After more than a year of “working remotely” the European Parliament makes its return to its official seat in Strasbourg, a city that has remained frozen in time since the pandemic hit and also since the Middle Ages. Berlaymonster has obtained rights to publish the diary of an unnamed MEP, who is recording the events of the week in real time.
Monday
Well, here I am back in Strasbourg after more than a year and I have to say it’s a mixed bag – or “sac mélangé” as the locals insist we say.
On the one hand it’s great to get out of [my home country], to travel to beautiful Alsace in late spring, and to see colleagues and long-missed friends again. On the other hand, the strict COVID restrictions mean I have to stay at least two metres away from my mistress.
It was not easy to get here. Apart from the usual travel hassle – Uber to the airport, two flights, private driver to the EP campus – we had to show proof of a negative ECR test. I passed, though it was lucky they didn’t detect my university-years Ayn Rand phase.
Tuesday
The plenary session is finally under way and already things are crazy. Today’s session has had to be suspended temporarily because there was apparently a problem with the microphones not working. The interpreters are in Brussels, and one of them complained they could hear “nothing but gibberish” during the debate. But then the EP audio-visual service confirmed that the microphones are working perfectly...
It’s going to be a crazy week.
To be continued...
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