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		What's Old - Archived stories from the "What's New" section [  July - December 2009  |  January - June 2009  |  July - December 2008  |  January - June 2008  ] [  July - December 2007  |  January - June 2007  |  July - December 2006  |  January - June 2006  ] [  July - December 2005  |  January - June 2005  |  July - December 2004  |  January - June 2004  ] [  July - December 2003  |  January - June 2003  |  July - December 2002  |  April - June 2002  ] MEP speaks up for human rights in Hong Kong - Thursday, 12 December 2002 Hong Kong, formerly a British Colony but now a Special Adminstrative Region of China, is proposing to introduce new laws which many people believe could curtail human rights in the colony and threaten its standing as a thriving commercial centre. Victory for East Midlands farmers - Wednesday, 11 December 2002 East Midlands MEP Roger Helmer is delighted at a decision by the European Council and Parliament to exempt red diesel from new EU pollution limits. This will protect local farmers from potentially huge costs. Letter to the Editor - Nottingham Evening Post - Wednesday, 11 December 2002 At a recent debate in Broxtowe with local Labour MP Nick Palmer, I raised my concerns about the possibility of mass immigration into Britain from Central and Eastern European countries following EU enlargement, scheduled for 2004. MEPs challenge Chirac to pay beef ban fine - Tuesday, 10 December 2002 East Midlands Conservative MEPs Roger Helmer and Chris Heaton-Harris have called on the French President Jacques Chirac to pay the fine imposed on his government for its failure to lift its embargo on British beef. Have your say on animal welfare! - Thursday, 5 December 2002 The European Commission has invited the public to participate in an Internet consultation on the subject of animal transportation and animal welfare. This is part of their plan to revise legislation covering animal transportation and livestock markets. CBI chief: 'Hold your MEPs to account' - Wednesday, 27 November 2002 Digby Jones, Director-General of the CBI, has recommended that CBI members check the voting record of their local MEPs on the Temporary Workers Directive. Tories join CBI in EU regulation attack - Monday, 25 November 2002 Attending the CBI conference today, East Midlands MEP Roger Helmer, together with four of his fellow Conservative MEPs, joined the CBI in highlighting the damaging weight of regulation impacting British business. Research links with enlargement countries to be strengthened - Tuesday, 19 November 2002 East Midlands Euro-MP Roger Helmer, as Conservative Delegation spokesman on Research issues in the Industry and Research Committee, will be supporting a new report outlining measures ensuring the European enlargement countries' full involvement in the research programme. MEPs outraged by Commission on French fine for beef ban - Thursday, 14 November 2002 The European Commission announced last night that it has 'withdrawn its application to the European Court of Justice for the imposition of a daily fine on France for failure to implement the judgment of the Court of Justice of 13 December 2001 ordering France to lift the British beef embargo.' Classic vehicles saved from damaging EU regulations - Thursday, 14 November 2002 Classic vehicles have been exempted from costly and bureaucratic EU regulations, which would have forced owners of vintage commercial vehicles to have equipment for measuring driving-time fitted to them. "Euro - Bad for your health and wealth!" warns MEP - Wednesday, 13 November 2002 The Danish People's Party has issued a dramatic warning of the dangers posed by the new Euro coins, which now appear not only to pose a risk to economic wealth, but also health, following a rash of reports of skin allergy reactions across the Euro-zone. Europe Sounds Last Orders for Traditional British Fish and Chips - Wednesday, 13 November 2002 The Great British Tradition of Cod and Chips straight from the North Sea could soon become a thing of the past if recommendations in a report from the Advisory Committee on Fisheries Management are implemented by Brussels, warns East Midlands MEP Roger Helmer. Letter to the Editor - Nottingham Evening Post - Wednesday, 6 November 2002 Elizabeth Donnelly of Stapleford claims that foreign investment in Britain has slumped as a result of investors shying away from 'the uncertainties outside the eurozone' (Letters, 29 Oct). Letter to the Editor - Derby Evening Telegraph - Wednesday, 6 November 2002 I thought that Labour MEP Phillip Whitehead was a former journalist, so I am astonished by his fractured English. In his article (DET, 5 