James Elles

James Elles

James Edmund Moncrieff Elles (born 3 September 1949, London) is a British politician, and Conservative Party Member of the European Parliament for the South East England.

Elles is the son of Diana Newcombe Elles, Baroness Elles and her husband, Neil Patrick Moncrieff Elles. He served as the MEP for Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire from 1984 to 1989 and the MEP for Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire East from 1994 to 1999. He has represented the South East in the European Parliament since 1999. Elles has special responsibility for the Conservative Party for the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

Early career

Eton College

He was educated at Eton College and the University of Edinburgh where he graduated with a BSc in agriculture. He became a European MP after an eight-year career as a civil servant with the European Commission, initially as a Tokyo Round negotiator and latterly as Assistant to the Deputy Director General of Agriculture.

Member of the European Parliament

Now in his sixth term, Elles is the longest-serving member of the European Parliament’s budgets committee, having been a member for the past 25 years. He was rapporteur (the person appointed to steer a measure through Parliament) for both the 1996 and 2007 budgets.

Transatlantic Policy Network (TPN)

In 1992 he founded the Transatlantic Policy Network (TPN). The purpose of TPN is to help build bridges between the EU and US involving business and policy-makers on both sides of the Atlantic, feeding in ideas, for example, to create the new transatlantic agenda (NTA) and, more, recently putting forward suggestions to strengthen transatlantic partnership through the completion of the transatlantic market.[1]

European Internet Foundation (EIF)

In 2000, the European Internet Foundation (EIF) was launched by Elles and two other parliamentarians as co-founders. The purpose of the European Internet Foundation is to help encourage European political leadership in the development of active public policies that respond to the political, economic and social challenges of the worldwide digital revolution. The EIF aims to ensure that the European Union remains open to developments in the digital economy and benefits fully from it, through enhanced global competitiveness and social progress.[2]

European Ideas Network (EIN)

In August 2002, Elles founded the European Ideas Network (EIN), an open network think-tank on a European scale for the Centre Right. He stepped down as Chairman of the Network in March 2008.[3]

James Elles Blog

Elles started a blog, on 8 May 2009 with a particular focus on long-term trends.[4]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.tpnonline.org/partnership.html
  2. ↑ http://www.eifonline.org/en/articles/about-us/mission.cfm
  3. ↑ http://www.europeanideasnetwork.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=283&Itemid=172
  4. ↑ http://blog.jameselles.com/2009/05/future-trends-when-will-europe-get-its-act-together/

External links

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