MEP Glenis Willmott will be visiting Rushcliffe School on April 4, but I sent her a few questions to answer prior to the visit. Here are her responses.
An interview with Glenis Willmott, MEP.
BEX: How did you get involved in the European Parliament?
GLENIS: I have always been a committed European, convinced that the European Union is a set of institutions which can be used to help achieve the things I have fought for all my life – peace, progress and prosperity. I’ve been an active member of the Labour Party for about 25 years. My previous job was Senior Organiser for the GMB trade union where I dealt with looking after the interests of working people on a day to day basis. I was second on Labour’s list of candidates in the East Midlands in the 2004 European elections; unfortunately only one Labour MEP was elected on that occasion. However, that Labour MEP, Phillip Whitehead, died suddenly early in 2006. The electoral rules, in these circumstances, mean that the next person on that Party’s list of candidates therefore becomes MEP.
BEX: What is your general working day like as a Member of the European Parliament?
GLENIS: No two days are the same! But to give you a rough idea, I spend Monday to Thursday of most weeks in the European Parliament in Brussels, (one week a month in Strasbourg). Fridays and Saturdays (and sometimes Sundays!) are spent on constituency activities around the East Midlands.
A full day in Brussels and Strasbourg is usually from 8.00 till 8.00, though full plenary sessions in Strasbourg can be as late as 11.00 pm. There is a planned cycle of meetings, hearings, voting and so on from 9.00 – 6.00, (later in Strasbourg) plus additional meetings or briefings with a wide variety of others, including representatives from industry, the trade unions, the voluntary sector, the Commission, UK government ministers and so on. It gets busier when I am directly involved in a particular piece of legislation – such as the recent Health & Safety Report I took through the Parliament.
My office staff provide the necessary backup for me to do my job – I employ a total of 7 people in Brussels and in my UK office. They keep tabs on my diary, ensure I am briefed and have the right papers for each meeting, make all travel and other arrangements. They look after correspondence, office finance, do research, write speeches, and do media work.
BEX: What is your role in the Parliament?
GLENIS: I am a member of two committees – Environment, Public Health & Food Safety, and Employment & Social Affairs. All legislation is examined in detail in these committees before it goes before the full Parliament for approval, and it allows individual MEPs considerable involvement in the making of new laws – far more than the average backbench MP at Westminster. I am also a member of the South East Europe Delegation, which is responsible for relations with countries from that region such as Albania and Serbia, and I am co-Chair of the European Parliament’s Cervical Cancer Group. Within the group of Labour MEPs (European Parliamentary Labour Party) I am Whip. This means I am responsible for how the EPLP members vote in plenary sessions of the Parliament, and also involves liaison with the Socialist Group Whip and with Government Ministers.
BEX: What do you think are the main benefits of Britain being a part of the European Union?
GLENIS: There are many, but they boil down to the three ‘P’s – Peace, Progress and Prosperity. The idea of a Europe working together for the common good came about following the death and destruction caused by the 2nd World War. Its founding fathers vowed that never again would Europe tear itself to pieces with all the consequent misery. By linking ourselves together economically, while approaching common problems with the joint strength of (originally 6) 27 member states, we have not only made war in Western Europe inconceivable, but increased our standards of living across the board, at the same time as protecting the rights of consumers and people at work.
