Local Newspaper Column - July 2005

Published on Fri 19th Aug 2005

The last Strasbourg session began with a real buzz, as we voted down, by a massive majority, a proposed new law on computer implemented inventions (more commonly known as the software patents directive).

Something intended as a technical measure had become highly charged politically, with intense lobbying from two opposed points of view. The version produced by the Council of Ministers had ignored many of Parliament's earlier changes and was, in my own view at least, flawed beyond repair. So, better to have no legislation than bad legislation, although the problems it was trying to address still remain to be sorted.

The session finished, however, on a very sombre note as we learnt of the tragic bombings in London on 7 July, with MEPs from across the whole of Europe uniting in their expressions of sadness and concern for all those affected.

Last in our parliamentary year came a Brussels week, which included a hearing on the role of women's networks in the fisheries sector. Women from the Netherlands, Spain, Norway, Scotland and France gave impressive presentations on the largely voluntary work they had been doing to support one another in solving problems in their local communities.

One such success story was the inclusion of the North Sea Women's Network in the North Sea Regional Advisory Council and the way its (Scots) representative had managed to increase its focus on the impact of fisheries policy on the economies of coastal areas.

The rest of July - constituency activities in St Andrews, Kirkintilloch, Dundee and Irvine aside - has mainly been taken up with two activities: sorting papers that have accumulated at home into piles ("file", "shred" and "bin") and finalising casework.

Many of the problems that people bring to me are ones with which I can genuinely help, including things like assistance dogs on aircraft, bringing pensions home from abroad, timeshare scams, environmental concerns and so on.

But a lot of the correspondence is on domestic human rights. The link here is with the Council of Europe, not the EU, and they are part of our own law. So the proper places to go are MSPs, advice centres and local lawyers. I can only point people in the right direction.

On these or any other issues please contact me at Suite 5, Olympic House, 142 Queen Street, Glasgow G1 3BU or info@elspethattwooll.org.uk