A European court ruling seen as a boost to Britain’s renegotiation strategy has been upheld.

The European Court of Justice confirmed this week that a country can withhold certain benefits from migrants if they travel from another EU country without a job – even if they have worked there previously.

The confirmation was welcomed by Conservative MEPs. Employment spokesman Anthea McIntyre MEP said: “This is a major endorsement of our stance on benefit tourism and our views on free movement. Increasingly the rest of Europe is seeing things our way. It bodes well for one of our key areas of renegotiation.”

Today’s judgement upholds the so-called “Dano” judgement on Germany’s application of benefit rules for EU migrants. This supported Berlin’s stance in denying basic benefits to EU migrants who arrived with no intention of finding work.

The Court further ruled that is it legal to withhold benefits even if the migrant has previously worked in the host state, and though the same benefits would be granted to nationals in the same situation.

Miss McIntyre, Conservative MEP for the West Midlands, said: “Previously most EU case law has strongly opposed any differentiation between EU migrants and nationals. I believe this is a sign that the pendulum is swinging our way. There is a clear view that freedom of movement to work is not the same a freedom to claim benefits. We have no problem with people coming to Britain to work and contribute to society. But people do not want to see our welfare system abused – and that is one of the areas the Prime Minister has a close eye upon in these negotiations. I believe this ruling strengthens his hand.”

Created: 09 September 2015

Conservative MEPs have won the backing of fellow parliamentarians for deleting a needless reference to Gibraltar in a report on EU transport policy.
A section of the report on the implementation of the Commission’s 2011 White Paper on transport called for the EU’s Council of Ministers to “resolve the UK-Spain dispute over Gibraltar, which is currently impeding numerous legislative files”.
However in Strasbourg today, MEPs voted to delete this statement.
Conservative MEPs do not believe the sovereignty of Gibraltar is a matter for discussion at Council level, and indeed the blockage has been caused solely by the current Spanish Government’s repudiation of the 2006 Cordoba Agreement.
Under the terms of the agreement, Gibraltar is fully recognised as a part of the EU’s single market and therefore should be fully included in EU aviation legislation.
Aside from the issue of Gibraltar, the report contained a number of other demands that we could not support, including EU-wide rules on road tolls and the creation of an unnecessary European Road Transport Agency.
South West and Gibraltar MEP Julie Girling said;
“The position under the EU Treaties is clear: Gibraltar is included in aviation measures. EU citizens using Gibraltar Airport should not be denied EU rights because Spain chooses to pursue a sovereignty dispute.
My constituents in Gibraltar are as much members of the EU single market as constituents anywhere else in the South West. It is unacceptable for Spain to attempt to force the UK to enter into sovereignty negotiations. Frustratingly Spain continues to block important EU aviation legislation which would benefit many more European citizens.”
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09 September 2015

Julie Girling on behalf of the UK delegation

The UK delegation expects nothing less than full and equal opportunity for both girls and boys to education in school. Girls and boys should have equal access to good primary and secondary school teachers and opportunities to study a variety of subjects regardless of sex. We recognise that bullying and homophobia are problems facing young people at school and national governments must work with schools and teachers to stop all forms of bullying, harassment and violence at school.

The UK delegation is disappointed that this report goes far beyond the remit and responsibilities of and the European Parliament, particularly; EU interference in teacher training, educational pedagogy, how schools are funded, the school curricula and sex education and “sexist distortions” in textbooks and teaching materials.

The UK delegation is also concerned that this report calls for the EU to harmonise national qualification rules for professionals coming from outside of the EU and calls on member states to provide free education services to migrant women; whilst are important issues they are not within the legal competencies of the EU.

For these reasons the UK Delegation was unable to support this report.

A high-profile fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference today (Mon) will call for greater urgency in tackling the horrific practice of female genital mutilation.

Julie Girling MEP has organised the meeting and will join other speakers in calling for greater emphasis on prosecuting adults who allow or carry out FGM.

The MEP for the South West, Conservative spokesman on equality, is leading a campaign promoting a three-point manifesto to end the horror of young girls having their outer sexual parts cut away – all to satisfy a misplaced sense of tradition and cultural identity.

The campaign calls for:

# A more robust approach to bringing adults behind FGM to justice.

# Better international recording and reporting of FGM to reveal the true scale of the scandal.

# International “aid conditionality” – to use development funding as a moral lever on countries where FGM is allowed or even condoned.

FGM has been a criminal offence in the UK since 1985, yet there has not yet been a single prosecution. Conservatives have been at the forefront of efforts to galvanise EU-wide action against FGM. – See more at: http://conservativeeurope.com/news/girling-fgm-more-than-just-a-big-city-problem#sthash.EhiK9M1Z.dpuf

Panellists at the Manchester fringe event will include Solicitor General Robert Buckland and survivor Alimatu Dimonekene, who will tell the heart-rending story of her own subjection to FGM and its effect on her life.

Mrs Girling said: “It was a breakthrough when FGM was criminalised in 1985, but the lack of any prosecution since then means the law has effectively been redundant. Certainly FGM has continued unchecked.

“If misplaced social or religious sensitivities have stodd in the way of prosecutions then that must stop. This is child abuse pure and simple and must be treated as such.”