UK in Europe
028 Richard Corbett (MEP)
click to read >
1. Mary: OK. So thank you very much for agreeing to be interviewed today. It's wonderful. Can you tell us then, what is the EU?
2. Richard: The European Union is a grouping of Britain and all its neighbouring countries in our continent, where we come together to try and find common solutions to common problems. Just as you elect a local councillor for local matters, you elect MPs in the House of Commons for national matters and you elect members of the European Parliament to the European Parliament to look at European matters.
3. Mary: OK, wonderful, and where is the European Parliament?
4. Richard: Well, strangely enough it's in two places because most of the time we work in Brussels, but for one week a month we are legally obliged to, we have to meet in Strasburg, which is on the border between France and Germany.
5. Mary: OK, so once a month you go there.
6. Richard: Strasburg is symbolically important, because the reason to establish the European Union was after the Second World War, in our continent we had fought wars between countries for centuries. From the fall of the Roman Empire to 1945 people went out and fought on battlefields and the idea of the European Union was to say, 'We must stop that. We must have a structure where we come together and we solve our problems by talking, by negotiating, by developing common solutions to common problems.' It was an inspirational, very idealistic idea and Strasburg was the symbol because it had been part of Germany then France then Germany then France.
7. Mary: So it was a place where wars were actually.
8. Richard: Yes, so instead of fighting over Strasburg we made Strasburg a meeting place.
9. Mary: Right, how fascinating, thank you. OK so you said that the Euro MP represents an area.
10. Richard: I represent Yorkshire, Yorkshire and Humber. Lots of people come to see me or write me letters or send e-mails when they have subjects that we're dealing with at European level: environmental questions or trade matters or consumer protection. So we have a lot of businesses coming to see me, trade unions, non-governmental organisations of all kinds, from human rights organisations, Amnesty International, environmental organisations, Greenpeace, all kinds of people.
11. Mary: And are there any particular areas within that which you have a particular interest in?
12. Richard: I'll tell you a good one that we're dealing with now. Do you know that you and me and everyone looking at this has in our bloodstream, in our tissues, 30-40 chemicals that our grandparents never had because we've absorbed them into our system? And we also know that there are growing rates of asthma, skin cancer and different types of cancer and so on, that probably come from chemicals, but we don't know which ones. It's a big problem.
13. So the European Commissioner suggested that we have a big programme across the whole of Europe to test all the chemicals that we use in everyday life: varnishes, paints, solvents, food ingredients, everything to try and find out which ones, maybe things we've used for years, which ones cause the problem. But of course it's very expensive.
14. Some people are saying, 'Do we really need to do this?' etc, etc. But if you do it on a European level, you spread the cost across 25 different countries. You share the burden and you have then the same set of rules, common rules for our common market which make it easier for businesses in the end, they don't need to re-test all their chemicals 25 times.
15. So, we're debating this now and, as always, some people say, 'We need to be really tough even if it costs more', others say, 'Well we need only the basic minimum because otherwise it costs too much.' And we have a debate and in the end we will vote.
16. Mary: Fascinating, fascinating, now you said there that there are 25 countries. There are other countries that are registered as joining as well. So that's lots of languages. So how does communication work over that?
17. Richard: Well we, all our debates, we have interpreters. So, it means our debates are less lively than in the House of Commons because only one person can speak at a time. There are microphones and most people are listening with ear-phones. You use the ear-phones and you can tune into which language you want to listen to. Number 2 is English but if you want to you can listen to Estonian or Polish or Swedish. And then you can understand what people are saying.
18. So, and the interpreters are very good but of course it's a difficult job because you have to listen and speak at the same time and try and convey the exact sense of what somebody says. But it does mean that the debates are less lively.
19. If I tell a joke, maybe some people will laugh straight away, maybe not, others will laugh after ten seconds and maybe the last language comes through only after 20 seconds and by then I've moved on to say something really serious and suddenly they start laughing over there, you know it's not very..
20. Mary: It's very disconcerting! So how then does being in the EU impact on the citizens of a country?
21. Richard: Well it means firstly, if you are a citizen of a country you are also a citizen of the European Union, which means you have the right to go and live and work in any of the other countries, even the right to vote in local elections and European Parliament elections if you live in another country. And you have the right if you're abroad, if you're in South America or somewhere, to the protection of the embassies and the consulates other countries if your own country doesn't have a consulate there.
22. So you have some rights as a European, as a European Citizen. But the main impact is that, for those subjects which we can't really deal with by ourselves in each of our separate countries, where we have to come together if we want to have a good effect, like environmental standards, like a lot of economic questions, we have a structure where we and all our neighbouring countries can come together to try and find common solutions.
1. Mary: OK. So thank you very much for agreeing to be interviewed today. It's wonderful. Can you tell us then, what is the EU?
