Speeches

Sarah Ludford (ALDE ). - Mr President, I fully support the point made by Mrs Oomen-Ruijten about making the progress report available in Turkish. That would have been automatic if Turkish had become an official language, as it should have done in 2004 upon the accession of Cyprus.

Sarah Ludford (ALDE ), blue-card question . – Mr President, I would like to ask the Earl of Dartmouth if he is content to leave Britain and its citizens prey to some of the worst organised major criminals who launder money and smuggle drugs, people and firearms and would smuggle terrorists as well if the UK was not in the European Arrest Warrant.

Sure it needs improving, but people like me have been on the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs for a very long time and have actually worked actively to improve the European Arrest Warrant and institute defence safeguards, whereas he just shouts on the sidelines and would leave Britain open to all the worst criminals and indeed see it become a safe haven for criminals.

Sarah Ludford (ALDE ). - Mr President, the award of the Nobel Peace Prize and the Sakharov award today certainly make it necessary for the EU to practise what it preaches.

Sarah Ludford (ALDE ). – Mr President, I have just had to sit through a speech of the most breathtaking hypocrisy from the British Labour leader here, Glenis Willmott, displaying all the cynicism, opportunism, and shoddiness which led her Westminster colleagues to team up with Tory Europhobes and undermine David Cameron’s prospects for an acceptable Brussels deal.

Mrs Willmott – I see that she has gone – has a cheek to talk about smashing alliances when her party has sabotaged the chance of rallying round a sensible call for restraint in the EU budget in the form of a freeze.

Sarah Ludford, on behalf of the ALDE Group . – Mr President, oh dear, SIS II has been hit by the curse of large IT projects, especially in the field of home affairs!

We are rather familiar with this in the UK, but another thing we are getting familiar with in the UK is the desire of europhobes – and we might hear from one shortly – to opt out of key EU justice and home affairs measures. What a mistake that would be! I look forward to the UK finally taking part in the Schengen Information System.

Sarah Ludford (ALDE ). – Mr President, I believe the best speech this afternoon has been by Mr Kasoulides, who cited the Barcelona Process and neighbourhood policy. I fervently believe that the EU’s role in promoting trade as a basis of dialogue and prosperity and its role in keeping its partners to democratic and human rights standards are part of a package, not one set against the other.

Sarah Ludford (ALDE ). – Mr President, Vice-President Reding is not the only person present who rarely ventures into agriculture. The 2006 reform promised to guarantee supplies, and has clearly not delivered for traditional cane refiners. The sector is shedding jobs. I would like to say to Mr Dantin that nearly 1 000 jobs are imperilled in my constituency alone, and factories face the risk of closure.

Meanwhile, beet refiners pocketed EUR 5 billion of aid in 2006 – compared to EUR 150 million for cane refiners – and use a cross subsidy to muscle into refining. They are now creaming off profits since the market is oligopolistic rather than competitive.

Sarah Ludford, rapporteur for the opinion of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. – Mr President, given the EU’s well-publicised commitment to democracy, human rights and the rule of law, the fact of highly credible allegations of complicity and CIA abduction, disappearance, rendition and torture after 9/11 is already bad enough, but the continuing refusal to investigate properly is compounding the original failings. Delays and deliberate obstructions to independent and transparent national inquiries are an affront to liberty and justice. It is a travesty to claim state secrecy in order to perpetuate impunity.

Sarah Ludford (ALDE ). - Mr President, I would say to my domestic coalition partner, Mr Kirkhope, if he were here, that internal border controls do not play a major role in catching major criminals, or even terrorists, and nor would PNR collection on internal EU flights do that. What is needed for that purpose is not populist moves designed to impress voters that irregular migration is being curbed, but strongly cooperative intelligence-led policing.

Sarah Ludford (ALDE ). – Mr President, I also thank Commissioner De Gucht for his very clear answers, though they only confirmed what we already knew. It is time to get on and vote on this agreement.

Two years of discussion in committee has been a delaying tactic. As Commissioner De Gucht said, the objective of the ACAA is to eliminate barriers to trade by reducing costs and delays. I am rather astonished that many on the Committee on International Trade want to constrain trade and keep up costs. You are doing consumers and patients no favours on choice and price of medicines.