Diary of an MEP

ECON - Portuguese Presidency speech

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:54:00 +0000

8.15 The ALDE Econ Breakfast. Seems that carousing went on well into the small hours last night, but Wolf, Sophie, Mariela and Bilyana make it as well as me.

9.00 ELDE Econ prep meeting. We discuss who is doing which upcoming matters. I have been given the rapporteurship of an opinion on the aging demography of Europe. I had said I would shadow and the one I really wanted about financial instruments for the environment we do not get so I am only shadow. I give up the rapporteurship on the demography to one of the Bulgarian members who wants to do something. We discuss a voting list and then Margarita comes in and makes a fuss about the van den Burg report. Comments not bloggable!!

10.00 We all gallop off to an extraordinary ECON committee meeting to listen to the Portuguese Presidency. We also have a vote to do which we only just get squeezed in by 11.25 when we all have to rush off to plenary votes at 11.30.

11.30 Votes. We have quite a lot to do but I have to say that Poettering in the chair does an express job and we get through an awful lot in one hour.

12.45 Back in the office. Everyone is leaving. As usual I have several hours now by myself. So I pack my trunk, sort through papers, do letter to the Financial Times and do the blog. I attend the human rights votes at 4pm. Finish the blog and find I still have a couple of hours so I start the long read of the official version of solvency ll!! I will be leaving for Basle at 7pm and should be home sometime after midnight Strasbourg time.

A busy day in plenary

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 16:51:00 +0000

9.00 Arrive in Parliament and have meeting with Microsoft. Their technical chap joins in via telephone, which is useful. We are now expecting a decision on the competition case in September. However even after that, and irrespective of which way it goes, we will still be left with interoperability and standards to deal with. I point out, as I have to everyone, that if industry can not get its act together and agree the way to go it will be all the more up to politicians to decide. The annoying thing is that different arguments are deployed at different times and places by several companies because of the particular litigation in which they are embroiled. I see major work coming up on all this next year.

10.00 Yet more email spats on the van den Burg Report. There are some split votes on references to tax. Wolf and I say we would prefer them out as a subsidiarity point, Margarita wants them in. Rest of the morning spent on papers and sorting votes.

12.00 I go to plenary armed with three extra voting lists. I gather the EPP will back taking out investment banks, so I should be able to chalk up another little success. Votes are deferred until 12.30, then start late at 12.45, there are complaints. Apparently the Portuguese Presidency spoke for too long. Lots of the votes are tight and have to be checked. The vand den Burg report seems to go reasonably OK, investment banks come out. We are still voting at ten past two when Pervenche Beres interrupts with a point of order that we can not continue and will have to start early tomorrow. (There are still three long voting lists left. It also means lunch meetings are being spoiled and plenary starts again at 3pm). Nobody waits to hear, we all clap, bang desks and vote with our feet. We have an LDEPP photo call outside plenary.

14.35 I get to my office and the stock exchange people who expected to see me at 2pm are waiting. We have a useful discussion, I am glad I grabbed a sandwich before votes! I am having another of those no meals weeks so far.

15.15 Well it is now getting into the routine of organising things that need to be done over the holiday. My TRIPS speaking time is moving onwards towards 8pm from its original schedule of around 6.45. I hope it does not get too late as we have a dinner on private equity at 8pm

19.20 Into plenary for TRIPS. I am not really impressed by the contributions, there is no point blaming the provisions in the amendments as being the reason it has not been invoked, the necessary circumstances have not really arrived yet, which I endeavour to explain, again.

20.05 Debate finishes just in time to go for the dinner. The presentations are quite informative although they overlap a lot with information in this week’s Economist. It ends just after 10pm. I have missed the Group barbeque because I attended this – however I bet I will be glad in the morning.

Debate on Van den Burg, Barometers

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:48:00 +0000

9.00 Get to the Parliament. We get a panic email from our administrator that her submissions from yesterday missed the deadline. We point out that they could not, they were a day early!! Seems both Delphine and the tabling office now suffering fatigue! We then have an email from Margarita saying she does not agree with what was agreed yesterday. It is pointed out she was outvoted (and would have been even if she had been there).

