Great work afew and everyone else. I get positive vibes from the OK. "Can we change X for Y?" "OK" = "X has been changed for Y."
I know it's good to have citizens' involvement at the individual level (me sending e-mails to my MEP x each user at ET)...but....
Why not send it out signed by all individuals who wish to be noted (an email to afew will sort that out), but sent from our infamous (as in "Does it exist?") eurotrib e-mail account.
A spokesperson, afew. I'd nominate you, but I'm not close enough to buy you all the drinks etc. I'd feel I owed you. Maybe Jerome can funnel some of the cash that's arrived into a "Drinks for afew!" fund?
(Ignore me! Ignore me! Get that man a tray of his favourite drinks!)
Am I making ze sense? One e-mail to all MEPs. They'll get used to seeing it appear. "Another one of those blurrin' ET emails," they'll moan. But they'll know it's gone to their colleagues, their bosses, and (newspapers? A monthly periodical? The Economist? The FT? Maybe the FT is a key place to send any "open letters"--Jerome has mojo working there.
But I dunno wot I'm torking abaht mate, so for now send me the letter and I'll forward it on.
Afew! Top class! Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
To the point. Yes, we could do as you suggest and have a standard ET communications format. That would be good for some things. But the European Parliament is the only directly-elected institution in the EU, and our MEPs are supposed to represent us as constituents. So individual letters to our MEPs seem to me important. I think they stand a better chance of being noticed than a circular.
Glad you got some reaction, but you have a seriously committed MEP. My Green MEP (Alex and I wrote to him) has given no response so far. I think we should monitor reactions and list the MEPs who respond and those who don't. Those who don't might get a second dose by e-mail, fax, post. If they still don't respond, the people who will be entitled to kick up a fuss will be their constituents. And they should. And mention ET every time.
But of course, mon ami, we must work towards a standard ET communications policy. We're only at the beginning...
Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
(One thing I really hate is how they make me tuck my nineteen-seventies yellow flares into those big black boots, yuck).
