Sunrise regulations and Belarus

8.00 LDEPP breakfast. We have just started to have these as a way to discuss matters more privately and informally (without our assistants). We discuss how to get the best positions for our delegation in the package of vice presidents. Basically we can get one of our favourites, but by the time our second choice turn comes round our other favourites will have gone. We agree to have an email vote for preferences. I can participate in this discussion with some effect as I am not in contention for anything.

There is general agreement that posts should go to longer serving MEPs who have not had anything yet. So this means we would be giving up Emma’s VP of foreign affairs and I say we have to have a VP of a main committee, not a sub committee as a replacement. It boils down to asking for Employment, Civil Liberties or Budgets, which would match up with Liz, Sarah and Bill respectively. We also discuss how to handle Emmas’s Kashmir report. I expect there will be a lot of amendments and I have been looking at some of Saj Karim’s proposals which look pretty good.

9.00 In to working group B. Lots of time spent on issues not of my involvement but we get on to mobile phone roaming at the end. I float my idea of having a ‘sunrise’ regulation on data regulation. The problem is that if we include data straight away it will delay matters because there has not been an impact assessment. So I propose a clause in waiting that can be activated when impact assessments have been done, unless industry has made better arrangements by then.

11.30 Into the hemicycle to vote. This is followed by the award of the Sakharov prize to Aexander Milinkevich of Belarus. He makes a speech about the situation in Belarus then we have more votes. This takes us past 13.00.

14.00 – 15.00 We have an ECON preparatory meeting. Wolf Klinz explains that we are still being shut out from getting the ‘sexy’ rapporteurships by the EPP and Socialists doing the usual two party carve up. I agree to do the new statistical agency and fiscal incentives for research, though it is mentioned Jorgo Chatzimarkarkis may also want the latter. We will see.

15.00 I dash to plenary just in time for the start of the AMS debate. I am scheduled to speak at 15.39 but it turns out to be rather later. I cover the two points of short news reports and advertising time.

16.30 Back to the office. Emails, more voting lists and then Channel 4 phone re AMS and asking how I think it will go and who to lobby. I say they should try and get info out of Socialists. Both we and the EPP have some against 30 minutes (i.e they want no breaks in programs shorter than 35 minutes, or even 45 minutes) so the 30 minute amendment will need some Socialists to support it to get through. Greens are against and seem to think everything should be state sponsored. They are worse than the Socialists on this! I suggest they ask UK Labour MEPs and reveal the location of the UKREP Xmas Party which will see most UK MEPs passing through at some stage.

17.45 TV interview on the Audio Visual Media Directive.

18.00 Back into plenary to pose an oral question to the Commission on worker mobility. I have the first question thanks to Carol having stood with her finger on the button of the fax machine when the time opened for this session.

18.30 I get to the UKREP reception. Channel 4 and other media seem to have got there, which I think is quite proper for UK media anyway. Someone seems to have got too many noughts on the mince pie order.

19.00 Into Group. The Sakharov Prize winner is there to speak to us. He explains how there is oppression of real democracy in Belarus. We discuss driving licences again, but we still do not prevail. On balance most will go for the package even though it is not optimum for motorcyclists. I will have to mark this on the voting lists. The only thing we can do is vote against the whole package, but it will not stop it . We get on to Audio Visual Media again. Some new proposals from the French and Belgians, but with the help of the Lib Dem proxy power we see those off. I leave at 20.45 to go to a dinner on Hedge Funds, which is very interesting, speakers from industry.