online diary of Richard Corbett MEP

November 2004

Monday 1 November

Can't believe it's November already. Where does the time go?

The weekend has seen some pretty interesting developments in European affairs. First the signing of the new constitution by the 25 prime ministers in Rome. Much pomp and ceremony, of course, but politically it does represent agreement by the 25 governments on the basic rule book they all want to work to in the enlarged EU. Now to the task of explaining this package to the public over the heads of sceptical journalists.

Second is the resignation of Butiglione as candidate Commissioner, followed soon after by the announcement that Udre, the prospective Commissioner from Latvia, has also been withdrawn. This represents a significant victory for the European Parliament, demonstrating its watchdog role on behalf of constituents. It underlines that the European Commission only takes office if it has the confidence of the Parliament. By threatening to withold its vote of confidence, Parliament has secured the removal of two Commissioners who had notably failed to impress during their public confirmation hearings before the parliamentary committees.

Glad to see the House of Commons "House Magazine" has published a full page article by me on the constitution - they all too rarely publish articls by MEPs.

Tuesday 2 November

Get the kids one of the Toblerone bars on special offer at the newsagents (half price if a newspaper is purchased). I used to love Toblerone when I was little, but I am amazed that, all these years later it is unchanged - and still Toblerone rather than Toblertwo or Toblerthree!

Work mainly on Toby's re-vamp of my website and putting the final touches to an "Information Pack" I am publishing on the Constitution.

Wednesday 3 November

Get up at 3.30 a.m. to watch the US Presidential election results come in. Could have left it to much later as the results again go down to a contested count in the last state. Exciting it is, but one wonders about a system where whole states can turn on unbelievably chaotic countng methods. Their campaigning methods are also something I would never want to see here in Europe, with paid advertising (usually short "bites" of negative attacks on opponents) on TV dominating everything - and leaving all candidates for office at the mercy of financial donors needed to pay the vast sums involved in paying for such ads.

Do an interview for Quebec Radio on European perceptions of the result. I predict that another Bush term will increase the divergencies between Europe and America.

Thursday 4 November

Brussels. There are no parliamentary meetings in this "constituency week" (we have three such weeks per year outside of the recess), but I must spend a day with the secretariat and my co-rapporteur going over the 282 amendments that have been tabled to my draft report, working out a position on each one and often drawing up compromise amendments.

Back to Yorkshire in the late afternoon to attend the opening of the new BBC Regional HQ building in Leeds and then go on to do a late meeting in Malton.

Thursday 4 November

Arrive in Leeds and go straight to the opening of the new BBC offices down at Quarry Hill. Myself, Chris Leslie MP and Fabian Hamilton MP are taken on a whistle stop tour of the new studios - very impressive set up. But I can't help feeling disappointed in one sense: previously the BBC Leeds offices were about 500 yards down the road from my office, which was very handy indeed!

Leave before the speeches in order to drive up to Malton, to a meeting of Ryedale CLP. I report back on what has been happening in the Parliament in the last couple of months - including more recent events such as what was happening with the proposed Commission and the signing of the constitution.

Finally get a bite to eat at about 10pm.

Friday 5 November

This morning up bright and early to drive to the farm of Mike Blacker, member of the NFU, in North Yorkshire. There I meet up with my colleague, Terry Wynn MEP, member of the Agriculture Committee in the European Parliament and other NFU and British Sugar representatives.

Part of Mike's crop is sugar beet and we take to the fields to see the harvesting of the crop in action. This is an incredibly high tech operation on a machine costing £¼ million. 'Precision farming' means that soil samples are taken on a grid system measured by geo-positioning satellites, so that the farmer knows the condition of the land. It can then be treated, if necessary, according to the crop it has been or will be growing.

Even the cows don't escape the new technology. The farm has an automatic milking system whereby, if the cow gets a bit fed up carrying around all this milk underneath, she decides herself to head off to the milking shed. Daisy is then milked with no human intervention, has a snack while in there, and then goes back out to the fields. The cows like the system so much they go to the milking shed about three times a day! And, if Daisy doesn't turn up for milking that day, the system sends a text message to the farmer to say so.

