Column October 2006

Published on Sun 1st Oct 2006

October has proved to be an incredibly busy month, starting with an EU Structural Funds Forum in Glasgow and ending up with a meeting with Scottish Bishops in Edinburgh.

Between these, in week 1, it was to Brussels for Fisheries and Regional Development Committees, a meeting with the President of the Law Society of Scotland, video conferences with COSLA and Shetland Islands Council. The end of the week was back in Edinburgh, attending a talk on energy policy and meeting with Oxfam, including a representative of Malawi Farmers Union.

The following Monday meant Glasgow office work, then a flight to Brussels to chair a discussion on structural funding for MPs from countries in the process of joining the EU, group meetings, a full session of the Parliament - the issues of most interest to Scotland were animal welfare and safeguards for the soft fruit industry - and the closing session of the week of the Regions and the Cities. Friday was a home day, writing a talk on the Parliament for early November, and Saturday to Dunfermline for our party conference.

Week 3 began like week 2, with an office morning and a departure to Brussels (although this time my case got mislaid en route) for group meetings. Then, come Wednesday afternoon, it was off to the North East of Scotland, via various delayed and cancelled flights. This was to accompany the Fisheries Commissioner, Joe Borg and Ross Finnie, our Minister for the Environment and Rural Development, in their discussions with fisheries interests in Aberdeen, Shetland and Stornoway.

I stayed on an extra night in Lewis to meet various people involved in sustainability projects, from growing organic food to water powered electricity, with luckily enough spare time to buy the black pudding that was my passport home.

The fourth and final October week is a Strasbourg week, with the main topic of specific interest to Scotland that of agricultural funding, but a range of other matters from breast cancer to climate change under discussion as well. Then one of my fellow Scots MEPs is hosting a meeting of the EU Fire Sprinkler Forum, highlighting how Scotland is at the forefront of installing sprinklers in its public buildings. Come Saturday night I shall be glad of that extra hour of sleep with the clocks going back.