8.30 Our Lib Dem European Parliamentary Party meeting. Sarah is to get the human rights position and a place on the US delegation so she is happy. Under any other business we discuss the NHS computer. Several of us are worried that it is an infringement of data protection that police and others will have access. It seems the Government get around this by saying the data is not owned by individuals but by the NHS! Of course when it comes to other data they argue the other way round: eg not giving tax info to other countries to help track fraud. We would like to challenge them on the NHS.
9.00 Nothing of mine in the working groups so I continue with work on amendments on Russia and putting a note together on trademarks and the Russian Civil Code for Commissioner Mandelson.
10.00 ALDE Group meeting. We hear the final package of committee places. We seem to have traded one of our JURI places for something else and behind the scenes several of us are unhappy at that. In the Committees later today and tomorrow we will vote for chairs and vice chairs. Normally one follows the agreed (or is that ‘greed’!) package but there are some that do not want to do that for the far right wing group. It is argued than for some committees that are technical it would not matter but on committees like culture which is about ‘values’ they are a bigger problem. We agree that we will not propose candidates against them. Individuals will have to vote as they see fit. I am uncomfortable at a discriminatory approach.
14.00 Another ECON prep meeting to elect our co-ordinator. Wolf tried to do this yesterday but had to be reminded it could not be done until committee places allocated. Technically I still think it is too early as we do not vote the places until 5.30 in plenary. I am late again because just as I set off Diana comes to say that tomorrow when she is in the chair in Plenary for the first time there is a debate on a European Private Company Statute which she shadowed. We have no speaker from ALDE and 8 minutes speaking time, so do I want to say something? I say ok, but not 8 minutes as that would be disproportionately long, longer than the Rapporteur. So I say I will do 4 minutes.
When I arrive at ECON prep Margarita has already started to complain that Wolf is not giving a fair share out of work and is keeping too much to himself, especially the best things. This is true. Anyway we let him continue with the job. I will be far to busy with JURI stuff as well to want the coordinator job, indeed I suspect I will have to help Diana out on JURI when she is doing Parliament Bureau stuff.
16.30 Having filled in time with press releases more work on Russia and looking out documents on the Company Statutes I see Mikael Down from UKRep on fiscal fraud. The UK just wants freedom to reverse charge selectively and on other frauds to get better information.
17.30 Into Plenary to vote for the committee places. There are no allowed amendments, so there ends up being no votes.
18.00 We have the ‘constituent meeting’ of JURI. As the oldest member Marco Pannella is in the Chair. Rather like with the Group when he did the same function he likes his moment in the chair and, quite amusingly, manages to draw things out longer than necessary. Anyway, no surprises here and we re-elect Gargarni as Chair then the four vice presidents agreed in the ‘package’ en bloc by acclamation (clapping).
18.20 Back in my office to work out what I am saying tomorrow in the debate on Private Company Statute. It seems that the JURI committee voted for the report unanimously, but I do not agree. I think it would only work for medium sized companies because of the capital provisions. That would not matter as long as it does not introduce an element of discrimination. Anyway, that is what I intend to say.
19.30 Leaving party for Desiree, Graham’s assistant who is going to work for Commissioner Kallas. Some useful networking with Italian, Hungarian and German colleagues.
Wednesday 31 January 2007
Tuesday 30 January 2007
Russia and Roaming
8.00 Kangaroo Group Breakfast Debate with the German Finance Minister. He makes it quite clear that to tackle VAT fraud they want to agree that any Member State can switch to using the Reverse Charge mechanism for everything. He is at least candid about Germany wanting this for itself because it solves other problems that they have with VAT collection under their Federal system. I am already getting a little fed up with hearing about the German ‘constitutional position’. I ask whether their scheme would rule out abolition of cross border tax (which I think it must) and close off other options. He does not really answer. Other tax issues are discussed but most of us have to leave at 9.00 to get to Committee.
9.00 I get to ECON just after 9.00 in time to discuss mobile phone roaming charges. I say that we should have a sunrise clause for data. I think broad agreement on this is building and I ask the Commission whether it raises any problems. They say not and that there are already similar proposals coming from the Presidency. The only other significant point debated is whether the retail mark-up should be 130% or 150%. Some members fear that companies will just mark up their domestic tariffs to compensate for losing their roaming super-profit. However, that would be illegal and is probably why companies have said they will not do that. Goebbels the Rapporteur on Russia comes to discuss his report and a WTO amendment he has drafted. He will send it to me.
11.00 Charlie McCreevy comes to update us on his plans. Seems not long ago that he did this, so some is similar and some has moved on. I leave at 12.00 to go to the JURI Committee as they are meant to be discussing damages actions. In fact they are running late and it is postponed again. I do wish they would be a bit more organised, but at least I am not alone in not knowing as the Commission chap has sat there to no avail too.
12.30 ECON Prep meeting. Carol and I get waylaid so arrive a little late. We go through votes, the only real discussion is on pensions and how/whether to move funds when an employee moves firms. It seems the problem in Germany is that there are no separate pension funds, the money is used by firms and then when workers retire they pay out of ongoing revenue, just like Governments do. So if they had to pay out a pension fund share for a moving employee they would lose capital, and for that reason they try to reduce mobility!! Anyway, we thought this not very liberal so stuck with Sophie’s voting proposals that the money should move.
13.30 A ‘lunchless’ meeting with the FSA about hedge funds. The usual suspects there: Peter Skinner, me, Wolf Klinz, Margarita Starviecute, John Purvis, Ike van den Burg and Prevenche Beres. The presentation is quite interesting but the answers to questions not as informative as hoped. Anyway I suppose the conclusion is that the things that are complained about with hedge funds are activities that could happen with other funds – one should target the behaviour not the fund. To some extent that is what the FSA do by regulating fund managers. They can not get at the fund anyway as they are always offshore. It also seems they could avoid regulation by appointing more than one manager, e.g. one not in the UK so not FSA regulated, but when I asked they said this was not common – however, when LTCM had their crisis they had two mangers.
15.00 ECON and votes. I leave after votes and work on Russia and Roaming. Leave at 7pm in order to get to the supermarket.
9.00 I get to ECON just after 9.00 in time to discuss mobile phone roaming charges. I say that we should have a sunrise clause for data. I think broad agreement on this is building and I ask the Commission whether it raises any problems. They say not and that there are already similar proposals coming from the Presidency. The only other significant point debated is whether the retail mark-up should be 130% or 150%. Some members fear that companies will just mark up their domestic tariffs to compensate for losing their roaming super-profit. However, that would be illegal and is probably why companies have said they will not do that. Goebbels the Rapporteur on Russia comes to discuss his report and a WTO amendment he has drafted. He will send it to me.
11.00 Charlie McCreevy comes to update us on his plans. Seems not long ago that he did this, so some is similar and some has moved on. I leave at 12.00 to go to the JURI Committee as they are meant to be discussing damages actions. In fact they are running late and it is postponed again. I do wish they would be a bit more organised, but at least I am not alone in not knowing as the Commission chap has sat there to no avail too.
