International Branch of the British Labour Party
Brussels Labour
Apr 19th
The next Brussels Labour branch meeting takes place next week:
Richard Corbett - Member of the Cabinet of Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council
‘Out of its depth? The EU and the Crisis’
Tuesday 24 April – Horloge du Sud, Rue du Trône 141, 1050 Ixelles – 20:00
The meeting begins at 20:00. The venue opens at 19:30. If you would like to eat, please come early and order before the meeting starts.
Forthcoming meetings include:
London Mayoral elections campaign day
Tuesday 1 May – Join Brussels Labour in Hackney and Islington and help get Ken Livingstone elected! A group of Brussels Labour members will be going to London to help Ken’s campaign – please contact the Secretary if you would like to join
Branch Meeting
Wednesday 30 May – Horloge du Sud – Further details tbc
Pascal Smet – Flemish Minister for Education, Youth, Equal Opportunities and Brussels Affairs
‘The Belgian communal elections’
Wednesday 20 June – Horloge du Sud, Rue du Trône 141, 1050 Ixelles – 20:00
The meeting begins at 20:00. The venue opens at 19:30. If you would like to eat, please come early and order before the meeting starts.
New issue of Germinal now online
Mar 21st
S&D conference on the financial crisis
Mar 20th
On 28 March the S&D Group in the European Parliament will host a conference on ‘The responses to the European crisis, proposals from the Appeal for a European Socialist Alternative’.
More details and a registration form are available here.
Jan Royall delivers the 2011 John Fitzmaurice memorial lecture
Mar 19th
On 13 October 2011, Jan Royall, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, delivered the John Fitzmaurice memorial lecture. A summary of the lecture is below, and the full speech can be read here.
Jan Royall was very happy to be back in Brussels to deliver the 2011 John Fitzmaurice memorial lecture.
For her, Brussels bring together three of the most important things in her life democratic socialism, Europe and friendship – and there were many old friends in the audience whom Jan had met during her time in Brussels.
Currently the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords and a Privy Councillor, Jan had previously been Leader of the House of Lords and a member of Gordon Brown’s cabinet from 2008-2010.
During her time with the European Commission, she was a long-serving member of the cabinet of Neil Kinnock and then Head of the Commission’s office in Wales before she re-entered British politics full time.
She began her address started by recalling that she first met John Fitzmaurice in the 1970s. John was an Oxford contemporary of Jan’s late husband Stuart Hercock, who died 2010 of prostate cancer. (Jan noted her belief that Stuart would still be alive today if he had had an early prostrate cancer test – and as part of the introduction to her lecture, she reminded all men present, especially middle-aged men, to have the test.)
Jan’s lecture began by looking back 16 years to the start of her time in Brussels – when Europe was a “beacon of hope” and there was optimism about jobs, growth and a prosperous future.
She regretted that more progress had not been made during the good times and that a lack of sufficiently bold political leadership contributed to the current problems.
Refreshingly she did not hesitate to be critical of some aspects of the European project – in particular the absence of the right mechanisms to manage the euro, and the fact that the EU institutions are too ‘distant’ from citizens.
One recurrent theme in her talk was the nature of the British press. A situation where politicians fear press reaction to their comments stifles them from saying what they really think – and so stifles meaningful broad debate on issues such as ‘Europe’.
Jan concluded her talk by recalling John Fitzmaurice fondly. “He was a decent and delightful human being”, she said. Jan reminded the audience that he was active not only in the European institutions and at high-level summits, but also on the ground: standing in elections where he had almost no chance of success, and taking progressive democratic socialism ideas and arguments to the doorsteps across the UK.
Mark Major, with Kathryn Seren
There is more information on prostate cancer tests here.
Visit by Joan Burton, Irish Labour Party deputy leader
Feb 16th
Our comrades in the Irish Labour Party would like to invite Brussels Labour members to two meetings with Joan Burton TD, Irish Minister for Social Protection & Labour Deputy Leader, this Friday, 17 February:
“Ireland’s Future in a Changing Europe, Developing a Mutual Understanding”
Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) Brussels Branch
Permanent Representation of Ireland, Rue Froissart 50, 1040 EtterbeekFrom 12.45-14:00 – Snack lunch is provided but pre-registration essential via email to the IIEA.
