Romania, Bulgaria and the Kangaroo Group

8.30 – 9.00 Our LDEPP (Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party) meeting. Emma Nicholson gives an update on the situation regarding adoption of Romanian orphans. It seems that the new Government has got the matter in hand. True some international adoptions were stopped, no doubt some to good homes, but for the better good of children staying in Romania with Romanian families.UK has a similar agreement with Cambodia, which has been upheld by UK courts. So we will support Emma’s line in Group. I am pleased we have got to the bottom of this as there seem to be some outdated representations still floating about which had caused me and others concern. We also agree to give Chris Davies backing for a mandate to continue negotiating with Council on REACH. As whip my office has been checking expected attendance in Group and arranging proxy votes.

9.00 – 12.30 Group meeting. We discuss Romanian and Bulgarian accession. Long discussion on Romanian orphans. Some try to avoid having a fixed Group line, but a comfortable majority follow Emma’s line – like me others who had been concerned or confused, now agree that what was a problem is being tackled. Romanian ministers have come to parliament with all the papers to back this up and show anyone who wants to investigate further. Chris gets his REACH mandate, also easily. Currently they are trying to find a compromise between the Parliament vote and the Council position; the main sticking point is on substitution plans. Regrettably, and though all sides have tried to minimise it, an increase in animal testing looks inevitable. The blunt truth is that this is not repetition of testing but that many of the substances have never been tested before.The rest of the time is taken up by votes on the Group leadership for the second half of the mandate (January 2007 to August 2009). No surprises in the results as the positions are all negotiated in advance, but quite a lot of amusement, irritation and excursions over the formal conduct of the votes and the ballot papers. I could not resist having a bit of a stir. How I wish there were a Group Secretariat subscription to the Electoral reform Society!

12.30 We do a ‘family photo’ with the visiting Lib Dems.

13.00 Back to my office and find copies of the EPP amendments on damages actions have been sent by Jonathan Evans’ office. They have targeted almost identical parts to me but where I have aimed to make alternative suggestions they have deleted. This gives good voting options, putting my amendments in a good position as the compromise but with deletion as a fail safe.

14.00 – 14.45 I attend the first part of a meeting of shadows and rapporteurs on the Audiovisual Media Services directive. We expect to take the first reading vote in Strasbourg in December. All is not well from the liberal and UK perspective. The purpose of the revision of the existing regulations was to relax measures on advertising schedules and product placement because broadcasters are having a hard time raising enough revenue to make decent programs. The best committee position came out of ECON, so we will have to fight on to make that prevail.

14.45 Speak to visiting Lib Dems in a room off the Library, and then rush to the visitor centre to speak to visiting group of A level students from Vale of White Horse. Get to sign T-shirt.

16.30 – 17.30 Attend meeting with the European Bar Association. Concerns are voiced over forcing breakdown of client confidentiality. A letter of concern is read out from the English and Scottish bar, so I need to investigate. The rest of the meeting is rather hard to follow and from the MEP side is mainly attended by other Liberals who ask me what it is about. Glad they are confused too. Maybe the Law Society can help me out on Friday when we meet in London.

17.30 – 18.30 I chat with Lib Dem visitors in coffee bar. Discuss possible data protection issues with new NHS computer system. Something else to follow up.

19.30 – 21.30 AGM and dinner of the Parliament’s ‘Kangaroo Group’. I think the name means we are ‘leaping forward’. The main discussion item is the directive on the portability of pension funds. Problems to surmount are that constantly moving capital diminishes fund build-up, so it may be better for funds to be left where invested, provided all investors are treated the same. Also, most countries offer tax breaks to encourage savings, but Luxembourg and Germany do it the other way round and have tax free pensions, so tax balancing becomes a problem. Maybe we should just all retire in Luxembourg!