After the farm, we drive to the British Sugar factory in York, which has a very distinctive aroma during harvest time!

We learn of the process that a raw crop of sugar beet goes through to end up as the sparkling white crystals on our breakfast table. Here we discuss the EU sugar regime and how its reform affects different member states. British Sugar are very environmentally aware, being incredibly careful to recycle as much as possible in the process - even down to the different sized stones that are collected from the beet during the cleaning process.

It's amazing how clued-up they are about the EU, even using its jargon! They are, however, worried about how CAP reform will affect them and the 20,000 jobs at stake in Britain.

I have to leave the discussion early to travel over to Scarborough. The trade union Amicus has arranged a debate on the constitution at which I am the 'for' speaker, and former Labour minister Eric Deakins is the 'anti' speaker. After the debate, they vote with a majority in favour of the constitution.

My niece, her husband and baby arrive to stay the weekend. They are attending the christening of a friend's baby in Bingley so it makes sense to stay at mine in Saltaire.

Saturday 6 November

Up early again to drive back to York. We are holding our annual Labour Party European Regional Policy Forum in the Guildhall. Stella Guy, Regional Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, chairs the session, with Linda McAvan MEP and myself opening the plenary session by raising important legislation that will be debated in the European Parliament over the next few years. We also highlighted the recent events with the European Commission and the issue of the constitution.

Our guest speaker is Professor Juliet Lodge, Director of the Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence in the University of Leeds. Professor Lodge is an expert on EU affairs.

Then back to Saltaire to have a bite with my niece and her family.

Monday 8 November

Brussels. We manage to race through the EPLP meeting in record time, which enables me to join a visiting Yorkshire GMB delegation for dinner in the old town of Brussels where I devour a pot of mussels and resist the temptation to go drinking with the delegation afterwards.

Tuesday 9 November

Meet with Gerry Sutcliffe, Bradford MP and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment Relations, to discuss the proposed revisions of the Working Time Directive and the Temporary Agency Workers Directive. There is still considerable divergence between the government and trade unions on these matters.

Give a talk to the "Full Employ" group visiting Parliament to learn more about the EU institutions.

Lunchtime sandwiches with Steven Fothergill of the Alliance for Regional Aid on the proposed reform of state aid rules and how this would impact on the regions, not least Yorkshire.

I meet up again with the visiting GMB delegation to give them a briefing on the European Parliament and current issues we are facing.

In the afternoon I go around the corner to the building of the European Economic and Social Committee to speak at a public hearing with a wide variety of non-governmental organisations. The building is one that was used many years ago by the European Parliament, but has since been refurbished and is virtually unrecognisable. Its meeting rooms are also equipped to a far higher standard than those of Parliament!

The subject of the hearing is my report on the EU constitution. It goes well - most of the voluntary and community organisations, development aid NGOs, social NGOs, environmental NGOs and so on are strongly supportive of the proposed new constitution which they see as a distinct improvement on the current treaties.

Representing Hungarian NGOs is Miklós Barabas, whom I last met some 23 years ago when he was Secretary General of the World Federation of Democratic Youth - the Communist Youth International. At the time I was Secretary General of the European Co-ordination Bureau of International Non-Governmental Youth and Student Organisations of western Europe and, following the Helsinki Agreement, we had to try and negotiate east-west youth exchanges across the Iron Curtain. It was the period of detente and the start of the process of opening up Eastern Europe. It's so strange to see him now in a completely different world! He inquires about others who were once involved with me in this process: Charles Clarke, Peter Mandelson, Tom Shebeare, Jo Leinen, and others. How things have moved on!

Quick meeting of the Socialist Group Bureau and co-ordinators which I leave early to join Beverley artist Gary Sargeant. Gary is the famous blind artist whose works have come to national and international attention.

Last year I had hosted in the Parliament an exhibition of his work, both to give a boost to this famous Yorkshire artist and to mark European Year of the Disabled. As a result of this, Parliament had decided to purchase one of his works to hang permanently in the Parliament and this evening was the formal unveiling of this work by the President of Parliament, Josep Borrell.

