Blog Archive
Childers welcomes commission decision to block new McCreevy job
Posted on October 07, 2010 by Bronwen Maher
Labour MEP Nessa Childers today welcomed the speedy response by the European Commission’s Ethics Committee to her calls to block former Commissioner Charlie McCreevy from taking up a lucrative post with UK-based NBNK Investments.
"The manner in which this decision was made is further proof of the power of the directly elected European Parliament under the Lisbon Treaty. This decision, was taken only a few days after a vote by the European Parliament’s powerful Budget Committee to freeze the salaries and allowances of European Commissioners unless urgent changes are made to the Code of Conduct governing their post-Commission employment. I am hopeful that this will send out a strong signal that the Commission has ended its laissez-faire attitude to the post-Commission employment of its former members.
McCreevy is the real-life Gordon Gekko of Europe
Posted on October 06, 2010 by Bronwen Maher
Payments should be suspended pending outcome of investigation into former Commissioner ´s latest directorship
As the new Wall Street movie hits our screens, it is clear that Charlie McCreevy is “the real-life Gordon Gekko", such is his appetite for lucrative jobs and Directorships since he left the European Commission only a matter of months ago, Nessa Childers MEP told the European Parliament plenary session in Brussels today.
She said: "The brand of light touch financial regulation presided over by Mr. McCreevy and the talent he has shown for collecting highly-paid jobs since his departure from the Commission shows how the Gekko catchphrase of "greed is good" suits McCreevy very well. Gekko was an icon of 1980s style casino capitalism, and McCreevy is the 21st century version.
Commission investigation of new McCreevy banking job welcome
Posted on October 05, 2010 by Bronwen Maher
Labour MEP Nessa Childers welcomed confirmation from the European Commission that it is investigating former Commissioner Charlie McCreevy's lucrative new job with NBNK Investments, which is buying up distressed banking assets.
Commission spokesman Michael Mann has confirmed that his latest Directorship is under investigation for possible conflicts of interest and the Commissions internal oversight body is assessing whether it in line with their Code of Conduct.
Last weeks vote by the European Parliaments powerful Budget Committee to freeze the salaries and allowances of European Commissioners, unless urgent changes are made to this Code of Conduct, has now resulted in this new investigation by the Commission.
"This vote showed that the parliament will not tolerate any repeat of a cases of Commissioners walking straight into high-paid positions after their time in Barroso's cabinet, which may potentially cause a conflict of interest.
The Labour MEP said, "The Commission should not have permitted Charlie McCreevy to take up a position on the Board of Ryanair soon after leaving their ranks. He has also recently taken up this Directorship position with UK-based NBNK Investments, which is actually by buying up distressed banks assets and thus feeding off the financial crisis which he himself helped create with his light-touch regulation approach to the financial markets. The bitter irony will not be lost of the thousands of people in Ireland and across Europe who lost their jobs due to the financial crisis.
"The Commission's Code of Conduct which dates back to 1967, must be reviewed urgently. The Code needs to act more as a brake on the future activities of former Commissioners and not merely a set of guidelines routinely interpreted to ensure the best deal possible for former senior figures."
MEPs move to freeze commissioner salaries welcome
Posted on October 01, 2010 by Bronwen Maher
Labour MEP Nessa Childers welcomed this week’s vote by the European Parliaments powerful Budget Committee to freeze the salaries and allowances of European Commissioners, unless urgent changes are made to their Code of Conduct.
"This vote shows the parliament will not tolerate any repeat of a case like Charlie McCreevy, the recent former Internal Markets Commissioner, who walked straight into lucrative positions after his time in Barroso's cabinet, potentially causing a conflict of interest.
Labour MEPS join 100,000 march for jobs based recovery
Posted on September 30, 2010 by Bronwen Maher
Labour MEPs Nessa Childers and Alan Kelly joined a march of over 100,000 ordinary working people in Brussels today, as part of a Europe-wide day of action calling for a jobs based recovery against the excessive austerity measures being implemented across Europe.
Childers & Kelly joined their colleagues from the Labour group in the European Parliament in attending the march.
Nessa Childers explained, "This morning, my Labour colleague Joan Burton registered once again our anger at the extension of the Cowen government's bank guarantee while the jobs crisis has been allowed to flounder - a view which is shared by the majority of the Irish people. I am here today to express my solidarity with overwhelming majority of European workers who also support our position."
Today's march in Brussels followed the implementation of new austerity measures in Spain, Portugal, Britain, Italy, Holland and France.
She added, "European workers do not believe in the efficacy of the excessive austerity packages that are akin to economic masochism. If the Irish government and their colleagues around Europe continue to plough this line in the face of all the evidence that shows their increasing ineffectiveness, the medicine may eventually kill the patient. Job creation is the only way out of this crisis.