12.30 ECON Prep meeting. Carol and I get waylaid so arrive a little late. We go through votes, the only real discussion is on pensions and how/whether to move funds when an employee moves firms. It seems the problem in Germany is that there are no separate pension funds, the money is used by firms and then when workers retire they pay out of ongoing revenue, just like Governments do. So if they had to pay out a pension fund share for a moving employee they would lose capital, and for that reason they try to reduce mobility!! Anyway, we thought this not very liberal so stuck with Sophie’s voting proposals that the money should move.
13.30 A ‘lunchless’ meeting with the FSA about hedge funds. The usual suspects there: Peter Skinner, me, Wolf Klinz, Margarita Starviecute, John Purvis, Ike van den Burg and Prevenche Beres. The presentation is quite interesting but the answers to questions not as informative as hoped. Anyway I suppose the conclusion is that the things that are complained about with hedge funds are activities that could happen with other funds – one should target the behaviour not the fund. To some extent that is what the FSA do by regulating fund managers. They can not get at the fund anyway as they are always offshore. It also seems they could avoid regulation by appointing more than one manager, e.g. one not in the UK so not FSA regulated, but when I asked they said this was not common – however, when LTCM had their crisis they had two mangers.
15.00 ECON and votes. I leave after votes and work on Russia and Roaming. Leave at 7pm in order to get to the supermarket.
Monday 29 January 2007
Start of Mini-Plenary week
10.00 I get a train to London as we have arranged to have an Office meeting with Miranda coming from Folkestone, Sue from Berkhamsted and Carol is over for the weekend from Brussels. We have a useful session in the National Liberal Club then I go to get a flight from City Airport.
It does not seem such a bad trek with the break for the meeting and I quite enjoy seeing the sights of East London from the Docklands Light Railway. I get to Brussels about 5pm. Carol has used Eurostar to get back and arrives at about 6pm, but as she left the NLC about half an hour after me I reckon she had the better deal in terms of comfort. There is an email from Andrew Duff saying that there is a vacant vice chair position on the human rights sub committee. We have four people on that committee. I tell him that under our agreed protocol of the long serving members who have not been VPs, it should be Sarah and he says that is what he will be aiming for.
19.00 I have a meeting with Brenard-Louis Roques from Truffle 100. He seems to want to pick my brains on the current situation with Intellectual Property.
It does not seem such a bad trek with the break for the meeting and I quite enjoy seeing the sights of East London from the Docklands Light Railway. I get to Brussels about 5pm. Carol has used Eurostar to get back and arrives at about 6pm, but as she left the NLC about half an hour after me I reckon she had the better deal in terms of comfort. There is an email from Andrew Duff saying that there is a vacant vice chair position on the human rights sub committee. We have four people on that committee. I tell him that under our agreed protocol of the long serving members who have not been VPs, it should be Sarah and he says that is what he will be aiming for.
19.00 I have a meeting with Brenard-Louis Roques from Truffle 100. He seems to want to pick my brains on the current situation with Intellectual Property.
Wednesday 24 January 2007
Early finish and travel delays!!
9.00 Arrive in the Parliament. I have to go back to the UK today as I have a conference to speak at tomorrow morning in London. So I have my suitcase with me, which feels very odd!
9.30 Votes in ECON. Only four of our seven there – where are they?? Seems we have clash of voting with other committees again. The Chair tries to take the votes very quickly and trips herself up. We have 9 pages of votes on broad Economic Guidelines, 6 on the EIB Annual Report and 35 pages on Prudential Assessment Acquisition. I reckon that there are up to 20 votes per page, but as some fall when compromises are passed we may only have to vote on 5 to 10 per page.
After votes we talk about Economic Relations with Russia so I bring up the TRIPS and WTO concerns, which is agreed by the Rapporteur and EPP shadow (and Olle Scmidt our shadow).
12.30 Working Lunch on the Investment Funds White Paper. I leave a little before the end at 2.00 in order to get the 3.00 Eurostar. En route to the station my driver ever so slightly nudges another car. So he has to stop and the other driver seems to insist he wants to make a claim. My driver a little concerned about what he is meant to do with me but we are right by a Metro Station so I jump out. It seems another driver would be sent to the first with crash paperwork to complete.
Anyway, I get to Gare du Midi and first of all the train is delayed, and then cancelled. Then all the Investment Fund speakers whom I ran out on earlier arrive at Gare du Midi for the next Eurostar, which is also delayed. I chat to some very nice people travelling to Ashford and tell them how we are campaigning to try and maintain the Brussels - Ashford service. On the train I write my speeches for tomorrow.
Miranda emails to say that her work is all going wrong as my weekend engagements this week and next are cancelled, so not a good day for the Bowles Office. Tomorrow is all day in London and Friday I will be able to work on the Zingaretti Report on criminal sanctions on IP and do the usual radio interviews.
9.30 Votes in ECON. Only four of our seven there – where are they?? Seems we have clash of voting with other committees again. The Chair tries to take the votes very quickly and trips herself up. We have 9 pages of votes on broad Economic Guidelines, 6 on the EIB Annual Report and 35 pages on Prudential Assessment Acquisition. I reckon that there are up to 20 votes per page, but as some fall when compromises are passed we may only have to vote on 5 to 10 per page.
After votes we talk about Economic Relations with Russia so I bring up the TRIPS and WTO concerns, which is agreed by the Rapporteur and EPP shadow (and Olle Scmidt our shadow).
12.30 Working Lunch on the Investment Funds White Paper. I leave a little before the end at 2.00 in order to get the 3.00 Eurostar. En route to the station my driver ever so slightly nudges another car. So he has to stop and the other driver seems to insist he wants to make a claim. My driver a little concerned about what he is meant to do with me but we are right by a Metro Station so I jump out. It seems another driver would be sent to the first with crash paperwork to complete.
Anyway, I get to Gare du Midi and first of all the train is delayed, and then cancelled. Then all the Investment Fund speakers whom I ran out on earlier arrive at Gare du Midi for the next Eurostar, which is also delayed. I chat to some very nice people travelling to Ashford and tell them how we are campaigning to try and maintain the Brussels - Ashford service. On the train I write my speeches for tomorrow.
Miranda emails to say that her work is all going wrong as my weekend engagements this week and next are cancelled, so not a good day for the Bowles Office. Tomorrow is all day in London and Friday I will be able to work on the Zingaretti Report on criminal sanctions on IP and do the usual radio interviews.
Tuesday 23 January 2007
Tax, Damages and my First Report
8.00 Attend a Welsh Breakfast organised by the Farmer’s Union of Wales. No lava bread (seaweed) in sight but we do at least have British style sausages and bacon instead of the continental varieties which I do not like.
We talk about issues such as hormone beef still coming in from Brazil. All cattle are supposed to be ear tagged 90 days before slaughter, but it is reckoned that many are done much later and that it is simply impossible to check, after all there are 160 million cattle in Brazil. They complain that the Forces can have food imported that is banned for the rest of us and this is a risk. The last outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease was apparently traceable to a farm that took swill from an army camp that was still importing beef on the bone despite a general ban.
Also, the average age of British farmers is now 60, that is a very high average and has gone up 4 years from 56 when Tory MEP Neil Parish did his report. Then there was an interesting exchange between Labour and Tory MEPs on who to blame for the mess with milk. It seems the Tories made it half a mess and then Labour completed making it worse!!
