European unit to monitor pro life groups

-9/5/03

Fears are growing among pro life groups following the news that the European Union has set up a unit to moni

European unit to monitor pro life groups

-9/5/03

Fears are growing among pro life groups following the news that the European Union has set up a unit to monitor their activities.

Mrs Dana Rosemary Scallon, an Irish Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is questioning whether the commission can legally use EU taxpayers’ money in this way.

Leading opposition to the unit she says that it compromises the commission’s impartiality.

She has asked for details of the unit’s scope, budget and staffing, and suggests that its funding would be better spent elsewhere.

Mrs Scallon was recently a signatory to a letter to Mr Nielson, the EU’s aid commissioner, which sought clarification of his allocation of Ä32 million to organisations which promote abortion in developing countries.

56 other MEPs signed the letter, including Dr Ingo Friedrich, vice-president of the parliament, Mr JosÈ Maria Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado, former president of the parliament, and Mr Francesco Fiori, vice-chairman of the European People’s Party.

The letter pointed out that support for the promotion of abortion in the EU and outside it conflicted with EU treaties.

Peter Smith, representative for the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC) at the European Parliament, said: “I am a British taxpayer working for a voluntary organisation. It is galling in the extreme to know that my taxes, some of which are used to fund the commission, will go to employing people whose job could be to refute

the good-quality material which I give to MEPs on matters such as

abortion.î

ìNot only do pro-abortion non-governmental organisations get

EU funding, but EU money is now also going to this attempt to thwart

our good work in defence of mothers and their unborn children.

However, in the end, the truth will out.”

European unit to monitor pro life groups

-9/5/03

Fears are growing among pro life groups following the news that the European Union has set up a unit to monitor their activities.

Mrs Dana Rosemary Scallon, an Irish Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is questioning whether the commission can legally use EU taxpayers’ money in this way.

Leading opposition to the unit she says that it compromises the commission’s impartiality.

She has asked for details of the unit’s scope, budget and staffing, and suggests that its funding would be better spent elsewhere.

Mrs Scallon was recently a signatory to a letter to Mr Nielson, the EU’s aid commissioner, which sought clarification of his allocation of Ä32 million to organisations which promote abortion in developing countries.

56 other MEPs signed the letter, including Dr Ingo Friedrich, vice-president of the parliament, Mr JosÈ Maria Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado, former president of the parliament, and Mr Francesco Fiori, vice-chairman of the European People’s Party.

The letter pointed out that support for the promotion of abortion in the EU and outside it conflicted with EU treaties.

Peter Smith, representative for the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC) at the European Parliament, said: “I am a British taxpayer working for a voluntary organisation. It is galling in the extreme to know that my taxes, some of which are used to fund the commission, will go to employing people whose job could be to refute

the good-quality material which I give to MEPs on matters such as

abortion.î

ìNot only do pro-abortion non-governmental organisations get

EU funding, but EU money is now also going to this attempt to thwart

our good work in defence of mothers and their unborn children.

However, in the end, the truth will out.”