Edward McMillan-Scott

Edward McMillan-Scott
Edward McMillan-Scott MEP
Member of the European Parliament
for Yorkshire and the Humber
Incumbent
Assumed office
10 June 1999
Personal details
Born 15 August 1949 (1949-08-15) (age 62)
Nationality British
Political party Liberal Democrats
Spouse(s) Henrietta McMillan-Scott

Edward Hugh Christian McMillan-Scott (born 15 August 1949) is a British Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and one of the Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament. He was re-elected as a Conservative Party representative for the Yorkshire and the Humber constituency in the 2009 election.

After his re-election in 2009, McMillan-Scott stood and was re-elected as one of the Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament in opposition to the official candidate of the European Conservatives and Reformists group to which he belonged. As a result of his candidature, he had the whip withdrawn and subsequently was expelled from the Conservative Party. McMillan-Scott had previously voiced doubts about the formation of the European Conservatives and Reformists group.

In March 2010, he joined the Liberal Democrats, a member of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the European Parliament.[1] On 17 May as agreed before the UK general election, he joined the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group in the European Parliament, although he continues to sit as an independent Vice-President.[2]

Contents

Early life

McMillan-Scott was born 15 August 1949 in Cambridge, England,[3][4] one of seven children of Walter and Elisabeth McMillan-Scott, both active Conservatives.[5] He was educated privately by Dominican friars.[5] He became a member of the Conservative Party in 1967.[4][5]

European Parliament

McMillan-Scott was elected as the MEP for York from 1984 to 1994,[6] the MEP for North Yorkshire from 1994 to 1999,[6] and an MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber from 1999 onwards.[7][8][9]

Roles and responsibilities

McMillan-Scott was leader of the British Conservative MEPs between September 1997 and December 2001.[4] On 23 July 2004 he was elected fourth of the 14 Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament.[4][10] He was re-elected a Vice-President in 2007.[10] McMillan-Scott's special responsibilities as Vice-President included relations with national EU parliaments[4] and the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly,[11] which brings together 280 MPs from the EU, North Africa and the Middle East.[12] After re-election as Vice-President in 2009, his responsibilities as Vice-President are Democracy and Human Rights, relations with national parliaments, and chairing the European Parliament's Audit Panel.[citation needed]

He was elected chairman of the European Parliament's largest-ever election observer missions, 30 MEPs, to the Palestinian territories in January 2005 and January 2006. These observers monitored the Palestinian National Authority's presidential and parliamentary elections.[4][13]

Campaigning

In 1992 McMillan-Scott was the founder of the European Democracy Initiative,[14][15] whose intention was the development of democracy and civil society in the ex-Soviet bloc[16][17] countries, and which is now directed towards the reforming Arab world and countries resisting reform such as China, Cuba and Russia.[5]

He wrote a key report for the European Parliament's foreign affairs select committee on a new EU–China strategy in 1997.[18][19] Following subsequent visits to China and pre-Olympic crackdowns he initiated a campaign aimed at an EU political boycott of the August 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.[20] In the event, the Presidents of the European Parliament and European Commission boycotted the Games, as did the EU's external affairs Commissioner.[20]

He campaigns for improved children's rights across the EU[21] and has dealt with a number of cross-frontier child abduction cases.[22] He began campaigning for an EU-wide missing child alert, similar to the Amber Alert system in the USA, with Kate and Gerry McCann, parents of missing Madeleine.[21][23] A resolution to this effect, in the summer of 2008, was sponsored by McMillan-Scott and gained the support of a majority of MEPs.[21] In the USA, the Department of Justice's Amber Alert has recovered 400 abducted children since 2003, 80% within the crucial first 72 hours.[21][23] France has an identical system but other countries, including the UK, rely on a patchwork of police schemes and children's charities.[21]

In 1999 McMillan-Scott was singled out by ‘whistleblower’ Paul van Buitenen for his role in the 1999 fall of the European Commission. The Commission was accused by MEPs of serious irregularities, nepotism and allegations of fraud leading to the resignation of President Jacques Santer and all his commissioners.[24]

His 'Golden Fleece' campaign against fraud and malpractice in the Costa villa and timeshare market won wide support, leading to the EU Timeshare Directive in 1994.[25][26] He has continued to campaign for more secure property rights in the EU's neighbouring states, as buyers move into the Balkans, Turkey and North Africa, where the legal framework is less secure.[25]

