South Suffolk Liberal Democrats

'Europe is nearing its federal moment - the time to decide on whether it wishes to become more united or not. The growth of the federal movement in Lithuania is therefore greatly to be welcomed'- he said.

On 3 February Mr Andrew Duff, the president of Union of European Federalists (UEF), attended the constitutive meeting of a branch of UEF in Lithuania. The meeting, which took place in the Lithuanian parliament, was widely covered by the national media and was attended by a large group of the organization?s founders, among which there are a number of MPs, academics and other well-known figures.

Reacting to the European Council Conclusions on Growth this evening, Guy Verhofstadt,
President of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament said:

"EU leaders have failed in the only area where they could have made concrete progress today. Instead of decisive action they again chose procrastination. After 40 years of waiting, an agreement was found last year on a European patent but we still have to wait another six months for Member States to agree on the seat of the court causing further delay and costing jobs across the Union at a crucial moment."

A pan-European constituency with transnational lists for European Parliament elections is among the proposals put forward by the Constitutional Affairs Committee on Thursday. MEPs called on the Council and the Commission to join in negotiations to reform the EU electoral system so as to boost voter turnouts.

Today in the Constitutional Affairs Committee a tied vote (11-11) meant that no decision was taken on Andrew Duff's report which recommended that the EU does not agree to the request of the former government of the Czech Republic to add a Protocol on the Charter to the Treaty of Lisbon.

The Czech Protocol was conceived in 2009 in order to persuade President Klaus to sign the Lisbon treaty. Mr Duff argues that an identical Protocol signed by the UK and Poland is a spurious and futile instrument which sows legal uncertainty and political confusion. He is supported in this view by the European Court of Justice and by the Czech Senate which threatens not to ratify the Czech Protocol.

In a report to be voted on by the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the European Parliament this Thursday (26 January), MEPs are recommended not to agree to the request of the former government of theCzechRepublicto add a Protocol to the Treaty of Lisbon. The draft Protocol was agreed by the heads of government at the time of the ratification of theLisbontreaty in 2009 in order to persuade President Vaclav Klaus to drop his opposition to the treaty. The Czech Parliament never agreed to the Protocol.

At meetings in Barcelona on Friday and Saturday (20-21 January), the European federalists took a stance on the emerging intergovernmental treaty on fiscal discipline.

The UEF took note of the circumstances which led up to the drafting of a new treaty outside the framework of the European Union, but welcomed the fact that the British bluff had been called and their veto by-passed.

Andrew Duff (ALDE/UK), who is Parliament's rapporteur on electoral reform, has triggered a revision of the Parliament's own rules for its internal elections. He has written to newly-elected President Schulz to propose a change to the Single Transferable Vote (STV).

In his letter to the President, Duff says:

Lib Dems have been given assurances from the European Commission that countries which do not comply with new welfare rules for laying hens will be closely investigated and, if appropriate, taken to court.

Under intense political pressure from Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament, the Commission confirmed its commitment to put in place infringement procedures as of January 2012.