We go to the top of the Parliament building, under the dome, for a reception and ceremony marked by an excellent speech by the President who had clearly taken the trouble to familiarise himself with Gary's work and history. He mentioned the lovely quote from Michael Angelo to the effect that a work of art begins in the mind of an artist: Michael Angelo had said of his sculptures that the sculpture was already there in the block of marble, and all he needed to do was chip away the surplus stone.

Finally, to end a long day, I go to the Solidar dinner where the silver awards were being presented to worthy non-governmental organisations. This year's winners included Narodna Dopomoha (Peoples Aid - Ukraine), Graca Nachel, the National League for Democracy in Burma and Tom Bentetollo, the recently deceased President of ARCI, the Italian Recreation and Culture Association. Neil and Glenys Kinnock are there and there is much teasing of them for the peerage recently announced for Neil and his fellow departing Commissioner, Chris Patten.

I resist the temptation to bid in an auction for a copy of the new EU constitution signed by fifty prominent socialist members of the convention that drafted it.

Wednesday 10 November

After some early morning press interviews, I spend the bulk of the day in the Socialist Group meeting which, in part, discusses my draft report on the constitution. The group wants to take a formal position on the constitution ahead of the vote on my report in committee and, as it turns out, ahead of an important meeting of the French Socialist Party that afternoon in Paris.

I am delighted as the Group endorses the constitution unanimously (minus three abstentions from the minority of French socialists who oppose the constitution, but with not a single member voting against). The endorsement of the constitution by all of Europe's socialist parties should give the lie to those, such as the Centre for a Social Europe in Britain, who claim that the constitution is a right-wing conspiracy.

Over the lunch break, meet Paul Murphy, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, who gives the EPLP a confidential briefing on the latest developments there. He also underlines how important the European Union has been to the development of the peace process and for the economic regeneration of Northern Ireland. It's therefore extremely odd that their three current MEPs (from Sinn Fein, Ian Paisley's DUP and the Ulster Unionists) are all eurosceptic. What a shame John Hume has retired!

End the day with the all-party anti-racism intergroup event.

Thursday 11 November

Armistice Day marking the end of the First World War. In many European countries this is a public holiday, but in Britain we only celebrate it on the following Sunday. I always find it a moving occasion and a poignant reminder of why we have built the European Union.

Friday 12 November

In London ahead of my speech tomorrow at the Progress conference. Take the family and visit the Tate Modern Museum and go in the evening to see the Phantom of the Opera. It is the first time I have ever been to a West End theatre, but Anne and the children enjoy it thoroughly.

Saturday 13 November

Speak (with Denis McShane, Minister for Europe) to the Progress Conference at TUC headquarters on the subject of the constitution. Lively audience which gets a bit impatient when Denis's speech continues for longer than allocated, but a good discussion afterwards.

Later that day bump into some familiar faces from Shipley as I walk past Marble Arch. It's a small world!

Monday 15 November

Off to Strasbourg for the Parliament session.

After the Socialist Group meeting is the opening of the Parliament session. Nigel Farage of UKIP gets up in the plenary to speak in favour of the extreme right Vlaams Blok party. This party has just been condemned by the Courts in Belgium for inciting racism and has now decided to adopt new statutes and a new name "Vlaams Belang" - the "Flemish Interest".

Mr Farage wrongly claims that the Vlaams Blok was "banned" by the Belgian Courts and then goes on to make the preposterous claim that this is a first step towards seeing parties across Europe being banned for criticising the European Union! He sees a conspiracy theory involving the EU even when a national court applying national law simply ensures that political parties respect the law.

Later, I have another meeting with the President of the Parliament to look at the administration's plans to mark the adoption of my report on the constitution next month. Apparently they envisage a special concert in Strasbourg of the European Youth Orchestra. Also, Strasbourg's school children want to release several thousand blue balloons as Parliament votes on the new constitution!

Off to dinner with Chris Pond, Minister for Work and Pensions, who is in the Parliament for meetings with members.

