Molly in Europe

I’ll admit I haven’t heard much from Molly Scott Cato in the last few weeks. Normally, as her local press officer I hear from her regularly. Now as an elected MEP, she’s been off on the train to distant European cities, getting ready to start representing us in the European Parliament from the 1^st of July. She’s so much in demand that even the BBC want to talk to her, and we know what their attitude to Green politics has been recently.

Following Molly on twitter is a good way of keeping up with her. She’s now @MollyMEP

Despite not having officially started yet – which means not having any proper support staff or resources, Molly is already being asked to do the work, and, being awesome, is out there helping people. Notably, supporting campaigners who are fighting to save the River Wylye from damaging development. (There’s a petition here and a film about it here.

Molly will be getting involved with economics and agriculture committees in Europe. Economics, because she’s an author and Professor of economics and therefore has a great deal of insight to offer. Agriculture, because that’s so vitally important to the economy and communities of the south-west.

European politics are confusing, and we spent a lot of time prior to the elections trying to explain to people why this stuff even matters in the first place. There is far, far more to Europe than the kind of stories the media like – immigration and straight bananas. The benefits of Europe just don’t get enough air time, and the way in which the EU and it governing bodies functions, is a bit of a mystery to most of us. So, as Molly sets out as an MEP, I’ll be doing my best to find out more about how that works and share it on.