Andrew Duff MEP

Andrew Duff, Lib Dem MEP for the East of England, has welcomed a deal voted through the European Parliament to reduce roaming costs in Europe for businesspeople and tourists alike. Costs for calls and texts will reduce sharply from 1^st July this year, when data costs are also to be capped for the first time at 59p per megabyte, with further reductions in later years.

Andrew Duff, Lib Dem MEP for East of England, has welcomed a proposal to boost regional airports, making it easier for smaller airports to apply for EU funding, especially to improve public transport links to and from the airport.

Andrew Duff said: "The ever-lengthening queues at Heathrow prove that our hub airports can no longer handle the pressure of increased passengers, and that regional airports likeNorwich play a more and more important role. NorwichAirport is becoming more and more attractive for local residents and businesses alike. Easier access to EU funding will provide a real boost forNorwichAirport and the local economy."

EU states should get the fiscal compact treaty in place as fast as possible. This is the message of Andrew Duff, President of the Union of European Federalists, on Europe Day.

In his statement, Andrew Duff MEP said:-

"It is too easy for electioneering hot-heads to destroy the new treaty. But what would they put in its place? The British will veto a general revision of the EU treaties at this stage. So the fiscal compact treaty is a necessary expedient. It adds to the pressure of market discipline and peer pressure to which all European governments are now subjected.

Members of the European Parliament's Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) decided, on 26 April, to reject a proposal that would make voting behaviour at committee level more open to the public. Andrew Duff (ALDE, UK) suggested, in a report, that the final vote on all legislative reports - "at whatever stage of the legislative process" - should be taken by roll call and recorded. Fourteen deputies, mainly from the EPP and S&D groups, opposed this change, with eight voting in favour. Rainer Wieland (EPP, Germany) explains to Europolitics that some colleagues in his group fear that compulsory roll call votes at committee level might rigidify their position. The S&D believes, for its part, that many votes are of no interest as the lines of the political groups are pretty clear and there are no defections. Disappointed with the result, Duff vowed to fight on, arguing that "MEPs need to be prepared to say 'I voted this way or that way'."

The Constitutional Affairs Committee of the European Parliament today rejected - by 14 votes to 8 a proposal from Andrew Duff MEP (UK, Lib Dem) to make all final legislative votes in the Parliament, at whatever stage of the legislative process, subject to roll-call.

Reacting to the vote, Mr Duff said: "It is hugely disappointing that the two large groups in the Parliament decided not to open up legislative votes in committee to full democratic accountability. It sets the Parliament someway behind the best practice in many national parliaments and in the US Congress.

Meeting in Leuven this weekend, the European Federalists have set their sights at the elections to the European Parliament in 2014.

"Our goal is simple," said UEF President Andrew DUFF. "It's to get more federalists elected so that the next Parliament will be more progressive and ambitious than this one".

A joint statement agreed by the Union of European Federalists (UEF) and the Young European Federalists (JEF) called for a large congress to be held in the autumn of 2013 (probably in Berlin) to which the leaders of the European political parties would be invited to respond to a federalist election manifesto.

Andrew Duff MEP said: "This manifesto must comprise the agenda for the next constitutional Convention which will have to open in 2015. Above all, it needs to promote the big push towards the federal Europe that appears yet to intimidate Europe's political class. This means fiscal union based on democratic solidarity between states and citizens with a federal economic government. The agenda will have to rectify some mistakes made in the Treaty of Lisbon, as well as considering the conferral of further competences on the EU, for example in the fields
of energy supply and visa policy."

JEF President Pauline Gessant said: " JEF and UEF welcome all the recent initiatives put forward by organizations, personalities, and movements that support the European political union on a federal basis, along the lines of the battle that JEF and UEF, through its national, regional and local organisations, have been waging for years. JEF and UEF will take the lead to organise a European Coalition for a Federal Union in view of the European elections to put pressure on governments and political parties".

In his closing speech to the Leuven meeting, Duff warned not to expect great things of the present leadership of Europe. "One does not have to subscribe fully to Mr Juncker's description of his colleagues as 'ungifted pragmatists' to know that the present European Council -- even with a swap of Hollande for Sarkozy -- will not be capable of
saving the European project."

Mr Duff also emphasised the importance of dealing with the British problem up front to find a settlement that was mutually satisfactory for both the UK and the rest of the EU. "The UK does not have the moral authority to stop Europe going forward".

END

The European Parliament transport today adopted a report calling for more EU action to strengthen air passenger rights.

Andrew Duff, Lib Dem Euro MP for the East of England said "Air passengers can still get a raw deal when flying. The EU has moved steadily to improve passenger rights but airlines still hold the upper hand. The Parliament has today supported proposals to improve air passenger rights. I am looking now for the Commission to act and to implement these proposals.

Last night, Euro-MPs and EU Member States achieved a breakthrough in their talks to reduce the costs of using mobile phones abroad.

Business travellers and holidaymakers alike will benefit in particular from a cap on data roaming which from July this year will be limited to 70 cents (around 60p) and fall to 20 cents per MB (around 17p) in 2014. Until now there has been no cap on the cost for using mobile internet options while abroad, causing bill shock misery for many on their return home.

The Citizens' Initiative comes into force on 1 April of this year. Introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, this new instrument will allow citizens to direct issues to the European Commission with a view to adopting appropriate action. A citizens' committee of at least seven people originating from seven different Member States will be required to record an initiative, and the one million signatures required must come from at least seven Member States. The organizers of initiatives who have collected one million signatures will be allowed to request a public hearing, to be organized in the European Parliament .