Articles & News

2011 may mark a watershed in the history of the European Union. Using the pretext of the “euro crisis”, the European Commission and the Council have put forward proposals to give the EU new powers to deal with core welfare issues, including social benefits and wages, under a new technocratic procedure –  hard (if not impossible) to track, let alone influence by those who stand to lose out. The proposals embody a corporate social and economic agenda which, if enacted, will constitute a “silent revolution” imposed from above, with no real democratic debate or popular participation.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has been promoted by industry as the solution to tackling climate change. Why stop burning fossil fuels when instead you can capture the carbon dioxide and store it in a hole in the ground?

Defying objections on the grounds of cost, feasibility,the environment and in the face of public opposition , heavy industry has pushed for EU support for CCS. Shell, BP and others representing the industry persuaded UK Liberal MEP Chris Davies to work on their behalf - effectively securing billions of euros in EU subsidies to support the new technology.

On 23^rd November there was an action to support  Gilles-Eric Séralini’s court case, against  Marc Fellous of the Association Française des Biotechnologies Végétales (AFBV) for libel. The case is being heard in  the ‘Tribunal de Grande Instance’, in the historic Palais de Justice on the Ile de la Cité, Paris. Séralini is a leading researcher into the risks of GMOs.