The European elections aren’t until next year – 22nd May
2014, and while that may still feel like a very long way off, things are
already happening. The Green Party in the Southwest has chosen its candidates
and now the work begins to put Green policies in front of people. The lead candidate for the South West is our
own Molly Scott Cato and if Twitter is anything to go by, people of Stroud are
already showing a lot of love for Molly.
Molly leads the Green Group on Stroud District Council. She
is Professor of Strategy and Sustainability at Roehampton University, the Green
Party’s national speaker on finance and an international expert on green
economics. Molly represented the Green Party on the “No to the Euro” campaign
and is a regular commentator on the Eurozone crisis via her personal blog,
Gaian Economics (http://gaianeconomics.blogspot.co.uk/
).
Molly says, “I am deeply concerned that the Eurozone crisis
is creating tensions and threatening the peace project that lies at the heart
of my vision of Europe. I believe I can communicate the vision that Europe
needs: of peace, prosperity and happy settled lives within a healthy
environment, rather than competition and the endless quest for more.
There is a significant risk that if we don’t get the
politics right, the political pressure for a referendum on leaving the EU will
build, and the Union that has provided us with security and protection
throughout our lives will start to break up. Restoring public support relies on
increasing the democratic accountability of the European institutions and,
crucially, on switching the focus to stability and away from the corporate single
market.
My knowledge of economics can offer something important to
the Green Group in the European Parliament at this time. I would like to join
the likes of Sven Giegold and Philippe Lamberts, working to constrain the power
of the ‘banksters’ and share wealth more equally, whilst remembering that
nature is the true source of all our wealth.”
Molly was brought up in Bath and has lived in the West
Country for most of her life. She holds a degree in PPE from Oxford University
and a PhD in Economics from Aberystwyth University. She has three children.
There are Green Members of the European Parliament from all
over Europe, coming to the table with broadly similar aims and ideas around
sustainable living and a fairer future. Molly would be a powerful voice in that
mix. A European Parliament that delivers for the people of Europe has to be
about far more than big business and keeping the bankers happy. A good quality
of life, real peace and real security are what we all need. We can make that
happen.
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