Full term ended last Saturday and I am, technically, now one third of the way through my stay in Oxford. Life seems to have been very hectic since my last blog during the fourth week of term and I apologise to any readers who have got bored with checking for a new one since early November.
The procession of seminars has continued throughout the intervening period and it would be almost impossible – and very boring – to list the various subjects. Highlights included: a seminar by Denis Deletant on the overthrow of Ceausescu, including his personal memories of being sniped at in Bucharest in late December 1989 (followed by dinner and discussion of Romania’s current problems); a lecture in the Sheldonian Thetare on the prospects of coming out of the current economic crisis in the near future (not good); a seminar on the problems of the Russian energy sector, by a fairly outspoken and relatively liberal practitioner Yuri Shafranik; another lecture on “Art, War and Terror”, focusing on the series of paintings of the Baader-Meinhoff Group by Gerhard Richter ( followed by High Table with a number of artists participating in a related workshop); and a seminar in memory of Ralf Dahrendorf, former Warden of St Antony’s (and Commissioner).
Alongside these activities, I have now made contact with the Transport Studies Unit here in Oxford and find myself down to deliver a seminar on 3 February, on the TEN-T policy review process, as part of their weekly series of seminars. I delivered the abstract today for that seminar (see document). Planning for the Eastern Partnership workshop, now fixed for 26 February 2010, is moving ahead, though it isn’t always easy to get rapid responses from potential speakers, especially those in Brussels who are more preoccupied with the effects of Lisbon and the change of Commission on their own lives. I hope to post the programme for the workshop with my next blog.
I have also spent quite a lot of time out of Oxford, as I indicated in my last blog. A fairly strenuous trip to the Balkans allowed me to visit Milocer, near Budva on the Montenegro coast, to speak on the rights of the child. Unfortunately this was a flying visit, though I got to see the road from Dubrovnik airport down to Milocer and back, including a ferry across the Bay of Kotor. I had forgotten how beautiful that area is, even if recent real estate development risks spoiling it; perhaps the econmic crisis will put a halt to that? My speech seems to have gone down well and I am posting it as a document.
I travelled up to Zagreb for a three day Wilton Park Conference on EU accession and the Western Balkans. Some stimulating discussion, with a number of decision makers taking part. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the discussion was the series of presentations on the situation in Montenegro (not from the government), which focused on a number of the less savoury aspects of what is effectively a one-party state for the last ten years. The issue of state capture arises and led to some criticism of the Commission for being too soft on Montenegro compared with its more rigorous (and highly-praised) evaluation of developments in Croatia for example.
The follwing week I found myself at the Climate Change Forum in London – a sort of speed dating event for businessmen and government people. It was an interesting experience, if initially somewhat bewildering. I plan to attend the next one in February, though I have also suggested they invite somebody from the energy side of DG TREN. The following morning I set off for Brussels for a one day trip to chair the second meeting of my TEN-T Expert Group. The methodological issues raised by the TEN-T policy review are significant and we shall have to have a more substantial internal meeting around the January session, in order to prepare for the final meeting in early March. Sarah should have joined me for the trip but found herself at St Pancras at 0615 with my second passport rather than hers. She actually received a formal “refus d’entree” from the French border police, which at least allowed her to reuse her ticket when we travel over in December. Naturally she was not a happy bunny at the time th0ugh…
I also made an appearance at the World Infrastructure Investment Conference on 1 December, to talk about the Commisison’s policy on PPPs. This was an audience of bankers and investment funds rather than transport people, so not that easy. My task was fortunately helped however by the Commission’s adoption – at last – on 19 November of the PPP Communication – as well as progress on the Marguerite Fund. I’m not sure whether Power Point Presentations can actually be posted on this site, but will try.
Finally, at the end of last week Sarah and I headed up to Nottingham to help our daugheter Kate and her fiance David move into their new house in Newark. This has been a lengthy and tense process due mainly to the difficulties of the UK housing market, with many deadlines for completion missed; in the end contracts were exchanged on Wednesday 2 December, with the move taking place on the following day. I fear I am getting too old for the heavy lifting that moving house always seems to involve…
Christmas is rapidly approaching and we have tickets for the Messiah on Friday and a for concert in Exeter College Chapel on Sunday 20. This may therefore be my last post before Christmas, as I still have a mass of work to complete by then. So Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to any readers out there.
Jonathan Scheele in Oxford 