News from Glenis Willmott MEP
The Food Standards Agency in the UK supports the traffic light system, which will be familiar to UK shoppers and which is used by many supermarkets and manufacturers. I would like to see the Commission back this approach across Europe.
Research shows the typical shopper takes only four seconds to decide whether to buy a product after picking it up from the shelves. We need front of pack labelling to be clear and easy-to-understand if we want to help people make healthier choices.
The ‘traffic light’ system is just that – red, amber or green to show whether the level of each nutrient is high, medium or low.
I recently met with consumer group Which? and with the UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) to discuss effective food labelling and, as a member of the European Parliament’s influential Environment Committee, I plan to examine and make amendments to the proposals.
The FSA developed the ‘traffic light’ system following extensive consumer research. It motivates people to think about what they are buying. I think the rest of Europe could also benefit from it.
Protecting children from abuse
The EU needs to act urgently to halt the spread of paedophilia sites on the internet.
According to Home Office figures, in the space of only ten years the number of people cautioned for possessing child abuse images rose by almost 3,000%. This is an astounding increase – and that is just for England and Wales. The vast majority of the cautions were given for downloading child porn images from the web.
The Internet Watch Foundation has said the UK has virtually eradicated the hosting of potentially illegal online child abuse content. But there is obviously still access to sites hosted elsewhere. These people evade closure by ‘hopping’ servers across different legal jurisdictions. Some of them even store their images in fragments in different servers around the world.
This is why it is vital that all the EU countries unite to fight this. We need targeted rules to stop these criminals. Together we can combat online child abuse.
Check the Written Declaration, which I have signed.
Europe-wide child abduction alert system
A lot of publicity surrounded the visit by Gerry and Kate McCann to the Parliament in Brussels, in support of a more effective missing child alert system. The issue of child abduction is one that I and other colleagues have been trying to address for some considerable time. I will be signing the Written Declaration calling for such a system to be set up urgently.
UK Labour MEPs’ Parliamentary Expenditure
MPs’ and MEPs’ expenditure is in the news again. It is of great concern when parliamentarians are found to be misusing public money. It damages people’s confidence in democracy. In Europe, Labour MEPs have called on all MEPs to adopt their system of having their expenses monitored by independent auditors. Parliamentary Expenditure by all MEPs is controlled by the Parliament Authorities. Before payment for staff can be authorised or reimbursed, signed contracts have to be submitted for approval to the Parliament’s Fees Office. At the end of each year MEPs must submit a detailed account of amounts paid and to whom, with a declaration that all national insurance and tax obligations have been fulfilled.The European Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP) goes further. In 2000 it introduced a requirement that all Labour Members have their Office and Staffing expenditure approved by an independent auditor who then submits a report to the EPLP. It would be a pity if the reputations of all MEPs were to suffer because of the actions of a minority.
MPs’ and MEPs’ expenditure is in the news again. It is of great concern when parliamentarians are found to be misusing public money. It damages people’s confidence in democracy. In Europe, Labour MEPs have called on all MEPs to adopt their system of having their expenses monitored by independent auditors.
Parliamentary Expenditure by all MEPs is controlled by the Parliament Authorities. Before payment for staff can be authorised or reimbursed, signed contracts have to be submitted for approval to the Parliament’s Fees Office. At the end of each year MEPs must submit a detailed account of amounts paid and to whom, with a declaration that all national insurance and tax obligations have been fulfilled.
The European Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP) goes further. In 2000 it introduced a requirement that all Labour Members have their Office and Staffing expenditure approved by an independent auditor who then submits a report to the EPLP.
It would be a pity if the reputations of all MEPs were to suffer because of the actions of a minority.
Europe-wide child abduction alert system
A lot of publicity surrounded the visit by Gerry and Kate McCann to the Parliament in Brussels, in support of a more effective missing child alert system. The issue of child abduction is one that I and other colleagues have been trying to address for some considerable time. I will be signing the Written Declaration calling for such a system to be set up urgently.
Mine’s a pint, love
You may have read reports in some of the local press, emanating from the Tories, alleging that the EU has banned drinkers from calling their local barmaid ‘love’. Let’s get the facts straight.
The Equal Treatment Directive, which actually became law in the UK over 2 years ago, made it easier for women at work to stop inappropriate behaviour and lewd remarks by colleagues and bosses, which in some cases were making their working lives unbearable.
This is not about a friendly ‘love ‘or duck’ here and there, but about treatment which is “intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive” to women and which needs to be stamped out.