joseph Hennon, a Commission Spokesman and Michael Opgenhaffen, a Researcher. Then there is a talk by Julian Popov of the Bulgarian School of Politics, on how to blog about politics creatively. After that is a talk on Standing out in the bloggersphere by Clo Willaerts of the Sanoma Group.

After a coffee break we are told the rules of the competition! Then there is a talk by Mario Giuseppe, UK National Manager of AEGEE, on covering elections. Then there is a panel discussion on creating an award winning blog.

Tuesday sees us in the European Parliament. There we will start off with an introduction to the European Parliament by Ioannis Darmis. Then we well get talks on the European Parliament online and elections online from the Webcomm Unit. After that the Parliament's Press Office will give a talk on the electoral background. Then there is a talk on how the polilitical groups are following Obama with their online stuff. Then we have a tour followed by a talk by 3 MEP's Christopher Fjellner (EPP), Marianne Mikko (PES) and Alexander Alvaro (ALDE). Then I fly home.

It will be an interesting two days an dlots of paper and ink will be used. Think I will get a few ideas for blog posts too!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Wow! That was fast!

Remember the post earlier today about copyright extension? Will I got my first response. Its from Kathy Sinnott. She did her research she told me and will not be voting for the Directive. She also thanked me for my advice on the consumer side! So thanks Digital Rights Ireland for giving me the details!

Yes, I do consider the fact that I was emailed back five hours later to be fast, considering I have yet to hear from the other two MEPs, not even a holding email, this is an election year ya know? Anyone else get a response?

Email your MEP's! - Copyright Extension

Image via WikipediaThe Issue of Copyright Extension is currently before the European Parliament. The Commission want to extend copyright for a further 45 years! This will mean copyright will last 95 years! Tell me what artists live 95 years after their first release? I can't think of any! This extension will only serve the interests of Recording Companies and make music more expensive for us - the consumers. The Digital Rights Ireland blog have a full post and more info on it! Do check it out.

Do email your MEP's the following (or something along these lines)

Dear …

I am a constituent of yours in … and the question of copyright is important to me.

The European Parliament is being asked to nearly double the term of copyright afforded to sound recordings. Industry lobbyists suggest that extending copyright term will help increase the welfare of performers and session musicians. But the Term Extension Directive, which will be voted on by the Legal Affairs Committee in a few weeks’ time, will do no such thing. Instead it will hand millions of euros over to the world’s four major record labels, money that will come direct from the pockets of European consumers. The majority (80%) of recording artists will receive between €0.50 - €26 a year.

Helping poor recording artists is a commendable aim. But the Term Extension Directive insults these good intentions. Andrew Gowers, former editor of the Financial Times, who conducted an independent review into the intellectual property framework for the UK Government in 2006, has called it out of tune with reality. Professor Bernt Hugenholtz, who advises the European Commission on intellectual property issues, has called it a deliberate attempt on behalf of the Commission to mislead Europe’s Parliament. If passed, the Term Extension Directive will have serious consequences for Europe’s IP policy.

* Any extension of copyright term will take money directly from consumers’ pockets. It will also consign a large part of Europe’s cultural heritage to a commercial vacuum.
* Europe’s leading IP research centres have clearly shown the proposal does not do what it purports to do - help the poorest performers. It is simply a windfall for the owners of large back catalogues and the top earning performers.
* The proposal will undermine public respect for copyright law and introduce an unworkable and unproven framework for copyright, at the very time when Europe’s copyright framework needs to be at its most robust.

I therefore ask you to vote to reject this directive.

You can find the email of the Irish MEP's here

Please do take the time to contact your MEP's on this as it could be fast tracked!

EU Election Stuff

One of the great things about this Think About It Competition is that I find out about some really cool websites and Campaigns for the European Elections this coming June. This post is about two of these.