"We must begin to invest in our workers and in our entrepreneurs, and trust that their initiative and commitment will see us through this crisis, instead of continuing to pull the rug from underneath their feet."
Labour MEP Alan Kelly described the march as evidence of the anger of many workers.
"Austerity without a concrete jobs strategy means we will be doing backwards. Given all that has happened to people in terms of pensions, wages and the undermining of personal wealth, people are entitled to be angry and I hope their voice will be heard throughout Europe and in all member states' governments,"
Ireland holds the worst record in EU for air pollutant emissions
Posted on September 29, 2010 by Bronwen Maher
Emissions ceiling to be exceeded by almost 50% in 2010
Labelling system needed to advise women to minimise alcohol consumption during pregnancy
Posted on September 27, 2010 by Bronwen Maher
A labelling system advising women to minimise alcohol consumption during pregnancy should be obligatory, Nessa Childers MEP has said today.
The Irish government will have a chance to make this European law if it proposes such a move at the EU Council of Health Minister’s meeting in December. The meeting will discuss draft EU legislation on food labelling.
She said: “Labelling is long overdue but the government has repeatedly kicked the matter to touch. The Minister for Health should not just revisit the matter but propose to the other EU Member States at the Council of Health Ministers meeting in December that the labelling of alcohol should be introduced under the EU’s proposed new food labelling system in order to inform women of the risks involved with alcohol consumption during pregnancy.”
“A Coombe Women’s Hospital Study carried out in recent years makes stark reading. The research showed that 60% of Irish women continue to drink alcohol during pregnancy despite the well established evidence linking unsafe and excessive levels of alcohol consumption to serious health disorders in infants. ”
“It is even more startling in light of the overwhelming evidence that no action whatsoever has been taken by government to raise awareness of these dangers and to empower women with the information they need to make informed choices.
“Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders are highly preventable and we need to get serious about changing attitudes and behaviour towards the excessive consumption of alcohol.
Possible conflict of interest cases ignored by Barrosso commission
Posted on September 27, 2010 by Bronwen Maher
Only one senior European Commission figure in the last two years has been barred from taking up a top job that may cause a conflict of interest with their former employment at the Commission.
Information secured by Nessa Childers MEP shows that 201 separate requests were made by Commission figures since January 2008 who were seeking permission to take up jobs following their time in the Commission where a potential conflict of interest with their former EU role may arise.
The Labour MEP said, “It could be argued that the Commission, under its own Code of Conduct should not have permitted Charlie McCreevy, a recent former Internal Markets Commissioner to take up a position on the Board of Ryanair not long after he left office in Brussels.
“This Barroso Commission has taken a light-touch regulation approach to the financial markets and it is now doing the same with the lucrative career prospects of its former members and officials. It is stretching credulity to accept that only one case of post-Commission employment out of 201 cases signaled for a possible conflict of interest was refused by the Commission's internal oversight authority.”
She continued, “In the wake of the revelations regarding Charlie McCreevy’s generous parachute payments and concerns in relation to the nature of employment enjoyed by some former officials the rules of the game need to be changed.
“The Commission’s own Code of Conduct must be reviewed urgently. The Code needs to act more as a brake on the future activities of former Commissioners and not merely a set of guidelines routinely interpreted to ensure the best deal possible for former senior figures.”
“I am demanding a review of the Code of Conduct for Commissioners for post-office employment; the introduction of a 'cooling-off' or 'quarantine' period of at least two years after their exit from the Commission and a much more transparent procedure to assess whether or not post-office employment is compatible with previous areas of responsibility and spheres of influence on the Commission,” Nessa Childers concluded.
New EU alzheimers initiative must focus on specific needs needs of women
Posted on September 22, 2010 by Bronwen Maher
The proposed new EU Initiative on Alzheimers must focus on the specific needs of women. Twice as many women as men in Europe are affected by the illness, according to Nessa Childers MEP with the burden of care often falling on women who neglect their own health, quit jobs and risk poverty as a result of caring for an ill relative.
New EU-wide medicine monitoring system will save lives
Posted on September 21, 2010 by Bronwen Maher
With almost 200,000 deaths per year in the EU caused by adverse reactions to prescribed drugs, Nessa Childers has today welcomed moves to bring in a new EU system to monitor the safety of medicines which have already been approved for use by doctors. Adverse reactions, she said, are the fifth most common cause of hospital death in the EU.
The so-called pharmacovigilance legislation sets out the rules and procedures for monitoring the safety profile of medicinal products once they have been authorised and placed on the market.
