The Scottish Parliament

As has been said repeatedly over the last few days on this site, there is a European election fast approaching. Far from being the irrelevance that many consider it, the 2009 European elections are one of the most important events of the year. The potential impact to Scotland is huge. With this in mind, I am determined to do all that I can to raise the profile of the elections with a series of articles promoting the European Parliament and the work that they do, which, as I have said on many occasions is simply not reported in our popular press.
This article focuses Alyn Smith MEP (Member of the European Parliament), who forms on of our 87 UK representatives in Brussels.

Alyn Smith is Scotland’s youngest MEP, being born in Glasgow, 1973. His upbringing was anything but conventional, growing up between Scotland and Saudi Arabia. He returned to Scotland in 1986. Alyn has studied at Leeds University and in Heidelberg, Germany. He eventually graduated from Nottingham Law School in 1996. In addition to this through education, Alyn also earned a Masters degree in European Studies from the College of Europe, Warsaw. Later, Alyn moved to London where he qualified as a lawyer with commercial law firm Clifford Chance.
After this exceptional education and upbringing, Alyn Smith began to work for a Scottish legal firm in 2000. he moved on to work for Richard Lochhead MSP in 2002 and then for the SNP Scottish Parliament group as a European, Justice and Business policies advisor.
Alan was elected in 2004 to the European Parliament in Brussels to represent Scotland and The Scottish National Party. Despite his young age he is certainly an active Member, having full membership in the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee, an alternate member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, and on the Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Switzerland, Iceland and Norway.
Below is an excerpt from Alyn Smiths website, outlining his opinion and beliefs about the European Parliament:
The SNP and myself are pro-European. We want to see Scotland, as an independent country, take her seat at the top table in Europe as a full member state. Until that happens I want to see Scotland make the most out of Europe, and for people across Scotland to see that the EU isn’t about straight bananas and banning bagpipes.
We are all EU citizens and that brings us rights not just at home but across the European Union. Europe isn’t some far away place, it’s here in Scotland, over the border in England and around us from Mull to Malta, Gourock to Gdansk. We are part of Europe and I believe Scotland should be playing a major role in the new Europe.
The new Europe is about breaking down barriers between countries, being able to travel easily, to work overseas but being protected while we do so and being assured that in any other EU country we will have many of the rights, as well as the responsibilities, that we have at home.
Europe is not another planet, it is not a world full of aliens and it’s not some dictatorship passing laws down to Scotland. We are part of the EU and as an independent Scotland we, along with other member states, could choose what powers we let the European Union use on our behalf. As an MEP I want to see everyone in Scotland engage with Europe, and I hope the information in this section of the website will help foster this.

What Has Alyn Smith actually done in his term of office?
Alyn Smith is a prolific question asker! In the European Parliament, the best way to turn the wheels of power is to ask questions. Full details of all the questions asked by Smith can be found on his website (a link to which can be found on the right hand side of the page), there are far too many to list here. Here is an example question asked by Smith in April:
WRITTEN QUESTION E-3364/09
by Alyn Smith (Verts/ALE)
to the Commission

Subject: Undergrounding new power lines

In recent years, there have been significant developments in a number of EU Member States on the question of undergrounding new 400KV electrical cables. Independent reviews carried out in Ireland (Ecofys) and in Germany (The Askon Report) have found that undergrounding has a number of important advantages in terms of reliability, health and the environment over using pylons. In Germany, federal level legislation has been proposed to require transmission operators to carry out technical and economic considerations for underground lines which pass within 200 metres of individual homes and 400 metres of residential areas.

Last year, Mario Monti, the EU coordinator for the electrical interconnector between Spain and France recommended that part of this line should be undergrounded. These recommendations were then passed by the Franco-Spanish Summit in June 2008 and the competent authorities and electricity grid companies have now been called upon to implement these plans with immediate effect.

1. In light of these developments, does the Commission intend to recommend that all Member States should consider the benefits of undergrounding new power lines?

2. Has the Commission undertaken any research or studies on the benefits of undergrounding new power lines?

Alyn is involeved with several camaigns within the European Parliament, including:
MEPs against Cancer - www.mepsagainstcancer.org
European Union - Turkey Civic Commission - www.eutcc.org
Scottish Pensioners Forum - www.scottishpensioners.org.uk
Peace in Kurdistan

Probably the single most memorable act of Alyn in his time as a Member of the European Parliament is in the declaration he put forward in 2005. Alyn was the only MEP to put forward a declaration for the Make Poverty History campaign.
Regardless of your political leanings, you cannot deny that Alyn Smith is a tremendously hard working MEP. He is an articulate and clear voice for Scotland, he is standing for re-election in the 2009 European election for Scotland

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