CLEG index

Even with a referendum on the EU constitution deferred, 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. Almost twenty years of anti-European conditioning have secured a fundamental - but ill-conceived and unsoundly-based - change of attitudes.

As the European Movement's section for inner London, Central London Europe Group's task is, within this area and where necessary throughout London, to help unravel that. We are under no illusions as to the size of the complexity of the task!

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

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CLEG AGM

Our AGM took place on Monday 12th May at King's College London.

John Preston retired on completing three years as one of our vice-chairmen - but remains a member of the committee. He is succeeded by Petros Fassoulas. Dr Chris Maddox returns to the committee as hon secretary. A new member of the CLEG team is Arjan Geveke. (The officers and profiles pages will be updated in due course.)

Peter Luff, chairman of European Movement-UK was our speaker and, as always, provided an encouraging message showing how the Movement and the European cause are regaining momentum and making up for lost time.

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Lisbon treaty

CLEG's programme for 2008 began with an evening conference on the reform treaty - Tuesday 11th March at St Bride's, EC4. Speakers included EM-UK president, Rt Hon Charles Kennedy MP. For full details - and recordings of two of the speeches - see Events.

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Speak Up Europe

Last year, CLEG took an active part in the Speak Up Europe campaign, supported by the information network Europe Direct and intended for the public.

Successful events, all at St Bride's EC4, took place on:

27th March: Keeping the lights on... (Energy security in Europe);
23rd May: China - opportunity or threat - how Europe is or should be contending with the emerging superpower.
11th October: What has the EU done for women?
Please see Events for further details on all these successful past events.

What has Europe ever done for us?" is an all too familiar rhetorical question from those of a different persuasion! Answers may be found on the new site as above...
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EM - the national perspective
CLEG try to contribute strongly to the European Movement nationally - and has continued to do for the past year with:
Richard Laming elected secretary of EM-UK;
John Preston and Richard Wassell elected to the EM national executive;
Jason Williams elected to the EM National Council;
Isabel Obert elected London branches representative to the National Council;
Richard Wassell taking over as national coordinator of the EM's flagship Speak Up Europe campaign.
They are all introduced on our profiles page.
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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. It is an early stage as yet... but in any case, if you're a facebook member, please join the CLEG group and help us make best use of it. Our facebook page can spread the word in ways this site (we must admit) cannot match! CLEG events will each be promoted via a separate page. Our facebook group has 54 members at the last count.
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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.
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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 (July 2008) focuses on Claude's key area of speciality - social policy.

Claude spoke at our annual dinner in December - on "The EU's role and record on human rights".
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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.
New 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.