Column September 2008

Published on Sun 28th Sep 2008

September has been an unusual month as, normally, we would expect to go to Strasbourg twice. Instead we have held both of our plenary (or full) sessions in Brussels. Although repairs have now been done to the ceiling in the Strasbourg debating chamber, other rooms are of similar construction. So a thorough safety check is being insisted on before we return.

Business has, though, proceeded as usual. Indeed, without the hassle of additional travel, we all seem to be less stressed than usual at this time of year. All to the good, for - from the situation in Georgia to the credit crunch - there have been plenty of issues to contend with.

For instance, we have dealt with a wide variety of reports in the course of the two sessions, including ones on obesity, maritime safety, animal cloning and gender equality. Further important debates covered patient mobility in the EU and rising energy costs.

And, of course, our committee work goes on. In Regional Development we have been looking into the idea of territorial cohesion, on which we are expecting a Green Paper from the Commission. Placed alongside the allied goals of economic and social cohesion, this is expected to be about the basis for developing common objectives and common policy tools for areas that have the same or similar geographical characteristics.

Fisheries has been busy, too, with a hearing on the relations between fishers and scientists and a major conference on aquaculture. With the decrease in wild stocks, we are likely to become more and more dependent on farmed fish in our diets but the concern is to make sure that these are produced sustainably from both the environmental and economic points of view. The fisheries theme continued into the last days of September, with a committee delegation to Greece to look at small scale coastal fishing off some of the islands.

In between this and the time spent in Brussels, I managed to go to our party conference in Bournemouth and to attend other meetings in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness. So, even without Strasbourg, it has certainly been another month where planes and trains have figured largely in my life.