Andrew Duff
Andrew Duff ( born December 25, 1950 in Birkenhead ) is a British politician of the Liberal Democrats. He is a member of the European Parliament for the constituency of East of England of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland since 1999. Andrew Duff is one of the most famous representatives of European federalism and since October 9, 2008 President of the Union of European Federalists.
Career
Andrew Duff studied at Cambridge University and graduated in 1978 with a masters. From 1993 to 1997 he was Director of the Federal Trust for education & research, a UK think tank with a special interest in federalism.
His political career began in 1982 as a member of the Cambridge City Council (until 1990 ). From 1994 to 1997 he served as Vice Chairman of the Liberal Democrats.
Andrew Duff candidate already in the European elections in 1984, 1989 and 1994 for the European Parliament, but could by majority vote not win his constituency. Only with the introduction of proportional representation, he won at the 1999 European elections a mandate for the Liberal Democratic Party, which he defended at the European elections in 2004 and 2009.
In Parliament he is a member of the liberal ALDE group. He is a member of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs ( AFCO) and Deputy Chairman of the Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee. In the European Convention, the 2002-2003 drafted the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, he was chairman of the liberal wing. In addition, he was one of three representatives of the European Parliament in the 2007 IGC, which has drafted the Treaty of Lisbon.
Since 9 October 2008, Andrew Duff, President of the Union of European Federalists. In September 2010, he was involved in the founding of the Spinelli Group, which campaigns for the European federalism.
Political positions
In the European Parliament Duff sat for various initiatives within the meaning of European federalism. In 2008 he brought as rapporteur of the European Parliament on electoral reform, a proposal for the European elections in one part of the deputies should be elected no longer national, but on pan-European lists. In 2011, he suggested in a letter to Parliament President Jerzy Buzek also provides that future reforms of the EU Treaty by all Member States, but already with four- fifths majority should not be decided unanimously. Both of these proposals, however, would be possible only through an amendment of the contract and therefore would have to be ratified in accordance with the current legislation of all the Member States of the EU.