LETTER FROM EUROPE March 2011 Visit Giles' website - click here   GILES CHICHESTER CONSERVATIVE MEP for the South West of England and Gibraltar
LET THE TRAIN TAKE THE STRAIN It took me most of the Monday of Strasbourg week to travel there although these days going by train is rather less stressful than going by air used to be. After the opening of the session at 5 pm, I dealt with paperwork until my meeting with the new director of the Joint Research Centre, Dominique Ristori. He is a long-standing friend in the Commission Energy Directorate. The JRC is the research arm of the European Commission and does many interesting things. SMART ENERGY Tuesdays are usually the busiest day of the week and this one was no exception. In addition to our regular meetings of delegation (Conservative MEPs) and Group (European Conservatives and Reformists), I had appointments with the representatives of an energy services company and a computer software company. Schneider Electric makes all sorts of control machinery for improving efficiency such as smart meters. They wanted to discuss the forthcoming report on energy infrastructures. INTERESTING HAND-SHAKE Microsoft, on the other hand, are very well known in the world of information technology but did not have a specific piece of legislation or parliamentary report they wanted to discuss so this was more what I call a hand-shake meeting. That is to say a meeting where a company or association wants to introduce themselves. I try to minimise such meetings because they take up precious time. However, sometimes they can be interesting and so it was in this case. HEAD IN THE CLOUDS Microsoft is a keen promoter of cloud computing technology as the answer to many a small business’s ICT needs and problems. I have my doubts about this, not least from the perspectives of data protection and privacy. In case there is anyone out there who doesn’t know what cloud computing amounts to, I suggest you ask around, as I have done for some time, because I don’t think I can explain it very well. Essentially it means you have everything on-line in the cloud from programme software to data storage so you don’t need hard discs and your own computer. They say it is more secure not less. Me, I don’t know.	GOOD NEWS FOR JOBS? The other topic was more interesting to me. They, Microsoft, have set themselves a challenge to help create half a million jobs in the UK through access to IT training of one sort or another as part of their corporate social responsibility programme. This sounds almost too good to be true but I asked for more details so I can help promote the scheme because new jobs in an area of economic activity with a future are not to be sneezed at. Watch this space. UNSEEMLY BEHAVIOUR Tuesday evening saw the ECR Group elect a new Chairman called Jan Zahradil from our Czech colleagues. That was followed by an unseemly debate about filling the casual vacancy caused by Mr Z moving up from Vice-Chairman. Unseemly because our Polish colleagues, or some of them, wanted their candidate elected and they wanted it now, never mind what the rules say. Our Polish colleagues are tricky and this is not the first time they have treated the rules as being there for their convenience. At least we no longer have a Polish Chairman who has been more conspicuous by his absence and his curious sun-tan. LIGHT RELIEF After all that, it was a relief to chair one of my European Energy Forum dinner debates on energy efficiency. We had 16 MEPs from across the Parliament attend and participate. We can all agree on the desirability of improving efficiency, but how to achieve it seems more problematic. The Commission has produced its action plan, so we can look forward to more debates on the topic. ENISA, RSPP AND NFU Wednesday, I had a long meeting with the Hungarian Minister who is President in Office for the Council for Telecommunications. We discussed my report on ENISA (European Network Information Security Agency) and the RSPP (Radio Spectrum Policy Programme). I joined a group of colleagues over lunch with the President of the NFU (National Farmers Union) and matters discussed made a change from energy and telecoms. Thursday gave me time to clear a lot of outstanding paperwork from constituency correspondence to committee work. Friday was spent travelling back to Devon. Watching all the footage from Japan on the earthquake and tsunami put everything in perspective.

Promoted and Published by Giles Chichester MEP, Longridge, West Hill, Ottery St Mary, Devon EX11 1UX

       Tel: 01404 851106 Fax 01404 850752 Email: giles@gileschichestermep.org.uk   www.gileschichestermep.org.uk