10.30 I go down to plenary for the debate on the van den Burg report. I have decided to concentrate on three points: hedge funds/private equity, where I say discussion and analysis fine but do not put pre-emptive conclusions in the same sentence just to be fashionable, the investment bank point and not to try and asses the next steps in supervising before we have finished the current changes. It seems to fit in (or challenge) what other say. Radwan speaks after me and in reply to me says he is not be pre-emptive on hedge funds (or words to that effect). I think it is good to get a dynamic exchange within such short speeches! All these speeches are available on the Parliament websites, so no need for more here! I talk to Ieke van den Burg afterwards about investment banks and say I would accept a compromise that pointed out there were differing degrees of concentration.

12.00 Votes. Diana is in the chair for her first session of votes. She is very clear and it is possible to hear everything she says without headphones. Why is it only the Brits that speak up so clearly! We get to the vote on whether mercury should be banned in antique barometers. I turn to the page and there is an extraordinary list of which delegations are voting how, with subdivisions within that, so it runs over two pages. Several colleagues look around wondering who to side with!. Basically we are all split between being pragmatic, being rules is rules and possibly thinking it is a member state thing. I vote for antique barometers.

13.15 Back to the office. There are continuing email exchanges about our voting on the van den Burg report.

16.00 We have a committee meeting with Charlie McCreevy about Solvency ll, which is launched today. I arrive on time, as does Karin and McCreevy and entourage, but everyone else is late!

17.30 Back in the office and more paperwork. I plot my one minute on TRIPS. News that I may have got a split vote request in on investments banks has been discovered by Deutche Bank. Their lobbyist comes to check then happily goes away to talk to MEPs in the EPP.

18.30 Reception and speeches on launch of Solvency ll. There are about five speakers lined up, starting with Charlie McCreevy, who usefully spots that if he reads his speech (9 pages) everyone else will do the same and so we will be there until midnight. So he sets the trend for improvisation, which works well. Just as the speeches end I get text from Carol to sprint over to Group for votes.

20.00 Votes in Group on postal services and employ with lost of proxies. Win some, lose some. So this means we will have work to do tomorrow on three voting lists. Leave Parliament at 9pm

Van den Burg

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 16:45:00 +0000

5.30 Off to Luton airport. I bid goodbye to other regular travellers I may not see again when the flights change in September. I finish off the blog for last week on the plane. We get to Basle approximately on time, car is there and so Austrian MEP Johannes and I get to the Parliament just before noon (11 am UK time). Being first in I unpack my trunk and all the other stuff we have locked in the cupboard (my mini fridge got stolen last year). Having unpacked I investigate emails and other correspondence. Check through the amendments that other Groups have filed on the van den Burg report.

15.30 Go down to Group. Nothing hugely relevant to me but I am keeping a watch out for things popping up from various committees other than my own. I get 1 minute to speak on the van den Burg report and they forget to give me time on TRIPS (but I see the Secretary general who says he will fix it, so that will be another one minute)

17.30 Our UKLib Dem delegation meeting (LDEPP). We exchange views about items coming up for votes where we may have to fight our corner in Group. Possible controversies are on postal services, the report on the employment green paper and the one that has been constantly on my desk, the van den Burg report on the financial services white paper. The biggest problem we have however seems to be how can we get all twelve of us in one place to have our photo taken.

18.00 I leave LDEPP early to get to Working Group A to discuss the van den Burg report. Those of us there reach an agreed line on the various amendments in from other groups and I get agreement to ask for a split vote to take ‘investment banks’ out of a paragraph that flags up the consolidation of firms offering financial services to large listed companies, especially in the field of audit, Credit rating and investment banks. I think the statement is true about audit firms (less than a handful that can do the big audits) and credit rating agencies, but there is not the same order of concentration with investment banks and that dilutes the point we are making about audit firms. Margarita is not there, who is the shadow, and I point out that she may have a differing view on a couple of points. However, everyone there agrees the lines that Wolf and I want to take.

19.00 Back to the office, paperwork and working out how much I can squeeze into one minute on the financial services report. The shorter the speech the harder it is. I take the opportunity to leave ‘early’ at 20.30.

9th - 12th July Strasbourg week. End of term.