9.00. Dump my coat in my office and go to a Workshop on Integration of EU Financial Services. It is in a room on the 5th floor where the seats are in concentric circles around a large open space – I always think it is a bit like a small ice rink and that we need a floor show. I sit opposite the window and at lazy moments contemplate the tallness of trees which reach up to the fifth floor level and the perspective that makes the occasional plane seemingly inches from their branches. Despite the distractions of the perspective I take notes on several interesting presentations.
9.00. Dump my coat in my office and go to a Workshop on Integration of EU Financial Services. It is in a room on the 5th floor where the seats are in concentric circles around a large open space – I always think it is a bit like a small ice rink and that we need a floor show. I sit opposite the window and at lazy moments contemplate the tallness of trees which reach up to the fifth floor level and the perspective that makes the occasional plane seemingly inches from their branches. Despite the distractions of the perspective I take notes on several interesting presentations.
I ask a question about the new technical platform for the Euronext Exchange and the fact that the supervisory board have suggested a US system. How does this fit with encouraging innovative European procurement and could it make platform sharing and the import of the US regulatory regime a little more likely? No admissions made. Price and quality of the platform will be the deciding factors, they say. Nevertheless there is acknowledgement that overspill of US regulation is huge, as they are thorough with strong leadership. In the EU only the UK’s FSA shows the same kind of leadership. An interesting diversion leads to the comment that Trade Secrets are a huge issue for Investment Banks.
11.30 I temporarily leave the hearing to meet the Prime Minister of the Azad Government of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan. Saj Karim and I discuss the strategy on the amendments that we have filed on the Kashmir report.
12.00 Back to the Hearing
14.00 ECON committee prep meeting. We go through upcoming votes, but nothing critical.
14.30 I Meet with other Liberal MEPs in the car park under the Parliament to do a photo about car emissions. Chris Davies has a little device that produces steam to simulate an exhaust and we position it underneath Graham Watson’s car. The best photo opportunity is missed – that of a gaggle of MEPs carefully planting something under their Group Leader’s car, but I guess that is not funny in today’s terrorist concern climate.
11.30 I temporarily leave the hearing to meet the Prime Minister of the Azad Government of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan. Saj Karim and I discuss the strategy on the amendments that we have filed on the Kashmir report.
12.00 Back to the Hearing
14.00 ECON committee prep meeting. We go through upcoming votes, but nothing critical.
14.30 I Meet with other Liberal MEPs in the car park under the Parliament to do a photo about car emissions. Chris Davies has a little device that produces steam to simulate an exhaust and we position it underneath Graham Watson’s car. The best photo opportunity is missed – that of a gaggle of MEPs carefully planting something under their Group Leader’s car, but I guess that is not funny in today’s terrorist concern climate.
15.00 Commissioner Kovacs is in ECON Committee, he is the Tax Commissioner. After his update I ask him about the delays in the UK on getting VAT refunds. Although this is caused by having to check that it is not part of a carousel fraud, some businesses are waiting a year for significant sums, even when they have themselves done lots of due diligence checks. Some go bust. Is this proportionate? Kovacs does not specifically say it is disproportionate but I get the feeling he thinks it is and says the Commission are aware and are keeping watch. Hopefully I have made him watch even closer.
ECON continues with discussion on the Damages actions amendments. I say the compromise amendment's basically OK but I still have some problems with the language of paragraph 5 (on mutual recognition of decisions – I think this is ok as a longer term objective but it can not be denied that there are some Member States that have not got their existing legal systems up to scratch. The Commission is threatening to suspend recognition for Romania.) Paulis of the Commission again repeats that he will proceed in little steps. We then get to PPP and I present my report and proposals. This is actually my first presentation as a legislative Rapporteur (all the rest so far have been as a shadow rapporteur, though several others are now in the pipeline). I cannot say it felt momentous, maybe because I have actually done some significant things from the shadow position.
17.00 Go back to the office and paperwork and a meeting with Vernon Everitt of the FSA to talk about consumer education. It seems money management is to become part of the school curriculum. That I do not mind, but he did mention that it would be part of maths – which I reckon is just more dumbing down of maths!!
19.00 The ECON Committee New Year Cocktail. Commissioners Kroes, McCreevy and B’s Almunia there. Charlie McCreevy comes to say hello before he leaves and I say we must have a chat. He suggests during Strasbourg week, maybe dinner or whatever fits in. Carol will fix something. Going to this means that I miss going to the Celebration of Scotland’s Beers, which I have co-sponsored as a vice chair of the Parliamentary Beer Club.
Monday 22 January 2007
Committee Week. Late Start
Monday 22 January 2007
No meetings today so I am on a midday flight again, only it gets very delayed and I do not get to the Parliament until about 4.15pm. I check the week ahead and sort papers. Leave at 6.30 and proceed to my flat with my ‘homework’.
No meetings today so I am on a midday flight again, only it gets very delayed and I do not get to the Parliament until about 4.15pm. I check the week ahead and sort papers. Leave at 6.30 and proceed to my flat with my ‘homework’.
Thursday 18 January 2007
Away Day
9.00 The luxury of a late start. Spoilt a little becase the MEP sharing my car is not ready to depart on time. Get to office and finish the damages actions amendments and try to organise some meetings, then it is off to plenary votes at 12.00. This is the first voting session chaired by Poettering in his new position os President and he seems a little nervous. He does not set a good rhythm and on the electronic votes there is not enough time to check, lose concentration and you get it wrong. I hope someone tells him. The votes are nearly all second reading issues so ‘qualified majorities’ of half of the total number of MEPs (not just half of those present) are needed. It looks to me as if there are a few too many absentees, and this proves the case as quite a lot of amendments that have a majority of those present do not get passed. Voting lasts until nearly 1.30
14.00 The UK Lib Dems are staying in Strasbourg for an ‘Awayday’, which extends over dinner. It was going to include tomorrow as well but we have all found reasons to do other things! I change my flight to an early one tomorrow. It seems there are loads of cancellations because of the wind, so just as well I am not heading back today. We have fixed up to visit flood planes in Wokingham on Sunday. All fits in with insuring.
14.00 The UK Lib Dems are staying in Strasbourg for an ‘Awayday’, which extends over dinner. It was going to include tomorrow as well but we have all found reasons to do other things! I change my flight to an early one tomorrow. It seems there are loads of cancellations because of the wind, so just as well I am not heading back today. We have fixed up to visit flood planes in Wokingham on Sunday. All fits in with insuring.
Wednesday 17 January 2007
Up with the lark and new Lib Dem leader
6.00 I take a taxi to the Parliament as the official cars do not start until 7.30. I go via the main entrance and as I walk through the courtyard enclosed by the ‘tower’ block it is dark and silent except for my clattering heels which is really eerie. I go up the steps by the hemicyle to a landing where I think BBC are meant to be, but spot them on a different landing which requires a different set of stairs.
