What Sharon Did Last Week (10th - 14th October)
Monday
Sharon caught the usual 8.30am eurostar to Brussels, though she arrived later than usual due to a problem in the tunnel. Once in the office, she caught up with some emails and prepared for the afternoon´s meetings.
At 2.30pm, Sharon chaired a meeting of the ECON Committee with candidate for the ECB Executive Board, Jörg Asmussen. The European Parliament takes its responsibility for vetting candidates by means of a hearing very seriously and Mr Asmussen was sent a questionnaire in advance in order to gauge his views on areas such as ECB monetary policy, and its role in banking supervision. The Committee gave the candidate their approval by way of a vote.
At 5pm, Sharon chaired the first trialogue for the EMIR report, which covers derivatives, central clearing houses and trade repositories.
Tuesday
At 8.30am, Sharon and the Vice Chairs of ECON met with President of the ECB, Jean-Claude Trichet, ahead of his hearing with the full Committee, to discuss the eurozone and current state of play.
At 9am, the Committee joined to ask Mr Trichet questions about Greece and the euro in his capacity as President of the European Systemic Risk Board. This was his last appearance in the Parliament as he retires at the end of the month.
At 12.30pm, Sharon took part in a video conference with the House of Lords Subcommittee on Economic and Financial affairs. The Subcommittee was very interested in hearing Sharon´s views on the eurozone crisis, and what the ECON Committee in the EP was already doing, in terms of dialogue with the ECB, and so on.
At 1.30pm, Sharon returned to the office to have a meeting with the Managing Director of Barclays Capital, to discuss US-EU cooperation on economic issues, as well as better links with the Asian markets.
At 3pm, Sharon chaired ECON Committee which began with a hearing on CRD IV with experts invited to give their opinions and have debate with MEPs, and went on to discuss the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB).
At 7pm, Sharon attended a dinner at which Jacques de Larosiere spoke about CRD IV which Sharon found very interesting.
Wednesday
On Wednesday morning Sharon met with Goldman Sachs to discuss CRD IV.
At 10.00, Sharon went to ALDE group where they were discussing the upcoming European Council on the eurozone. After this she returned to the office to work on a plenary speech for later that day.
At 1pm Sharon was interviewed by Sky News on the eurozone crisis alongside Nigel Farage during which Sharon gave her informed - if rather bleak - view of what will happen next.
At 2pm, Sharon met with the Swedish Bankers Association to hear their initial reaction to the CRD IV proposal.
At 3pm, President of the European Commission, Mr Barroso, came to Plenary to present the Commission´s view of how to get out of the eurozone crisis. Sharon listened to the debate and gave her view.
At 7pm, Sharon attended the Conference of Committee Chairs meeting with the College of Commissioners. She raised the issue of long term investment, and what should be done to promote growth.
Thursday
At 8am, Sharon spoke at an event hosted by the British Chamber of Commerce entitled "Danger of Divergence: transatlantic cooperation in finanicial reform".
Once back in the office, Sharon caught up with emails and set to work writing her speech for the evening´s event.
At midday, Sharon went to the hemicycle to vote.
In the afternoon, Sharon and her assistant Siobhán met with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to liaise over the implementation of Solvency II and the development of its amending directive, Omnibus II.
At 5pm, Sharon spoke at an event by EFRAG, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group about the work that they carry out.
Friday
On Friday, Sharon came to the EP briefly for an interview for the BBC Politics Show, to give her opinion on the eurozone crisis.
She then got the eurostar back to London (arriving at the train station in the nick of time!) in order to speak at an event being held in London on post-trade issues, hosted by Peter Norman, which was well-received.
After this, Sharon had a meeting with the Bank of England.