Derek Prag (1923-2010)
Derek Prag was the Conservative member of the European Parliament for Hertfordshire from 1979 to 1994.
He was Deputy Chairman and also spokesman for the Conservatives on the European Parliament's Institutional Affairs Committee; he was the Parliament's rapporteur on the seat (place of work) of the Parliament (Prag Report, adopted January 1989 by 223 votes to 183); and also rapporteur for the International Affairs section of its Draft Treaty of European Unity (1984).
From 1984 to 1987 he was Conservative spokesman on political affairs (foreign policy and defence).
In 1980 he founded the Parliament's All-Party Disablement Group, and was its Chairman until he stood down from the Parliament in 1994.
Prior to becoming an MEP, he had been a journalist, a European civil servant, and a businessman running his own public affairs consultancy company. He was with the Reuters New Agency (Economic Services) for five years in London, Brussels and Madrid. His last eight years of working for the European Community in Press and Information were as Director of the European Community Press and Information Office in London.
He organised and chaired the London Europe Society from 1973 to 2001 and was its president. He was also a founder member of the Conservative Group for Europe, of which he was Deputy Chairman from 1974 to 1977 and 1991 to 1993.
In 1974, he was awarded the Silver Medal of European Merit for service to the cause of European unity, and was given an Honorary Doctorate of Letters (D.Litt) by the University of Hertfordshire in November 1993. In 1996 he was appointed Commander of the Order of Leopold II in Belgium by the Belgian Government.
Derek Prag was born in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales on August 6, 1923. He was educated at Bolton School, and was a scholar of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he read Modern Languages (Jan.-June 1942) and, after the War, Economics.
He married his wife Dora Weiner in 1948 in Manchester and they celebrated 61 years together in September 2009. He leaves three sons: Nicholas, MD of EUbusiness.com, Jonathan, professional classical guitarist, and Stephen, Director International Programs Pacific University, Oregon, US.
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