MEP AWARDS 2007

French MEP Thierry Cornillet plays an active part in setting the European Parliament's development agenda, serving on the Committee on Development, the Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, as well as the Delegation to the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly.

This year he has been behind a number of parliamentary motions calling attention to a range of developing countries. His recent speeches in plenary sessions have been similarly wide ranging – from drawing attention to human rights issues in Tunisia to raising awareness of the damage caused by counterfeited medicines. Most recently, Cornillet has channelled his parliamentary energies into raising awareness of the degenerating humanitarian situation in Darfur. Cornillet's outspoken motion on the crisis in Sudan called on member states and the Commission to protect the people of Darfur from an impending humanitarian disaster. He has served the European Parliament since 1999 and is also Chairman of the International Association of French-Speaking Areas.

The MEP for Wales is her party spokesperson on international development in Parliament. Glenys Kinnock is also a member of the Parliament's Development Committee, the International Trade Committee and the co-president of the ACP-EU Joint Assembly. But her commitment to development issues stretches out into the world of NGOs. Kinnock is President of One World Development, patron of the Drop the Debt Campaign and a board member of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. This summer Kinnock used her voice in the European Parliament to urge G8 leaders to deliver on their promises on climate change, aid and debt cancellation. Other development action this year has seen Kinnock grade the international community's efforts to ensure all the world's children receive their right to an education. The former teacher told world leaders they "must do better". Kinnock was first elected to the European Parliament in 1994 and was re-elected in 1999 and 2004.

Maria Martens has been an MEP since 1999. She is currently coordinator for the EPP-ED on Development as well as for the ACP delegation. She is also a member of the delegation to the Pan African Parliament. In her work for the Development Committee she focuses particularly on Africa. In 2005 she was the rapporteur on EU strategy for Africa and she is currently rapporteur on the joint EU-Africa Strategy.

Martens helped to put sport and development on the parliamentary agenda. Her initiative report on sport and development was adopted in the plenary in 2005. As member of the International Trade Committee she also took care of the development dimension in trade issues, and was a member of the European Parliament delegation to the WTO in Hong Kong in 2005.

Martens recently joined the Sub-committee on Security and Defence, where she hopes to use her development expertise in tackling defence issues.