2. Richard: The European Union is a grouping of Britain and all its neighbouring countries in our continent, where we come together to try and find common solutions to common problems. Just as you elect a local councillor for local matters, you elect MPs in the House of Commons for national matters and you elect members of the European Parliament to the European Parliament to look at European matters.
3. Mary: OK, wonderful, and where is the European Parliament?
4. Richard: Well, strangely enough it's in two places because most of the time we work in Brussels, but for one week a month we are legally obliged to, we have to meet in Strasburg, which is on the border between France and Germany.
5. Mary: OK, so once a month you go there.
6. Richard: Strasburg is symbolically important, because the reason to establish the European Union was after the Second World War, in our continent we had fought wars between countries for centuries. From the fall of the Roman Empire to 1945 people went out and fought on battlefields and the idea of the European Union was to say, 'We must stop that. We must have a structure where we come together and we solve our problems by talking, by negotiating, by developing common solutions to common problems.' It was an inspirational, very idealistic idea and Strasburg was the symbol because it had been part of Germany then France then Germany then France.
7. Mary: So it was a place where wars were actually.
8. Richard: Yes, so instead of fighting over Strasburg we made Strasburg a meeting place.
9. Mary: Right, how fascinating, thank you. OK so you said that the Euro MP represents an area.
10. Richard: I represent Yorkshire, Yorkshire and Humber. Lots of people come to see me or write me letters or send e-mails when they have subjects that we're dealing with at European level: environmental questions or trade matters or consumer protection. So we have a lot of businesses coming to see me, trade unions, non-governmental organisations of all kinds, from human rights organisations, Amnesty International, environmental organisations, Greenpeace, all kinds of people.
11. Mary: And are there any particular areas within that which you have a particular interest in?
12. Richard: I'll tell you a good one that we're dealing with now. Do you know that you and me and everyone looking at this has in our bloodstream, in our tissues, 30-40 chemicals that our grandparents never had because we've absorbed them into our system? And we also know that there are growing rates of asthma, skin cancer and different types of cancer and so on, that probably come from chemicals, but we don't know which ones. It's a big problem.
13. So the European Commissioner suggested that we have a big programme across the whole of Europe to test all the chemicals that we use in everyday life: varnishes, paints, solvents, food ingredients, everything to try and find out which ones, maybe things we've used for years, which ones cause the problem. But of course it's very expensive.
14. Some people are saying, 'Do we really need to do this?' etc, etc. But if you do it on a European level, you spread the cost across 25 different countries. You share the burden and you have then the same set of rules, common rules for our common market which make it easier for businesses in the end, they don't need to re-test all their chemicals 25 times.
15. So, we're debating this now and, as always, some people say, 'We need to be really tough even if it costs more', others say, 'Well we need only the basic minimum because otherwise it costs too much.' And we have a debate and in the end we will vote.
16. Mary: Fascinating, fascinating, now you said there that there are 25 countries. There are other countries that are registered as joining as well. So that's lots of languages. So how does communication work over that?
17. Richard: Well we, all our debates, we have interpreters. So, it means our debates are less lively than in the House of Commons because only one person can speak at a time. There are microphones and most people are listening with ear-phones. You use the ear-phones and you can tune into which language you want to listen to. Number 2 is English but if you want to you can listen to Estonian or Polish or Swedish. And then you can understand what people are saying.
18. So, and the interpreters are very good but of course it's a difficult job because you have to listen and speak at the same time and try and convey the exact sense of what somebody says. But it does mean that the debates are less lively.
19. If I tell a joke, maybe some people will laugh straight away, maybe not, others will laugh after ten seconds and maybe the last language comes through only after 20 seconds and by then I've moved on to say something really serious and suddenly they start laughing over there, you know it's not very..
20. Mary: It's very disconcerting! So how then does being in the EU impact on the citizens of a country?
21. Richard: Well it means firstly, if you are a citizen of a country you are also a citizen of the European Union, which means you have the right to go and live and work in any of the other countries, even the right to vote in local elections and European Parliament elections if you live in another country. And you have the right if you're abroad, if you're in South America or somewhere, to the protection of the embassies and the consulates other countries if your own country doesn't have a consulate there.
22. So you have some rights as a European, as a European Citizen. But the main impact is that, for those subjects which we can't really deal with by ourselves in each of our separate countries, where we have to come together if we want to have a good effect, like environmental standards, like a lot of economic questions, we have a structure where we and all our neighbouring countries can come together to try and find common solutions.
The words removed below are the key words used most by this speaker.
businesses chemicals continent debates elect environmental fascinating parliament protection together
businesses chemicals continent debates elect environmental fascinating parliament protection together
Try to spell some of the key words used most by this speaker.
Hold your mouse over the image to see the word.
Hold your mouse over the image to see the word.
see word |
spell word |
check |
correct so far |
OK |
|---|