Nov) he writes, "President Bush's disgraceful Farm Act, for example, is one of the things which Roger claims to want from an efficient agricultural policy". Letter to the Editor - Nottingham Evening Post - Tuesday, 5 November 2002 It's Tim Clark of the European Movement, not Dorothy Wilson, who has his head in the sand (Letters Oct 28th). MEPs quiz Kinnock for Children in Need - Monday, 4 November 2002 East Midlands MEPs Chris Heaton-Harris and Roger Helmer will be testing their knowledge in a European Trivia Quiz in Brussels tonight in aid of Children in Need. Tory MEPs in bad company - Saturday, 26 October 2002 David Heathcoat-Amory's brave decision to leave the European People's Party (EPP) highlights a glaring anomaly in the Tories' approach to the EU. Since 1992, Tory MEPs have sat with the most federalist group in Europe. Victory for future of veterinary medicines - Friday, 25 October 2002 East Midlands MEP Roger Helmer is delighted with the outcome of the vote in the European Parliament this week, which voted to keep the current regime of respecting member state practice, rather than opting for the Commission's proposal to have all medicines prescription only. Euro-parliament opens immigration floodgate - Wednesday, 23 October 2002 Yesterday in Strasbourg the European parliament voted through the Lambert report on immigration, with the support of Labour and Lib-Dem MEPs. Conservatives opposed it. Letter to the Editor - Lincolnshire Echo - Wednesday, 23 October 2002 Bill Newton-Dunn, the turncoat MEP, did little to enhance his reputation for veracity when he left the Conservatives for the Liberals, having earlier secured his selection as a Conservative candidate by claiming to be fully in support of Conservative policy on the Euro. Letter to the Editor - Lincolnshire Echo - Tuesday, 22 October 2002 In the last couple of years I have had many complaints from constituents, and from bus companies and tour operators, about the outrageous behaviour of HM Customs with regard to personal imports of alcohol and tobacco from the continent. Labour MEPs challenged on EU "constitution" - Friday, 4 October 2002 East Midlands Tory MEP Roger Helmer has challenged his Labour colleagues to come clean on plans for a European Constitution. Giscard d'Estaing calls for United States of Europe - Thursday, 3 October 2002 Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the ex-President of France and now Chairman of the "Constitutional Convention" in Brussels, has called for the EU to be given a new name. He has suggested "The United States of Europe". Beef ban lifted but markets under threat - Wednesday, 2 October 2002 The French Government has today announced its decision to lift the ban on British beef. However, it is insisting on attempting to change EU law in the process. Tory MEPs fight for better value for car buyers - Wednesday, 2 October 2002 Following new rules passed by the European Commission this summer, which will mean that cheaper car prices in the UK will be delayed for three years, East Midlands MEP Roger Helmer, angered by the raw deal for British car buyers, supports calls for a more competitive market and reduced prices for consumers in line with other EU countries. Letter to the Editor - Derby Evening Telegraph - Tuesday, 1 October 2002 Thank you for the excellent coverage of the hunting issue in your letters columns (26 & 27/9). I must challenge a couple of the wilder points some of your contributors made. British industry hit hard again by EU regulations - Tuesday, 1 October 2002 The British Government's handling of the Foot and Mouth has been slated in a first draft report by the European Parliament's Temporary Committee of Inquiry into Foot and Mouth Disease. Letter to the Editor - Leicester Mercury - Friday 27 September 2002 So Mr. R. Webber Jones of Loughborough (letters, 24 September) thinks that the UK is already "hurting" from our isolation outside the euro and hopes "we can join the Eurozone soon." British industry hit hard again by EU regulations - Thursday, 26 September 2002 East Midlands farmers, fishermen and construction industries are likely to face devastating new costs following votes today in the European Parliament say Conservative Euro-MPs Chris Heaton-Harris and Roger Helmer. Campaign launched to abolish Strasbourg Parliament meeting - Wednesday, 25 September 2002 On the 50th anniversary of the first meeting the common assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community, East Midlands MEPs Chris Heaton-Harris and Roger Helmer together with their Conservative colleagues in the European Parliament, are launching a campaign to abolish the Strasbourg meeting of the European Parliament. Countryside