Author Archives: Rebecca Taylor MEP

Thanks to an agreement reached by the European Parliament last week (I voted in favour of course), the cost of using your mobile phone while on holiday in another EU country will be further reduced from July 2012.

The European Parliament already reduced the cost of making and receiving calls while “roaming” (using your phone abroad) several years ago, but the original agreements did not focus on data roaming (when you use your mobile phone to surf the internet or access your e-mails).

Very high charges for data roaming had resulted in holidaymakers receiving shockingly high phone bills (hundreds of pounds) when all they had done was use their smartphone to check a few e-mails and post some status updates on Facebook.

The agreement introduces a new price limit for data roaming and requires networks to inform customers when they are reaching €50 (about £40) of data use. As of July 2012, the maximum charges within the EU (different charges will apply to using your phone outside the EU) will be as follows:

Data (internet) use – 71p per megabyte
Making calls abroad – 30p per minute
Receiving calls abroad – 6p per minute
Sending text messages abroad – 7p per SMS

NB: costs based on current exchange rate.

Costs will be reduced further in 2013 and 2014.

This is a great example of EU action; no single country alone could have taken on big multinational mobile phone companies, but 27 countries acting together were able to force companies to give consumers a better deal.

Interesting links:

European Commission press release
Guardian newspaper article
ALDE (European Parliament Liberal Group) press release

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As those who follow my tweets (I’m @RTaylor_MEP on Twitter) already know, I’ve been busy the last few weeks with the local elections in Calderdale, the part of Yorkshire in which I was born and grew up.The LibDems in Calderdale went into the local elec…

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On Sunday 22 April, Councillor Mohammed Ilyas launched his re-election campaign in the Queens road neighbourhood centre in Park ward, Halifax. A packed room listened intently to Councillor Ilyas outline what he has done for the community since he …

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On Saturday morning I had the pleasure to visit Skircoat library in Halifax. The library was having an open morning, which it does quite regularly to introduce the library and its services to people who may not be familiar with it and to update users o…

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On Saturday morning I had the pleasure to visit Skircoat library in Halifax. The library was having an open morning, which it does quite regularly to introduce the library and its services to people who may not be familiar with it and to update users o…

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This morning I attended a breakfast meeting on EU development aid and childhood immunisation in the world’s poorest countries. The event was organised by the European Parliament Working Group on innovation, access to medicines and poverty-related diseases, a working group coordinated by Médecins sans Frontières (MSF – Doctors without borders).

Childhood immunisation or vaccination is something that we in the UK and other EU countries take for granted. In the UK there is a comprehensive childhood immunisation programme which vaccinates children against diseases such as diptheria, polio, whooping cough, meningitis and measles. The programme is free of charge via the NHS and when a child reaches the age for a particular vaccine, parents are invited to bring their child to their local GP surgery.

However, in some of the poorest countries in the world, many children miss out on vaccinations, which can lead to serious illness (in countries where treatment may be unavailable or unaffordable by many) and even death.

The World Health Organisation estimate that vaccination prevents 2.5 million deaths a year. Organisations like GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation) have made significant progress in helping poor countries expand vaccination but there is still progress to be made.

Participants at the event discussed how best the EU can continue to support countries with vital childhood immunisation programmes via development aid, which is currently being reviewed by the parliament. The MEPs present all committed to working to make sure that immunisation remains a priority for EU aid funding.

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This morning I attended a breakfast meeting on EU development aid and childhood immunisation in the world’s poorest countries. The event was organised by the European Parliament Working Group on innovation, access to medicines and poverty-related …

more …

As you may have understand from previous blog posts/my tweets*, I have recently moved back to Yorkshire, Leeds to be precise. It was an obvious choice for me as I’m a city girl, I went to university in Leeds, and the city is very well connected for get…

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As you may have understand from previous blog posts/my tweets*, I have recently moved back to Yorkshire, Leeds to be precise. It was an obvious choice for me as I’m a city girl, I went to university in Leeds, and the city is very well connected for get…

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This morning, I’ve been out and about in Todmorden with some local Liberal Democrats including Council Leader Janet Battye, council candidate Olwen Jennings and local activists Michael Taylor* and Chris Baksa. I was born and grew up in Todmorden, so I …

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