Lisbon

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.