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My recent visit to Brussels

I travelled recently (see pic in post a little below!) to Brussels at the invitation of Green Party MEPs Caroline Lucas, Leader of the England and Wales Green Party, and Jean Lambert, Green Party MEP for London. Along with lead candidates from the Greens' other target Regions and with my candidate from Eastern Region (Peter Lynn of Colchester), I toured the European Parliament, meeting key officials, and taking part in a conference on climate justice. The conference also featured Lord Stern, author of the influential Stern Review on the economics of climate change, and Pascal Lamy, Director General of the World Trade Organisation.

The aim of the day was to prepare we Green candidates to take up office and become effective MEPs after next June's elections.

We want to be ready to become MEPs and to be able to make a difference from day one following the election. With the electoral system being proportional, just 10% of the vote here in the East would be enough to get me elected to the European Parliament (see the post on the Tactical case for voting Green, below...).So, we have a great opportunity to add to the number of Green MEPs next June, especially here in Eastern Region where we are doing so well, and we want to make the most of that opportunity.

Our current Green Party MEPs do a fantastic job and are amongst the most hard-working of all MEPs, as I clearly saw during my visit.We need more MEPs of that kind, who will relentlessly stand up for the right to a good quality of life - for both current and future generations, rather than pandering to big business and financial institutions. Honesty, energy and commitment is what voters will get if they vote Green next July.

All we Green Party candidates of course travelled to Brussels by train.

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