The key issue in Parliament this week is the approval of the European Commission following the changes to the Commission brought about by our refusal to endorse them last month. President-designate Barroso has made some changes to his team, replacing the controversial Rocco Buttiglione with Frattani, the Italian Foreign Minister, and Latvian nominee Udre with another one called Piebalgs. He has also re-shuffled other portfolios.

This entails new public hearings of the two new candidates and the re-shuffled ones which take place this evening and Tuesday morning. I attend the hearing with Frattani, who is certainly an improvement on Buttiglione and gives a smooth assured performance.

Tuesday 16 November

The public hearings continue in the morning. In the afternoon I go to a meeting of the constitutional committee with the Dutch minister who currently chairs the EU Council who explains to us what is happening as regards ratification plans for the constitution in different countries.

Lithuania has jumped the gun and already ratified the constitution without waiting for the European Parliament to vote next month and therefore without the benefit of reading my report. Quite how they could manage without this I don't know (!).

In the evening, a dinner of Socialist members of the Constitutional Committee. They examine the compromise amendments I have drafted to take account of their various amendments to my report and in general are quite satisfied. Instead, the discussion turns to the situation in the French Socialist party. In turn, my Spanish, Italian, German and Greek colleagues, as well as myself, turn on Pervenche Beres, a French Socialist opponent of the constitution (who had previously been a fervent supporter, but who changed her mind once Laurent Fabius, in whose faction of the French Socialist party she sits, had come out against it!) and tear her to shreds.

Wednesday 17 November

Morning meeting with the lovely Francesca Rotti, Parliament's Director General for Press and Information, on what they are doing regarding the press coverage of my report on the constitution.

Then to a meeting of the all-party Rugby League Group chaired by my friend and colleague Terry Wynn MEP. I am elected Secretary of the Group, but on the understanding that I will hand over this role when we find a non-brit who is willing to do it!

In the Chamber I am approached by a new MEP who I don't recognise and who had a suggestion that she wanted to put to me on amending the European Parliament's rules of procedure. She explained the change to me with passion and charm, but I am glad I resisted the temptation to invite her to explain it to me over dinner when I discover that she is, in fact, Alessandra Mussolini, a grand daughter of Il Duce! She sits in Parliament as an independent, like Robert Kilroy Silk who has left the UKIP group.

The President of the European Court of Auditors presents their annual report to the European Parliament having audited the EU's books for the year 2003.

I am astonished by some of the press releases put out on this by the Conservatives who claim that the Court of Auditors have yet again found the EU's accounts to be out of order.

I therefore read very carefully what the Court of Auditors report actually says:

"The Court considers that the operations underlying the consolidated accounts of the European Communities are, as a whole, legal and regular as far as the revenue, commitments and administrative expenditure are concerned". - In other words, everything that the European Commission is responsible for managing has been found to be in order. Indeed, the Court specifically noted "the progress made by the Commission as regards the reform of its internal control system and the positive impact of this reform on the legality and regularity of the transactions subject to direct management by the Commission".

Where it transpires that the Court of Auditors is unhappy was as regards expenditure of European monies by national governments in five different areas. It says that "in the case of Structural Measures, owing to persistent weaknesses at member state level in systems for supervising and controlling the implementation of the EU budget, payments were still affected by the same types of error occurring with the same frequency as in previous years". The "errors" are largely procedural or to do with accounting systems rather than fraud, as not a single case of fraud is found anywhere in the Court's report.

In other words, the reforms brought in by Neil Kinnock seem to be working - and the remaining criticisms are directed not so much at the EU institutions but at member states.

Not that you would believe this if you read the Conservative press releases and some of the media coverage that has been given to this. Let me make one prediction: there will be no change in the propaganda of the eurosceptics, who keep on claiming that 95% of the EU budget is subject to fraud and that the auditors have never signed off the EU's accounts as being in order.

Off to the EPLP to discuss the proposed Services Directive and to meet with Commissioner-designate Peter Mandelson. We also have a discussion on my report on the constitution, which the EPLP fully endorses.