McMillan-Scott is a vegetarian[27] and campaigns for less meat consumption.[28]

Defection to Liberal Democrats

Prior to the European Elections of June 1999, the British Conservative MEPs were allied members of the European People's Party (EPP).[29] After the election, jointly with the then leader of the Conservative Party William Hague, McMillan-Scott negotiated the 'Malaga Agreement' which provided for a more detached relationship between the 36 British Conservative MEPs and the newly formed European People's Party–European Democrats (EPP-ED) coalition.[29][30] This agreement remained in force until the 2009 elections when the Conservatives broke links with the EPP and formed part of the new European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group.[31][32]

Following his re-election to the European Parliament, McMillan-Scott left the EPP group and joined the new ECR group in accordance with the Conservative manifesto for the election.[33][34] He attended the inaugural meeting of the new group, in Brussels on 24 June, where he expressed the view that he was uncomfortable with some members of the group having possible links with extremist groups.[35][36]

In July 2009 he successfully stood for re-election as Vice-President of the European Parliament against the official candidate of the new ECR group, Michał Kamiński a Polish MEP from the Law and Justice Party.[37][38] As a result of his candidature the whip was withdrawn by Timothy Kirkhope, the leader of the British Conservative delegation.[37][38][39] McMillan-Scott was then seated as a non-attached (Non-Inscrit) MEP in the European Parliament,[40] though he remained a member of the British Conservative Party.[40]

On 10 August 2009, William Hague wrote a letter to McMillan-Scott outlining the conditions of the restoration of the whip and saying failure to comply would result in further action being taken.[41] On 15 September 2009, he was expelled from the Conservative Party without further notice having failed to undertake any of the conditions requested in Hague's earlier letter.[42]

Shortly after this he accused the Conservative Party of attempting to alter pages on Wikipedia "to airbrush the embarrassing past" of Michał Kamiński chairman of the ECR. He also stated, quite correctly, that his own article had been edited in this way. An article published in The Observer newspaper reports edits to the articles made on 25 June 2009 from an IP address originating in the United Kingdom House of Commons.[43][44]

On 12 March 2010 McMillan-Scott joined the Liberal Democrats.[1] The Liberal Democrats are a member of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the European Parliament, which formally joined on 17 May, as agreed with its leadership, after the UK General Election. He remains, in order to maintain the balance for other groups, an independent member of the European Parliament's Bureau (Vice-Presidents and non-voting Quaestors).

