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30th April 2003
Return of Afghan refugees - European Commission meets to discuss
25th April 2003
JEAN HOSTS CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS OF EU CONSTITUTION
LONDON'S Green MEP Jean Lambert is to host a major conference to discuss the environmental implications of the proposed EU constitution tomorrow (Friday, April 25).
The proposed constitution, which aims to streamline decision-making and prevent existing European institutions from becoming deadlocked following the expected accession of ten new member states next year, is being drawn up by the Convention on the Future of Europe.
16th April 2003
GOVERNMENT IN DOCK OVER WHITE CITY
The European Commission has announced the start of legal proceedings against the UK in the European Court of Justice over the White City development, which involves the construction of a 60,000 sq m shopping and leisure centre and 4,500 parking spaces.
EU CALLS FOR EARLY RELEASE OF ISRAELI SCIENTIST
AN ISRAELI nuclear scientist jailed for 17 years for exposing Tel Aviv's unlawful nuclear weapons programme should be released, the European Commission has ruled following an intervention by Green MEP Jean Lambert.
Jean warned demonstrators protesting the second anniversary of George Bush's rejection of the Kyoto Protocol that war and global warming threaten the end of the world as we know it. Speaking outside the US Embassy following a 'March to the End of the World' organised by the Campaign Against Climate Change, Jean siad that US Government policy is directly responsible for both war in Iraq and undermining global efforts to tackle climate change before it is too late.
Read Jean's speech on global warming
Jean made a keynote speech at the Fawcett Society's annual meeting in Leeds Town Hall, the Headrow, Leeds.
MEP HEARS ICKENHAM STUDENTS' PLANS FOR NEW EUROPE LONDON'S - Jean met students and teachers at Vyners School, Ickenham, to mark 'Spring Day in Europe'.
Key demands not adopted included those calling for a moratorium on GATS to allow for democratic debate, and full impact assessment of the possible outcome of GATS - which for the moment is largely unknown.
"Supports the right of each WTO member to regulate public services and services of general interest and to uphold the principle of universal service obligations; wishes to see a clarification of the right to regulate, to ensure that it cannot be undermined by the application of trade-related criteria such as the necessity test or the requirement to be "least trade-restrictive";
"Recognises
that the ability of some developing and least developed countries to regulate
service sectors which were previously under public control or ownership may be
limited or non-existent and calls on the Commission to act sensitively in those
areas where the developing country concerned has genuine development-based objections;
insists that certain service sectors, such as water and sanitation, have a special
status in developing and least developed countries, impacting directly and dramatically
on people's daily lives, and therefore require special treatment;"
European Parliament Resolution
Jean Lambert has welcomed a landmark judgement from the European Court of Human Rights, which has ruled Turkey's imposition of the death penalty on Kurdish separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan violated his human rights.
11 March 2003
"If we are really going to do something to upgrade the employment or social environment, we need to take account of the physical environment." said Jean Lambert, speaking in the Parliament's plenary session in Strasbourg. While welcoming some aspects of the proposal, she also called for the involvement of national parliaments in the development of each country's own employment action plans.
JEAN BRINGS ANTI-WAR MESSAGE TO HIGHBURY
Jean's response to the Government's Energy Strategy
Jean
Lambert, London's Green MEP, will today welcome two local campaigners to the European
Parliament to speak out against the UK Government's failure to carry out proper
environmental studies on Crystal Palace plans for a massive multiplex project.
LONDON'S Green Euro-MP Jean Lambert is to join an expected 500,000 anti-war demonstrators on Saturday at what organizers expect to be the biggest political rally since the Second World War.
12th February 2003
In the run-up to the EU's Spring Summit, where Ministers examine progress in achieving employment, environmental and social targets, Jean Lambert questioned whether big companies will contribute to sustainability goals if they are left to do it voluntarily.
Speaking in the European Parliament, Jean Lambert highlighted the problem faced by many companies when trying to secure work permits for employees coming from outside the EU. On behalf of the Greens, she expressed support for rules to reduce bureaucracy in order to facilitate this process.
