SOUTH WEST FIRST 
LETTER FROM STRASBOURG
October 2003
Travel to Strasbourg for the October
session was uneventful and the agenda for the week promised to be the
same. Yet there turned out to
be plenty going on.
GETTING THE MEASURE OF THINGS
My agenda seemed rather dominated
by the MID or Measuring Instruments Directive and meetings to discuss
possible amendments for my report at Second Reading.
This applies to water meters;
gas meters and volume conversion devices; active electrical energy
meters; heat meters; measuring systems for continuous and dynamic
measurement of quantities of liquids other than water; automatic weighing
instruments; taximeters; material measures; dimensional measuring
instruments; and exhaust gas
analysers. It would have
applied to breathalysers but certain Member States decided it was too
sensitive a matter to include them.
SERIOUS
STUFF
Who says MEPs don’t deal with
serious matters? The list is
daunting enough without considering terms like legal metrological control;
harmonised standard; normative document; optionality; essential
requirements; notified body; commitology; and, the new approach.
Fortunately for you and me both, I don’t have the space to
explain all this, but I hope you get the point that it is pretty
complicated stuff.
DEVON SCHOOL SING IN EP BRUSSELS
In between MID meetings, a few
other things are going on. One
is a performance on Tuesday by the choir of St Peter’s School from
Lympstone, Devon, in the Brussels building of the European Parliament.
Cunning lot that they be, they chose the week we politicos and most
of the staff were away so they could perform without the background noise
usually emanating from parliaments. A
number of colleagues in Strasbourg told me they had heard of this event
and I am also told that lots of those still in Brussels attended to enjoy
the music. Well done St
Peters.
FAREWELL TO LORD BETHELL
Later on Tuesday in the EPP-ED
(European People’s Party-European Democrats, of which we are allied
members) Group Meeting there was a rather moving moment.
The President of the Group made a speech of tribute to Nicholas,
Lord Bethell, to mark his retirement from Parliament due to ill-health and
record his achievements while presenting the Schumann Medal. During his time, Nick did great things in the human rights
field, in opening up air travel within Europe and, most topical right now,
in fighting for the interests of Gibraltar.
There was a standing ovation in front of his wife Bryony and
8-year-old son, John, that was well deserved.
THE ROLE OF COORDINATOR........
I then attended a working dinner for new entrant country observers to
the Parliament along with two fellow Co-ordinators for EPP-ED members on
the Culture Committee and the Social Affairs & (Un)Employment
Committee for us to explain our role and discuss issues relevant to our
committees. Co-ordinators
sound rather sinister but our role is a combination of whip, leader and
spokesman.
.........
IS INFLUENTIAL
We deal with the attribution of Reports between groups and then within
our own group to individual members.
We are responsible for determining the Group position on any issue,
for the voting lists and for getting our members to attend for votes.
It is quite an influential role within the Parliament.
UNGUARDED MOMENT
On Wednesday, as I walk in to the Parliament (my one period of fresh air
all day) I notice there are no French police or soldiers outside the
American Consulate for the first time since 9/11 two years ago.
During the day, when I am not doing MID stuff, I have some other
meetings including ones with representatives from BNFL and FORATOM
(British Nuclear Fuels and the European umbrella organisation for the
nuclear industry) about the nuclear package of directives on safety,
de-commissioning and waste disposal which is going through our Committee
right now.
DANISH
BLUE (OR TOO MUCH HOT AIR)
In the evening, I attend a
dinner debate on CO2 Sequestration and Storage Underground held by the
European Energy Foundation, of which I am a long-standing Vice-President
and active member. This is
one of the ways we can reduce CO2 (carbon dioxide – greenhouse gas
widely viewed as responsible for global warming) emissions.
It was pretty serious stuff most of the time, but there was one
rather sublime moment when a Danish representative from industry said, in
English, “if you’ll excuse my French”, before using some fairly
blunt Anglo-Saxon style words. Well,
I thought it was amusing, but my French neighbour was left rather bemused
by it all.
WHAT MY RIGHT ARM’S FOR
On Thursday, we had a marathon voting session starting with the Budget
from 11 am until 1pm. The
President told us it amounted to some 750 votes and, regardless of whether
you are sticking you arm in the air or reaching for the electronic voting
buttons, it is still quite a few votes to cram into two hours. We
certainly made up for lighter voting sessions earlier in the week.
|
