I have been reading the first volume of Chris Mullin’s political diary A View From the Foothills, covering his period as a junior minister in the Blair government from 1999 to 2005. I can recommend it – very readable and most instructive about those years. He is usually more benign in his judgements than makes for a good diary. For instance, his view of the prime minister, called ‘The Man’ throughout, is surprisingly benevolent from someone who considered himself from the hard left and voted against the Iraq War. I take issue with a number of his other views, too – for instance, his uncharacteristically unbenevolent description of the Liberal Democrat MEP Baroness Ludford as ‘a venomous Lib Dem peer, who was so worked up that she could hardly bring herself to look at me’ – but what I want to write about is his impression of the European parliament.

On 8 July 2002, he writes: ‘To Brussels in the company of half a dozen members of the select committee … Until now I have managed to avoid Brussels … I last passed this way in the summer of 1969 … All I can recall is a series of underpasses.’ I can assure him that the city has not changed over the last 50 years.

The following day he goes to the European parliament: ‘The parliament building is a gargantuan, soulless monument to powerlessness … Nothing unpremeditated takes place in this building … Has a single memorable speech ever been made in this place?’ His hero, The Man, made one for a start, and a venomous – here I think the description is apt – Tory MEP called Daniel Hannan made another, which went viral on the internet, with over two and a half million views on YouTube, more than can be said for most speeches in the house of commons. And as for nothing unpremeditated taking place, there was always the occasion when Silvio Berlusconi suggested to uproar that a German MEP would be suitable as a concentration camp guard.

Mullin goes on ‘… every few weeks the entire circus decamps from Brussels to another gargantuan, soulless, powerless monstrosity in Strasbourg… ‘ Agreed: the decamping to Strasbourg is horrible, was written into the treaty at the insistence of the French government, and the sooner it ends, the better. ‘And to what end?’ he asks; ‘Nothing, nothing, nothing would tempt me to be a Euro MP.’

This is a little rich from someone who generally bemoans the waste of political life in Westminster in the Blair years, and describes his ministerial career as being the 'minister for folding deckchairs'. He regularly slags off the tabloids – hurray to that – but appears to have imbibed their European attitudes. To newcomers, the place can seem like Babel, with so many people from different countries, and so many languages. But it is healthy to share a lift with citizens from a country against which your parents went to war, and whom you are now coming to lobby in order to persuade them to improve a law.

To counter Mullin’s negativity, you should know that this week in the European parliament, just off the top of my head, there are three issues which affect lawyers and on which we are, or will be, lobbying in one form or another.

First, there is the commission proposal on credit rating agencies, which has measures which would remove legal professional privilege from documents between credit reference agencies and their lawyers. We have managed to put an amendment into the discussion which would protect this core principle.

Then, there is the directive on consumer rights, where we have been lobbying to remove contracts concluded with a lawyer from the special provisions for distance and off-premises contracts, because we believe it inappropriate to place unnecessary burdens and disincentives on lawyers visiting their clients outside their office, for instance to make a will.

And, finally, there are continuing discussions on the establishment of a joint register for lobbyists between the parliament and the commission, which covers the registration of lawyers, and causes us a headache because of the relationship between registration and the need for those lawyers to maintain confidentiality about their clients’ interests.

So, look beyond the tabloids, Chris Mullin, and you will find a place dealing with interesting issues … and where the odd interesting speech is also made.

Jonathan Goldsmith is the secretary general of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), which represents over 700,000 European lawyers through its member bars and law societies

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