CLEG index

Even if the Lisbon treaty issue is finally settled, Europe remains centre stage in British politics. On no other issue do the public have to contend with such a weight of misinformation and propaganda from the media and elsewhere. Twenty years of anti-European conditioning have secured a fundamental - but ill-conceived and unsoundly-based - change of attitudes.

The prospective new arrangements are summarised for us in Why Lisbon by Catja Gaebel.

As the European Movement's section for inner London, Central London Europe Group's task always was, within that area and where necessary throughout London, to help unravel that. As you will see below, we have taken on a slightly new guise and new dimensions. The task however remains the same and as always we have no illusions as to its size or complexity.

We hope you will want to join us and contribute to the historic challenge that confronts us.

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CLEG becomes... EMiL

In June, the committee decided to change the name of the organisation to European Movement in London (EMiL). This is intended to:

make clearer our relationship with the EM nationally;
underline the stronger campaign focus we intend to develop;
reflect a wider territorial brief than hitherto.

The new name EMiL and indeed the new approach it is meant to represent will step by step be reflected throughout this site. The site is accessible under both old and new guises - www.em-il.org.uk and www.cleg.org.uk - with identical content.

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The Swedish presidency
EMiL members and friends are invited to a presentation and reception at the Swedish Ambassador's residence, 27 Portland Place, W1. Tues 17th November, 6.30-8.30pm. Please note not at the Embassy as originally intended.
No charge to attend but, places being limited, please not later than 4th Nov confirm your attendance by e-mail to Richard Wassell - with postal address also so the Embassy can send a formal invitation. (To those who do confirm - please also let us know if you find you cannot be there! Otherwise others miss out unnecessarily.)

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EMiL Christmas party
Our Xmas event takes palce on 3rd December at the Val Taro Ristorante, 32 Orange Street, WC2. Full details from our Events page.

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Involving you
The committee intends to publish the agenda and minutes of our meetings, in an effort to communicate our work more effectively. We welcome comments at any time. In that spirit, herewith minutes of our committee meeting of 14th September.
Upcoming committee agendas and past minutes will be available where in future from our Links page.

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Communicating
This website has been quiet for a while but has now been brought up to date - including working our new name EMiL in throughout the site in place of CLEG.
We are however looking at upgrading the site - so that:
it covers issues - not just events and organisation as it tends to for the present;
it becomes interactive so you can contribute! We have appreciated the importance of this through the potential of our facebook page (see below).
Another vehicle is the branch page on the EM national site.
Finally, we have launched a newsletter The European which we intend to circulate to all members monthly. Please see our links page for previous issues. Feedback appreciated!

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Moving with the times... with facebook
CLEG has recognised the new ways of networking - by developing our own page on facebook. The facebook group has 94 members at the last count.
If you're a facebook member, please join our group and help us make best use of it. Our facebook page can spread the word in ways this site fo the moment cannot match - although we shall be looking to develop interactivity on this site as well.
CLEG events will each be promoted via a separate page.
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Third Thursday Club
As an experiment and so as to bring members and friends together more informally, we have introduced a monthly social evening - our third Thursday Club - from 6.30pm on the third Thursday of every month other than August and December.
Forthcoming dates are therefore Thursdays 15th October, 19th November and 21st January.
We have tested various locations but have now settled on the Royal Horseguards Hotel, 1 Whitehall Place, SW1.
Of course we talk about Europe - but other topics are permitted!
Hope to see you there.
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Baroness Elles
We note with great regret the recent death of Baroness Elles - who had been one of our patrons since the formation of CLEG in 1987.
She was of course a former MEP and continued to stand for the one nation values once closely associated with her party.
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CLEG AGM
Our 2009 AGM took place on 10th May at the Royal Horseguards Hotel.
Áine McGuire retired on completing a notable and envigorating three years as chairman - but remains with us as a vice-chairman. She is succeeded by Petros Fassoulas - who has already demonstrated his determination to provide a fresh impetus and stronger campaign focus.
Newly elected members of the committee this year are Mark Paterson (hon secretary), Dr Bryony Hoskins and Hilary Naqvi.
All committee members are introduced on our profiles page.
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Eurocapitales
CLEG continues to support the Eurocapitales network of EM capital city sections. Mark Paterson and Arjan Geveke represented us at this year's network meeting in Brussels focusing on research and innovation (18th-20th Sept).
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Schools initiative
We have developed, for the first time, a proactive programme of speakers for local schools. Please see our community page for more details - or contact Bryony Hoskins.
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EM - the national perspective
CLEG try to contribute strongly to the European Movement nationally - and continues to do so through:
Richard Laming as EM-UK national secretary;
Petros Fassoulas as a member of the EM national executive and regional coordinator for London;
John Preston and Richard Wassell as members of the EM national council;
Richard Wassell as national coordinator for the Europe-wide European Citizens Consultation on social Europe - as he was latterly for the more ambitious Speak Up Europe project which preceded it.
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Claude Moraes MEP
Our president, Claude Moraes MEP - who is most enthusiastic to play a full part in our work - contributes a quarterly President's Letter, written especially for CLEG members and friends. The latest issue focuses on Claude's key area of speciality - social policy.

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Events
Our programme for the future will feature campaign initiatives as well as the traditional events. The latter though are still important and will be both announced and reported on afterwards via the events page. Upcoming events are also shown in summary on the diary page.
Amongst highlights of past occasions, the events page features recordings of our March 2008 meeting at St Bride's on the Lisbon treaty - featuring Rt Hon Charles Kennedy MP (EM-UK president) and Sir Stephen Wall.
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Publications

Writing for the Federal Trust, Richard Laming discusses Four routes to the new Europe - possible solutions to the problem of the constitutional treaty.
European Movement publications accessible through this page include:
Create a European FBI? by Bill Newton Dunn MEP - proposing a European solution to the challenge of organised crime;
The Euro - Success or Failure by ex-MEP Ben Patterson - which questions the prevailing assumption that the euro not lived up to its advance billing within the Eurozone;
A Tale of Two Models by Ken Daly, analysing the differences between and comparative performance within various sectors of the "European" and "Anglo-Saxon" economic models.
All these provide valuable support in the interests of accentuating the positive.