John Vincent

Fiona Hall interviews

LDEG's Antony Hook interviewed Fiona Hall MEP,new leader of the UK Liberal Democrat MEPs on 26 August 2009 for the LDEG newsletter (shortly to arrive). He asked about her feelings on becoming leader: the most important issues for the new parliament: the lessons that can be learned from the latest elections: the Lib Dem future vision for Europe: and how we, as members, can help our MEPs. Read on for her answers -

AH: How do you feel about becoming Leader of the Lib Dem MEPs?

FH: It is a great privilege and a considerable challenge, and I'm very grateful to colleagues who encouraged me to put my name forward. We joke that women are taking over the ALDE group, as the German, French and British delegations are all now led by women.

AH: What do you think will be the most important issues in the new parliament?

FH: Three issues stand out.

First, the consequences of the economic crisis have by no means totally played out, even though some European countries are edging out of recession. Unemployment is still rising steeply, reaching levels not seen for over a decade. The challenge is how to invest in jobs strategically, not necessarily to preserve the status quo but using a transformational approach, so that we come out of the recession with a much greener economy. A good example of this can be seen in North East England, where Nissan is now turning to battery production for electric cars and a network of charging points is being planned across the region.

Secondly, climate change is always going to be on the agenda and will dominate the headlines in the weeks up to the Copenhagen conference. With climate change taking place faster and more forcefully than predicted, Copenhagen is the world's last chance for capping global warming at a rise of 2 degrees C.

In December 2008, MEPs along with national government ministers in the Council passed a raft of climate change legislation covering CO2 reductions and renewable energy. The weakest link in that package of legislation was the agreement on Emissions Trading, where industry pressurised the political negotiators into accepting a number of loopholes and concessions. But under the 2008 legislation, if we get a global agreement in Copenhagen - as we must - then the 20% by 2020 cut in greenhouse gas emissions will be ratcheted up to a 30% cut. Climate experts are concerned that even this 30% reduction will not be enough to get climate change under control. So we face a huge political challenge. The planet cannot afford politicians to fudge the deal on emissions reductions: because you cannot argue with the laws of physics.

Thirdly, there is the Lisbon Treaty. It is as if a curtain has been drawn across the month of October with no-one daring to discuss what will happen if and when the Treaty does finally come into force. The Irish referendum is not the end of the process but the beginning. The implementation of the Treaty will bring with it a series of opportunities for elected politicians - both in the European Parliament and in Westminster - to get involved in European-level decision-making in new ways. The challenge for us as Lib Dems is to spell out those opportunities and encourage people to make use of new mechanisms such as petitions.

AH: What lessons can be drawn from this year's European elections?

FH: This year's European elections were frustrating because Lib Dem candidates had a strong story to tell about the advantages of working together in Europe - but we were denied any opportunity to get that message across because of the Westminster expenses issue. Nevertheless, in those areas where Lib Dems had integrated campaigns, with European, national and local politicians working together, we did pretty well. The lesson I draw from that is that we are all Lib Dems, we are in this together, and despite the not insignificant practical difficulties we should spend as much time helping each other as possible.

AH: What can party members do to help MEPs?

FH: My number one ask would be for all able-bodied members to go out and deliver some leaflets. In the North East European Elections, those areas which had received regular Lib Dem literature saw Lib Dems coming top of the poll. In some areas where we had no deliverers at all, we came fifth. A leaflet through someone's door remains the most effective way for Liberal Democrats to counter the biased and inaccurate messages coming out of much of the British media. Of course new methods of electronic campaigning are important too - but there is still nothing to beat the immediacy of a good leaflet.

AH: How can we increase the profile of MEPs within the party?

FH: We need to get MEPs out of the ghetto of "Europe". MEPs do not do "Europe". MEPs do crime, security, civil liberties, finance, climate change, energy, biodiversity, agriculture, fisheries, international development ... with a particular emphasis on the European level of decision making in these areas. At present, party policy has a worrying tendency to overlook and omit that European angle, or to report it inaccurately.

AH: What should be the Liberal Democrat vision for the future of Europe?

FH: My personal vision is of a United Kingdom at ease in the EU and putting energy into being the highly influential European partner that it deserves to be. So much effort is expended unnecessarily at the moment in defending a very narrow definition of "British interest" on issues such as the Euro, Schengen and the budget rebate.

You might also want to watch Fiona being interviewed by the Belgian and Europe Lib Dem local party (BELD) -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOLS0XYNXkI

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