Brussels Labour
International Branch of the British Labour Party
Welcome to the website
Welcome to the homepage of Brussels Labour, the branch of the UK Labour Party in the capital of Belgium and city of the EU institutions.The Branch runs an active programme of speaker meetings and social events - so get involved!
The Honorary President of Brussels Labour is Neil Kinnock, formerly Vice-President of the European Commission and leader of the Labour Party.
Latest events
Future Meetings
We have a busy programme planned for the rest of autumn 2008:
Wednesday November 26 - A panel discussion on the Commission's newly proposed social package, including Labour MEPs and European union leaders (Arthur's, 20.00)
Wednesday December 10 - Brussels Labour Christmas social at David Earnshaw and Jo Wood's, 6 Square Ambiorix
Germinal
The latest edition of Germinal is now available on line - click here
And click here for the March 2008 edition
The Party of European Socialists - PES
The PES is probably of particular interest to members of Brussels Labour.
Individual members of Europe’s Socialist, Social Democratic and Labour Parties - and thus of Brussels Labour - are all members of the PES through their national party membership. They can now become directly involved in the PES by becoming PES activist. This important decision was taken at the PES Council in Vienna in June 2005 with full support of the member parties.
Being PES activist offers a new level of involvement for members, complementary to that on local, regional or national level.
Activists can ask questions directly to politicians, take part in discussions with other European socialists and social democrats on a variety of topics, give input on PES policy discussions, establish political links with local individuals and branches in other PES member parties, receive information on what other European socialists and social democrats are up.
In addition, there are opportunities to attend events such as the PES Congress and Summer University.
Go to www.pes.org for more details on how to become a PES activist - and also for information on PES events and activities.
Recent Events
On October 14, we were honoured to have European Commission Vice President Margot Wallstrom deliver the 4th Annual John Fitzmaurice lecture @ The Centre. Click here to read her speech.
On 1 October Commission Vice President Gunther Verheugen addressed a packed joint meeting with the Brussels SPD Branch on the subject og "Social Democracy in a globalised 21st century". Read more here.
Once again, Brussels Labour hosted a fringe meeting with the European Parliamentary Labour Party at Labour Conference - this time on Energy: Can it really be secure, green and affordable? We welcomed back Lord Kinnock as chair. He was joined by Linda McAvan MEP, Eluned Morgan MEP, Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks, and the Bermudan Energy Minister.
In February Peter Skinner MEP and Gerald Loftus, and Kevin Prager from Democrats Abroad led a very interest discussion on EU-US relations.
In January, Arlene MacCathy MEP spoke to the branch on consumer protection, with a particular emphasis on the work she had done in the Parliament recently on gun controls. Click here
for a full reportEvents in 2007
During the deputy leadership campaign, various of the candidates addressed the branch, including Alan Johnson, seen here with Brussels Labour chair Belinda Pyke.
In April the Branch was privileged to have meetings with Hazel Blears MP and Party Chair, and with Roger Liddle, former European Advisor to Tony Blair and now member of the European Commission's Group of Policy Adivsors, on his paper on the Eureopan social dimension.
The Branch AGM was held on Wednesday 21 March. Belinda Pyke, David Earnshaw and David O'Leary werre re-elected unopposed as Chair, Vice-Chair and treasurer respectively.
On April 10, we were able to meeting with Labour Party Chair Hazel Blears MP. On April 16, Roger Liddle, now of the Commission's "Group of Policy Advisors" explained the social reality stocktake to the branch. Reports will follow shortly.
On Wednesday 28 February, we were very pleased to welcome David Harley, then Secretary General of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, for "a conversation with..." Vice Chair of Brussels Labour, David Earnshaw, on Socialist achievements and perspectives 2004-2009. The report of the meeting will shortly be available here.
We were privileged to welcome the Minister for Europe, Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP, to deliver the 2006 John Fitzmaurice Memorial Lecture, at The Centre on 22 January 2007. Click here to read his speech.
Brussels Labour was please to welcome John McTernan, Director of Political Operations at Number 10, as speaker in November. He talked on "renewal in power". See report attached.