Diana spoke on the subject of the European Parliament's perspective on the Arctic at presentation of the EU Arctic Footprint and Policy Assessment (AFPA) in Brussels earlier today.

The AFPA shows that the EU is already addressing many Arctic environmental challenges, but that certain new and growing impacts must be addressed, both through EU and multilateral efforts.

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Sharing the opening session with the Prime Minister of Turkey, Diana made a keynote speech at the International Istanbul Women's meeting at the Istanbul Congress Centre.

In her speech Diana drew attention to the similarities of the challenges which women face everywhere. "The hard law legal frameworks were long ago put in place, but the reality of the possibilities open to women still eludes far too many."

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Diana has welcomed the announcement of legislation to waive the £175 million of backdated business rates demands that had been levied on ports businesses in the Humber sub-region.

For port operators on the Humber Estuary, estimated bills totalled £19 million for 59 properties in Grimsby and Immingham, £8.5million for 62 properties in Hull and £2.75 million for 58 properties at Goole.

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Diana had a letter printed in 'The Independent' today refuting the claim by the UKIP MEP, the 10th Earl of Dartmouth, that he was stopped from speaking in the debate on the Arctic in the Strasbourg Plenary recently because of the 'political comment' he made.

The video clip showing the events leading up to and beyond the incident involving the Earl of Dartmouth can be seen here. It is evident that Diana turned the Earl's microphone off when he continued a stream of personal insults, not political comment, directed at the High Representative, Cathy Ashton

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Diana Wallis MEP made a flying visit to Iceland at the end of last week. As part of her responsibilities as a Vice President of the European Parliament, she had a meeting with the Prime Minister of Iceland, Mrs. Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, and the Foreign Minister, Ossur Skarphedinsson, before delivering a lecture at the University of Iceland 'Icesave, Iceland and the EU: whose debt is it anyway?'.

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The campaign for more women commissioners continues as Diana signs a joint letter with two female commissioners and records a piece for BBC World Service 'Europe Today' programme broadcast this evening.

The letter published in today's Financial Times is signed jointly by Diana, Neelie Kroes, the Competition Commissioner, and Margot Wallström, Vice-President of the Commission and criticises the EU for not appointing more women to the top jobs in Brussels.

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On Friday Diana gave a short keynote address on the prospects of European enforcement law from the point of view of the European Parliament at a symposium in Heidelberg.

The international symposium was hosted by the German Bailiff Association (which celebrates its 100th anniversary) and the Institute of Private International and Comparative Law of Heidelberg University.

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Diana Wallis MEP represented the European Parliament at a Ministerial Conference held in Stockholm Friday 18th September.

Ms. Wallis in her role as Vice President of the Parliament has a special responsibility for the Baltic Sea region and gave a keynote speech at the conference: EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region and Future Macro-Regional Strategies.

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Local Euro MP Diana Wallis MEP's report on the crisis at the troubled mutual Equitable Life received strong backing yesterday by the findings of a group of "wise men" whose task it was to propose measures to coordinate a European response to the financial crisis.

The Larosière report was drawn up by several former central bank or financial services regulator chairmen, including the Callum McCarthy, former chairman of the UK Financial Services Authority.

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Local Euro MP Diana Wallis MEP's report on the trade in seal fur products has now been published and the Liberal Democrat MEP is urging a period of intense debate.

"I have now put my report on the table and this should be the beginning of a period of intense debate both amongst my parliamentary colleagues and with the wider public we represent. Already in fact I have had very many letters and emails from people right across Yorkshire & the Humber and I expect many, many more!

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In Strasbourg today, Euro MPs voted for legislation which enables cross-border enforcement of penalties for the serious driving offences of speeding, drink driving, failure to wear a seatbelt and running red lights.

Currently tickets for traffic offences incurred in states other than the driver's home country mostly get ignored. This means impunity for irresponsible driving that puts safety at risk. The new legislation would mean that the authorities in the offender's home state will be notified that he has failed to pay within the specified period, and they will then recognise and enforce the penalty, whether criminal or administrative.

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On Monday 8 December, local Liberal Democrat Euro MP, Diana Wallis, visited Bude Park Primary School in Bransholme to see how the school has coped after being forced to shut for several weeks after the floods of 2007 and then subsequently working in portable classrooms.

Diana Wallis said:

"I visited Bude Park in early July 2007, just after the floods hit Hull, and it was very sad to see the damage done to the school. I could see it was very upsetting to staff and pupils alike. I promised to come back once they had got resettled in the school and that is why I went to Bude Park to meet the head. I was delighted to see how far things had progressed since the events of 2007."

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Diana has made a keynote speech at international Child Slavery conference at the Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation (WISE), University of Hull. She spoke at some length about the successful Written Declaration on Child Trafficking she co-sponsored in the European Parliament.

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Local Liberal Democrat Euro MP Diana Wallis is supporting the Hull Daily Mail's campaign to scrap the Humber Bridge tolls and has signed the online petition the newspaper is running. She has been campaigning along similar lines for a couple of years now:

In January 2006 she saw the 25th birthday of the Humber Bridge as an opportunity to scrap the debt and reduce the tolls.

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Participating in the Nordic Council of Ministers' conference in Ilulissat, Greenland, on Common Concern for the Arctic, Diana has this week delivered a keynote address on behalf of the European Parliament.

Related Links

• You can read Diana's speech here.

Diana along with two other ALDE MEPs have recently published an advertisement in the weekly Brussels based newspaper, European Voice, explaining that women are often opposed to the European Union because they see it as a male dominated set of institutions. One way to deal with this would be by having more women in the top jobs.

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Local Liberal Democrat Euro MP, Diana Wallis, has called for clarification of the Government's recent flood statement.

Speaking in Brussels today, Diana Wallis MEP remarked:

"John Healey MP, the Minister for Local Government, wrote to me last week explaining how a new flood Restoration Fund will assist the important work being done in the region to repair the damage caused by the unprecedented floods last year.

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Diana Wallis MEP spoke at the Europa Woche (Europe Week) in Giessen, Germany on the role of the national judge in the judicial system of the European Union.

Read her speech here (English version):

https://www.dianawallismep.org.uk/speeches/000025/the_role_of_the_national_judge_in_the_judicial_system_of_the_european_union.html

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Diana Wallis MEP spoke at an ERA Conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia recently on the expectations for the final Common Frame of Reference.

Read her speech here:

https://www.dianawallismep.org.uk/speeches/000026/expectations_for_the_final_common_frame_of_reference.html

Diana Wallis MEP, Vice President of the European Parliament, gave a speech at the Institute of International Affairs, at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik. The speech 'A reformed EU but still missing Iceland?' looked at a post-Treaty of Lisbon EU, which once reformed as the treaty sets out, will strengthen the European Parliament.

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