What Sharon Did Last Week (7th - 11th March)
What Sharon did last week (7-11 March)
On Monday, Sharon travelled from the UK to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, leaving at 6.45am to arrive early afternoon.
She attended the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Group meeting, chaired by the leader of the Group, Guy Verhofstadt. Under discussion was the situation in Libya, and the upcoming vote in Plenary on the report on Innovative Financing at a Global and European level. Sharon intervened to question the logic of implementing a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) at European level if it was deemed that Global level wouldn´t work. She was in favour of the amendment which called for further examination of the impact of introducing an FTT at European level.
Sharon then went to a meeting of the ALDE members of the Economics and Monetary Affairs Committee (known as ALDE ECON), where the ALDE coordinator Sylvie Goulard presented upcoming reports and opinions which will require a shadow, i.e. a Member of ALDE to closely follow the dossier on behalf of the Group. As chair of the committee Sharon follows everything but she also does her share of formal shadowing for the Group as well.
Sharon then attended the UK Liberal Democrats meeting. Items on the agenda included changing the Strasbourg plenary calendar for next year. Under the Treaty the Parliament has to meet in Strasbourg 12 times a year, which means in the Autumn having to go twice in one month to make up for the August recess. It is not in the Parliament's power to get out of going to Strasbourg but on this occasion an attempt was being made to change the calendar in the 'double month' and hold two plenary sessions back to back, making one week count as two sessions. This would at least cut out one costly trip to Strasbourg. Attempts to do this in the past have failed, this time a secret ballot was being held which it was thought would increase support. Also discussed was how to vote on Innovative Financing the following day, campaigning for the AV referendum in the UK and updating the UK Lib Dem website.
Sharon then Chaired the ECON Committee (7pm - 9pm) at which they voted on short selling, which is selling shares or other financial instruments which are not owned but which will then be found in order to fulfill the order. (A bit like ordering and paying for a book which is only then sourced from a warehouse). The issue is controversial and some EU wide rules are being made. There were 68 compromise amendments voted, including many of Sharon's amendments, but Sharon and ALDE were not happy with the final result on 11 of them and voted against at the end, but the majority voted it through. Sharon believes that some of the restrictions would be damaging to the markets, one amendment risking making it more expensive to raise sovereign debt. The next stage will be negotiation with the Council in 'trialogue' once they have agreed their position. The EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, Olli Rehn, then joined the Committee to have a discussion on Economic Governance and in his speech he praised the amendments from Sharon introducing emphasis on the single market and in his replies to questions said the Commission was backing lower interest rates, another issue on which Sharon has been a leading protagonist since the start of the rescue mechanisms.
On Tuesday, Sharon and a few ECON MEPs had a breakfast meeting with EU Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union, Audit and Anti-Fraud, Algirdas Semeta, to discuss various tax issues on which the Commission is working.
Sharon and the rapporteurs on the Economic Governance package then had a meeting with EP President Buzek to discuss the latest positions and the inter-institutional interaction with the Council and the forthcoming Eurozone summit.
Sharon then chaired the ECON Coordinators meeting, at which representatives from the Secretariat and ECON coordinators deal with the administration issues. On this occasion an update on economic governance was also included. They also allocated rapporteurships on new dossiers to specific groups, discussed how to make best use of speaking time in Committee given the enormous workload, and the timings of the upcoming hearings of the candidates for the European Supervisory Authorities´ Executive Director positions.
Sharon then went to the Hemicycle to vote, on the way doing a European Parliament TV interview on the upcoming Eurozone summit. Unfortunately the vote on Innovative Financing went against the ALDE line, and a report (not legislation) suggested that a FTT should be introduced at European level if it was not done internationally. Sharon had wanted the amendment that required an impact assessment first.
Sharon then went to the Conference of Committee Chairs, where all the Chairs of Committees get together to discuss upcoming issues and inter-committee and inter-institutional matters. She had to leave this meeting early to get back to Plenary as she had speaking time on the debate on the upcoming Eurozone Summit (Friday 11 March). In her speech Sharon drew attention to the interconnection of sovereign debt and banks, and in particular the weakness of German banks, which is why they too needed the rescue mechanisms. Sharon then met with the Austrian Permanent Representative (the Austrian EU Ambassador) to discuss Economic Governance.