In the evening the Socialist Group debates its definitive position on the Barroso Commission, as modified, and following the hearings of the new members. The French Socialists still do not want to endorse the new Commission and propose, as a compromise, that the Group as a whole should abstain. They obtain support from some Italian, Greek and a few Dutch members, but at the end of a long debate the Group decides by a majority of nearly 3 to 1 to endorse the Commission.

After that, rush off to a late night goodbye dinner for Peter Coleman, the Secretary General of the EPLP who is retiring. Peter started working for the Labour Party at the age of 18 and met his wife, Dorothy, at a Young Socialist function. He has been a Regional Organiser, a national Director and, for the last seven years, Secretary General for the Labour MEPs office. Extremely knowledgeable and experienced, calm and unflappable in any crisis, Peter's advice and organisational skills have been an indispensable asset to the EPLP. His will be a hard act to follow.

Thursday 18 November

Morning meeting with the Japanese Ambassador to the EU who is an articulate and entertaining fellow, full of ideas on EU - Japan co-operation.

Then to the final vote on the Barroso Commission. Following a final speech by Barroso and the leaders of the political groups, Parliament votes to give its confidence to the new Commission.

In the round of speakers from each political group, Mr Farage speaks for the Independence and Democracy Group that UKIP belongs to, together with a far-right Polish party. Instead of confining his remarks to political matters, Farage makes a personalised individual attack on a whole string of Commissioners, throwing all kinds of accusations around. This causes much unease across the political spectrum with one member likening UKIP's tactics to those of British football hooligans. UKIP are clearly going to do nothing for Britain's reputation!

I then go off to do interviews for Sky News, BBC One, BBC World Service, local radio and the French Antenne 2 television. In general I argue that this whole episode on the Commission has been good for democracy. It shows that the European Commission is not a set of unaccountable bureaucrats but a political executive that can only enjoy office if it has the confidence of the Parliament that has been elected by citizens. The initial team nominated could not gain the confidence of Parliament, and had to be changed. Those that thought that the Parliamentary vote of confidence was a mere formality were proved wrong. The citizen's watchdog in Brussels actually has both bark and bite!

BBC World Service journalists are surprised that the Conservative MEP they put up to debate this with me actually agreed fully with my analysis. But then the British media is so used to our adversarial style of politics that they assume a Socialist and a Conservative politician will automatically go for each other hammer and tongs. But in fact, despite our policy differences, we were both able to agree on the functioning of democracy at European level.

Friday 19 November

Back in Yorkshire. Straight from the airport to a meeting in Huddersfield with the leader of the Labour Group of Kirklees Council, Cllr Mehboob Khan. Back to the office to go through the constituent cases that have come in and then to Selby in the evening to speak on current European Affairs.

Saturday 20 November

Meet Yorkshire couple who have recently moved to Belgium where he has been made Managing Director of an oil refinery in the port of Antwerp and she is looking for a job, probably in Brussels, to build on her skills in the field of economic development. Like many Brits who move to Belgium, they are over the moon about the culture, the food, the general atmosphere and the health and education systems, but less enamoured of the bureaucratic procedures that newcomers have to go through when they arrive. Both are already making considerable progress in learning Dutch!

Monday 22 November

Brussels. Start the day with an interview with a Polish journalist who seems to have followed the details of my report on the European Constitution in greater depth than the entire British press corps added together!

Lunch with Dorothy Smith, who is returning soon to London, having ably represented the interests of British Telecom in Brussels for as long as anyone can remember. They will be hard pressed to find anyone as effective as she has been.

After lunch a negotiating session with Andrew Duff MEP who leads the Liberal Democrats on the Constitutional Committee just as I lead the Socialists. Andrew is a very able and knowledgeable member of the Committee who courageously follows a parliamentary career despite a slight speech impediment, which he circumnavigates with a wide and rich choice of vocabulary. We find much common ground, but agree to differ on some points.

Our equivalent of the "House Magazine" in the House of Commons - the "Parliament Magazine", published by the same people - come to see me as they want to do my profile in their December edition and highlight my report on the Constitution. We agree that I will contribute a two-page spread article.