We meet up, chat about what I am doing, I get fitted with mike and earpiece and we wait for the feed from the UK. I have to do this talking to the camera with the interviewer in London. While we wait I chat to the camera crew about the football report and I ask them whether they know anything about paying to be on TV in Bulgaria – they do not but (jokingly) suggest it is a good idea if the crews get the money. They assumed it meant a bribe, but I explain I think she meant it was official. Anyway, they did not know. After the interview I go to the office and Carol arrives a bit before 8.00 and says she saw it in her hotel and it was ok. I then do BBC 3 Counties radio interview over the phone.
9.00 Daniel Trinder of Goldman Sachs comes to see me about Solvency 2. He used to work at the Treasury until last year so he is useful in giving us contact names there as well. This is not prime Goldman territory, but they do have to assess (if that is the right word) insurance companies for market purposes. They reckon it will bring about cross border mergers as well, but that is not really news. He says there are also different conditions in other countries. In the UK with annual renewals it is easy to switch, but in Belgium for example 90 days notice has to be given so markets are more static. It will be interesting to see if this brings about some ‘protectionist’ resistance to Solvency 2.
9.40 Into the Plenary for Chancellor Merkel’s presentation. I slightly overrun with Daniel Trinder so I miss the first couple of minutes of her speech, which is about 40 minutes long. It is pretty good and well received. She includes a long section on tolerance. Her buzz words are Technology, Tolerance and Talent. The applause is long and warm. Barroso then makes a speech in reply followed by the usual format of speeches from each of the Group leaders. Daul and Schulz both overrun their time. Graham is again by far the best and deals with flaws in the Presidency program, says it mentions ‘social’ twice as often as ‘competitive’, liberal only once and there is not enough on civil rights. But he has a few too many quotations for my liking.
12.00 Back to the office then off to a lunch at 12.30 with CEA, European Insurers Association, about climate change. Some of the content is quite repetitive of a similar meeting I went to in 2005. They seem to be suggesting that as far as natural disasters are concerned they want the state to become the reinsurer of last resort. Spain and France have this system for floods. I ask a question about how this fits into a competitive cross border framework, as envisaged by Solvency 2. They can not answer, but Oliver from the British Insurers, who is not one of the speakers, promises to dig out an answer. I do not really see this taking off. We will see.
14.30 Back to my office for a meeting with Toine Manders on Criminal Sanctions in IP. We also have a bit of a flurry of email exchanges on how we will vote on some of the rail transport amendments. The proposed compromise amendments have come through on damages actions, so I have a look at those.
18.00 I go to the LDEPP special meeting at which we are electing a new leader for our UK MEP delegation now that Diana is a Parliament vice president. Emma is presiding as ‘chair’ of the meeting, rather drolly handing out an agenda that has adoption of agenda, matters arising, election and AOB on it when all really have to do is vote. Neil Corlett is sitting there with the ballot box as he is returning officer. I am not quite the last to vote but the others come along so I hang around for the result and we have elected Andrew Duff.
19.00 Group meeting. We had a last minute alert to get proxies for Diana as there may be an attempt to change part of her Rome 2 report that is coming up for second reading next week. This is all about how to manage cross border litigation. The last minute attempt to change Diana’s proposals is duly made, but does not gather enough support to go to a vote. We then have a long discussion about the secret regulation concerning liquids allowed to be carried on planes. Many of us are not happy with the process because the detail of what may or may not be carried is actually secret, so if an arbitrary decision is made against you there is no information available for you to check or challenge. It seems the matter was discussed, secretly, in the transport committee. Unfortunately they may not have been as awake to civil liberties matters as the civil liberties committee. It is still not clear how a change can be made.
Ignasi Guardans is incited by the matter, he regards it the kind of law that was made under Franco. Paolo Costa thinks it more a matter of how the comitology process (consulting committees) should work and it gets to a bit of a lively dispute. It seems that Ignasi has got a copy, in Spanish, of the secret document, from a journalist. Anne Jensen then says that it is of course on the website of the parliament in Denmark because it was discussed at Council so it has to be public! Bit stupid it ever being secret then. However the underlying reasoning is still secret. It seems amazing the catalogue of things that MEPs have been relieved of while travelling, from tranquillisers to pregnancy testing kits. The tranquillisers would have come in handy for Ignasi and Paolo.
Anyway, there are more things afoot too, we are going to be monitored with spy cameras that automatically check our hand gestures and chips on our boarding passes to see if we have got lost in the loos. After that we are not left with enough time to talk about football, so after a brief introduction we agree to hold that over.
We meet up, chat about what I am doing, I get fitted with mike and earpiece and we wait for the feed from the UK. I have to do this talking to the camera with the interviewer in London. While we wait I chat to the camera crew about the football report and I ask them whether they know anything about paying to be on TV in Bulgaria – they do not but (jokingly) suggest it is a good idea if the crews get the money. They assumed it meant a bribe, but I explain I think she meant it was official. Anyway, they did not know. After the interview I go to the office and Carol arrives a bit before 8.00 and says she saw it in her hotel and it was ok. I then do BBC 3 Counties radio interview over the phone.
9.00 Daniel Trinder of Goldman Sachs comes to see me about Solvency 2. He used to work at the Treasury until last year so he is useful in giving us contact names there as well. This is not prime Goldman territory, but they do have to assess (if that is the right word) insurance companies for market purposes. They reckon it will bring about cross border mergers as well, but that is not really news. He says there are also different conditions in other countries. In the UK with annual renewals it is easy to switch, but in Belgium for example 90 days notice has to be given so markets are more static. It will be interesting to see if this brings about some ‘protectionist’ resistance to Solvency 2.
9.40 Into the Plenary for Chancellor Merkel’s presentation. I slightly overrun with Daniel Trinder so I miss the first couple of minutes of her speech, which is about 40 minutes long. It is pretty good and well received. She includes a long section on tolerance. Her buzz words are Technology, Tolerance and Talent. The applause is long and warm. Barroso then makes a speech in reply followed by the usual format of speeches from each of the Group leaders. Daul and Schulz both overrun their time. Graham is again by far the best and deals with flaws in the Presidency program, says it mentions ‘social’ twice as often as ‘competitive’, liberal only once and there is not enough on civil rights. But he has a few too many quotations for my liking.
12.00 Back to the office then off to a lunch at 12.30 with CEA, European Insurers Association, about climate change. Some of the content is quite repetitive of a similar meeting I went to in 2005. They seem to be suggesting that as far as natural disasters are concerned they want the state to become the reinsurer of last resort. Spain and France have this system for floods. I ask a question about how this fits into a competitive cross border framework, as envisaged by Solvency 2. They can not answer, but Oliver from the British Insurers, who is not one of the speakers, promises to dig out an answer. I do not really see this taking off. We will see.
14.30 Back to my office for a meeting with Toine Manders on Criminal Sanctions in IP. We also have a bit of a flurry of email exchanges on how we will vote on some of the rail transport amendments. The proposed compromise amendments have come through on damages actions, so I have a look at those.
18.00 I go to the LDEPP special meeting at which we are electing a new leader for our UK MEP delegation now that Diana is a Parliament vice president. Emma is presiding as ‘chair’ of the meeting, rather drolly handing out an agenda that has adoption of agenda, matters arising, election and AOB on it when all really have to do is vote. Neil Corlett is sitting there with the ballot box as he is returning officer. I am not quite the last to vote but the others come along so I hang around for the result and we have elected Andrew Duff.
