1. London and UK

Peace/Anti-Nuclear.  Jean gave the keynote speech at London CND's AGM at Conway Hall.  Her speech focused on the US missile defence plans, and EU responses.

Guantanamo Bay.  11 Jan 2008 was the sixth anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo Bay.  Jean participated in a number of related events in London and publicised them.  She co-signed a letter to Gordon Brown, calling for further pressure to close Guantanamo and release prisoners to safe locations. 

Jean joined campaigners and former detainees to deliver the letter to Downing Street.  She joined East London Peace Group and the London Guantanamo Campaign at East London Mosque, where she met Muslim women at Friday prayers and campaigned alongside a 'living statue' in an orange jumpsuit, handing out leaflets.  In the evening, Jean spoke at the demonstration in Parliament Square.  She has also formally raised the matter of the remaining UK detainees with the UK government.

Holocaust Memorial. Jean participated in London's Holocaust Memorial event at City Hall, as well a tree planting commemoration event in Ealing and a Memorial Day event Sutton.

Skills and Employment.  Jean responded to the London Skills and Employment Board's consultation on its draft strategy.  She emphasised the need for skills to focus on the shift to a low carbon economy; the importance of local recruiting; the training needs in small/micro-businesses; a stakeholder role for anti-poverty groups, unemployed people and trade unions; and the importance of adopting a sustainable development model.  Read Jean's submission.

Young people and environment.   Jean met with representatives of the British Council to discuss their initiatives for young people and available funding.  Jean participated in a 'question time' style event as part of the Just Cities project which she is sponsoring.  This environmental justice event saw young people from Southwark  and Wimbledon developing and presenting their views on the environment, and engaging with Jean on the issues (see photo above). She was also interviewed by schoolchildren in Hayes for their newspaper being entered in a “Guardian” competition.

British Bangladeshi 'Outstanding Achievement Awards'. Jean participated in this event in Kensington Town Hall, at which she presented awards to high-achieving British Bangladeshi young people.

Save London Bubble Theatre.  Jean has been supporting the campaign to save the London Bubble Theatre, which is threatened with the loss of its Arts Council Funding.  Jean has written to the Arts Council, urging them to reconsider.  To support London Bubble visit   http://www.londonbubble.org.uk/save_london_bubble.

Health service privatisation.  Jean spoke out against the decision for three London GP surgeries to be run by a private US company, as a move to further privatisation of the health service.

Migrants rights.  Marking International Migrants Day, Jean called on the UK Government to avoid deporting migrants who have been settled in the UK since they were children. She also demanded that children be helped to clarify their migration status to avoid being unexpectedly removed when they reach adulthood. Jean publicised events organised in London for International Migrants Day and contributed to an International Migrants Day radio project with an article on EU migration policy. The article can be found at the following link - http://www.radio1812.net/en/issues/eu_migration_policy_jean_lambert.

Model United Nations conference.  Jean was the keynote speaker at this four-day international conference at Essex University.  She focused on human rights, human trafficking, refugees and the role of the EU.

Newsletter.  Jean's latest full colour newsletter is available, and can be viewed at  http://www.jeanlambertmep.org.uk/newsletter_detail.php?id=37.  Contact Jean's London office (jeanlambert@greenmeps.org.uk) if you would like a free paper copy.

2. Brussels and Beyond

Trade unions
Jean gave a public condemnation of a European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling which undermines workers rights in Europe. The ECJ ruled that a Swedish trade union had no right to force a Latvian company operating in Sweden (Laval) to pay its workers a locally determined minimum wage. (The ECJ stated that because no minimum pay levels are set by Swedish law, the trade unions had no right to force the Latvian company to pay its workers a locally determined minimum wage.) 

Worker mobility
Jean hosted an event in Strasbourg along with the European Citizen Action Service (ECAS) which saw the launch of a new report assessing labour migration following the expansion of the EU, particularly the accession of Bulgaria and Romania. The report demonstrates that even with enlargement, free movement within the union remains at a low level, concerning less than 2% of the population and being unevenly spread.