Then another interview, this time with an academic, before going to give a talk to the British School in Brussels who have a group of sixth formers visiting the Parliament.

Tuesday 23 November

Today Yorkshire makes a big impact on the Brussels scene by organising a conference to compare how local and regional authorities in different countries deal with integrating migrants and asylum seekers into their communities. Terry Hodgkinson, Chair of Yorkshire Forward, the Regional Development Agency, and others are over for the event which attracts many participants from regions across Europe: Catalonia, German Länder, Rotterdam, Swedish and Finnish regions and several from Eastern Europe. I particularly like a comment by a Dutch participant who says that, in his country, to avoid using terms like asylum seeker, refugee, economic migrant and so on - each of which have specific legal meanings but each of which is also sometimes loaded politically, they use the term "newcomer" as an all-embracing term for new arrivals in that country. Perhaps we should do the same in Britain?

Then to a meeting with Kathleen Walker-Shaw who runs the GMB office in Brussels. The GMB was the first British trade union to open its own Brussels office (and indeed to set-up its own membership branch there recruiting among the numerous British expats, including the assistants to MEPs) and Kathleen does an excellent job of informing people back home on what is happening in Brussels and in seeking to influence the processes in Brussels.

Later I have a meeting with the World Wildlife Fund on the Commission's REACH proposals on registering and evaluating dangerous chemicals which they strongly support and indeed would like to feel strengthened when the proposal comes before Parliament.

Wednesday 24 November

7am interview with Radio Leeds on how MEPs can (sometimes) help British citizens facing or bringing legal proceedings in other countries, notably after tragic accidents, I then go to meet a visiting group from Leeds Met University who are in the Parliament today. Then another talk, this time to Britain's Industry and Parliament Trust, before meeting up with Terry Hodgkinson, the Chair of Yorkshire Forward. I also show him around the Parliament a little bit, taking him to a committee meeting and then to a briefing by MEPs by UKRep - the UK Embassy to the European Union.

Afternoon meeting of the Civil Liberties Committee which I take Lucy Shackleton, who is shadowing me for the afternoon, along to.

Thursday 25 November

An all-day hearing of NGOs, social partners, local authorities etc on the subject of my report on the European Constitution.

John Monks for the ETUC, his counterpart from the European employers organisation (the British affiliate of which is the CBI), representatives of local authorities and regional government across Europe and all kinds of NGOs: social, environmental, development, women's organisations, Amnesty International and so on, as well as representatives from the churches - every single one of them has reached the conclusion that the new Constitution is, as regards their particular concerns at least, an improvement on the current treaties.

Some limit themselves to commenting on their particular field whereas others give a more global endorsement of the new Constitution. Nonetheless it is significant is that not a single one of them considers the Constitution to be a step backwards or even merely the status quo from their particular perspective. The result does not surprise me. Whenever I discuss Europe, even in Britain, there is a marked difference between people who are actually engaged and involved in public affairs in one way or another - through local government, a chamber of commerce, a trade union, an NGO or whatever - and those who are not. The former tend, on the whole, to know at least something about the European Union and tend to be positive about it. The latter, to the extent that they have heard of the EU, have had their information from the tabloids and tend to be against. There are, of course, exceptions in both categories, but the general trend is unmistakable.

During the lunch break of the hearings the Chairman of the Committee, Jo Leinen and my co-rapporteur, Inigo Mendez de Vigo, have lunch with Margot Wallström, the first Vice-President of the Commission who is responsible for communicating Europe and is the Commission's spokesperson on the Constitution. Inigo immediately orders a bottle of Beaujolais nouveau. The rest of us do not usually drink at lunchtime, but his enthusiasm got the better of us and we allowed ourselves a glass. Discussion quickly turned to lifestyles - which countries drink wine at lunch and which don't and who eats what and when. The Spanish are notorious for having their evening meal very late and Inigo confirmed that he himself never goes to sleep before one in the morning - but is still up at seven like the rest of us. How do the Spanish do it? Traditionally they had a post lunch siesta, but this has fallen into disuse in recent years. They seem to get by on six hours sleep a night, every night - though Inigo admitted to having catnaps on the plane twice a week during the two and a half hour flight between Brussels and Madrid.