First up is the the European Parliaments own page about the Elections. This has lots of material on the elections. The picture above is in fact the English Logo from the campaign. I has links to the main groupings in the Parliament so you can find out more. It has fact sheets on each member state (heres Irelands). It also gives ten reasons why you should vote in Elections. It has a few pages on news articles from General ones to ones from National Angles. Overall an interesting site, maybe the layout could be a bit better, found they were putting too much on one page, buts thats just me.

The other Website is from Café Babel. Their website is EU Debate 2009. This webiste is trying to create a debate about Europe. It has interesting videos, like this one on how we can save money. It has interesting blogs where you can creat your own!. EUDebate also want to hear about any proposals you may have! Of course they link to the forums over on CaféBabel.com for a more interactive debate! This could be an interesting website as the campaign really gets under way, but it does need fixing. A few of the videos dont work and the main forum is down at the moment. Then agains this isnt properly launched yet, so maybe my expectations are too high, who knows?

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Think About It - Update

Yes this, is the Blogging Competition thing that I am in. Im off to Brussels on Sunday for the launch. Will be back in Cork on Tuesday.

The organisers have a blog up with advice and stuff for us, but there is also information on the EU and other campaigns on it.

Some of the others taking part have linked to their websites, so here that are if you want to check out what I am up against. Not all the blogs are in English!

Making Things Happen - Italy
Kleita - Latvia(Its Martha that is in the Competition I think)
Jose Miguel Calatayud's websitt -Spain
Etan Smallman - UK
Paris Never Ends - Lithuania
Katrina Bishop Blogs - UK
AriRusila’s BalkanBlog - Finland
The International - Germany
(un)fencing the mind - The Netherlands
Блогът на Юруков - Bulguria
phat phred - Sweden
European Tribune Diary of Frank Schnittger - Ireland
pypiaus blog’as - Lithuania
Corina Murafa - Romania
AnTyx - Estonia
BORUT PETERLIN, a Slovenian photographer in a rabbit hole of photography - Slovenia
Thailand tur/retur - Denmark
Lehet, Más a Világ - Hungary
Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day - Ireland
Intialektualu - Lithuania

I will update the list as I get more links.

Sunday night sees a meetup in one of the hotels followed by a 9:30am start on the Monday in Sofitel. We will be having panel discussions on blogging on the like. It should be fun! Tuesday will see us visit the European Parliament. It will be my third visit. I am getting the full program tomorrow!

I am very excited!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Will 2009 see the End of the UEN?

Image via WikipediaThe Union for Europe of the Nations is a political grouping in the European Union. Fianna Fail is one of the members of this grouping and in fact Brian Crowley is one of the leaders of the group.

The UEN currently consists of 44 MEPs from the following parties:
# Danish People's Party (1 MEP) - Denmark
# Fianna Fáil (4 MEPs) - Ireland
# National Alliance (8 MEPs) - Italy
# Lega Nord (4 MEPs) - Italy
# The Right (1 MEP) - Italy
# For Fatherland and Freedom - Latvia
# Lithuanian Peasant Popular Union (1 MEP) -Lithuania
# Order and Justice (1 MEP) - Lithuania
# Law and Justice (7 MEPs) - Poland
# League of Polish Families (5 MEPs) - Poland
# Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland (5 MEPs) - Poland
# Polish Peasant Party "Piast" (3 MEPs) - Poland

So where is the issue?

Italy's National Alliance is the largest party within the grouping and will be merging with Silvia Burlesconi's Forza Italia, which means its MEP's will be moved to the EPP-ED Group. Fianna Fail also looks likely to try and leave the group (again). The last time it was rebuffed by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, as the Progressive Democrats were members of this group.

Poland's Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland and League of Polish Families look like they will do badly in the polls. Neither of these parties won representation to the Polish Parliament in 2007.

The other members are also being tempted away. Poland's Law and Justice party is one such party that is being tempted into a new grouping by current members of the European Democrats.

2009 will be an interesting year for the European Parliament. There is also movements to end the European Democrats which will be a slight loss to the EPP-ED grouping, but not that much as ED members do not take the whip!