David Martin's EU Tribune

Slaughter of Namibian Seals must be publicised! I was so shocked to read that in the past 18 months, that there is a very brutal and cruel on-going annual seal massacre in Namibia, whereby up to 85,000 still nursing Cape Fur seal pups are separated from their mothers and bludgeoned to death on Namibia’s beaches, [...]

I have just read such an important article in Public Service Europe that I think most of it deserves re-airing here in my BLOG. The European Commission has described the manipulation of inter-bank lending rates such as Libor as “a scam” and announced plans for criminal sanctions to prevent a repeat of the scandal. Commission [...]

Invest in Development In the field of international trade there has been a flurry of activity since 2009 when the Parliament acquired new responsibilities under the Lisbon Treaty. The General System of Preferences (GSP) trade scheme with developing countries has been revised; the Parliament endorsed trade agreements with Morocco and with the Pacific region but [...]

Israeli Settlements are Wrong I wrote yesterday about my outrage at the proposal to upgrade trade relations between the European Union (EU) and Israel. Today I would like to add a bit more background to show why I think that Israeli settlements are wrong and that the EU should not upgrade. The European Union does [...]

Outrageous move to upgrade relations with Israel I was outraged to find out that the European Commission intends to upgrade trade and diplomatic relations with Israel in more than 60 areas at a high-level meeting in Brussels…just weeks after European Foreign Ministers warned that Israeli policies in the West Bank threaten to make a two [...]

Last year, the Conservative-led Government chose to award the Thameslink contract to Siemens rather than Bombardier simply on the basis of lowest cost. 1,400 job losses followed at Bombardier’s and many hundreds more were put at risk. Public contracts must become a way for the Government and local councils to advance social goals- that means [...]

Namibia’s disgusting slaughter of baby seals One of my first jobs was as an animal rights campaigner with Advocates for Animals (now OneKind) and in my whole career as a politician both Lothian Regional Councillor for Inch/Gilmerton 1982-1984) and European MP since 1984 I have consistently campaign on animal rights issues. I believe Ghandi had [...]

The news that South Korea is proposing to hunt whales under regulations permitting scientific research whaling has come as a shock to the world environmental movement. This proposal echoes the bogus programmes of South Korea’s neighbour, Japan. The proposed hunting would take place near the Korean coast and be carried out on Minke Whales. The [...]

During the June Strasbourg Plenary, Columbia’s newly appointed attorney general Eduardo Montealegre Lynett met with MEPs to insist he was “personally committed” to the protection of human rights. Parliament was due to vote on a resolution on a trade agreement between the EU and Colombia and Peru. The top Colombian official was trying to allay [...]

The European Commission is proposing a protocol to the Euro-Med Agreement with Israel that would give Israel easier access to the EU market for exporting pharmaceutical products. The Commission proposal is a Protocol to the existing Euro-Mediterranean Agreement which would eliminate technical barriers and align assessment standards for industrial products in the EU and Israel. [...]