19.00 Group meeting. We had a last minute alert to get proxies for Diana as there may be an attempt to change part of her Rome 2 report that is coming up for second reading next week. This is all about how to manage cross border litigation. The last minute attempt to change Diana’s proposals is duly made, but does not gather enough support to go to a vote. We then have a long discussion about the secret regulation concerning liquids allowed to be carried on planes. Many of us are not happy with the process because the detail of what may or may not be carried is actually secret, so if an arbitrary decision is made against you there is no information available for you to check or challenge. It seems the matter was discussed, secretly, in the transport committee. Unfortunately they may not have been as awake to civil liberties matters as the civil liberties committee. It is still not clear how a change can be made.
Ignasi Guardans is incited by the matter, he regards it the kind of law that was made under Franco. Paolo Costa thinks it more a matter of how the comitology process (consulting committees) should work and it gets to a bit of a lively dispute. It seems that Ignasi has got a copy, in Spanish, of the secret document, from a journalist. Anne Jensen then says that it is of course on the website of the parliament in Denmark because it was discussed at Council so it has to be public! Bit stupid it ever being secret then. However the underlying reasoning is still secret. It seems amazing the catalogue of things that MEPs have been relieved of while travelling, from tranquillisers to pregnancy testing kits. The tranquillisers would have come in handy for Ignasi and Paolo.
Anyway, there are more things afoot too, we are going to be monitored with spy cameras that automatically check our hand gestures and chips on our boarding passes to see if we have got lost in the loos. After that we are not left with enough time to talk about football, so after a brief introduction we agree to hold that over.
Tuesday 16 January 2007
Three votes and a coronation
8.00 LDEPP breakfast. We talk about Kashmir, Palestine and holocaust denial. Emma says that masses of weapons are being stockpiled by Hamas and Hizbullah and she fears for a civil war.
9.00 Emails then off to plenary for 10.00 for the presidential debate and votes. Not being distracted by a seat hunt, I look at the assembling throng. This time last year I remember looking round and noting that lots of colleagues must have had skiing holidays because Robert Kilroy-Silk was not the only orange suntan, and there were also several plaster casts. This year we are all pale with fully working limbs, no doubt because there is no snow.
There are ballot boxes at intervals around the hemicycle with hussiers standing guard. The oldest member of the house is in charge of proceedings: he draws ballots for eight scrutineers of the votes and ballot papers are distributed by the hussiers. Then it is on to the speeches. Bonde says the same as last night, so I need not have gone. Monica Frassoni makes a very good speech which is not just the same as last night, so good for her. Poettering and Wurtz do the same as last night, so I decide to vote on merit. We then queue up to sign the register sheets and post our ballots. The AB box does not seem to have as long a queue as the others, so I am done by 11.10 and nip back to my office to deal with a press release on roaming and then back to the hemicycle for the results. Poettering gets 450 of the 689 valid votes cast. There are 26 blanks, Bonde gets 46, Wurtz 48 and Frassoni 145.
We stand up and applaud, then sit down. Poettering gets flowers and waves so we all stand up and applaud again, sit down, then he goes and takes his seat so we all stand up and applaud again (!!!). He tells us he will give us his presidential program tomorrow and the other Group leaders make speeches. Daul the new EPP leader mainly goes in for ego massaging, Schultz gives thanks and makes some personal well wishing remarks about a fellow countryman. Graham Watson gives a good speech, if you ask me rather better than any of the Presidential candidate speeches (so watch this space in future). After group leader speeches are finished Barroso gives his welcome and I get back to my office by 1.00pm.
14.00 Do a recorded radio interview for Quadrant on mobile roaming. 3 have announced a package that scraps roaming charges on their own networks, including for data and texts, so let’s hope they are showing the way!! Agree to do a 3 Counties interview at 8.10 in the morning. Then asked to do a BBC World live TV interview in the morning, discover it is at 6.30 (5.30 UK time) and on railways not roaming, but agree all the same.
15.00 We troop off to vote for vice presidents of the Parliament. There are 14 candidates for 14 places, so they are all declared elected. We then have to vote for them anyway to put them in order, which may influence which jobs they are allocated. This means that Diana Wallis has become a vice president. So we have ballot papers again and queue up again. The result of that will be announced later when we come back to vote for the Questors (a kind of admin position). Go back to office and get on with paperwork. Continue messing about with papers then get a call from my French teacher РI was meant to be there at 4.00pm and it is now nearly 4.30! We have it in the diary for tomorrow, but I rush over to do half an hour. As usual we depart from proper lessons and I introduce her to new vocabulary as we discuss the election process (stitch-up, which she did not know in English, is un coup-mont̩). After that it is back to paperwork.
18.00 Back in the hemicycle for the result of the vice president ballot and voting for questors. This time we do it electronically so I get to press some of the different buttons on my voting console. I do not know why the other positions require paper ballots and this can be done electronically, Danute Budrakaite who sits next to me thinks it is because the paper ballots are more secret, and perhaps the presidential positions are more sensitive. Anyway, this means we can have an almost instant result, rendered just a little humorous by the fact that all the scrutineers have to cluster around the President’s console in order to ‘scrutinise’ the result.
18.30 The new President holds a drinks party. I chat to Olle Scmidt who has been to the ALDE bureau meeting and has a draft of the committee allocations. I have my request of a full membership of ECON and a substitute membership of JURI. Some more additions yet to be made though and it is rumoured that the other political groups have not reached their conclusions yet.
19.00 – 21.00 Into Group. Graham gives us a pep talk speech, celebrating the fact that the Group is now over 100 in membership with the addition of our Bulgarians and Romanians. Graham says he will work towards the next Presidency of the Parliament, so at least his ambition is in the open, even though he does not actually say it is for himself. A new Group photo is taken. We then discuss the three rail transport directives that are going to a second reading vote on Thursday. These relate to liberalisation, driver training and passenger compensation. On the way back to my office I chat with a new Bulgarian colleague, Filiz Husmenova and mention my early start tomorrow for BBC World. She asks whether I have to pay to appear. Somewhat astonished I reply ‘of course not’ and she seems equally astonished that we do not, saying they have to pay for appearances or placing of articles in the media. I must investigate further. I mention this conversation to a French MEP who travels in the same car to our hotels and he is equally surprised. I suppose if there is not enough advertising income and no state funding, the money has to come from somewhere.
9.00 Emails then off to plenary for 10.00 for the presidential debate and votes. Not being distracted by a seat hunt, I look at the assembling throng. This time last year I remember looking round and noting that lots of colleagues must have had skiing holidays because Robert Kilroy-Silk was not the only orange suntan, and there were also several plaster casts. This year we are all pale with fully working limbs, no doubt because there is no snow.