THE EUROPEAN Commission is to take the UK Government to court over its failure to require an Environmental Impact Assessment for a planned multiplex cinema in Crystal Palace Park - two years after developers agreed to scrap the project.
Jean Lambert is to represent the Green Party at a conference of parliamentarians opposed to military action in Iraq at University College, London
GREEN MEP Jean Lambert is to visit a protected Green Belt site in Havering threatened with development to investigate whether the work contravenes Government regulations. Mrs Lambert will be shown around Maylands Field, a 30-acre wooded area recognised as a site of Metropolitan Importance to wildlife and home to a bat colony, voles and shrews and several rare plant species, by campaigners fighting to protect the site.
Jean speaks at Anti-War rally at the University of East Anglia
Jean supports Nowich Green Party's campaign for a GMO free Norfolk
LONDON'S Green MEP Jean Lambert denounced any war on Iraq as immoral, illegal and counterproductive at a public meeting and film screening at a Stop the War meeting in Walthamstow on Sunday (February 2).
VIOLENT attacks on asylum seekers are being fuelled by the Daily Mail's racist campaign against refugees and immigrants, according to London Euro-MP Jean Lambert. "The Daily Mail's racist war on refugees and immigrants is contributing to a climate of fear and violence," said Mrs Lambert, Green MEP for London.
TURKEY'S hopes of an early start to negotiations on EU membership are thrown into doubt by its continued mistreatment of Kurdish separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan, Euro MP Jean Lambert has warned.
LONDON RAIL OPERATORS SHOULD LEARN FROM EUROPE - says London's Green MEP
LONDON'S Green Party MEP Jean Lambert today backed calls for the capital's creaking rail network to learn from other European rail systems - and reject any future liberalisation.
Mrs Lambert joined Greens from across the EU in voting against proposals - known as the Second Railway Package - for a far-reaching liberalisation of European railways.
In a debate on a proposal on how to guarantee accessibility, quality and financial viability in health care for the elderly, Jean Lambert highlighted the importance of according sufficient funds to this crucial service.
Jean Lambert today condemned the UK's human rights record in a plenary debate on human rights in the EU in 2001. The report paints a grim picture of the treatment of prison inmates in the UK as well as criticising the Governments' attempts to interfere in media coverage of the UK's involvement in the US 'War on Terror'.
In March 2002, Jean held a discussion around a showing of the film 'Injustice' which documents deaths in policy custody in the UK. Click here for more info
BASIC workers' rights across Europe have been attacked as 'uncompetitive' by the UK Government. Former Europe Minister Peter Hain, who remains the Government's chief negotiator on the Convention on the Future of Europe - which will produce a draft constitution for the enlarged EU - will today call on the Convention to abandon calls to protect the right to form or join a trade union or to take industrial action.
Future of Europe Special
Jean Lambert and Caroline Lucas today submitted a joint response to the European Commission's consultation on the World Trade Organisation's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).
The response addresses a broad range of concerns relating to the scope
and direction of the GATS agreement as a whole. These include:
- concern that
negotiations are taking place with little or no democratic scrutiny, behind closed
doors and for the benefit of specific business interests;
- the potential
impact on public services, not adequately protected by Article 1.3 of the agreement,
despite repeated assurances to the contrary;
- the serious implications for
public services in developing countries, which often relatively underdeveloped
service sectors and are particularly vulnerable;
- the disproportionate impact
of the GATS agreement on women – a subject which is of great concern and
has thus far received very little attention
- the impacts on higher and further
education and the health sector
Overall, the document calls for a moratorium to be placed on GATS negotiations. The agreement has serious implications, which are not addressed by the Commission’s limited consultation. Full assessment of the impacts of GATS and an open discussion by civil society is essential.
Read the response to the EC consultation
Read the response to the UK consultation
Read Jean Lambert's 10-page briefing on GATS for further information: PDF format Word format
World Development Movement www.wdm.org.uk
GATSWatch www.gatswatch.org