Re: [Fsfe-uk] Patents vote postponed to Sept 1st

[James Heald]

Alex Hudson wrote:
> On Mon, 2003-06-30 at 01:33, Ciaran O'Riordan wrote:
>
>
> > So we have an extra two months to get organised and educate
> > our MEPs.  This also indicates that a substantial number of
> > MEPs are curious about the issue.
>
>
> I'm not sure that this is the case - it may only be an extra three
> weeks, due to the holiday provision in the timetable. But you're right
> in that we have to definitely make use of this time. 

The vote isn't until 1 September.

But in effect there are only three weeks to go, because for most of that 
time the MEPs are away on holiday.

To be more precise:

    * Next week [30/06 - 04/07] we can lobby in Strasbourg (Session).
    * The week after [07/07 - 11/07] we can lobby in Brussels 
(Committee meetings).
    * ... after that there is no official business scheduled all summer ...
    * Finally [25-29/08] there is one week in Brussels before the 
September session which starts on 1st September.

Even then, attendence for the two committee-meeting session-weeks in 
Brussels is notoriously poor.

The MEP's UK constituency offices stay open over the summer, but 
politics in Brussels essentially shuts down.

So the next two weeks are critical.

Most of the political groups will decide in Strasbourg *this week* what 
line they will take, before all the MEPs go away.