Daniel DALTON : 8. parlamentarni saziv 

The British delegation voted against the Stanishev report on visa-free travel for UK citizens because, although we strongly support visa-free travel both for UK citizens in the EU and for EU citizens in the UK, this issue was hijacked by Spanish demands for Gibraltar to be wrongly defined as a colony of the UK and for a ʻsolutionʼ to be found.
We cannot support the addition of this language, which is also a significant change to the original Parliament position.
We strongly support visa-free travel, but not if the cost is language which puts in doubt the sovereignty and right to self-determination of the people of Gibraltar.

On behalf of the UK Conservative Delegation:
Conservative MEPs are concerned about challenges to judicial independence in Romania and the ability of the country’s criminal justice system to tackle corruption and organised crime. However, by once again indulging in political grandstanding instead of seeking real solutions through deeper engagement and constructive dialogue, the European Parliament is making it more difficult to address these issues.
In particular, we cannot support attempts by the Parliament to extend its power to intervene in the domestic affairs of Member States and trigger punitive measures against them. Robust legal measures already exist in the EU to investigate and punish treaty breaches that undermine the rule of law and MEPs should not be attempting to politicise this process.
For these reasons we are opposing this motion for resolution.

I voted to reject the mandate for negotiations because, although I support many of the aims of the report in tackling certain unfair trading practices, I have reservations about a number of the proposals contained within it. For instance, it specifically bans joint purchasing which is used by many small independent retailers, effectively a de facto ban on SMEs in the retail food sector. At the same time it expands the scope to include large manufacturers in the supply side, who have significantly more bargaining power than smaller retailers. Furthermore it arbitrarily bans some standard selling practices in the UK and other grocery markets that benefit the consumer, such as below cost selling for promotional purposes to introduce new products. These unnecessary changes will hurt consumer choice, raise consumer prices and will not in fact help suppliers.