References

  1. ^ a b "Ex-Tory MEP Edward McMillan-Scott joins Lib Dems". BBC News Online. BBC. 12 March 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8564914.stm. Retrieved 12 March 2010. 
  2. ^ Publications Office of the European Union (April 2010) The faces of the European Parliament 2009–2011. ISBN 978-92-823-3043-2.
  3. ^ "MEP profile – Edward McMILLAN-SCOTT". European Parliament. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/public/geoSearch/view.do?country=GB&partNumber=1&zone=Yorkshire+and+the+Humber&language=EN&id=1405. Retrieved 30 July 2009. 
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Edward McMillan-Scott". Doncaster Conservatives. http://www.doncasterconservatives.org.uk/index.php?sectionid=2&pagenumber=22. Retrieved 30 July 2009. 
  5. ^ a b c d "Profile of Edward McMillan-Scott". Edward McMillan-Scott. http://emcmillanscott.com/7.html. Retrieved 30 July 2009. 
  6. ^ a b "Elections to the European Parliament 1979–99 – Constituencies in England part 2 (Merseyside East – Z)". United Kingdom Election Results. David Boothroyd. http://www.election.demon.co.uk/epe2.html. Retrieved 30 July 2009. 
  7. ^ "1999 Election Results – Yorkshire and Humber". UK Office of the European Parliament. http://www.europarl.org.uk/section/1999/1999-election-results#yorkshirehumber. Retrieved 30 July 2009. 
  8. ^ "2004 Election Results – Yorkshire and Humber". UK Office of the European Parliament. http://www.europarl.org.uk/section/2004/2004-election-results#yorkshirehumber. Retrieved 30 July 2009. 
  9. ^ "Results of 2009 European elections in the UK". UK Office of the European Parliament. http://www.europarl.org.uk/section/european-elections/results-2009-european-elections-uk#yorkshirehumber. Retrieved 30 July 2009. 
  10. ^ a b "Election of the President of the European Parliament". European Parliament. 5 December 2007. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?language=EN&type=IM-PRESS&reference=20070109BKG01804#title3. Retrieved 30 July 2009. 
  11. ^ "EP Delegation to the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly". European Parliament. 1 September 2008. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/intcoop/empa/epdelegation/ep_members_en.htm. Retrieved 30 July 2009. [dead link]
  12. ^ "The Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA)". European Parliament. 18 May 2009. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/intcoop/empa/assembly/default_en.htm. Retrieved 30 July 2009. [dead link]
  13. ^ "Edward chairs two largest Palestine MEP poll missions". Edward McMillan-Scott. http://www.violethudson.com/democracy.html. Retrieved 31 July 2009. [dead link]
  14. ^ Barker, Michael (25 August 2008). "The Project For A New American Humanitarianism Olympian Ambitions from Darfur to Tibet and Beijing". Swans Commentary. http://www.swans.com/library/art14/barker04.html. Retrieved 30 July 2009. 
  15. ^ "Briefing No 33 The PHARE Programme and the enlargement of the European Union". European Parliament. 4 December 1998. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/enlargement/briefings/33a2_en.htm. Retrieved 30 July 2009. 
  16. ^ "Europe Needs an Office of Democracy" (PDF). EU Reporter. 22 October 2004. p. 3. http://www.itssd.org/Publications/Ducking%20the%20Truth%20About%20EU%20GM%20Policy.pdf. Retrieved 30 July 2009. 
  17. ^ "Member of the European Parliament – Edward McMillan-Scott MEP". Keighley & Ilkley Conservatives. http://www.kiconservatives.com/index.php?sectionid=2&pagenumber=22. Retrieved 31 July 2009. 
  18. ^ "MEPs demand IOC assessment on China's human rights record on eve of Olympic year. Edward McMillan-Scott MEP" (Press release). EPP Group in the European Parliament. 13 December 2007. http://www.eppgroup.eu/Press/showpr.asp?PRControlDocTypeID=1&PRControlID=6853&PRContentID=12006&PRContentLG=en. Retrieved 2 August 2009. 
  19. ^ "Reform in China – the world's biggest country". Edward McMillan-Scott. http://www.emcmillanscott.com/14.html. Retrieved 2 August 2009. 
  20. ^ a b "Welcome to BoycottBeijing.eu homepage". BoycottBeijing.eu. http://www.boycottbeijing.eu/. Retrieved 2 August 2009. 
  21. ^ a b c d e "Sarkozy backs Conservative call for EU-wide missing child alert". Conservatives in the European Parliament. 10 July 2008. http://www.conservativeeurope.com/news/815/sarkozy-backs-conservative-call-for-eu-wide-missing-child-alert.aspx. Retrieved 31 July 2009. 
  22. ^ "Children's champion". Edward McMillan-Scott. http://www.emcmillanscott.com/14.html. Retrieved 31 July 2009. 
  23. ^ a b "McCanns launch child alert". The Sun. News Group Newspapers Limited. 10 April 2008. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/maddie/1022581/Kate-McCann-Trip-to-Brussels-Launch-child-alert-system.html. Retrieved 31 July 2009. 
  24. ^ "Downfall of the Commission". Democracy Live. BBC. 31 October 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/historic_moments/newsid_8207000/8207105.stm. Retrieved 29 September 2010. 