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 16:45:00 +0000

Busy Weekend Ahead!

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 16:36:00 +0000

9.00 In to the office. All I am doing this morning is clearing my desk and getting the midday Eurostar as I have a meeting in London. On Eurostar work on my speech for Friday, which means I have missed my blogging time again. Getting into bad habits. Tomorrow morning we are presenting the Eurostar petition at Downing Street, then I have my speech, then another meeting. On Saturday I am in Maidstone. Pity it is not Sunday as I could have caught the Tour de France at the same time.

Solvency II and Collective Actions

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 16:34:00 +0000

9.00 Group meeting. Rather irritatingly I have to leave before the employment bit. However proxies have been arranged but I am not sure we have enough people there to cast them all.

10.00 I go on a bit of mystery tour in the Journalists’ part of the Parliament building. Looks much swisher than our bit!! Eventually find the seminar. I have to start it on my own then Pervenche Beres arrives. We talk about Solvency ll, private equity, hedge funds and the Euro. We are filmed by Spanish TV.

12.30 Back to the office and collect a few papers then down to the lunch that I am hosting on collective redress in Europe.

13.00 Lunch with the European Justice Forum. We talk about collective actions, how not to have the pitfalls of the US system. I think it is useful. My input mainly seems to be getting the message over that the Parliament is probably more interested in consumer redress aspects than in encouraging company on company actions. There is some mention of the recent developments in Australia, which may not have gone as intended. I will need to follow this up.

15.00 Back to the office and to pack my trunk for Strasbourg. Then I do some more work on what to say on Friday. I think I have too much now but will edit it down on Eurostar tomorrow. Carol leaves to get Eurostar back to UK, then Alan leaves. I hope he has had a flavour of what goes on. Probably easier to follow as it was a Group week. I am just getting ready to leave when Peter Price turn up to talk about Solvency ll, so end up leaving at about 8pm.

TRIPS, Working Groups and Meetings

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 16:28:00 +0000

8.00 I am at a working breakfast on alternative dispute resolution. I am the first speaker, which works quite well because I am able to cover some of the basic discussion on the mediation directive that we had with the incoming Portuguese presidency. Again I toss in class/collective actions and the question of whether ADR could eliminate the need for court class actions. A question of whether that satisfies the ECJ (who say consumers must have right of redress) without infringing human rights, which I suppose it may not if there is an individual right to court still.

9.30 Into the office and paperwork. I have not had any detailed feedback on the amendments to the van den Burgh report that I launched last week. I gather that Margarita has spoken to Wolf, so let’s see what happens in Group.

11.00 There is a meeting of the European Federalists to discuss the outcome of the European Council. I take Alan along so he can listen in. I thought they might be saying something to us about their thoughts, but by the time I get there it seems the other way around, so I say how it looks from the UK perspective. Leave early in order to get to working group on TRIPS.

11.30 Working group. I say my bit about the TRIPS matter. I still think that the sooner we ratify the better, but obviously others think prevarication gives more opportunity to make a fuss. Not that it will make a great deal of difference. I am asking for speaking time on this next week.

12.10 My individual meeting with the working Group. We go through mainly the financial portfolios I am dealing with and their relevance to individuals: which of course is quite a lot as long as there is more than one sentence to explain it in. The easy approach is to hang it around the Equitable Life enquiry and the need to have good pension planning, which gets us into equity and mortgages and so on.

12.45 LDEPP meeting with Nick Clegg. A general exchange of views about things European and whether we need a referendum on the treaty. I say I have changed my mind: I used to think, when we asked for a referendum on the Euro, that it meant we would proceed to have sensible discussion. However all that has happened is that it has swept sensible discussion under the carpet – the same was true as a result of calling for a referendum on the Constitution, never any detailed discussion. So there should not be a referendum and if people do not like it then they should insist that Europe is talked about when we have General Elections. It is not a side dish or a ‘how to have a free kick’. The most powerful part of the EU legislature, the Council, our Government Ministers, are elected at General Elections, so about time it was an issue then.