There are ballot boxes at intervals around the hemicycle with hussiers standing guard. The oldest member of the house is in charge of proceedings: he draws ballots for eight scrutineers of the votes and ballot papers are distributed by the hussiers. Then it is on to the speeches. Bonde says the same as last night, so I need not have gone. Monica Frassoni makes a very good speech which is not just the same as last night, so good for her. Poettering and Wurtz do the same as last night, so I decide to vote on merit. We then queue up to sign the register sheets and post our ballots. The AB box does not seem to have as long a queue as the others, so I am done by 11.10 and nip back to my office to deal with a press release on roaming and then back to the hemicycle for the results. Poettering gets 450 of the 689 valid votes cast. There are 26 blanks, Bonde gets 46, Wurtz 48 and Frassoni 145.
We stand up and applaud, then sit down. Poettering gets flowers and waves so we all stand up and applaud again, sit down, then he goes and takes his seat so we all stand up and applaud again (!!!). He tells us he will give us his presidential program tomorrow and the other Group leaders make speeches. Daul the new EPP leader mainly goes in for ego massaging, Schultz gives thanks and makes some personal well wishing remarks about a fellow countryman. Graham Watson gives a good speech, if you ask me rather better than any of the Presidential candidate speeches (so watch this space in future). After group leader speeches are finished Barroso gives his welcome and I get back to my office by 1.00pm.
14.00 Do a recorded radio interview for Quadrant on mobile roaming. 3 have announced a package that scraps roaming charges on their own networks, including for data and texts, so let’s hope they are showing the way!! Agree to do a 3 Counties interview at 8.10 in the morning. Then asked to do a BBC World live TV interview in the morning, discover it is at 6.30 (5.30 UK time) and on railways not roaming, but agree all the same.
15.00 We troop off to vote for vice presidents of the Parliament. There are 14 candidates for 14 places, so they are all declared elected. We then have to vote for them anyway to put them in order, which may influence which jobs they are allocated. This means that Diana Wallis has become a vice president. So we have ballot papers again and queue up again. The result of that will be announced later when we come back to vote for the Questors (a kind of admin position). Go back to office and get on with paperwork. Continue messing about with papers then get a call from my French teacher РI was meant to be there at 4.00pm and it is now nearly 4.30! We have it in the diary for tomorrow, but I rush over to do half an hour. As usual we depart from proper lessons and I introduce her to new vocabulary as we discuss the election process (stitch-up, which she did not know in English, is un coup-mont̩). After that it is back to paperwork.
18.00 Back in the hemicycle for the result of the vice president ballot and voting for questors. This time we do it electronically so I get to press some of the different buttons on my voting console. I do not know why the other positions require paper ballots and this can be done electronically, Danute Budrakaite who sits next to me thinks it is because the paper ballots are more secret, and perhaps the presidential positions are more sensitive. Anyway, this means we can have an almost instant result, rendered just a little humorous by the fact that all the scrutineers have to cluster around the President’s console in order to ‘scrutinise’ the result.
18.30 The new President holds a drinks party. I chat to Olle Scmidt who has been to the ALDE bureau meeting and has a draft of the committee allocations. I have my request of a full membership of ECON and a substitute membership of JURI. Some more additions yet to be made though and it is rumoured that the other political groups have not reached their conclusions yet.
19.00 – 21.00 Into Group. Graham gives us a pep talk speech, celebrating the fact that the Group is now over 100 in membership with the addition of our Bulgarians and Romanians. Graham says he will work towards the next Presidency of the Parliament, so at least his ambition is in the open, even though he does not actually say it is for himself. A new Group photo is taken. We then discuss the three rail transport directives that are going to a second reading vote on Thursday. These relate to liberalisation, driver training and passenger compensation. On the way back to my office I chat with a new Bulgarian colleague, Filiz Husmenova and mention my early start tomorrow for BBC World. She asks whether I have to pay to appear. Somewhat astonished I reply ‘of course not’ and she seems equally astonished that we do not, saying they have to pay for appearances or placing of articles in the media. I must investigate further. I mention this conversation to a French MEP who travels in the same car to our hotels and he is equally surprised. I suppose if there is not enough advertising income and no state funding, the money has to come from somewhere.
Monday 15 January 2007
Welcome Bulgaria and Romania
5.45 Off to Luton for the 7.20 flight. No queues at the airport and I get sent to the new body scanner, which seems to take much longer as the operators have to peer at the screen rather than just listen for whether it beeps. Arrive in Basle 10.15, still 9.15 UK time. I have to wait half an hour for others on a later flight then four of us squash into a car that was sent to collect two of us (second car nowhere in sight but did turn up later) so I have chronic back ache by the time we get to Strasbourg at 12.00. Last January it looked like a Christmas card with frosted trees, blue sky and snow, today it is dingy and grey. I unpack trunk, check emails. Carol arrives at 13.30. I go to the store to buy a stock of fruit then first business of the day is Group.
16.00 Group Meeting. We have Bonde, another of the Presidential candidates to speak to us. He is from the Eurosceptic wing, but says he would rather there had been a liberal, reforming candidate he could have backed! His platform is that the EPP/PSE stitch up is wrong. Most of the questions put to him are about how we agree on Parliamentary reform but have problems with his group’s sceptical identity and why is he bothering to try and change something he does not believe in. After he goes we deal with how the ballots will be conducted tomorrow. That takes up most of tomorrow, just in case there have to be several rounds.
17.30 I chair the LDEPP meeting. There is discussion on the outcome of the ‘package’ of positions. We will get a Vice President of the Employment committee for Liz and may also end up with one on Fisheries that Elspeth will do. We can not get anything on civil liberties. We discuss how to treat the new group in the Parliament. Chris says he does not see how we can treat them in a ‘discriminatory’ way by refusing to deal with them (which is proposed in some quarters), and we generally agree unless, as Diana says, they act in a way that is in contravention of the Treaties. We also discuss the possibility that on Wednesday Merkel may call for legislation on holocaust denial. Collectively we have no problem with legislation on that at Member State level (given that there are different circumstances in different countries) but do not think it needs to be at EU level. Other countries do not have legislation that works like our ‘inciting race hatred’ and often they try to improve this via the European route but too much else gets added in.
18.00 Plenary opens with welcoming of Romania and Bulgaria. MEPs are all in new seats because our Romanian and Bulgarian colleagues have been slotted in and we sit alphabetically within Groups, so we wander up and down the rows of our previous positions wondering where we now should be. It seems to defy logic, some people have moved a long way and others not so far, but I guess it is to do with how the margins between the Groups have also moved. ALDE is much larger now, so we have spread sideways and by some strange quirk I am almost the identical seat to before. There is a ceremony of moving the Bulgarian and Romanian flags from their position slightly separate from ‘the 25’ into their alphabetic positions, shakings of hands and so forth and we stand for the European Anthem. I recall how the melody of the finale of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony was the first ‘real composer’ piece of music I learnt on the piano when I was 7 years old – the fifth tune in my first book and from that moment I was a Beethoven addict.
We then have one minute of silence for the deaths of two Ecuadorians, caused by ETA in Madrid.
The new Group formation is announced (Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty) and there is a little verbal skirmish attempting to demonstrate it is just a group of convenience rather than a real political group (which I think is probably true) but they have ticked the right boxes to be considered ‘proper’. Poettering then moves into a summary of the first half of this term of the Parliament.