She then had an interview with Danish channel TV Europa on several aspects of financial regulation, before meeting with Sir Kim Darroch, the UK Permanent Representative. Sharon had dinner with the French Banking Federation, where she spoke about the latest work of the ECON Committee and the new bank capital rules that are under preparation.
On Wednesday, Sharon started her day at 8.30 with the debate in Plenary on Libya at which High Representative Cathy Ashton was speaking. Sharon spoke at the subsequent debate on Amending the Treaty in order to incorporate the Permanent Stability Mechanism brought in as a result of the economic crisis. Sharon indicated that the Treaty change had to be flexible enough to allow development of the rescue funds and pointed out again that interest rates must be sustainable.
She then voted at Plenary, including on the proposal to amend the Strasbourg calendar, which was a secret ballot to allow MEPs to vote more freely. The vote went through, so we are one step closer to reducing the number of times MEPs and their staff have to travel from Brussels to Strasbourg per year.
Sharon then attended an ALDE ECON lunch at which Economic Governance and the European Supervisory Authority (ESA) hearings were the topics for discussion. Sharon then returned to her office for a meeting with international French accountancy firm Mazars to discuss audit policy. She then had her regular monthly meeting with EU Commissioner for Internal Market and Financial Services Michel Barnier to discuss the latest on current financial services issues and the ESA hearings. Sharon then had a meeting with MEP Sven Giegold to discuss the issue of double non-taxation (tax loopholes where different tax rules in different countries give rise to excessive cumulative tax avoidance), and whether Sharon would consider opening up a 'recast' directive of a directive in new sections.
She then went to see Guy Verhofstadt to share ideas on the Economic Governance package, and have their regular catch up. Sharon then had dinner with fellow Lib Dem MEP, Liz Lynne.
On Thursday, Sharon did a phone interview with Risk Magazine on risk weighting for sovereign bonds, and then with French daily paper La Tribune on Economic Governance. She then worked on amendments for the regulation on OTC derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories with her assistant, Constance. Sharon then went to the Hemicycle to vote on the Media Law in Hungary, and the EU approach towards Iran; and afterwards, she took the train back to Brussels.
On Friday, Sharon participated in a high level roundtable and Q & A session at the Eurostat's annual conference entitled "Statistics for Policymaking - Europe 2020", moderated by Director General of EUROSTAT, Walter Radermacher and attended by 400 statisticians from national statistical offices. She discussed cooperation and responsibilities of the main stakeholders, the role of official statistics in producing indicators, and the role of the European Statistical System in the mainstream priorities. Sharon emphasised the need for faster statistics for some matters, technical possibilities for real time monitoring of financial transactions and the standardisation of data, which was particularly appreciated by the US participants who were glad to hear that as well as addressing this in keynote speeches (see Sharon's speech to the ECB) Sharon has already started to make enabling amendments to legislation.
She then spent the afternoon working on derivatives amendments, before going to the Eurozone Summit until the early hours of Saturday to hear the latest on EU17´s views on Economic Governance, and give her reaction to the press corps. Sharon did numerous interviews with many commentators observing that Sharon's comments on the single market, interest rates and German banks in connection with Economic Governance are gaining traction. Sharon still considers there is more to do and that the next meeting on 24 March will need more substance. In other areas the Parliament has stronger and better ideas which will be taken forward to the codecision negotiations.
MEP = Member of the European Parliament
ALDE = Liberal and Democrat MEPs from all EU countries (there are 84 in total, of which 12 are from the UK)
ECON = Committee on economic and financial issues which Sharon chairs
ALDE ECON = Meeting for Liberal members of the ECON Committee
ESA = New supervisory authorities being introduced to oversee regulation Europe-wide
ECB = European Central Bank
Trialogue = When representatives of the Parliament, the Commission and the Council (national governments) come together to discuss a piece of legislation