The land of uncertainty  
The last few weeks have been a period of uncertainty and difficulty.  The main reason being connected with the half way point in the Parliament’s five year term.  At this time, all the posts or offices are up for renewal or change and that included my role as Chairman of the Industry, Research and Energy Committee which I have performed since July 2004. 

The d’Hondt system  
The way all the posts are filled is a complex affair driven by the numerical strength of every political group and every national delegation within the groups in the Parliament according to the proportional rules of the d’Hondt system which create a priority list so all know their turn to bid for a vacancy. 

Committee Chairmen
The long and short of it was that when it came to committee chairmanships it was agreed between the groups that each would retain the chairs they held in the first half, which eased my anxieties over rumours that the outgoing President (or Speaker) of the Parliament, a Spanish socialist, had sought my chair for the second half. 

Poles, Czechs and Germans  
However, that turned out to be the least of my worries because within our group much was to change.  Our Poles found themselves first on the bidding list and took the Foreign Affairs Committee much to the chagrin of our Germans who were desperate to hang onto it during their Presidency of the Council until the end of June 2007.  Next in line were the Czechs and they took the Environment Committee, also previously held by a German colleague. 

Political manoeuvring
There followed an extended period of manoeuvring and political pressure as the Germans tried to dissuade the Poles and Czechs.  Eventually the Germans said bad luck Giles we must take the next best committee which is yours.  They also took Budgets which had previously had a Polish Chairman. 

South West Chairman for Agriculture  
Fortunately our Conservative delegation leader was able to take the Agriculture Committee which was left vacant because the previous incumbent had been elected Leader of our Group.  So the job went to my S W colleague Neil Parish MEP and I, of course, wish him well in it.

Another door opens  
Change is good for us all and things have not turned out so bad for me after all because Neil stood down from his Chairmanship of the delegation for interparliamentary relations with Australia and New Zealand in my favour.  It has been a long nurtured ambition of mine to take this post so as my mother used to say one door closes and another opens.  I could have done without the uncertainty though.

Co-ordinator for ITRE Committee again
I also stood for the post of co-ordinator for our group members on the Industry, Research and Energy Committee.  I held this position 1999 to 2004 and managed to get elected again this time.  A co-ordinator is a low profile position of some power in the scheme of things, a combination of whip, leader and spokesman, whereas being Chairman has more status. 

Challenges ahead 
So, now I know where I am, I can look forward to the challenges of the second half, in the energy and telecoms fields in particular.  I continue as President (or Chairman) of the European Energy Forum addressing policy issues right across the energy spectrum. 

Travel disruptions  
The difficulty I mentioned at the beginning has been all about travel.  Considering the amount of travelling I have to do I count myself pretty lucky that most of the time things go smoothly.  Not so in the past couple of months.  In December, the fogs caused my flight back home to be cancelled so I had to look sharp for an alternative route.  In January the great gales caused my flight home, from Strasbourg this time, to be cancelled (or was it BA chief Willy Walsh doing a pre-emptive action to show resolution to would-be strikers?) so I had to look around sharpish again. And the third was at the beginning of February Strasbourg when, yet again, my flight was cancelled and I had to go on a later flight. 

I just hope that was the proverbial third thing and will be enough for a while. 

Comment

Very recently I visited the Samaritans in Exeter in response to an invitation to learn more about their work.  It was well worth doing and I did indeed learn more than I expected.  A number of messages came across. 

You don’t need to be suicidal to phone Samaritans.  I would guess most of us do associate Samaritans with suicidal tendencies yet their service is about providing a friendly ear or face for anyone with any kind of stress or emotional concern to unburden themselves and real suicidal types are fewer than one might imagine. 

It’s not like “Phone a Friend” in Who Wants to be a Millionaire.  They don’t aim to be an information service; in fact they make a point of being listeners not advisers. 

It’s not like phoning a call centre in some far-flung location or doing battle with a disembodied voice and press button instructions automatic phone system because they pride themselves that every call is answered by a volunteer so your first contact is directly with the volunteer. 

You can’t just turn up and put in a couple of hours at the end of a phone because they put a lot of effort into training their volunteers how to offer callers the time and space to work through their problems. 

Unsurprisingly more calls come at night when spirits are at their lowest ebb and people feel loneliness and desperation most keenly. 

I have always thought Samaritans are wonderful people and a wonderful organisation but now I learn they were somewhat misnamed by the newspaper which coined their description as The Good Samaritans.  The original Samaritan stopped, intervened and was pro-active, if you like, and behaved quite differently from the way in which modern Samaritans operate.  Despite being labelled after a Christian parable the Samaritans are resolutely non-denominational. 

To close, just in case of need, here are their contact details 08457 909090 or jo@samaritans.org or drop into their local branch for a face to face.  We politicians owe them a lot, if they didn’t exist our caseload would rocket, I reckon.  So, keep on listening Samaritans please!