Equitable life and more on Solvency 2

9.00 to 12.30 in the Equitable Life Special Committee of Enquiry. We hear evidence from the chief executive for the second time (he comes flanked by legal advisors), from a journalist who has followed matters and from Charlie McCreevy again. Poor chap, he must think I am stalking him!

I get into interesting exchanges on comparison of the old regulatory system and the new – solvency 2 – proposals. We need to know that the gaps are plugged. I have to dash out a couple of times to do radio interviews on the ECJ decision – they did not uphold the Advocate General. A political decision really based on what they considered ‘practical’ rather than letter of the law stuff.

The media did not appreciate how restricted the loophole provided by the Advocate General was – you could have bought duty free goods personally and arranged to have them transported back, but you would have had to find your own carrier. A weblink, say, from the vendor would probably have rendered it commercial, and not allowed, so not so easy. Anyway, speculation over. Not allowed. I wonder what will happen now to the Commission’s proposed revision, which intended to allow the cross border distance purchasing and personal transportation arrangements, excepting for tobacco which of course is too easy to post. I guess it will not happen, so much for the single market!

12.30 Do paperwork for staff Christmas bonuses. Here in Belgium they call it the ‘thirteenth month’. By law everyone gets an extra month’s pay (which then gets spent on bills that tend to come in annually). My staff are UK based so it is not compulsory for me, but they deserve at least as much, given all the long hours and extra work.

14.00 Attend an afternoon session of a conference on Solvency 2. Charlie McCreevy spoke here this morning so he is saved from seeing me yet again. This session is a view from industry and again all useful background. Meet lots of people who want to talk to me about it in the next few weeks.

I get the Metro to Gare du Midi, it runs really slowly but I just get the 17.56 Eurostar which then runs late, so I get home around 9pm (10pm Brussels time) looking forward to my ‘proper’ bed. Tomorrow is a day in the UK office on correspondence and Saturday is a visit to Wokingham.