14.30 Working group A. The van den Burg report. About two thirds of my amendments are agreed as is. After a bit of a battle we agree there are ways to compromise on the rest. Then we have a bit of a ding dong about a proposed amendment from Margarita, backed by Wolf. It is all about objecting to foreign (Chinese and Russian) investment in hedge funds. I started off gently with free market principles, which did not get me far enough, eventually did the words protectionist populism really fall from my lips? Anyway, amendment not being tabled as a result. Carol thinks it was all very instructive for Alan to listen to me arguing my case.

15.30 Office and papers. I have a look at my notes for speaking on Friday and we collate some information for tomorrow when I appear to have agreed to do a seminar session with some Journalists on economic committee subjects. Some compromise texts on van den Burg go back and forth.

17.30 Group Meeting. We are able to give the good news that we have agreed on our van den Burg amendments. Several of us get annoyed that we are not discussing an Employment paper that we have all turned up for because the lead person can not be there. I have just been checking out Liz’s proposed amendments and they are fine. I shadowed this on ECON.

A day of meetings

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:26:00 +0000

10.00 Off to Heathrow. Flight delayed. Arrive at my office around 3.30. Edith is there going through Eurostar petition things with Carol. We are presenting this at Downing Street on Friday Morning. I also have a work experience student, Alan, in my office this week. He has red hair too – seems the trade mark of my office.

17.00 A delegation from the European Committee for Interoperable Standards arrive, billed as discussing the anti-trust complaint about Microsoft. However I am more interested in dealing with interoperability away from hard cases, so we end up having a wide ranging discussion.

18.30 Reception for a policy working group from the Lib Dems. Useful networking and exchange of information. I have a formal session with them tomorrow so I am not going to the dinner tonight and I can read up on alternative dispute resolution ready for tomorrow morning.

2nd – 6th July Group week

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:25:00 +0000

Back to the UK

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:24:00 +0000

9.00 Reading more proposals on the van den Burgh report, followed by a meeting with LIBA, ISDA and SIFMA on the same subject. In general terms I have already covered the points they make.

14.00 Leave for Eurostar.

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 14:28:00 +0000

9.00 Into ECON. We have votes at 9.30 My bank accounts opinion is scheduled last and I try to get it moved to the front because I am concerned I may not get away in time to get to the session I am chairing at the stock exchanges conference. Anyway, they will not move it. Voting takes ages. We seem to be holding the balance in everything and a lot of the votes are tight. The EPP do not seem to like some aspects of my opinion and vote against, but as they did not take part in the discussions or put in any amendments I do not know what their problem is. My opinion does not seem greatly at variance with the EPP report in JURI that we discussed, very briefly, on Monday. Anyway the Socialists vote with me so it all goes through.

10.45 I finally get away and head for the Conrad for the conference. Traffic is terrible and Carol is texting and phoning as they are getting worried. No real problem and I get there in time to chat to the people on the panel that I am chairing on governance. Anyway, all goes well, and I introduce into the discussion whether there is more market abuse by hedge funds than other investments, as some allege. My shoe breaks at the end of lunch so lop-sided walk to get the Metro back. Fortunately my flat en route for shoe change.

15.00 Plenary session with report back from Chancellor Merkel, or rather as she is for a few days yet, President in Office (of Council). Some good speech points made by various contributors. Graham Watson performs well and Poettering thanks him for his ‘remarkable’ speech.

17.00 Back to the office and some work on amendments for the van den Burgh report which I send to others in the Group.

19.00 Leave, early again(!). Unfortunately no live play at Wimbledon.

End of term-itis

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 14:21:00 +0000

9.00 Get to the office. This morning there are some interesting sessions in the stock exchanges conference. Carol goes. I start working on various papers and points for speeches next week. On Friday I talk to TMPDF and three judges are coming. Feeling sick and suffering from hay fever so decide I can not face a lunch.

14.00 ECON prep meeting. One of those least said soonest mended sessions. I reckon some colleagues must be feeling even worse than me. Andreas Losco does a grand job trying to be peacemaker. I can not really work out what the problem is. I think this is what teachers must call end of term-itis.

15.00 Back to the office where I lurk for as long as possible to get through the papers. I go down to ECON at 4.45 for the session with Neelie Kroes. I get there just in time to hear Jonathan Evans giving a bit of stick about the deletion of undistorted competition from the treaty amendments. If I heard correctly I think he got into it by suggesting that a few members of the Council and Commission would learn a lot from attending a Competition Day! I lead the desk banging.

