Speeches

Sarah Ludford (ALDE ). – Mr President, I would like to congratulate Baroness Ashton for her part in securing the Council conclusions on the Middle East peace process of 14 May because I think they are a good illustration of how strong support for Israel’s security and close engagement with Israel – as well, of course, for the two-state solution – is entirely consistent with outspoken criticism of illegalities and human rights abuses by Israel, such as illegal settlement, forced transfer of Bedouins, home demolitions and so on.

Sarah Ludford (ALDE ). - Madam President, I was delighted that ILGA has rated the UK as the best country in Europe for respecting the human rights of LGBT people. I cannot claim that all of the credit for this belongs to the coalition government of the last two years, as we are of course building on previous work, Mr Cashman.

Sarah Ludford, author. −Mr President, I fully agree with the remarks of my colleagues from the EPP and S&D, as there is strong cross-party agreement on this matter. I, on behalf of ALDE, strongly regret that the Swiss authorities have decided to re-establish these quantitative restrictions – these quotas – on residence permits for nationals of the A8 Member States a year after the transitional restrictions expired.

Sarah Ludford, author . − Madam President, I would like to thank Carlos Coelho for initiating this important debate.

Sarah Ludford (ALDE), blue-card question. – Madam President, painful as it is to have family disagreements in public, will Mr Fox recognise that in the briefing distributed yesterday to UK MEPs it was said that the UK Government – and of course that is led by your prime minister Mr Cameron – is fully committed to EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights?

Sarah Ludford (ALDE ). - Madam President, I am pleased that the rapporteur is backing the amendment that I originally tabled in committee on the need for European accountability for rendition and torture abuses if the EU is to lead in the promotion of human rights in the world. I hope it will get wide support in plenary and that we will also push all EU states to sign and ratify the Convention against Forced Disappearances.

Sarah Ludford (ALDE ). - Madam President, I just wanted Commissioner Malmström to know not only how much the ALDE Group appreciates her work, but also that it has persuaded a significant part of the ALDE Group to vote in favour of the agreement.

In particular I find the declaration that she has offered very valuable. Her pledges to be really on the ball about the review and monitoring mechanisms in the agreement, particularly the scope and purpose limitation under Article 4, are of particular relevance. She is aware of Parliament’s concern – which I share – about Articles 4(2)(3)(3) and 4(2)(3)(4). She knows we will be on her tail.

Sarah Ludford on behalf of the ALDE Group. - Mr President the diabetes time bomb has stopped ticking and has actually exploded so I am delighted that the Danish Presidency - as well as Parliament (where we also have Danish influence) - are supportive of a specific focus on diabetes. The fact that it accounts for 10% of our health care costs is reason enough. While the onset of Type I diabetes in children and teenagers is quite sudden Type 2 diabetes is often not diagnosed until it has been present for some years. This leads to complications such as blindness and kidney and heart disease which are both devastating and expensive and account for a lot of those costs. As the Commissioner noted not all diabetes is preventable and I would specifically mention those 10 to 15% who have Type I.

Sarah Ludford on behalf of the ALDE Group. - Mr President Ms Pack's report observes that the lack of job perspectives especially among young people is hindering the progress of the country and contributing to social discontent. One of the reasons I was so pleased to push hard in support of Ms Fajon on visa-free travel for Bosnians 18 months ago - with which we succeeded - was to allow travel for study and business in the hope of an economic boost as well as widened horizons.

Sarah Ludford on behalf of the ALDE Group . - Mr President there is some good material in this strategy paper. I fully support one principal theme and that is the importance of coherence. This is necessary not only across the range of external policies but also in the form of consistency with our internal record.

The EU cannot argue against torture and disappearance in the war on terror as effectively as is necessary when it has failed to fully clean house on our own collusion in secret prisons and rendition flights.