March a success - Tuesday, 24 September 2002 East Midlands Conservative MEPs Roger Helmer and Chris Heaton-Harris have hailed the Liberty and Livelihood March held in London on Sunday as a success. MEP welcomes EU action on Customs seizures - Friday, 20 September 2002 East Midlands Euro-MP Roger Helmer today welcomed the announcement from EU Commissioner Frits Bolkestein that he is threatening court action against the British government over aggressive customs seizures at Dover and other British ports. Lift the Ban Immediately and Unconditionally - Friday, 20 September 2002 East Midlands Conservative MEPs Chris Heaton-Harris and Roger Helmer have called for the French ban on British Beef to be lifted "immediately and unconditionally". Letter to the Editor - Derby Evening Telegraph - Wednesday, 18 September 2002 Chris Williamson had 500 words in the DET to set out his case against hunting (10 September), but made such a bad job of it, he had to come back with another 350 words attacking my article (letters, 13 September). A pity he seems not to have read my article before attacking it. Ten years on, MEPs hail "Golden Wednesday" - Sunday, 15 September 2002 East Midlands MEPs Roger Helmer and Chris Heaton-Harris have hailed the tenth anniversary of September 16th 1992 "Black Wednesday", when Britain crashed out of the European exchange rate mechanism (ERM). Letter to the Editor - Stapleford & Sandiacre News - Tuesday, 3 September 2002 Nick Palmer MP has issued a challenge to me to debate the euro, and has responded very sarcastically to my "failure to respond". Unfortunately, Mr. Palmer never sent me his challenge, and I only learned of it yesterday. Local MEPs support Countryside March - Thursday, 29 August 2002 Local Conservative MEPs, Roger Helmer and Chris Heaton-Harris, are getting ready to join the "Liberty & Livelihood March", due to take place on 22nd September in London. They will march under a banner saying "Conservative Euro-MPs: Supporting the Countryside" with their Conservative colleagues. Letter to the Editor - East Midlands Local Newspapers - Tuesday, 27 August 2002 I seem to have got both Phillip Whitehead MEP and Nick Palmer MP hot under the collar on the question of EU enlargement and immigration (letters, 17 August), so I must be doing something right. MEP criticises France over Mugabe travel ban - Tuesday, 27 August 2002 East Midlands Conservative Euro-MP, Roger Helmer, has criticised France for allowing one of Mugabe's key Commissioners to visit France, in defiance of EU travel bans. MEP supports Transportation Awareness Ride - Wednesday, 22 August 2002 East Midlands Conservative MEP, Roger Helmer, has given his full support to the Transportation Awareness Ride, organised by the International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH). Letter to the Editor - East Midlands Local Newspapers - Thursday, 8 August 2002 Migration Watch UK has made a valuable contribution this week to the immigration debate in the UK, pointing out that Britain can expect to receive more than 2 million immigrants every 10 years for the foreseeable future unless curbs are introduced. On your bike Mr Prodi - Wednesday, 7 August 2002 East Midlands Conservative Euro-MP Roger Helmer has criticised proposed European Union legislation that would make drivers responsible for all accidents involving cyclists, even when the cyclist was at fault. Local Conservative MEP supports pro-hunting vigil - Monday, 29 July 2002 East Midlands Conservative Euro-MP, Roger Helmer, yesterday (29 July) gave his full support to the pro- hunting campaign by joining a hunt from the East Midlands in a round the clock vigil in Parliament Square. France faces fines over ban on British beef - Monday, 29 July 2002 East Midlands MEPs Chris Heaton-Harris and Roger Helmer have welcomed the European Commission's recommendation of fines of up to £100,000 per day on France for it's illegal ban on British beef. The East Midlands is prospering outside the Eurozone - Wednesday, 10 July 2002 Statistics show that the East Midlands is prospering outside the eurozone. Employment is on the up, exports have increased and inward investment is flooding in. Local MEP calls for an end to EU funding of Terrorism - Monday, 8 July 2002 Local Conservative MEP Roger Helmer has called for an end to EU funding of terrorism, following a recent report indicating that EU funding in Palestine is being used for terrorist purposes. EU aid fails Asian Nations - Monday, 8 July 2002 A recent Report by an official UK government office in Brussels has criticised the European Commission for failing to improve poverty in Asian countries despite having control of the foreign aid budget.