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Monthly Archives: October 2013
Khodorkovsky: Decade of injustice
Ten years after his arrest at gunpoint, Mikhail Khodorkovsky remains the definitive symbol of serious political manipulation of justice and human rights abuse in his country. He is due to be released next August but the authorities could …
Posted in ALDE
Tagged Press Release,,Week News,EU in the World,Democracy promotion,AFET :: Foreign Affairs,Russia and ex-Soviet Union
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New rules on medical devices will restore patient confidence
The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe welcomes the new legislative rules on the safety and performance of medical devices and in-vitro diagnostic medical devices approved today by the Members of the European Parliament.
Posted in ALDE
Tagged Press Release,,New Technologies,ENVI :: Environment, Public Health and Food Safety,Public Health,Week News
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Protecting data privacy in the internet age
This evening, the European Parliament’s Civil liberties Committee (LIBE) voted on two new pieces of legislation on data protection, proposed by the Commission in January 2012. Specifically a Data Protection Regulation and a Directive on d…
Posted in ALDE
Tagged Justice and Home Affairs,Privacy / data protection, Week News,Press Release,Civil Liberties,LIBE :: Civil Liberties
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Verhofstadt congratulates Luxembourg Liberals on election success
Congratulating Luxembourg Liberal party leader, Xavier Bettel of the Democratic Party, today after emerging as the principal winner in yesterday’s national elections, Guy Verhofstadt said:
Posted in ALDE
Tagged Press Release,Leader Press releases and news,Week News,Others
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“Democracy in action!” says region’s retailer
Rebecca Taylor, Lib Dem MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, has met with a shopkeeper who contacted her and other MEPs to ask them to push for e-cigarettes to be regulated as consumer products not medicines. Retailer Matt Gluggles, who …
Posted in Media Releases
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E-cigarettes and tobacco directive: what’s next?
I am pleased to have played a role, along with my colleagues Chris Davies, Lib Dem MEP for the North West of England, and Belgian Liberal MEP Frédérique Ries in getting amendment 170 on e-cigarettes adopted by the European Parliament (EP) in the plenary vote on the tobacco products directive (TPD).
The EP will now enter negotiations with the 28 EU national governments (“The Council”) as part of the co-decision legislative procedure. The Council position on the TPD includes e-cigarettes being subject to medicines regulation, but on key tobacco control measures e.g. health warnings, their position is rather similar to the EP.
There is now serious time pressure to get the TPD concluded under the current Lithuanian Presidency of the EU and not to run into the Greek Presidency (which starts in January 2014), as Greece is Europe’s biggest tobacco producer with a rather weak record on tobacco control.
Frédérique Ries MEP will represent the ALDE (Liberal) group in negotiations with national governments and will push to keep the parliament’s position on ecigs in the final agreement. We (Frédérique, myself and Chris) will be consulting relevant experts to find practical solutions to concerns likely to be raised in relation to the regulation of ecigs, but what can activists or concerned individuals do?
The focus is now on national governments whose health ministers will negotiate the TPD with the EP. I suggest contacting your MP to raise your concerns as well as the relevant Health Minister (for England, this is the newly appointed Public Health Minister Conservative MP Jane Ellison).
Keep your correspondence concise, polite and firm without over-dramatising or being aggressive, i.e. it fine to say “ecigs save lives”, but not a good idea to accuse people of trying to kill you. I understand the passion involved, but being aggressive rather than assertive can lead to your concerns being dismissed as hysterical or bullying, or even worse, turn an undecided into a bona-fine supporter of medicines regulation.
Many of those who support the medicines route seek (as I do) to make sure good quality e-cigarettes reach as many smokers as possible, but they believe (unlike me) that medicines regulation will achieve that.
In any contact you have, I would suggest mentioning the following (please put into your own words, do not copy and paste!):
• That ecigs attract smokers in a way that NRT products do not and thus have great potential to reduce smoking rates in Europe. (NB: if you are an ex-smoker who has switched to ecigs, briefly recount your personal story.)
• The EP plenary voted clearly in favour of regulating e-cigarettes as consumer products (386 votes in favour, 283 votes against, 7 abstentions) and that all Liberal Democrat MEPs and all but one Tory MEP voted in favour of this amendment.
• The EP position would require ecigs to be correctly labelled including in relation to nicotine levels, institute an under 18 sales ban and allow governments to impose marketing restrictions e.g. ban misleading advertising or that aimed at children/teenagers.
• That medicines regulation would impose additional costs that add no value, e.g. pharmaceutical grade manufacturing facilities and that many SMEs will be priced out of the market reducing consumer choice as well as decimating small businesses.
• That in many EU countries medicines regulation would make ecigs much less widely available than tobacco products, which will benefit the tobacco industry.
A battle has been won, but the war is not over yet.
Rebecca Taylor, Liberal Democrat MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber.
Posted in Blog
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E-cigarettes and tobacco directive: what’s next?
I am pleased to have played a role, along with my colleagues Chris Davies, Lib Dem MEP for the North West of England, and Belgian Liberal MEP Frédérique Ries in getting amendment 170 on e-cigarettes adopted by the European Parliament (EP) in the plenary vote on the tobacco products directive (TPD).
Posted in Blog
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Turkey: Warning signals on civil liberties
The European Commission today adopted its progress report on Turkey, as part of the annual enlargement package, ALDE MEPs made the following statement.
Posted in ALDE
Tagged Press Release,Leader Press releases and news,EU in the World,Enlargement,AFET :: Foreign Affairs,Enlargement,Turkey
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Serbia accession report: Formal talks should begin in December
The European Parliament’s rapporteur on Serbia ALDE MEP Jelko Kacin (LDS, Slovenia) commented today on the publication of the latest round of progress reports by the European Commission.
Posted in ALDE
Tagged Press Release,Week News,EU in the World,Enlargement,AFET :: Foreign Affairs,Enlargement,Balkans
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“Make Youth Unemployment A Priority” – says Lib Dem MEP
Rebecca Taylor, Lib Dem MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, spoke out today on the need for more action to help tackle youth unemployment. Speaking at an event in the European Parliament, Ms Taylor outlined what is already being done to help …
Posted in Media Releases
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