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He's out of Europe and into the world
Ex-Yorkshire MEP relishes his continuing political role by Howard Williamson NO longer an MEP for Yorkshire, Michael McGowan is nonetheless still a regular player on the international scene.
His diary is full of overseas visits - not for sightseeing tours but serious political and campaigning reasons.
He recently flew to Berlin – at the request of the European Commission – to address delegates from EU states about Britain's role model as a multi-cultural society. And some weeks ago he was in London for a meeting of the European Social Forum where he met for the second time the daughter of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara, who is now a paediatrician in Havana.
Travel
Michael is a great admirer of the Cuban health service, has made seven visits to the country, and the mother of his wife Margarita was born there.
During the summer he made fact-finding visits to Mostar in Bosnia and Istanbul in Turkey and he has recently been to Spain and Belgium for more meetings on European issues.
He calls himself a "world citizen and a Yorkshireman" and he has certainly seen a large portion of the globe.
He has counted 198 countries that he has visited – including 37 of the 50 countries in Africa – and the many books and mementoes spread around his Chapel Allerton home show his passion for that continent.
He worked with the churches and ANC and trade union members in South Africa during the years of Apartheid and went back there as a UN observer when Nelson Mandela was elected president.
He has also observed elections in Namibia, Nigeria, Guinea and Chad.
"I got the reputation as a Euro MP of being Leeds/Bradford Airport's most travelled passenger," he smiled. "That was partly because of my work in Brussels and Strasbourg but also because my role with foreign affairs, external trade and development took me to the Third World."
Michael, 64, who was the only British MEP to chair the European Parliament development committee, is still campaigning for independence for Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony in the north-west of the continent.
It was annexed by Morocco when Spain pulled out and has been largely forgotten by the international community. Over the years he has met numerous political figures, most recently ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Efforts
Despite his travels he has never become a linguist and self-depracatingly remembers his efforts to learn French as a Euro MP.
"I thought it would help if I stayed with a French family and I did so for 15 years," he recalled. "At the end of it, they could all speak perfect English."
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Friday 25 May 2012
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