|
|
|
Diana Wallis - Biography |
Diana Wallis was re-elected to the European Parliament in June 2004. She is one of six Members of the European Parliament from the region of Yorkshire & the Humber but the only Liberal Democrat. She was first elected to the European Parliament in 1999. Although she stood as a candidate for the 1989 European elections in North-east Essex, Diana's roots in Yorkshire politics began in 1994 when she became a councillor on Humberside County Council and was then elected as Deputy Leader of the East Riding Unitary Council in 1995.
Born in 1954 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, Diana qualified as a solicitor in 1983, specialising in European commercial litigation. Her law studies took her to Belgium, Germany and Switzerland, which added to her interest in European issues and only heightened her desire to enter European politics. She is fluent in French and German.
In December 2001 Diana was elected Leader of the 11-strong Liberal Democrat European Parliamentary Party (LDEPP). In June 2004 Diana stood down as Leader of LDEPP.
LDEPP in turn is the largest delegation in the newly-formed 'Liberals and democrats for Europe' which allows LDEPP a significant role in the formulation of party policy.
In her first mandate, Diana was elected to a number of high-profile positions in her capacity as an MEP. As the ELDR Spokesperson on the Legal Affairs and Internal Market Committee, Diana has been intrinsically involved in all aspects of her Committee's work and has authored a number of Committee reports including VAT on e-commerce, a proposal for a European on-line network for alternative dispute systems, greater access to justice for consumers/businesses in the area of civil claims.
She has always had an interest in the Nordic Region and in September 2004 was elected President of the EP Delegation to Iceland, Norway & Switzerland and the EEA Joint Parliamentary Committee. She meets regularly with her counterparts from the national parliaments of these countries. Diana is the author (along with Stewart Arnold and Ben Idris Jones) of the book 'Forgotten Enlargement: Future EU Relations with Iceland, Switzerland and Norway'. She represents the EP in meetings of the Nordic Council and the Standing Committee of Arctic Parliamentarians, where parliamentarians from Canada, Europe, Russia and the USA discuss such sensitive subjects as the environment & regional security matters.
Whilst a councillor in Yorkshire Diana always took an interest in regional policy matters and became a member of the Regional Assembly Leader's Group. Following her election to the European Parliament in 1999, Diana became a Substitute Member of the Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism Committee. She is an active member of the Campaign for Yorkshire, the all-party campaign seeking a 'Yes' vote in the referendum for a directly elected regional assembly in Yorkshire and the Humber.
Diana Wallis has a particular interest in issues of direct democracy and in November 2002 Diana co-launched the Initiatives and Referendums Institute - Europe (IRI-Europe) report in the European Parliament. In February 2003 she hosted an IRI-Europe forum in York to discuss different approaches across Europe towards the issue of direct democracy.
Internet issues are also at the forefront of Diana's work. She heads a discussion forum called E-PING! (www.eping.org) where relevant topics (ie. the digital divide, cybercrime, data privacy) are openly discussed by all parties concerned. E-PING!s on-line "chats" assist by opening up the discussions to a world-wide audience. |
|
