Celebrate Europe day with a Euro Quiz

As promised here is the mammoth Euro quiz to celebrate Europe Day - 9th May. many thanks to the UK office of the European Parliament for the questions. An ALDE & EP goodie bag goes to the person who has most correct answers when entries close at 5pm on Monday the 12th May 2008 at 17.00. If you are feart of public humiliation or don't want to show the world how knowledgeable you are then you can email your answer to iaindale@yahoo.com
Good luck!

ROUND ONE
1. How many stars does the European flag have?

2. Name one of the two top wine producing countries in the world?

3. What is the name of the Festival which takes place in Munich every Autumn?

4. Which country has borders with Belarus, Lithuania, Estonia and Russia?

5. How many countries are currently part of the Euro area?

6. Known as the Holy Mountain it is the centre of Eastern Christian Orthodox Monasticism. set in an area of outstanding natural beauty, it is a treasury housing many artefacts and monument of religious, national and artistic value. Where is it?

7. Which two European cities does Charles Dickens' Tale of Two Cities describe?

8. How many time zones are there in the EU?

9. They played a major political, military and cultural role in medieval Europe and the Near East. famed for their martial spirit, Christian piety and their culture, such as their unique architecture. Invaders and conquerors, they established a kingdom in Sicily and southern Italy. Who were they?

10. Where did the singing revolution take place?


ROUND TWO
1. When was the "Year of the Barricades", student riots in Paris and other cities?

2. Karol Wojtyla became Pope in which year?

3. Year the UK held a referendum on EEC membership?

4. In what year was the Treaty of Rome signed?

5. Year the Berlin Wall was built?

6. Year and location of the 1st Eurovision Song Contest?

7. In what year was decimal coinage introduced to the UK?

8. Date of the great influenza pandemic which killed more than 50 million world-wide?

9. Year of the death of Franco?

10. Date of the Russian Revolution?

THIRD & FINAL ROUND
1. What is the name of the Roman road which runs from London to York via Lincoln?

2. Which is the longest river in the EU and how many EU countries does it flow through?

3. In what year did the Channel Tunnel open?

4. From the 10th century to the present day, pilgrims have made their way to which Spanish cathedral city?

5. developed in the late 1870s by ophthalmologist Dr Ludovic Zamenhof to promote international understanding, it was denounced by Stalin as "the language of spies". which language?

6. Name the mechanism where locations in geographically and politically distinct areas are paired, with the goal of encouraging human contact and cultural links?

7. Name 3 of Paris's 6 railway stations

8. Who was the German printer who invented a mechanical way of making books?

9. Originally founded in Spain in 1944, this household name has sister magazines in Britain, Ireland, Greece, Turkey, Serbia, Russia, Thailand, Canada, India, Mexico & UAE. What is the magazine's name?

10. Name the Italian cities where the following airports are located?
A. Leonardo Da Vinci
B. Galileo Galilei
C. Amerigo Vespucci

Answers to last weeks Euro-quiz

Sadly only one person brave enough to stake their reputation by giving written answers. Take a bow Stephen Glenn. Here are the questions again but with the answers this time:

Q1. How many members states are there in the European Union? A: 27

Q2. How many official languages does the EU have? A: 23

Q3. Which is the biggest country in the EU by land mass? A: France

Q4. To the nearest full percentage, what percentage of EU citizens live in cities? 80%

Q5. According to reports in the press, about 98% of all Spanish people participate in what every Christmas? (1st begun in 1812) A: The national lottery

Q6. Which country has most public holidays in the EU and which country has least? A: Finland 14 (most) UK 8 (least)

Q7. Which country has won the Eurovision song contest most times? A: Ireland - 7 times. (Luxembourg, France & UK - 5 times)

Q8. Europe is the continent visited by most tourists: in fact, six EU countries were in the world's top ten destinations in 2006. Name them? A: France, Spain, Italy, UK, Germany, Austria

Q9. To the nearest thousand, how many staff are employed by the European Commission? A: circa 30 000

Q10. Which EU countries have the greatest and least population density? A: Netherlands (474 inhabitants per km2) & Finland (17 inhabitants per km2)

As promised, I shall try to post a longer, more general, euro-quiz on Europe Day May 9th and offer some form of European prize to the winning entry, should there be more than one entrant.

European Quiz

In advance of Europe Day on May 9th the EP UK Office have sent out a European Quiz book. So I thought I'd use one of the quizzes from it to test your European knowledge. This one is just for fun and to whet your appetite for a larger one on May 9th, for which I'll supply some appropriate Euro goodies for the winning entry. MEP staff are banned form participating!

