Through the BikersRVoters campaign for the Northern Ireland Assembly and Council Elections on Thursday 5th May 2011 – Right to Right has set out our world of motorcycling and the world of politics.
Although these are elections local to Northern Ireland, Europe, the European Union and the European Commission have a place to play in Northern Ireland.
Our opinion is that the European Union has created a burden of unnecessary legislation, which the Northern Ireland Assembly has to deal with.
This EU bureaucracy will not improve road safety, but will drive up costs for motorcyclists and road users in general.
If we have to be part of the European legislative process then Northern Ireland politicians – MLAs – MEPs – the Assembly and Government Departments as a whole need to take notice of the effect of this legislative burden and not simply follow implementations from the Westminster Parliament.
It is not just about legislation, European Commission sponsored motorcycle safety projects are foisting experimental technology on motorcyclists as a solution to reduce motorcycle casualties.
At Assembly level it is all about Europe – But Europe is not all about fishing and farming.
Which is why at Right To Ride we set up Right To Ride EU to look at motorcycling issues – Directives and Regulations – that emanate from the European Commission and its Directive Generals (DGs) through the decision process of the European Parliament, Council, Committees and working groups.
What the Parties Say
UKIP
No surprise that UKIP (UK Independence Party Northern Ireland) has strong opinions on Europe!
“The United Kingdom should no longer belong to the European Union. All power is passing from elected hands at Stormont and Westminster to unelected hands in Brussels.”
“We will cut the hundreds of thousands of pages of regulation which stifle Northern Ireland’s businesses and strangle them with red tape. We cannot do this without leaving the EU, which issues a new “Directive” every three hours, day and night, 365 days a year.”
UUP
The UUP (Ulster Unionist Party) have a pragmatic approach to Europe, which seems to outline that we don’t have a clue about Europe and how it affects us.
However they take the view that we need to have a clue!
“It is estimated that around 65 – 70% of all legislation dealt with and considered by the Northern Ireland Assembly originates in the European Union”
“Despite this fact the devolved institutions remain puzzled, confused and inconsistent in their relationship with the European institutions.”
“In the next Assembly there is a greater need to monitor and assess the impact of EU legislation and to promote and protect Northern Ireland’s interests in the European legislative process.”
SDLP
The SDLP (Social Democratic and Labour Party) want to maximise, Framework 7, this is where FP7 projects,such as SAFERIDER and 2BSafe have come from and we know the problems these have and are creating for motorcycling.
“There are numerous benefits to participating in a FP7 project, and not just the financial support for R&D. We want to maximise opportunities for our researchers, graduates and SMEs to access cutting-edge technology development, benefit from collaboration with key industry players and the ability to access new markets.”
Sinn Fein
Similar to the SDLP, Sinn Fein see an advantage to FP7 projects but looking at the money without any caveats on how motorcycling or groups/communities could be negatively affected from these European Commission funded project and their consortium partners.
“Drawing down an additional 100million (EURO) from the EU ‘Seventh Framework Programme’ over the next two years to fund Research and Development and promote innovation”
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