This is funded by the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL)

Step in right direction on GMOs

BAIRBRE DE BRÚN MEP voted in the European Parliament on July 5th for individual countries’ right to ban the cultivation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in their territory.
de Brún said:
“Today the Parliament voted to ensure that GMOs can be banned on the territory of individual member states on the basis of environmental and socio-economic criteria. Although I would have preferred to see a total ban, incorporating more criteria such as health, this is certainly a step in the right direction
“As evidenced by official polls, EU citizens do not want GM crops, and Ireland’s reputation for high-quality and sustainably-produced food should not be jeopardised by its potential inability to legally ban GM production on the island.
“Questions remain around what would happen if one member state opts to cultivate GMOs and its neighbour doesn’t.
“It is imperative that member states continue to have the right to shape their own legislation on issues as important as these, which are of huge importance to our environment and agriculture sectors.”

EU must support Arab revolutions, end double standards

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton was in the European Parliament on July 6th to debate with MEPs on the deteriorating situation in Yemen and Syria plus that of other Arab states and North Africa after ‘the Arab Spring’.
During the debate, Portuguese MEP Marisa Matias said, “We clearly have to give our support to the democratic revolutions in these countries,” and stressed that the last thing these countries need is to have Europe interfere in their internal affairs, particularly in a military capacity.
“We need to repudiate actions such as those that have taken place in Libya.”
Cypriot MEP Kyriacos Triantaphyllides said:
“The Arab Spring puts an end to the path towards Islamism in the wider region and pushes for the adoption of democratic, secular regimes through peaceful means.”
He urged the EU “to show solidarity with the Palestinian call for international recognition of their right to statehood”.

Mules remain stubborn despite their neo-liberal catastrophe

REJECTING the final report of the European Parliament’s special committee on the financial and economic crisis, GUE/NGL MEPs restated their call for a proper analysis and investigation of the causes and consequences of the global economic decline.
“This report recommends the continuation of the same economic model and the same economic and social policies that led us to the crisis — these are the policies of neo-liberalism, of the Economic Governance package and the Pact for the Euro, the very policies that Greece has been implementing for over a year with disastrous results. The recession has deepened, unemployment has rocketed while the so-called ‘international markets’ demand more sacrifices,” said Greek MEP Nikolaos Chountis.
“GUE/NGL stands with the Greeks in Syntagma Square, the Spanish in Puerta del Sol, with the French on Place de la Bastille, with British public workers, and many more. We are fighting for the re-establishment of the European Union, for the people and for the workers.”
Portuguese MEP Miguel Portas said:
“Right now, the rating agencies are killing Greece’s second financial bail-out and Portuguese debt has been downgraded to junk. In this context, the minimum that could be demanded of a report about the crisis is that it would be able not only to learn the lessons but also to anticipate solutions. Although it contains some good proposals, the Berès report is submerged in the weak compromise logic that has been applied in response to the crisis in Europe.”
BAIRBRE DE BRÚN MEP is a member of the GUE/NGL Group in the European Parliament