  25. ^ a b "Property Rights". Edward McMillan Scott. http://www.emcmillanscott.com/14.html. Retrieved 1 August 2009. 
  26. ^ "Directive 94/47/EC of the European Parliament and the Council". EUR-Lex. Publications Office of the European Union. 26 October 1994. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31994L0047:EN:HTML. Retrieved 1 August 2009. 
  27. ^ McMillan-Scott, Edward (12 March 2009). "Why I'm challenging Boris to go meat-free". The Guardian (London: Guardian News and Media Limited). http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/ethicallivingblog/2009/mar/12/boris-meat-free-vegetarian-carbon-emissions. Retrieved 22 January 2011. 
  28. ^ "Macca tell MEPs "eat less meat to cut Co2"". Edward McMillan-Scott. http://www.emcmillanscott.com/11.html. Retrieved 21 January 2011. 
  29. ^ a b Wagner, Markus (March 2006). "To leave or not to leave?The Conservatives and the European People's Party in the European Parliament" (PDF). European Policy Brief. The Ferdeal Trust. http://www.fedtrust.co.uk/admin/uploads/PolicyBrief25.pdf. Retrieved 1 August 2009. 
  30. ^ White, Chris (24 June 2009). "New Conservative group united". EU Reporter. http://www.eureporter.co.uk/story/new-conservative-group-united. Retrieved 1 August 2009. 
  31. ^ European Conservatives and Reformists form New Grouping in the European Parliament. . Scribd (European Conservatives and Reformists). 22 June 2009. http://www.scribd.com/doc/16665126/ECR-formation-Press-release-june-22-2009. Retrieved 1 August 2009. 
  32. ^ "Conservative MEPs form new group". BBC News Online. BBC. 22 June 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8112581.stm. Retrieved 1 August 2009. 
  33. ^ "Vote ForChange – European Election Manifesto" (PDF). Conservative Party. 2009. http://www.conservatives.com/~/media/Files/Downloadable%20Files/Euro%20Election%202009/euro-manifesto.ashx. Retrieved 2 August 2009. 
  34. ^ "Letter by Edward McMillan-Scott". Edward McMillan-Scott. 24 July 2009. http://emcmillanscott.com/resources/A+matter+of+principle+-+restore+the+whip.jpg. Retrieved 2 August 2009. 
  35. ^ "Edward McMillan-Scott "uncomfortable" with new group (June 25)". Edward McMillan-Scott. http://www.emcmillanscott.com/8.html. Retrieved 1 August 2009. 
  36. ^ Banks, Martin (25 June 2009). "Tory MEP voices 'real concern' over new European grouping". The Daily Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media Group Limited. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/5626057/Tory-MEP-voices-real-concern-over-new-European-grouping.html. Retrieved 1 August 2009. 
  37. ^ a b "Defiant Tory MEP loses party whip". BBC News Online. BBC. 15 July 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8150922.stm. Retrieved 1 August 2009. 
  38. ^ a b Charter, David (15 July 2009). "Tories expel MEP Edward McMillan-Scott in row over Cameron reforms". TimesOnline. London: Times Newspapers Ltd. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6711063.ece. Retrieved 5 August 2009. 
  39. ^ "New European Conservatives group in disarray over renegade MEP". 14 July 2009. http://euobserver.com/9/28457. Retrieved 15 July 2009. 
  40. ^ a b Banks, Martin (15 July 2009). "McMillan-Scott hits back at allegations of disloyalty". The Parliament.com. Dod's Parliamentary Communications Ltd. http://www.theparliament.com/no_cache/latestnews/news-article/newsarticle/suspended-tory-mep-hits-back-at-allegations-of-disloyalty/. Retrieved 1 August 2009. 
  41. ^ "Hague accuses McMillan-Scott of recklessly using smears for "individual glorification"". conservativehome. 11 August 2009. http://conservativehome.blogs.com/thetorydiary/2009/08/hague-accuses-mcmillanscott-of-recklessly-using-smears-for-individual-glorification.html. Retrieved 11 August 2009. 
  42. ^ "Edward McMillan-Scott has been expelled from the Conservative Party". conservativehome. 15 September 2009. http://conservativehome.blogs.com/thetorydiary/2009/09/edward-mcmillanscott-has-been-expelled-from-the-conservative-party.html. Retrieved 15 September 2009. 
  43. ^ Toby Helm, Rajeev Syal (18 October 2009). "House of Commons computer used to hide past of Tory ally Kaminski". The Observer. UK. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/18/conservatives-hid-past-european-ally. Retrieved 18 October 2009. 
  44. ^ "Differences of Michał Kamiński Wikipedia article revision as of 09:56, 25 June 2009". http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Micha%C5%82_Kami%C5%84ski&action=historysubmit&diff=298531981&oldid=267881365. Retrieved 18 October 2009. 

External links

Party political offices
Preceded by
The Lord Plumb
Leader of the Conservative Party Delegation in the European Parliament
1997–2001
Succeeded by
Jonathan Evans

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