Curriculum Vitae of Nicholas Bethell


It is a great pleasure for me to pay tribute to the work of Nicholas Bethell, as today we award him the Schuman Medal for his personal and very considerable contribution to European and human rights' causes which have changed the face of our continent.

Nicholas has been a good friend of mine, of our Group, and of the European Parliament for as long as I have been here, and that is a very long time! Indeed, he is one of few Members still in the Parliament today - Jacques Santer is another - to have served as an MEP even before the very first direct elections in 1979. He has been truly a pioneer.

For three decades, Nicholas has been at the forefront of the politics of the European Parliament, campaigning for what he believes in - and advocating causes to make, not only Europe, but the world, a better place.

Even before joining this Parliament, his early life had been a preparation for public service. After studies at Cambridge and work as a journalist on The Times and writer at the BBC, Nicholas inherited his father's peerage and became a Member of the House of Lords. He was making law even before he was 30 years old, and served as a junior member of Edward Heath's government in the early 1970s.

A gifted linguist and talented wordsmith, he found a way of communicating his enthusiasms and interests to a wide audience - in Britain, in Europe and indeed in other continents.

So from the day he joined the European Parliament, Nicholas was one of those people who made a difference. I say that he has been a campaigner and I mean it. In this Parliament, he quickly launched the Freedom of the Skies campaign, and made lower airfares in Europe and greater consumer choice in air travel a real public issue. As the Leader of the Conservative Party remarked, in a glowing letter of tribute and thanks to Nicholas, the low-cost air carriers that we now take for granted and which are now a key feature of modern air transport, would not have been possible without Nick's pioneering work.

A strong anti-Communist, he took up the issue of human rights with a vengeance. Using his mastery of the Russian language to full effect - and at some personal risk - he travelled repeatedly to the Soviet Union, he befriended the leading dissidents - Solzhenitsyn, Sakarov, Sharansky, Ginsburg - he interviewed them, he campaigned for the release of those in prison, and argued for freedom and justice for the oppressed people of the Soviet bloc as a whole.

This was extraordinary work. Nicholas kept a flame burning at a time when the future seemed dark for so many. He opened our Parliament to their suffering - and he gave them hope through us.

Nicholas's initiatives were eye-catching and important. He brought Anatol Sharansky to this Parliament several times. At the height of the Afghan resistance to Soviet occupation, he invited some of the leading dissidents to Strasbourg, among them Gaylani and Massoud. It was his idea to found the Sakharov prize, which has over the years given a huge moral boost to many fighting oppression around the world. And one of the most significant moments, both for him and for us, was in 2001 when on his initiative, we brought Mrs Sakharov (Elena Bonner) to Strasbourg and awarded her the Schuman Medal.

More recently, Nicholas has campaigned for Cyprus to find its rightful place in the European Union, as it will do soon and has for many years been a tireless campaigner on behalf of the people of Gibraltar. He has identified continuing human rights abuses in the new Russia and in China. It was he who ensured that our attention remained focussed on the Human Rights situation in Hong Kong and again, was the prime mover in our award of the Schuman Medal to Dr. Martin Lee in the year 2000.

A decade ago, Nicholas also played an important role in easing the path for the British Conservative MEPs to join our Group. He was the author of a landmark paper, subsequently published, on the moral basis of Conservativism and the common values it shares with European Christian Democracy. He has always been a strong supporter of the need for Europe's centre-right to unite as a political force, to prevent the dominance of the left.

Nicholas has throughout his life been a prolific author. He has written seven books and many more pamphlets, and translated five books and plays. His translations into English include "Cancer Ward" and "The Love Girl and the Innocent" by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. His interests have been many and varied: his book "The Palestine Triangle" remains a powerful analysis of the problems of the Middle East.

Earlier this year, Nicholas told me that, faced with an intractable illness, he felt he could no longer continue to serve as a Member of our Parliament. It is with great sadness, on all our parts, that we mark his departure from our ranks this evening, after so many years as a colleague and friend.

Permit me to conclude with a personal remark. It is often said that behind many great men there is a great woman. Nicholas, you would, I am sure, be the first to admit that this is so. We are delighted to see your wife, Bryony, here this evening to witness this important moment. She has been and remains a great source of support and encouragement to you in your professional and private life and today she shares with you and with all of us a great sense of pride and satisfaction.

Also present here is your youngest son, John, who is 8 years' old. I suspect that John feels both very proud and perhaps a little puzzled. Proud because of the distinguished career which we are honouring tonight but puzzled because many of the great achievements I have mentioned are not easily understood at his age. But John, as you grow up and learn more, I am sure your pride and admiration will grow and I hope in later life you will look back on today as a very special moment in your life, as it is today for your father.

So, my dear Nicholas, author, campaigner, scholar and politician, yours is a full and remarkable life. It is an honour, as well as a pleasure, to bestow upon you, on behalf of our entire political family, the Schuman Medal as a fitting tribute to your life-long work.


The Robert Schuman Medal