John Bowis

John Bowis

John Bowis (born 02 August 1945, Brighton) is a former UK Conservative minister for health and transport in the Major government (1992-1997).

Bowis was a British MEP from Conservative and Unionist Party for ten years (20.07.1999-19.07.2004 until 20.07.2004-13.07.2009).

He joined public affairs agency Fipra as a 'special adviser' for health and environmental policy in June 2009.

Affiliations

• Vice-Chairman, Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly
• Member, Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
• Member, Temporary Committee on Climate Change
• Member, Delegation for relations with the Palestinian Legislative Council
• Substitute, Committee on Development
• Substitute, Delegation for relations with the countries of South Asia

Record and Controversies

Declaration of Financial Interests

• Nothing to declare.

Record of Parliamentary Votes

• Voted against 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 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 against 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 against 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 against 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.
• Voted against the amendment on Bulgaria’s progress towards accession (A5-0105/2004). The report objects to extending the life of the nuclear power stations in Bulgaria.

EU Lobbying Scandal

In 2008 it came to light that Bowis was involved in an EU lobbying scandal. Twenty eight leading multinational companies were found to have their own lobbying office in the European Parliament, with a Parliamentary telephone number and address.

"Members of Parliament have been involved in a special board for this secret lobbyist activity. Their group leaders have known nothing about their involvement. The MEPs have been handpicked to serve business interests under the leadership of the Spanish Vice President, Vidal-Quadras, Chairman of EBPS, assisted by a Parliamentary board including John Bowis (EPP-ED), Lena Ek (ALDE), Angelika Niebler (EPP-ED), Edit Herczog (PES), Manuel Medina Orterga (PES) and Dirk Sterckx (ALDE)."

Personal Information

Curriculum Vitae

• MA, Oxford University (1966). World Health Organisation (1997-1999).
• On Kingston-upon-Thames Borough Council: Councillor (1982-1986); Chairman of Education (1984-1986). MP for Battersea (1987-1997).
• Minister for Health (1992-1996).
• Minister for Transport (1996-1997).
• Member of the European Parliament (since 1999).
• Vice-Chairman of the Delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan and EU-Uzbekistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees and Delegation for relations with Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia (1999-2002).
• Party spokesman on the environment, health and consumer protection (1999- ).
• OBE. Honorary Fellow, Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Contact

Address:

Parlement européen

Bât. Altiero Spinelli

14E115

60, rue Wiertz / Wiertzstraat 60

B-1047 Bruxelles/Brussel

Phone:

+32 (0)2 28 45780

Email:

john.bowis@europarl.europa.eu

Website:

http://www.johnbowis.com

This article is part of the MEPedia project of Spinwatch.

Resources

• European Parliament, Declaration of Members' Financial Interests: John Bowis, 04 December 2008, accessed 05 February 2009.
• European Parliament, MEP Directory: John Bowis, accessed 05 February 2009.
• European Parliament, MEP Directory: John Bowis, accessed 10 September 2010.
• Friends of the Earth, EU Vote Watch, accessed 02 February 2009.