Heard

To the European Parliament again, for a joint hearing on EU citizenship between the European Commission and four separate European Parliament committees, including the Committee on Petitions. The most interesting part was listening to two or three individual petitioners who came to tell their stories, including the horrific experiences of a Latvian woman who married a Maltese man and had enormous difficulties with the Maltese local authorities who clearly didn't understand EU law.

The most surprising part was that apparently very few pictures were taken, and this picture - which I also tweeted - is being reprinted with my consent on some "EU citizens" magazine.

Manna for eurosceptics, though - because the difficulties for ordinary people to actually get into this "hearing" were legion. Massive queues. The need for IDs, invitations, and such like. Such is the reality of "democracy" these days.