All Things European

So here I am, sitting in on an environment committee in the EU Parliament.
It’s been an interesting day, some parts tedious, the highlight has to be meetig Roger Helmer MEP.
The day kicked off early with an introduction from a spokesman from the EU Commission. He spoke about the work of the commission, claiming that the only democratic deficit in the EU is that of the low turnout at elections. Nothing about the commission making many of the decisions whilst not being an elected body!
After that we moved off to the Scottish office where we heard from a completely bipartisan civil servant who said her job was to push for ways that would see Scotland as a viable independent member state of the EU. so, basically we are paying for nationalists to promote Scottish independence as a viable option. This is exactly why so many dislike the EU!
The other aspect that has struck me most is the amount of offices. Brussels is just rammed full of offices with a distinct lack of eating places as the staff all get food on expenses.
We’ve now left the aforementioned committee and we are now off to meet the Conservative spokesman for agriculture.
This evening we are having a meal with Struan Stevenson MEP and then we return to the mother land tomorrow morning.
The whole point of the trip is clearly to get us thinking that the EU isn’t such a bad thing, but I’m pleased to report it’s done nothing but strengthen my position on it all.