Migration and Refugees
Following previous visits to various detention centers across Europe, in November Jean visited 3 'removal centers' in the UK. This official parliamentary visit included NGO briefings on the situation in UK removal centers and a meeting at the home office. Along with much legislative work that Jean has been doing in this area in the Parliament, she also participated in a meeting which focused on the situation of Iraqi refugees, particularly in Jordan and Syria, to where millions have fled. She also hosted a meeting in the Parliament to launch a report by the Jesuit Refugee Service on detention conditions in the 10 new member states of the EU.

Human rights/Gender
Following initial meetings with Amnesty International, Jean hosted a successful event in the Parliament during which 3 former 'comfort women' delivered their testimonies. The emotional testimonies delivered by the women led to considerable political momentum which resulted in a push for a Parliamentary resolution on the issue, to which Jean was a co-signatory. The motion was successfully adopted by the Parliament and can be found here.

Jean was also a co-signatory to a Green motion for a resolution on violence against women in the Congo, which formed the basis for a European Parliament resolution.

Human Rights/Foreign affairs
Jean chaired a conference on the situation of the EU, Turkey, and the Kurds, hosted a meeting with an NGO on the current situation in Sri Lanka, and has held a meeting with civil society activists from Bangladesh. She has also participated in various meetings surrounding the current situation in Pakistan, including a meeting with President Musharaf as part of her role as a member of the Parliament's delegation for relations with South Asia. She has also spoken on various occasions in Plenary on the situation in Pakistan. Her interventions can be found here.

Health
Jean signed the European Cervical Cancer Interest Group's STOP Cervical cancer petition which calls upon the European Parliament, the European Commission, and national governments to implement effective cervical cancer prevention programmes which will provide optimal protection against cervical cancer for all women in Europe.

MEP mission to Israel and Palestine
Jean will be part of a fact-finding mission to Israel and Palestine from 2-7 February 2008, with a cross-party group of MEPs. The visit aims to assess the current situation and look at steps to achieve an eventual peaceful settlement.  The MEPs are scheduled to meet the Palestinian legislative council, academics in Sderot, members of the Knesset, the Mayors of Hebron and Bethlehem and many other representatives. They have also applied to visit Gaza.

 3. Comment on Current Affairs

The Government's electoral reform review

The UK Government's long-awaited electoral review was finally published in January. The review found there was “not a difference between PR systems and FPTP in terms of delivering stable and effective government”, although it did recognise that “with a greater number of parties involved under PR, the political landscape can be more dynamic.” It noted that UK coalition governments can be just as stable as single-party governments and went on to say that “one of the main benefits of PR, and in particular STV, is that voters have a greater degree of choice in elections and a greater chance of their vote counting in terms of who gets elected.”

If the Government needed any convincing that the citizens are interested in our voting systems, they should consider the response that the Independent received in 2005 to a petition they ran calling for electoral reform. They managed to raise 40,000 signatures in just a few weeks.

Despite this review, Labour's 1997 manifesto commitment for a referendum on proportional representation is still outstanding. It's high time Gordon Brown fulfilled that pledge. The Government has dragged its feet for long enough on Lords reform – we must not have a similar delay on reforming the voting system to make it proportional and representative.  Democracy requires it.

Jean's New Statesman article on electoral reform can be read at http://www.newstatesman.com/200802010004.

4. Dates for the diary

1-29 February – LGBT History Month. See http://www.lgbthistorymonth.org.uk/.
2-7 February – MEP visit to Israel and Palestine.
9 February – Trade Union Conference on Climate Change, LSE. Jean will be chairing the opening plenary session.  See http://www.campaigncc.org/.
14-17 February – Green Party Spring Conference, Reading.  See http://www.greenparty.org.uk/nextconference.
22 February – Work Your Proper Hours Day (TUC). See http://www.worksmart.org.uk/workyourproperhoursday.
25 February - 9 March – Fair Trade Fortnight. See http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/fortnight.htm.
1 March – Animal Welfare Bazaar, Ealing Town Hall.  See http://www.animalwelfarebazaar.info/.
8 March – International Women's Day; Capitalwoman event, QEII Centre.  See http://www.london.gov.uk/capitalwoman.