Are catnaps any use? Opinion is divided, but Jo Leinen recalled when he was a student and he had to interview Sicco Mansholt, then the President of the European Commission, for his student newspaper. Mansholt arrived and said that he needed to have a ten-minute sleep before he could answer any questions and proceeded to doze off in an armchair while Jo waited. After exactly ten minutes, he woke up asking "so what's your first question then?" and was fully alert. It obviously works for some!

Friday 26 November

Fly back to Leeds-Bradford and go straight to Bradford Girls' Grammar School to talk to the Sixth Form. Lively bunch, good questions and a high level of knowledge about the EU.

One question about languages got me thinking about how English has, over the last fifteen years, with successive enlargements of the EU, become the lingua franca used in the lifts, corridors and bars of all the European institutions. Fifteen years ago that would have been French, but English is now by far the dominant language. This would all change immediately if Britain were to leave the EU as some British nationalists advocate. A good example of ultra nationalism shooting itself in the foot.

In the evening off to Liverpool to give a keynote speech at a meeting on the EU Constitution. For me it was partly a nostalgia trip as many old friends came to the meeting. It was strikng to see posters all over the city advertising the fact that Liverpool is to be European Capital of Culture in 2008 - a huge opportunity for the city which they seem intent to make the most of. And everywhere in the town, signs of economic regeneration, new buildings, new developments, new hotels, new everything. Much of it, of course, due to assistance through EU regional fund and social fund, for which Merseyside has the highest level of targeting, Objective 1 - as does South Yorkshire, albeit more recently.

Saturday 27 November

To Habib's restaurant in Bradford for a private get-together to mark the engagement of Chris Leslie MP and his fiancée, Nicola. Mr Mobin Khan, a notable party member in Shipley and his Bollywood film star wife hosted the event attended by many party members and others from across the area. The happy couple are due to marry in Westminster in February, so we hope that the speculation about an early General election in February is just that - idle press speculation.

Sunday 28 Novemeber

Ann, my wife has decided to do something about the notoriously unhealthy lifestyle of MEPs. Spending most of one's time in meetings, at the office, or on planes, trains and automobiles is not conducive to fitness and is very bad for the back, where readers of this blog will know I had sciatica problems earlier this year.

So off we go to the fitness centre where we sign on for a programme of weekly exercises which will no doubt help stave off the zimmer frame for a few more years.

In the evening, ploughing through emails and correspondence, I see that one eurosceptic has written to accuse me of being a "homophobic satanist". The logic is, apparently, that I failed to resign my seat in the European Parliament when Buttiglione was proposed as a Commissioner (therefore I condone his homophobia) and yet simultaneously, by opposing Buttiglione's appointment, I am opposed to men of strong religious beliefs and therefore I must be a satanist! Comprendra qui voudra...

Monday 29 November

Today and tomorrow is the meeting of the Constitutional Affairs Committee to discuss and vote on my report on the Constitution. At 10am I meet my co-rapporteur, Inigo Mendez de Vigo, to go through the amendments that have been tabled and to do some fine-tuning of the compromise amendments we are introducing to take account of them.

I break off at 12 to speak to a visitors group of academics from Aberdeen University.

The Committee meeting gets underway at 3pm after a brief pre-meeting of the Socialist members which I Chair. Discussions go well, but the vote will be in the morning.

Dinner with Joseph Zych, long-time President of the Polish Parliament who is visiting Brussels. We are joined by Klaus Hänsch, former President of the European Parliament, who when President made an official visit to Poland, including to the small town in Silesia where he was born during the war, when it was part of Germany. The visit had brought thousands of people on to the streets to welcome him. Zych represents that same town in the Polish Parliament and the two have got on famously since then.

Zych too is symbolic of tragedy and renewal in European history. He had somehow survived a Nazi firing squad in which much of his family died and for many years could not bring himself to speak to any German. He movingly described to us how Klaus Hänsch had helped him overcome that and recognise in his heart and not just in his mind how the modern Germany in a reconciled Europe bore no resemblance to its Nazi past.

