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.