Neelie is robust in her response to this and other related points saying that the protocol is as binding as the treaty and there is no downgrading and she will not be doing anything differently. It is true nothing has been taken out of the treaty, it is just that a proposed amendment has been changed.

20.00 I go back to my flat having given apologies earlier today for not going to the Gala dinner at the Bourse. I would not be good company sniffling away.

Travelling...

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:19:00 +0000

10.15 Off to the airport. Flight is delayed so a bit of a rush to dash straight to the legal affairs committee when I get in at 3.45. Votes at 4.15 include the compromise on the TRIPS amendments, which passes easily. Not surprising as it is a compilation of my and the EPP proposals.

18.00 Meeting with representatives from Scottish Widows and TSB on Solvency ll. Nothing new. The directive is launched in July, and then I will not be wanting to see anyone unless they are coming with a definite problem or proposal, preferably submitted in writing.

Committee Week.

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:15:00 +0000

Lisbon - Solicitors and Advocates

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 11:37:00 +0000

9.30 We set off for a meeting with the association of solicitors. They are not the same as UK solicitors in that they have fewer powers and barristers (or advocates) can do everything. However in 2003 solicitors here were also allowed to become enforcement officers. This could give them useful insight into the proposals for attachments of bank accounts so I ask them about this, and also class actions and whether there is a size limit to matters than can be handled via mediation.

11.00 A meeting with the chair of the advocates association. This covers many of the same topics again, but getting at more detail and is useful for future contacts.

13.30 Ursa (our ALDE administrator on JURI) and I take a city tour bus as my flight back is not until this evening and she is staying until Sunday. I have to get back to the UK as I have to go to Witney (Carterton) on Sunday to help with a local by election.

Lisbon

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 11:36:00 +0000

9.45 We assemble and go by coach to the European Parliament Office in Lisbon for a meeting with the former Commissioner Vitorino. It is raining (in Lisbon in June, meanwhile it is 30 degrees in Copenhagen!!) and we do not have umbrellas.

First our coach gets lost, well actually heads off for the Parliament which is where we are going this afternoon. Then it can not get close to the Parliament office so we all have to walk in the rain. Some of the female group staff have got the wrong shoes for this in the rain…female MEPs appear more circumspect….and we are all pretty good at adapting our dossiers as umbrellas. The meeting is interesting. Among other things we raise the issue of missing children in Portugal. It is a problem that in Portugal a missing child can not be deemed abducted for 48 hours. We also discuss mediation, which they have used effectively in Portugal in recent years and so it is hoped that this experience will help to solve some of the problems with the Directive during their Presidency. Other topics include money laundering, terrorism and immigration.

14.30 We arrive at the Parliament. Again we discuss mediation and arbitration.

16.00 Next meeting is with the Minister and his team. Again we discuss mediation and also the ECJ decision that says EU law can be backed up by criminal sanctions. The truth here is that we are all awaiting another ruling from the ECJ which we do not expect to be quite so extensive as the last one, or at last gives more guidelines as to where it may have a legal base. We also have some exchanges on intellectual property and class actions. The same subjects are discussed informally in different groupings over dinner.

Bob the Builder

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 11:34:00 +0000

8.30 A photo op with Bob the builder (!) to do with energy saving buildings.

9.00 Another photo op with plastic bottles and cans for recycling.

10.00 Meeting about a securities seminar session that I am chairing the week after next.

11.00 Discussions on TRIPS, paperwork, preparing trunk for Strasbourg and then at 3pm off to Lisbon for meetings on the Portuguese Presidency with the JURI committee. This evening I have a dinner with the ALDE group coordinators, who are also here for meetings tomorrow with the Presidency. The EPP coordinators have apparently gone off to much more exotic Portuguese climes.

My Birthday!

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 11:33:00 +0000

9.00 Spend the entire morning on the latest voting list for the financial services white paper and doing some swapping of lists with other MEPs.

