ECON - Portuguese Presidency speech

8.15 The ALDE Econ Breakfast. Seems that carousing went on well into the small hours last night, but Wolf, Sophie, Mariela and Bilyana make it as well as me.

9.00 ELDE Econ prep meeting. We discuss who is doing which upcoming matters. I have been given the rapporteurship of an opinion on the aging demography of Europe. I had said I would shadow and the one I really wanted about financial instruments for the environment we do not get so I am only shadow. I give up the rapporteurship on the demography to one of the Bulgarian members who wants to do something. We discuss a voting list and then Margarita comes in and makes a fuss about the van den Burg report. Comments not bloggable!!

10.00 We all gallop off to an extraordinary ECON committee meeting to listen to the Portuguese Presidency. We also have a vote to do which we only just get squeezed in by 11.25 when we all have to rush off to plenary votes at 11.30.

11.30 Votes. We have quite a lot to do but I have to say that Poettering in the chair does an express job and we get through an awful lot in one hour.

12.45 Back in the office. Everyone is leaving. As usual I have several hours now by myself. So I pack my trunk, sort through papers, do letter to the Financial Times and do the blog. I attend the human rights votes at 4pm. Finish the blog and find I still have a couple of hours so I start the long read of the official version of solvency ll!! I will be leaving for Basle at 7pm and should be home sometime after midnight Strasbourg time.