Lobbyist List for March 2011

Date of contact	Name of lobbyist(s)	Organisation/company	Context
01/03/2011	Pascale Verheust	European Energy Forum	Preparation for Bureau meeting
04/03/2011	Julia Green, Matt Evans	Avon Protection	Briefing on their design and production of gas masks
08/03/2011	Claude Breining	Schneider Electric	Discussion on the Beyond 20% Emissions Reduction report
	Chris Parker, Donna Whitehead	Microsoft	Radio Spectrum Policy Programme
	Werner Brinker (CEO), Isabelle Babak, Rene Luddecke, Eberhard Meller, Daniel Waschow, Halvor Lervik (Former CEO)	EWE AG	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Ulrich Bang, Kim Mikkelsen	Danish Energy Association	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Jon Coniam	ENERCON	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Sebastien Dolige	TOTAL	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Heyko Donath, Andreas Rorig	E.ON Ruhrgas AG	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Gael Glorieux, Hans Ten Berge	EURELECTRIC	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Jean-Paul Peers	Siemens	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Jean-Claude Perraudin	Community Energy Action	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Peter Palinkas	Former MEP	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Frank Radtke	ENERGLOBE.DE	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Jean-Claude Charrault, Pascale Verheust, Raluca Petrescu	European Energy Forum	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
14/03/2011	Dominique Maillard, Djemila Boulasha, Michel Derdevet	RTE (French Electricity Network)	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Ana Cornago Aguado	Friends of the Supergrid	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Jason Besga	IBERDROLA	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Alistair Brown, Oystein Lind	Statoil	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Jon Coniam	ENERCON	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Noel Coupaye	GDF Suez	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Georg Dorfleutner	GIE	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Carmen Gimeno, Sylvia Michel	European Group of Energy Distribution Companies and Organisations	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Per-Olof Granstrom, Per Hallberg	Vattenfall	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Alain Huchet	EDF	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Sten Kjellman	Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Zuzana Krejcirikova	CEZ Group	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Marine Landau	AREVA	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Matthias Lauber	RWE AG	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Julie Linde Kjeldsen	European Turbine Network	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Anne Meister	National Grid	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Kim Moeller Mikkelsen	Danish Energy Association	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Fernando Naredo	Westinghouse	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Marton Palmai	MOL Group	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Aurelie Pattyn	Hydro	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Olga Polak, Boleslaw Rey	PGNiG (Polish Oil and Gas)	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Hans Ten Berge	EURELECTRIC	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Luc Van Nuffel	Electrabel	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Stefanie Werler	EWE Energie AG	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Lucia Bezakova	European Forum for Renewable Energy Sources	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Lise Deguen	French Permanent Representation to the EU	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Philippe Dumas	European Geothermal Energy Council	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Dorte Fouquet	European Renewable Energies Federation	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Dirk Hendricks	European Small Hydropower Association	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Alexandre Roesch	European Photovoltaic Industry Association	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Paul Wilczek	European Wind Energy Association	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
	Jean-Claude Charrault, Pascale Verheust, Raluca Petrescu	European Energy Forum	European Energy Forum dinner debate participants
15/03/2011	Jeremy Rollinson	European Digital Media Association	Intemediary Liability
	Khalid Hadidi	Channel 4	Radio Spectrum Policy Programme
	Istvan Komoroczki	Imperial Tobacco Limited	Premptive discussion regarding a possible Commission Communication on tobacco products
	Chris Hutchins, Inge Janssen	Liberty Global Europe	Radio Specturm Policy Programme
	Dave Chappell, Chris Burns-Cox, Anthony Davies, Peter Downey	Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, South West UK	Palestinian Solidarity Campaign
	Gwyn Dolben	Association of Electricity Producers	Discussion on the REMIT proposals
15/03/2011	Dorothy Smith	BT	Telecoms discuss possible Conference event
16/03/2011	Damir Filipovic, Patrik Masson	Digital Europe	Radio Spectrum Policy Programme
16/03/2011	Dan Roberts, Jason Mann	Frontier economics	Discussion on their report on integrating renewable energy into the European grid
17/03/2011	Dr Gene Lewis	AFC Energy plc	Briefing on their work in hydrogen fuel cell technology
17/03/2011	Sheila Gimson	Portfolio Communications Ltd	Set up and attended AFC Energy meeting
18/03/2011	Canon Gary Wilson	Church of England office, Brussels	Speaker at Church of England office making the connections conference
21/03/2011	Bert De Colvenaer, Luciano Gaudio	Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking	Fuel cell technology, role in EU legislation
22/03/2011	Melina Violari	Hutchinson Europe	Lobby liason on behalf of 3 UK
	Julie Minns	3 UK	Radio Spectrum Policy Programme
	Nicholas Hodac, Wulf-Peter Schmid	Ford	Raw Materials report
	Pascale Verheust	European Energy Forum	Planning for forum General Assembly
23/03/2011	Sami Tulonen, Henri Satuli, Titta Andersson	Aula Europe	Lobby liason on behalf of Fennevoima
	Tiina Tegerstedt, Juhani Hyvarinen, Maira Kettunen	Fennevoima	Discussion on the Japan crisis and the EU reaction, upcoming PETI hearing on Finnish government and nuclear site
26/03/2011	Sonia Russé	TENONS	Speaker at Sustainable Energy Seminar
28/03/2011	Cesare Marco Pancinai	Google	Data Protection report
	Inge Janssen, Thomas Nogues	Liberty Global Europe	Radio Spectrum Policy Programme
29/03/2011	Zuzana Krejicirikova, Alan Svoboda	CEZ	Discussion on the Japan crisis and the EU reaction, upcoming REMIT report
	Djemila Boulasha	RTE (French Electricity Network)	Discuss arrangements for Paris visit
30/03/2011	Monika Stajnarova	BEUC (European Consumers' Organisation)	European Broadband
	Aoife Houlihan	Europe Analytica	Lobby liaison on behalf of Wiley-Blackwell
	Robert Campbell, David Nicholson, Cliff Morgan	Wiley-Blackwell	European Open Access Publishing
	Roberto Di Lauro, Antje Keppler, Yvonne Jones, Ronald Frank	Biomedical Structures Research Infrastructures Initiatives	Innovation Union report
	Daniel Smith, Elliot Piggott, Ana Costillas	Trayport	Presentation of the company and discussion on REMIT
	Jill Atwood-Palm, John Maré, Wiehahn Victor	South African Fruit and Vegetable Canner's Association	South African Development Community States' Economic Partnership Agreements