Wednesday 4 June 2008

Day One in the European Parliament



Well, it's been a busy day. First Ian (Hudghton MEP) collected me from my hotel at 9 and we headed over to the European Commission for a meeting with an official from the Sri Lanka desk. We went from there to ...
... the offices where I read up on various matters European before heading into a ...
... committee meeting to observe what was happening in the world of Internal Markets and Consumer Protection.
We had lunch and I caught up with my old mate from my SNP HQ days, Stephen Gethins - he's now doing a grand job for Scotland Europa here in Brussels.
In the afternoon there was the EFA group meeting (EFA being the European Free Alliance, the group to which the SNP MEPs belong) chaired by Ian as their President and then ...
... a photo session in the Hemicycle, the main debating chamber of the Parliament - as you can see I managed to get in on the act!
I then was "forced" to have a couple of Belgian beers in a lovely pavement cafe by fellow Euro candidate Aileen McLeod before we met up with ...
Lily and Ian Hudghton, Lachie Muir (EFA Advisor) and Alyn Smith MEP for a real SNP night out.
We were later joined by Willie Henderson who's another SNP member but out here with colleagues from Glasgow Caledonian University. The three of them are lecturers in International Law. From the conversations we all had over a Belgian beer or three, you'd never know it but as I always say, what happens in Brussels, stays in Brussels till ... it's time to spill the beans ;-)
Anyway it's been a great day, very busy but very useful meetings which I'll talk more about over the coming weeks!

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