The European Elections loom large on the political horizon. The Green Party’s two MEPs have made major political achievements during their time in office and have helped to raise the work of UK Greens on the national and international stage. As we move towards the elections, Green World will be profiling some of the candidates in the elections, including the candidates in our target regions
Having a Green MEP in London has been a great benefit to the national party. It is a high-profile political position that lends weight to the green cause and shows that, given the opportunity, Greens can make a real difference to people’s lives. London’s voters have twice given Jean Lambert the chance to represent them in Brussels, during which time she has made many diverse contributions to the welfare of European citizens, as well as ensuring her constituents are fully represented in Brussels.
Political career
Jean grew up in Grays, Essex, but now lives in Walthamstow, East London. She began her career as a secondary school teacher and joined the Green Party in 1977. She has been an active player in the party since, having been London’s first Co-ordinator and then becoming one of the 3 Co-Chairs of the Green Party Council in 1982 when the party moved from having a single Chairman. She has chaired the Party Executive and also been a Principal Speaker.
Jean has played a crucial role in building relations with other Green Parties and was an honorary member of the European Parliament’s Green Group after the UK Greens gained 15% of the vote in the 1989 European Elections. Elected the Green Party MEP for London in 1999, she was re-elected in 2004 and will be standing again in the forthcoming elections in June 2009.
Greatest Political Achievement
Jean was successful in single-handedly ensuring that the issue of training was included in the EU Sustainable Development Strategy, which means that Member States must now address workers’ educational needs to achieve their green objectives. Recognising that we cannot meet our climate change targets without a workforce trained for new technologies and trained to adapt our current workplaces, Jean succeeded in ensuring that the strategy includes training for jobs supporting ecological and sustainable technologies and best practices. It also means that there will be training on ecologically relevant issues for all.
Greens made this point at a meeting in London when they invited the European Commission and the European Trade Union Confederation to address the issue. Greens are aiming for a coherent training strategy across the EU and the issue has also been linked with the London Assembly Greens and, subsequently, to the London Development Strategy.
Employment and workers’ rights
Another major element of Jean’s parliamentary profile is related to her position as a member of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee. Notably, she helped secure majority support for the Parliament’s amendments to the Working Time Directive and her publication Must I work harder? highlighted the relationship between long working hours and mental and physical health problems. She has consistently fought for the end to the UK Government’s opt-out from the maximum working week component of the EU’s Working Time Directive. She also sits on the Advisory Board of the Work-Life Institute. Jean recently produced a report entitled Green Work: Employment and skills - the climate change challenge which explores the need to invest in green industries to supply sustainable jobs.
Continuing as an MEP
If re-elected Jean would continue to strive for a sustainable European Union that develops 21st century concepts to deal with challenges of climate change and financial instability.
She would achieve this by continuing to focus on how solutions to tackling climate change can be integrated across the board in the areas of health, employment, public services and mobility. And, as a complement to this endeavour, continue to fight for a change in emphasis in current EU trade policy and work to ensure political coherence across EU policy in the areas of trade, development and climate change.
As she has done in the current parliament, Jean would continue to fight for strong universal access to public services and a curtailment of the power of the market in this domain. Further to redressing the balance of financial power, Jean would also like to tackle issues related to tax havens and other matters related to financial responsibility.
Another Jean’s aims is to ensure that the EU is a positive driving force in ensuring human rights standards around the world. She would continue bridging the approach between the issues of climate change and migration. This issue is one of increasing importance and one which can only be effectively dealt with at the EU level. Jean would like to see a more holistic approach to these issues by ensuring the coordination of the issue across parliamentary committees.
Finally, Jean wants to strengthen democracy, pursuing an increased voice for, and increased connection with, people affected by EU policies and with those who want to create a different EU.
To get involved in the campaign to re-elect Jean in London, please drop an email to campaign4jean@greenparty.co.uk or visit the website www.jeanlambertmep.org.uk
