Harley D: Matters of record - Inside European politics - The Diaries of David Harley 1992-2010

The Harley diaries are a record by one who was in the room' of what went on and who said what inmeetings between political leaders and policymakers in Brussels and beyond in the 1990s and 2000s.The diaries provide a wealth of original and frequently entertaining source material for those with aninterest in international affairs or the history of the EU.David Harley was an official at the European Parliament, ending his career as deputy secretary-general. Most of the entries in these diaries are from the period when he was successivelyParliament's director of press and media (1999-2002), spokesman for Parliament's president Pat Cox(2002-2004) and secretary-general of the Socialist Group (2004-2007). Based on the detailednotebooks he kept at the time, the diaries are a faithful and unvarnished record of meetingsinvolving such diverse characters as Silvio Berlusconi, Dick Cheney, Jacques Chirac, Walid Jumblatt,Peter Mandelson, Martin Schulz and Gerhard Schröder.The period of most of the diary entries was one which saw the first flush of enthusiasm of NewLabour for the EU begin to lose its bloom, deep divisions within the EU and with the USA over thewar in Iraq, and constant wrangling over treaty reform. But most of all these were the years ofoptimism. With the accession of new member states from Eastern Europe redefining what Europe'was and could be, the successful introduction of the euro binding the national economies, and acontinuing expansion in the role of the EU institutions, not least the Parliament, this was a timewhen the wind was truly in the sails of the European project.An insight into what went on behind closed doors, as seen through the meetings, faces and placesthrough which David Harley's first-hand narrative unfolds.'Pat Cox, President of the European Parliament 2002-2004Peppered with anecdotes, these entries offer a fascinating account of what goes on behind thescenes and in the wings of the European and world stages.'John Hooper, The Economist Correspondent in Italy and the Vatican