Meeting with the Irish Labour Party Brussels & friends
Place de Londres, 13 Place de Londres, 1050 Ixelles – map
Meeting starts at 18:00
Brussels Labour’s 40th anniversary – help us celebrate!
Feb 6th
2013 marks the fortieth year of the UK’s membership of the EU, and it marks 40 years of Brussels Labour.
At the start of 1973, a group of enthusiasts formed what was then called the British Labour Group (BLG) to bring together Labour Party members and supporters in Brussels. The driving force was Alan Forrest (at the time an official at the ICFTU), who became the first Chair. Right from the start, the BLG attracted high level speakers: on 29 March 1973, George Thomson, the first British Labour Commissioner, spoke on ‘Socialism, Internationalism and the Common Market’. And over the years, the Party headquarters came to acknowledge the value of Brussels Labour (though it took some twenty-five years of campaigning to get formal recognition).
We plan to mark this milestone through a number of interlinked strands, including:
- a project to capture the memories of those forty years through the voices of Brussels Labour members and others;
- a series of events throughout the year; and
- a gala dinner (as we did for the 25th and the 30th anniversaries).
We will associate the Party, including our MEPs, in these activities, as well as other sister parties notably from the other countries – Ireland and Denmark – which joined the EU in 1973.
Work is now starting on these three different strands so if you would like to get involved, please let Belinda Pyke know. The intention is to complete the first strand this year so it can be launched at the start of 2013 and we need help in particular:
- to identify contact current and former members/office holders/speakers (including in the UK);
- to interview, to photograph, to edit contributions; and
- to turn all this into an online presentation, maybe also in printed form, linked to narrative about history of BL and also about development of UK and/or Labour Party attitude to the EU.
We will report regularly to branch meetings and in Germinal on the preparations for Brussels Labour’s 40th.
Belinda Pyke
belinda.pyke(AT)skynet.be
Book review: The Cost of Inequality
Dec 20th
How a dodgy ideology made the rich richer, the rest of us poorer and left the economy in ruins.
Around 1980, something changed: a seemingly unstoppable evolution in western societies went into reverse. For half a century the gap between rich and poor had been narrowing: an inevitable consequence, it seemed, of universal education, mass production, trade unionism and the rise of democracy.
Yet within a few years this trend had been sharply reversed. In the subsequent three decades, the western world has witnessed a dramatic growth in inequality. The top 1% have appropriated almost all the fruits of growth, while middle and low income groups have stagnated or worse.
Stewart Lansley’s new book, ‘The Cost of Inequality‘ (Gibson Square, 2011) looks at why this happened, and what have been the consequences. His central argument, impressively documented in a tour through the workings of modern capitalism, is that growing inequality caused the financial meltdown of 2008.
But along the way, he establishes two even more sweeping arguments, both of which tell us something important about the mess in which Europe now finds itself. He shows that the growth in inequality has its roots in an ideological shift that swept the western world from the late 1970s onwards. And he shows that, long before 2008, that ideology had spectacularly failed to deliver any of the promised benefits. More >
Does Your Commune Matter To You?
Nov 28th
The Parti Socialiste – in collaboration with sister parties – has produced a new leaflet (click here to download the PDF) on the communal elections in Belgium. These elections will take place on 14 October 2012, and all EU citizens can register to exercise their right to vote.
Download the leaflet to find out why it is important to vote in the communal elections and please share the leaflet with your friends.
Next branch meeting: Clive Betts MP
Nov 21st
The next Brussels Labour branch meeting takes place this week:
Wednesday 23 November
Clive Betts MP - Chair, Communities and Local Government Select Committee
‘Localism and the Big Society – Labour’s response
L’Horloge du Sud, Rue du Trône 141, 1050 Ixelles
19:30: Venue open – If you would like to eat, please come early and order before the meeting
starts
20:00: Start of meeting
Forthcoming meetings include:
Monday 5 December
Claude Moraes MEP and Hackney North & Stoke Newington CLP
have invited Brussels Labour members to meet the CLP members during their visit to Brussels
The Staff, Rue de Trèves 42, 1050 Ixelles
From 19:00
Wednesday 7 December
Brussels Labour Christmas Pub Quiz
with quizmaster David Earnshaw
The Staff, Rue de Trèves 42, 1050 Ixelles
Further details tbc
Wednesday 25 January 2012
Branch meeting
Further details tbc