Q1. How many members states are there in the European Union?

Q2. How many official languages does the EU have?

Q3. Which is the biggest country in the EU by land mass?

Q4. To the nearest full percentage, what percentage of EU citizens live in cities?

Q5. According to reports in the press, about 98% of all Spanish people participate in what every Christmas? (1st begun in 1812)

Q6. Which country has most public holidays in the EU and which country has least?

Q7. Which country has won the Eurovision song contest most times?

Q8. Europe is the continent visited by most tourists: i fact, six EU countries were in the world's top ten destinations in 2006. Name them?

Q9. To the nearest thousand, how many staff are employed by the European Commission?

Q10. Which EU countries have the greatest and least population density?

Many thanks to the UK office of the European Parliament for this quiz.

Have fun!

Small victory cheers me

A small victory against journalistic misrepresentation had put a smile on my face today.
The BBC in a story on the Highland & Islands section of their news website had alleged that a march in Inverness by the Apprentice Boys of Derry would be able to go ahead as "European Laws prevented the council from banning it". I therefore got on the phone to their online news section and queried what European Law they referred to. They said that they'd check it out and get back to me. The text in question disappeared a few seconds later!

Sky high calling

News today that the UK regulator Ofcom has approved the use of mobile phones on British registered aircraft when they reach an altitude of 3000 feet. bang goes peace and quiet in the air then.

It won't be happening overnight as both the Civil Aviation Authority and the European Aviation Safety Agency both need to give the technology their seals of approval. It will then be up to the individual airlines to decide whether they're going to install the kit.

The idea is that a base unit called Pico cells are installed in the aircraft which bounce the signal to a satellite which then transmits it to a satellite dish then to a switching unit and finally on to the receiving phone.

BBC news website reveals that:
The cost of making a mobile phone call from a plane will be higher than making one from the ground.
In the UK, regulator Ofcom said it would investigate and address any evidence of "excessive charges and abuses of competition" if prices were set unfairly by airlines and mobile networks.

The systems would only work in European airspace.

MEP expenses report published

Dutch MEP Paul Van Buitenen has published the recent controversial report on MEP's expenses, which the Socialists and Conservatives on the European Parliament's Budget Control Committee voted to hush up. It certainly makes interesting reading and gives even stronger credibility to the ALDE calls for greater transparency in expenses and the introduction of an "Assistants Charter" for Parliamentary staff.

The summary report can be found at: http://www.paulvanbuitenen.nl/download/actualiteit/20080304_Summary_EP_Audit_report_06-02.pdf

Hat tip to Consider This.

Glasgow's Merchant City - Barcelona's new Barrio?

Working in Glasgow City centre, indeed within the Merchant City area, can have the odd entetaining distraction especially as George Square sits beneath the office window.

Today is a Champions League matchday and Celtic are home to Barcelona in the 1st leg of the First knockout round (round of 16) and the streets are hoaching with Catalunians sporting their colours and singing their football and "National" songs. George Square has been playing host to numerous impromtu games of football and pubs are packed with noisy and friendly visitors.

All in all on a grey and gloomy Glasgow February day the Barca supporters cheer up the city and make it feel a little more cosmopolitan and a little more European - which can only be a good thing to my mind.

Tory MEP booted out of EPP group in European Parliament

South East England Tory MEP Daniel Hannan has been expelled from the right-of-centre European Peoples Party (EPP) group in the European Parliament after making a speech in which he compared the Parliament's rules to those of Nazi Germany.

Back in January Hannan made a speech complaining about the rules enforced by Parliament's president Hans-Gert Poettring which prevented a number of right-wing MEPs from continually disrupting business in the chamber. He said that only his respect for the German Poettring prevented him from comparing moves to curb disruption in the chamber with powers seized by Adolf Hitler in 1933.

The spineless UK Tory group in the parliament have failed to withdraw their whip from him to date with mealy mouthed Chief Whip, Den Dover MEP, saying "What he said was nothing to do with Conservative Party policy." That may be true but it is crass cowardice for them to allow this man to remain in the Tory delegation. Perhaps Davie boy Cameron will get rid of this wart - more likely that he'll sit on his hands and hope it all blows over.

Astonishingly Hannan tried to justify his comments by saying that they were a "dignified protest within the rules."

UPDATE: I see from his own Torygraph blog that the expulsion happened last week. my apologies if this is old news but I somehow must have missed it!

Bye bye Saj

So Saj Karim (MEP NW England) has buggered off and joined the Tories in a major cream puff. Oh dearie, dearie me my morale has shot through the floor - not!