Tuesday 30 November

8am Breakfast meeting with the FA Premier League. Although the EU competition authorities gave them the ok for their most recent TV deal, they are anxious for the future. They want to preserve their right to market the TV rights to their matches collectively - ensuring redistribution to all clubs - rather than allowing each club to market its own TV rights. I agree, as individual marketing would accentuate still further the concentration of money in the hands of the few top clubs.

Then to the Committee for the final vote on my report on the Constitution. It goes well, with the Committee approving every single one of the compromise amendments I had drafted with my co-rapporteur, Inigo Mendez de Vigo and not a single amendment that we opposed. The final vote was 20 to 3, with the opponents being ex-UKIP MEP Ashley Mote, Democratic Ulster Unionist, Jim Allister and veteran Danish eurosceptic, Jens-Peter Bonde, the latter being the only non-British member to oppose my report. Curiously, neither of the Conservative members of the Committee (Daniel Hannan and Tim Kirkhope) turned up for what was certainly the most important vote of the Committee since the elections.

After the vote, Mendez de Vigo and I, together with the Chairman of the Committee Jo Leinen, hold a press conference, with about thirty packed into the room. During it, Inigo compares the Constitution to a vehicle, helping you to get somewhere but leaving it to the passengers to decide where they want to go. I develop this theme further, arguing that the EU is upgrading from a minibus capable of taking fifteen passengers to a full-size bus, capable of taking twenty-five, with spare seats to allow extra ones to join us. But in upgrading, we want the new, larger bus to have a more powerful motor than the previous minibus but also more safety features - an emergency brake - and more comfortable seats so that all the passengers feel at ease. And, while you're at it, a geo-satellite positioning system with a clear roadmap will help passengers make a more informed choice about their journeys together.

After the press conference I have a meeting with a visiting delegation from the Estonian Parliament who invite me to visit Tallinn to present the European Parliament's position on the Constitution to the European Affairs Committee of the Estonian Parliament. They say that there is a very large majority in favour of the Constitution and that ratification should be assured.

Then to lunch with President Borrell, the Spanish (Catalan) Socialist President of the European Parliament, and four other Labour MEPs. He is anxious to hear our views on a range of matters. Occasionally he has to ask for the meaning of an English expression to be explained to him - but as this is probably the fourth different language he has held a meeting in today, it is actually quite an impressive performance!

After lunch a series of interviews and catching up with paperwork, including press clippings from the French press in which I am widely quoted in the context of the internal debate - with decision day tomorrow - in the French Socialist Party on the Constitution. Indeed, I have been reminded that Laurent Fabius - the leading opponent of the Constitution - had already caused controversy way back in 1990 at the time of the Conference of Parliaments which took place ahead of the negotiations of the Maastricht Treaty. This was probably the only time in history that national parliaments that would eventually be called upon to ratify a treaty, jointly held a conference ahead of their governments' negotiations in order to debate what should be agreed. The conference, in which the European Parliament also participated, adopted a set of recommendations by an overwhelming majority - but with French Socialists from the National Assembly, led by Laurent Fabius, abstaining. This had given rise to an exchange of letters between Fabius and Jean-Pierre Cot, then leader of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, with Fabius already then saying that "his position should not be interpreted as being anti-European, but…". Cot's answer was devastating. Yet the whole exchange could equally well have been written yesterday. Plus ça change...

I am given a 6 inch spruce tree by the European Association of Forest Owners. If I plant it at home, it will provide me with a Christmas tree in 2014! At the same time, they tell me that Europe's forests are actually growing by about two truckloads of wood per second - good news for the environment as, of all ecosystems, forests contain the greatest diversity in terms of species, genetic material and ecological processes as well as sequestrating carbon. Apparently only 8% of Europe's forests are plantation, with the bulk (70%) being "semi-natural", and most (58%) being mixed or broad leaved wood - coniferous forests are mainly in the Nordic countries and mountain areas.

That's one thing I like about this job - you learn something new every day!