19.00 – 20.45 I attend the Presidential debate organised by European Voice, which starts late as they are all still in plenary. First presentation is by the left winger Wurtz. He wants an alternative to the ‘liberal’ (French interpretation) view of Europe and wants to be more socialist than the socialists. Bonde is next and says the same as he said earlier in group. At the end of his speech he presents Poettering with a small crown on a cushion, representing that he is just ‘coronated’ as of right. Monica Frassoni is next and she is much better than previously, concentrating more on what she would do rather than getting at others. On this performance I expect she will get a fair number of votes. Poettering is last and the chair even offers him a bit more time in order to respond to some of the digs that have been made about the system. He declines and says he will take the same amount of time as the rest. Thank goodness for that fair mindedness, and this graciousness worth more votes than two minutes could buy. He gives a competent performance, but not inspiring or as substantially reforming as really satisfies liberal appetite. Questions and answers follow, for the main part the same type as you always get at hustings (how to improve voter turnout etc) for which there are never any satisfactory answers. On balance I rate Monica best, but everyone concedes that it will be Poettering and are nice to him and he even says he will win himself.
16.00 Group Meeting. We have Bonde, another of the Presidential candidates to speak to us. He is from the Eurosceptic wing, but says he would rather there had been a liberal, reforming candidate he could have backed! His platform is that the EPP/PSE stitch up is wrong. Most of the questions put to him are about how we agree on Parliamentary reform but have problems with his group’s sceptical identity and why is he bothering to try and change something he does not believe in. After he goes we deal with how the ballots will be conducted tomorrow. That takes up most of tomorrow, just in case there have to be several rounds.
17.30 I chair the LDEPP meeting. There is discussion on the outcome of the ‘package’ of positions. We will get a Vice President of the Employment committee for Liz and may also end up with one on Fisheries that Elspeth will do. We can not get anything on civil liberties. We discuss how to treat the new group in the Parliament. Chris says he does not see how we can treat them in a ‘discriminatory’ way by refusing to deal with them (which is proposed in some quarters), and we generally agree unless, as Diana says, they act in a way that is in contravention of the Treaties. We also discuss the possibility that on Wednesday Merkel may call for legislation on holocaust denial. Collectively we have no problem with legislation on that at Member State level (given that there are different circumstances in different countries) but do not think it needs to be at EU level. Other countries do not have legislation that works like our ‘inciting race hatred’ and often they try to improve this via the European route but too much else gets added in.
18.00 Plenary opens with welcoming of Romania and Bulgaria. MEPs are all in new seats because our Romanian and Bulgarian colleagues have been slotted in and we sit alphabetically within Groups, so we wander up and down the rows of our previous positions wondering where we now should be. It seems to defy logic, some people have moved a long way and others not so far, but I guess it is to do with how the margins between the Groups have also moved. ALDE is much larger now, so we have spread sideways and by some strange quirk I am almost the identical seat to before. There is a ceremony of moving the Bulgarian and Romanian flags from their position slightly separate from ‘the 25’ into their alphabetic positions, shakings of hands and so forth and we stand for the European Anthem. I recall how the melody of the finale of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony was the first ‘real composer’ piece of music I learnt on the piano when I was 7 years old – the fifth tune in my first book and from that moment I was a Beethoven addict.
We then have one minute of silence for the deaths of two Ecuadorians, caused by ETA in Madrid.
The new Group formation is announced (Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty) and there is a little verbal skirmish attempting to demonstrate it is just a group of convenience rather than a real political group (which I think is probably true) but they have ticked the right boxes to be considered ‘proper’. Poettering then moves into a summary of the first half of this term of the Parliament.
19.00 – 20.45 I attend the Presidential debate organised by European Voice, which starts late as they are all still in plenary. First presentation is by the left winger Wurtz. He wants an alternative to the ‘liberal’ (French interpretation) view of Europe and wants to be more socialist than the socialists. Bonde is next and says the same as he said earlier in group. At the end of his speech he presents Poettering with a small crown on a cushion, representing that he is just ‘coronated’ as of right. Monica Frassoni is next and she is much better than previously, concentrating more on what she would do rather than getting at others. On this performance I expect she will get a fair number of votes. Poettering is last and the chair even offers him a bit more time in order to respond to some of the digs that have been made about the system. He declines and says he will take the same amount of time as the rest. Thank goodness for that fair mindedness, and this graciousness worth more votes than two minutes could buy. He gives a competent performance, but not inspiring or as substantially reforming as really satisfies liberal appetite. Questions and answers follow, for the main part the same type as you always get at hustings (how to improve voter turnout etc) for which there are never any satisfactory answers. On balance I rate Monica best, but everyone concedes that it will be Poettering and are nice to him and he even says he will win himself.
Thursday 11 January 2007
Russian Questions
10.00 Get to office and deal with email, letters and casework. A reply to my question on Russia and intellectual property has come through from Mandelson. They ask for points I may have on the new Russian Civil code, as I had raised it. This is good, I will now feed in more detail, hopefully with help from patent attorney colleagues.
12.00 leave for Eurostar.
12.00 leave for Eurostar.
Wednesday 10 January 2007
Kangaroo and Carousel
8.30 Successfully find concierge and get meter readings, walk to Parliament via Rue Montoyer and the ELDR Office and get to Group meeting about 9.30 in time to hear the discussion on Liz Lynne's amendments to the rail passengers directive. This is about upgrading station platforms for the disabled when refurbishments are done, provisos needed about it being viable. We then discuss the voting next week for the new president, vice presidents and questors. There may be several rounds so we could be in and out of the hemicycle like yo-yos. It will make it difficult to plan other meetings. This is all new to me because I was not here two and a half years ago. A new extreme right political group is being formed, the UEN are now the fourth largest group (we are third), the Greens drop to fifth. We discuss the Germany Presidential programme. I sign all the amendments on Kashmir along with Saj, Liz, Bill and Sarah. Rachel (Saj’s assistant) will have to stand by the fax machine for ages to check they all go through.
11.00 Go to the bank and en route back call in to see Rachel. She says Annamie Nyets likes most of our Kashmir amendments, which is good, and means I do not have to seek her out. Back in my office I start to draft questions for the Commission and the UK Parliament on Carousel fraud.
12.45 Kangaroo Group lunch on roaming charges for mobile phones. The Commission proposals would put a cap on both wholesale and retail charges. It is not clear whether the cap is at the right level – industry says it is too low. The intention is that it should not be the price everyone charges but that competition on lower prices and packages can continue. However, the mobile operators have overcharged for so long they have low credibility. The Southern countries still want to be able to benefit from tourists and claim it is needed for the extra infrastructure. The socialist shadow on the lead committee (industry) mentions a sunrise clause for texts – that is good: similar thinking to me so proposing it for data as well may find allies.
14.30 Back to the office. I complete carousel questions, Vince Cable will table the UK ones. I write a letter to the FT on the same subject: it is topical as a 15 year sentence has just been given to a fraudster. Then set about clearing my desk, which I never finished before Christmas. Finish at 8pm and go back to my flat to pack. Meet John Purvis and Richard Ashworth en route out of Parliament and we have a discussion about carousel fraud. It seems Richard sees white vans from France every day where he lives, and one day when they had a big crash they were full of mobile phones. Of course the import is probably legal, it is the next steps where it can go wrong.