12.45 Lunch with the Alternative Investment Managers Association. This is a meeting on hedge funds that I am co-hosting. The presentations are very helpful. I am hoping that slowly people will begin to realise that not all hedge funds are the same and that even those that appear in the press as aggressive could not be so if there were not some underlying flaw for them to pick at. I think we must dig further on market abuse points as there was a steong belief by some MEPs that funds indulged in collusions that would in fact be illegal, which was hotly contested. I suspect that because collusion is not allowed the press is used instead.

15.00 Back to the office then summoned (well, invited) to a meeting with the Romanian Justice Minister. I am able to raise my concerns about the abilities of the Romanian legal system in technical areas like competition and financial fraud. I raise the matter of the Credit Suisse employee that I have also raised with Commissioner Frattini, who so far has not replied. In particular I raise the matter of length of proceedings.

17.00 Into Group Meeting to listen to the Romanian Prime Minister.

18.00 Reception for the South East England Development Agency.

A postponed vote

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 11:32:00 +0000

14.00 ECON prep meeting on the financial services white paper. I think we are reaching some compromises within our Group and making some progress, but there is still a lot of work needed. It seems really impractical to try and vote today. I am beginning to think I will vote against it if we have to rush too much.

15.00 ECON. It is decided to postpone the vote on the financial services white paper until next week. We have a discussion with Trichet from the ECB and discuss amendments to my report on attachment of bank accounts. I then dash down two floors to the JURI committee in time to discuss the amendment to Article 31 of TRIPS.

18.00 Back to the office. I prepare an amendment to the report on TRIPS.

11th to 15 June Group Week and Lisbon

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 11:31:00 +0000

Day in the office

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 11:31:00 +0000

I am still in Brussels. Spend the day catching up on various Intellectual property issues and also have a meeting with Consumer Organisation about Radio frequency tagging.

USA, Scotland and Place de Luxembourg

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 11:28:00 +0000

8.00 Kangaroo Group breakfast on how much are we regulated by the US. There is a feeling that we are now influencing them as much as vice versa. There is a useful presentation also on International Financial reporting Standards (on which I am half way through preparing our amendments). Some concern that the US may not accept the flexibility of interpretation that a minimum harmonising proposal allows and so although saying they accept IFRS will say ‘but not your version’. This needs further exploration ut it could just be a waystage position.

10.45 Meeting with Commission on patents

11.30 Votes.

12.30 Lunch with Scottish Enterprise and various Scottish financial institutions. People forget how important finance is to Scotland, 10% of their jobs depend upon it!

15.00 Meet various people for discussions on way back to Parliament from lunch venue – seems difficult to try and get across Place de Luxembourg unseen! Then more on amendments...

Amendments

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 11:27:00 +0000

8.30 LDEPP meeting.

9.00 Back to the office for more struggles with amendments.

10.30 Meeting with the Forum of Private Business.

11.00 Group meeting.

12.30 Photo with group of visiting Lib Dems.

13.00 SME circle lunch. The major topic of discussion is the reclassification of various previously exempted technology goods for import duty. A lot of this is due to the way in which technology has become integrated so that a still digital camera (exempt) that can now take a short moving sequence is classed as a movie camera (not exempt). This is bad news for many industries and seems rather like some over zealous interpretation. I feel some Parliamentary Questions coming on.

15.00 I thought I had a meeting with Commissioner Kroes but it seems to have migrated to another week again. So back to the amendments.

16.30 Meeting with FSA/CEIOPS (Insurance regulators).

17.15 Meeting with 3i on private equity and venture capital.

18.00 Reception for mutual societies organisations. We have today voted an amendment saying we want a European Mutuals statute. This would be a revival of a proposal that got axed when lots of old proposals were scrapped. We said it was a mistake to get rid of this one at that time.

Airports and Labour Law

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Bowles MEP) — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 11:26:00 +0000

9.00 ECON again. We discuss airport charges, mergers and acquisitions and have an exchange of views with the Chairman of CESR (the Committee of European Securities Regulators).

12.15 European Parliament Financial Services Forum lunch on Target2 Securities.

15.30 ECON again and votes on labour law. At the end of the ECON meeting we have a discussion on the amendments to the financial services white paper amongst the principal protagonists.

19.30 back to flat