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MAGINNESS IN NEGOTIATIONS FOR CHANGE WITH COLLEAGUES IN
BRUSSELS SDLP European Election candidate Alban Maginness MLA has said our current European representatives have let down the people of the North and the time is right for change. Mr Maginness is currently in Brussels engaging in a series of high level meetings with fellow members of the Party of European Socialists. Mr Maginness stated: “Over the past two days I have attended a series of meetings in the European Parliament. I have engaged with fellow members of the Party of European Socialists on issues such as the Lisbon Treaty and the current world economic crisis. It is clear from these meetings that Europe can play a key role in taking coordinated action to ensure that people in all corners of the European Union are protected from the worst fall out of the credit crunch. I have also discussed with my colleagues a number of initiatives which can directly benefit the community in the North. What is striking is that only by building and maintaining a network of contacts in Brussels can a representative hope to prosecute real change. That is something that the SDLP has. Central to the European project and with the power provided by our membership of the PES, only the SDLP can provide and deliver change in Europe. That is what people are crying out for. Europe must deliver for the people it serves. Unfortunately that has been sadly lacking in the North over the last four years. Our three current representatives are isolated from each other and isolated from the levers of power in Europe. The promises they made four years ago have come to nothing. They have not delivered. They have not built on or used the positive influence built by John Hume and the SDLP over 25 years in Brussels. They had a template for unparalleled success and delivery and yet they chose to ignore it. They have wasted a legacy on which so much more could have been built. Jim Allister has used his European seat, not to talk about European issues or objectives or policies, he has used it to build a platform for himself based on division, fomenting distrust, and encouraging instability. Sinn Fein have shown their disdain for Europe by using it only for publicity and photo shoots. No substance and no delivery. People are right to have become cynical and distrustful of Europe because of our current representation. They are right to ask what has it done for them, and what is it taking away from them. Over the last two days I have made it clear to my colleagues in the European Parliament that the SDLP will continue to engage, not withdraw, on behalf of the people of the North. We will use our mandate positively, not as a tool to score local party political points. We recognise the need for change and have the agenda and contacts to ensure that it happens.”
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