Michael Cashman

Michael Cashman    (politician)
A member of the European Parliament

Michael Cashman (born 17 December 1950, London) is a former British actor and is an MEP for West Midlands from Labour Party.

Affiliations

• Chairman, Delegation for relations with South Africa
• Member, Conference of Delegation Chairs
• Member, Committee on Development
• Member, Committee on Petitions
• Substitute, Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
• Substitute, Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly

Former Affiliations

• Vice-Chairman, Committee on Petitions
• Member, Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
• Member, Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly
• Substitute, Committee on Regional Development
• Substitute, Subcommittee on Human Rights
• Substitute, Delegation for relations with Australia and New Zealand

Record and Controversies

Declaration of Financial Interests

• Nothing to declare.

Former Declaration of Financial Interests

Financial Support Received in Connection with Political Acivities:

• Financial Donations, granted by UNITY Trade Union; International Lesbian & Gay Association (Europe) towards the LGBT Intergroup

Further Information:

• I employ my civil partner, Paul Cottingham as Accounts Manager, Personnel Manager and Payroll Administrator at £30,000 pa (inclusive of travel and expenses).

Conflict of Interest

• Cashman's civil partner Paul Cottingham is the director of Cause Celebre Limited - a high-profile PR firm, which has held events for Labour Party.

Record of Parliamentary Votes

• Voted in favour of the directive on "establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy" (A5-0027/2000). The directive covers all water management aspects in order to achieve a 'good status' of all waters by 2015.
• Voted in favour of the directive on "national emission ceilings for certain atmospheric pollutants" (A5-0063/2000). The amendment allows setting less ambitious national emission ceilings for sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), ammonia (NH3) and volatile organic compounds (VOC), which would result in more damage to human health and the environment.
• Voted in favour of the Commission White Paper on "Strategy for a future Chemicals Policy" (A5-0356/2001). The amendment helps avoid the necessary precautionary approach towards some chemical substances that are not proven to be completely safe.
• Voted in favour of the directive on "waste electrical and electronic equipment" (A5-0100/2002). The amendment sets higher reuse and recycling rates for IT and telecommunication equipment. Rejected due to lack of absolute majority.
• Voted in favour of the report on "Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network" (A5-0135/2002). The Trans-European Network of Transport (TEN-T) is a network of so-called 'transport corridors' through Europe. This amendment calls for a full Strategic Environmental Assessment of these transport corridors and calls on the Commission to improve methods for analysing the environmental and economic impact of the TEN-T.
• Voted in favour of the regulation concerning "traceability and labelling of genetically modified organisms and traceability of food and feed products produced from genetically modified organisms" (A5-0229/2002). The amendment allows customers the right to choose GM free food.
• Voted in favour of the report towards a "thematic strategy on the sustainable use of pesticides" (A5-0061/2003). The amendment proposes to ban or severely restrict use of pesticides in areas around sources of drinking water and nature protected zones.
• Voted in favour of the directive on "environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage" (A5-0145/2003). According to the amendment, polluters have to pay for environmental clean-up, and it supports an EU-wide regime which makes polluters liable for the damage they cause to wildlife, water and land.
• Voted against the directive on restructuring the "Community framework for the taxation of energy products and electricity" (A5-0302/2003). The amendment aims at giving tax benefits to environmentally friendly sources of energy, which would make them cheaper and more competitive to conventional (more polluting) sources of energy. It also gives tax benefits to environmentally friendly uses of energy for transport, for instance trains. Rejected due to lack of absolute majority.

Transparency

The European Parliament adopted amendments on the basis of a codecision report drafted by Michael Cashman, in order to revise the 2001 regulation on access to documents. The amended proposal was adopted by MEPs by 439 votes in favour, 200 against and 57 abstentions, but the vote on the legislative resolution is postponed in order to leave the possibility for the European commission to modify its proposal, and for the European Parliament to negotiate a first reading agreement with Council after the summer, as a new parliamentary term will start in June.

Amendments within the report include:

• Clarification of the term "document", defining it as any data or content, whatever its medium, concerning a matter relating to the policies, activities and decisions falling within the institution's sphere of responsibility,
• Distinction between legislative and non-legislative documents: the former should always be available to the public and may not be kept secret on the grounds that this could undermine the decision-making process of the institutions,
• Disclosure of documents originating from a Member State and received by the EU institutions after consultation of the Member state - but this does not give them a right of veto,
• Protection of political activity and independence of MEPs, reminding that documents and electronic records which an MEP has received, drafted or sent are not to be considered as "documents" in the sense of this regulation, as they are covered by the Statute for Members of the European Parliament,
• Disclosure of these documents on an inter-institutional website including preparatory documents, impact studies, legal opinions and other documents,
• Presentation of a scale for classifying documents, from "EU restricted" to "EU top secret", for documents whose unauthorised disclosure could harm the interests of the European Union or its Member States - reasons to be given why access to a document is refused, and documents on legislative procedures must not be classified. Exceptions shall only apply for the period during which protection is justified and may only apply for 30 years, unless the exception relates to the privacy or integrity of the individual,
• Financial transparency regarding the EU budget, its implementation and beneficiaries of EU funds and grants to be public and accessible to citizens via a specific website,
• Disclosure of documents on international agreements to be made public - International accords on the sharing of confidential information concluded in the name of the EU (such as the agreement with the USA on passenger name records or "PNR"), must not give a non-EU country or an international organisation the right to prevent the European Parliament from accessing confidential information,
• Demand to make available all documents related to the ongoing international negotiations on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) - which will contain a new international benchmark on intellectual property right enforcement.
• Setting up an inter-institutional register of lobbyists, publicise the names, titles and functions of the lobbyists, as well as those of EU officials, unless this information would affect the privacy or integrity of the individual,
• Setting up a special oversight committee made up of MEPs, who should have access to classified documents - each directorate-general of every institution should designate a person responsible for ensuring that the regulation is properly implemented.

Personal Information

Curriculum Vitae

• Secondary education.
• Actor, writer, singer, director, and television, theatre and film actor (1963-1999).
• Auditor.
• Member of the Labour Party since 1975.
• Member, Labour Party National Executive Committee (1998- ).
• Councillor and Honorary Treasurer, British Actors' Equity Association (1994-1998).
• Member of the European Parliament (since 1999).
• Special service award, American Association of Physicians for Human Rights (1998).
• Founding Director of the Stonewall Group.
• Patron of PressWise, Foodchain and SPACE (AIDS Counselling).
• Gibraltar Gay Rights, The European Policy Network, Malta Gay Rights Movement, Friends and Families for Lesbians and Gays.
• Trustee of the Evelyn Norris Trust.
• Publications: forewords to 'Cultura emprendedora y la Unión Europea' by Marcelino Oreja Arburua, and 'Pro Europe' (Verlag MVV Medien).

Resources

• Cause Celebre, About Cause Celebre, accessed 10 February 2009.
• European Parliament, "Access to documents: The European parliament demands more transparency," Justice and Home Affairs, 11 March 2009, accessed 15 March 2009.
• European Parliament, Declaration of Members' Financial Interests: Michael Cashman, 28 February 2008, accessed 10 February 2009.
• European Parliament, Declaration of Members' Financial Interests: Michael Cashman, 23 June 2009, accessed 05 November 2009.
• European Parliament, MEP Directory: Michael Cashman, accessed 10 February 2009.
• Friends of the Earth, EU Vote Watch, accessed 10 February 2009.

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