11.00 Go to the bank and en route back call in to see Rachel. She says Annamie Nyets likes most of our Kashmir amendments, which is good, and means I do not have to seek her out. Back in my office I start to draft questions for the Commission and the UK Parliament on Carousel fraud.
12.45 Kangaroo Group lunch on roaming charges for mobile phones. The Commission proposals would put a cap on both wholesale and retail charges. It is not clear whether the cap is at the right level – industry says it is too low. The intention is that it should not be the price everyone charges but that competition on lower prices and packages can continue. However, the mobile operators have overcharged for so long they have low credibility. The Southern countries still want to be able to benefit from tourists and claim it is needed for the extra infrastructure. The socialist shadow on the lead committee (industry) mentions a sunrise clause for texts – that is good: similar thinking to me so proposing it for data as well may find allies.
14.30 Back to the office. I complete carousel questions, Vince Cable will table the UK ones. I write a letter to the FT on the same subject: it is topical as a 15 year sentence has just been given to a fraudster. Then set about clearing my desk, which I never finished before Christmas. Finish at 8pm and go back to my flat to pack. Meet John Purvis and Richard Ashworth en route out of Parliament and we have a discussion about carousel fraud. It seems Richard sees white vans from France every day where he lives, and one day when they had a big crash they were full of mobile phones. Of course the import is probably legal, it is the next steps where it can go wrong.
Tuesday 9 January 2007
Boilers, Lords and the Euro
8.30 Go poking around in the basement of my apartment block to read gas and electricity meters. I can not unlock the relevant door or find the concierge but at least there are some boiler-like noises coming from behind one door – the heating and hot water, which serves the whole block, went off in the middle of the night. I walk through place du Luxembourg and note there are not the usual numbers of people around. Get to office and continue with paperwork as the working groups have been cancelled.
11.00- 12.00 Give evidence to Lords Committee. All taped and stenographed. We have lots more to cover but reckon that can be done this evening at dinner.
12.30 – 18.30 A speaking lunch followed by a seminar on the Euro. The Euro has now overtaken the dollar on just about everything: bonds, stock and issued currency. Exchange rates are no longer the constant issue that they were. Just as the US does not care about the value of the dollar against other currencies, few in EU care about the €/$ exchange rate. 74% in the UK think the Euro a major currency. 80% of Europeans do not link the Euro with ‘being European’. It is pointed out that the full benefits of a single currency area will not be realised until we have the Single European Payments Area (SEPA) making cross border payments as easy and cheap as national ones. This of course is why the Payments Services Directive is so urgent. (Nothing happening on that until the end of this month).
There is recognition that there was inflation, especially in services such as bars and cafes, on introduction of the Euro. Many claimed surprise: the UK of course had experience of decimalisation so we would have been more prepared indeed this was flagged as an issue. There is a general consensus that it was not a large amount of measured inflation, so it did not show up in total figures, but it was experienced on things that young people in particular noticed (coffees, bars) so a high perception of inflation. There is now some indication that competition then restored prices. Perhaps it could be said that there were some price increases to cover businesses’ costs of conversion.
Didier Reynders (Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister) said that the Euro was much stronger now than in 2000, which could be seen in the different response to oil prices rises now compared with 2000. However, to be a great currency there had to be more political direction for the Euro and without the streamlining of the EU, which would take some time, there was a lot of interest in moving forward with political direction just within the Eurogroup, and within that taking decisions on a qualified majority basis, even when it was still a unanimity issue in Council. That presumably means more coordination in the fiscal area.
18.30 Shuffle papers and then decide to walk to the venue for the dinner with the Lords. Go via my flat to see if the heating and hot water returned, which they have.
20.00 Dinner at Chez Marius. Very interesting, I deal with carousel fraud and VAT reform possibilities and Richard Ashcroft (Tory) and Richard Corbett(Labour) deal with constitution, EU ‘own resources’ and budgetary matters. Walk back to flat for about 11.00pm.
11.00- 12.00 Give evidence to Lords Committee. All taped and stenographed. We have lots more to cover but reckon that can be done this evening at dinner.
12.30 – 18.30 A speaking lunch followed by a seminar on the Euro. The Euro has now overtaken the dollar on just about everything: bonds, stock and issued currency. Exchange rates are no longer the constant issue that they were. Just as the US does not care about the value of the dollar against other currencies, few in EU care about the €/$ exchange rate. 74% in the UK think the Euro a major currency. 80% of Europeans do not link the Euro with ‘being European’. It is pointed out that the full benefits of a single currency area will not be realised until we have the Single European Payments Area (SEPA) making cross border payments as easy and cheap as national ones. This of course is why the Payments Services Directive is so urgent. (Nothing happening on that until the end of this month).
There is recognition that there was inflation, especially in services such as bars and cafes, on introduction of the Euro. Many claimed surprise: the UK of course had experience of decimalisation so we would have been more prepared indeed this was flagged as an issue. There is a general consensus that it was not a large amount of measured inflation, so it did not show up in total figures, but it was experienced on things that young people in particular noticed (coffees, bars) so a high perception of inflation. There is now some indication that competition then restored prices. Perhaps it could be said that there were some price increases to cover businesses’ costs of conversion.
Didier Reynders (Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister) said that the Euro was much stronger now than in 2000, which could be seen in the different response to oil prices rises now compared with 2000. However, to be a great currency there had to be more political direction for the Euro and without the streamlining of the EU, which would take some time, there was a lot of interest in moving forward with political direction just within the Eurogroup, and within that taking decisions on a qualified majority basis, even when it was still a unanimity issue in Council. That presumably means more coordination in the fiscal area.
18.30 Shuffle papers and then decide to walk to the venue for the dinner with the Lords. Go via my flat to see if the heating and hot water returned, which they have.
20.00 Dinner at Chez Marius. Very interesting, I deal with carousel fraud and VAT reform possibilities and Richard Ashcroft (Tory) and Richard Corbett(Labour) deal with constitution, EU ‘own resources’ and budgetary matters. Walk back to flat for about 11.00pm.
Monday 8 January 2007
Fiscal Fraud
9.00 I’m on a midday flight so I touch base with my offices, then to Heathrow. No queue for departures and security not too bad so I end up with spare time that I can mis-spend in shops!
15.00 Arrive in office and fall to work on fiscal fraud issues as I am giving evidence to the House of Lords Inquiry tomorrow; they are coming to Brux. There is a hearing going on today about security and defence which I would have liked to go to, but I have to skip it to keep working on fraud and the general update on ECON issues that they want to talk about. Leave just before 8pm, so miss getting to the supermarket.
15.00 Arrive in office and fall to work on fiscal fraud issues as I am giving evidence to the House of Lords Inquiry tomorrow; they are coming to Brux. There is a hearing going on today about security and defence which I would have liked to go to, but I have to skip it to keep working on fraud and the general update on ECON issues that they want to talk about. Leave just before 8pm, so miss getting to the supermarket.
8 – 11 January 2007 Group Week
Well, here we are back after Christmas. We have skipped over having a Mini-Plenary week because of the break. Not a very busy week ahead
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