Find out how Fiona spends her week

Monday

One of my daughters has a new job in Brussels and moved into my flat over the weekend. So the first task of the day is to buy a television - and discover that only one of all those on display has a legible energy rating label! Then into the office for a round of meetings with lobbyists on everything from malaria vaccine to the Commissionīs Green Paper on Energy Efficiency. I mentioned the TV.

Tuesday

A varied day starting with the ALDE (European Libs and Dems) working group, where ALDE members meet in a smaller group to discuss specific policy areas, and then report back to the whole group. We then had our weekly meeting of LDEPP, the Lib Dem European Parliamentary Party, to discuss the following week's plenary agenda. Inevitably we also spent some time mulling over the dramatic events in the party over the previous weekend!

Wednesday

ALDE group meeting in the morning, but the afternoon and evening were focussed on energy issues. I met with the rapporteur (report writer) and my fellow "shadows" from the different political groups to discuss a report on Heating and Cooling from Renewable Energy Sources. Several dozen amendments have been tabled, many on broadly similar lines, so hopefully we will find some compromise wordings between the groups. In the evening a debate hosted by Shell about long-term energy policy - "Visions of the Future" - proved to be hard going at the end of a long day, in a crowded room with poor acoustics, but the hefty handout full of vital statistics made it worthwhile. 

Thursday

Filling in for an absent French colleague, I negotiated with the other political groups on a text on Development and Disability linked to an oral question to the Commission next week. On a matter closer to home, I had a chat with a contact in  the Durham-Tees Valley Joint Strategy Unit about the implications of the EU budget deal on the North East. Following the December agreement in the Council there is still a part of the budget process to go, as the  European Parliament has its say and may refuse its assent.

Friday

After catching up in the Durham office during the morning, I meet up with Newcastle City Councilīs  international policy office to check on whether we are delivering on our plan to get better liaison between council and MEPs on European matters. We both think we have established a good link but have ideas for taking things further. Then I manage a drink (tea!) with the political correspondent  of the Newcastle Evening Chronicle, who is  keen to know who I will be supporting as future leader of the Lib Dems. I genuinely havenīt decided yet, and run through the very different plus points of the four candidates. I intend to remain a floating voter until Iīve had a one-to-one chat with each of them.