I can't remember if I've actually met the guy during one of my various trips out to Brussels (speaks volumes for him in it's own right), but the general word on the street amongst those with ears to the ground in Brussels is that he wasn't in the first division amongst LDEPP.

A few comments from Saj:

On Human Rights: "This is just another example of how the Labour and Conservative parties are completely aligned on stripping away our human and civil rights..."

On Conservative Homophobia: With their failure to support a resolution condemning discriminatory remarks by political and religious leaders targeting homosexuals, the Tories have shown their true colours." "Their apathy in the face of rising homophobia should come as no surprise. The Conservative camp is today rife with contradiction. Cameron attempts to paint a glossy image of a gay-friendly party in the UK while desperately trying to get into bed at European level with Poland's homophobic 'Law and Justice' party."

On Kashmir: "I can honestly say that that whilst the British Conservative and Labour delegations were trying to make political capital out of the human rights situation of the Kashmiri people, the Liberal Democrats and Greens were the only MEPs to vote on the substance of the amendments, regardless of who their authors were."

On Animal Welfare: "...it is an issue that the Liberal Democrats in Europe take very seriously. The fact that the Tories have adopted such an untenable position on animal welfare indicates how out of touch they are with the European consumer. Astonishingly, the Tories were against the mandatory labelling of products to ensure the traceability and quality of food and related products"

On Education: "There are very clear differences between what the Liberal Democrats say and what the Conservatives and Labour are saying. For a start we say very very clearly that there ought to be a standard of education that is available right across the board. We don't accept that specialist schools of the sort that are being proposed by both Labour and Conservatives are the way forward. That's the first distinction that we make." "What the Labour Party have done since they have come into power is carry forward the Conservative policies so far as bringing forward league tables, creating greater discrepancy in the provinces of the standard of education that is being provided. This is not acceptable..."

I wonder if his departure is in any way related to the fact that he came a poor second to Chris Davies MEP in the recent Euro selection contest for NW England, or am I being cynical?

All quiet on the Euro selection front

We in the Scottish Lib Dems are in the middle of the process to select our party list for the 2009 European elections. As an employee of the current MEP, who is retiring, I'm making no public pronouncements about who I'm supporting to replace her.

However I shall make one public comment on this election: Are you shy folks? There are 8 of you running for top of the list but only one of you has been in touch to ask for my 1st preference. Speaking to friends and relatives across Scotland I find that most of them have been only contacted by one candidate. It's an open contest so why so reticent?

Lamassoure-Severin report might bode ill for Scotland

The European Parliament voted in Plenary Session today adopting the Lamassoure-Severin report on future numbers of MEPs for EU member states. This will mean that the number of UK MEPs will fall from the current 78 to 73, which has worrying implications for the number of Scottish MEPs. We currently have 7, including my employer Elspeth Attwooll. It is possible, depending on the PM, that this will fall to 6.

If our numbers reduce to 6 then, in my opinion, will give the Gnats an open goal against the Federal & Unionist parties in Scotland. Why? Well Malta (Pop. 400k), Luxembourg (Pop. 460k), Cyprus (Pop. 766k) & Estonia (Pop. 1.3m) will all also have 6 MEPs. In addition; Slovenia (Pop. 2m) will have 8, Lativia (Pop. 2.3m) 9, Lithuania (Pop. 3.4m) 12 and Eire (Pop. 4.2m) will also have 12. The Gnats will surely argue that Scotland, with a population of just under 5m, would be confident of having, at least 12 MEPs if we were "Independent in Europe". They will then use this as a club to beat us Lib Dems, New Labour and the Tories for opposing their loony tunes plans to have the UK broken up. Worrying. However there are quite a few stumbling blocks before this happens so there may be a ray or two of sunshine for us yet.

http://www.elspethattwoollmep.org.uk/

Scottish Lib Dem visit to European Parliament

As part of my day job I organise (subsidised) trips to the European Parliament in Brussels for members of the Scottish Lib Dems. generally we have a three day trip with time spent in Parliament as well as time for shopping, sightseeing & socialising. Most people report that they enjoy these trips. Ask Catherine about the one in October '05 - that's when we started dating!

I'm looking for expressions of interest for a trip which I'm going to pencil into the diary for the week commencing Monday 4th June. I'm sure there are going to be a whole load of new Lib dem Councillors who could do with a wee break after the hectic campaigning and new experience of being elected.

If you would be interested in joining me, indeed watching me do the equivalent of herding cats in a thunderstorm, please get in touch.