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.
