Comments on: Voting isn’t always boring!

By: Steph

Steph — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:15:12 +0000

Actually – depending upon how far you want to take this, the “din” may have been repeated in the one-to-one conversation.
The memory capacity of my laptop maxxed out during our talk and the audiofile was lost.

By: Steph

Steph — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:18:45 +0000

It is interesting, actually, that there is a mirroring between the large scale group event and the interpersonal (one-to-one) conversation between me and the Member about the event.
Although the two of us did not repeat the ‘din’ of the original event, there was an assertion of ‘confusion’ and then an immediate transition to something else.
I believe this is an instance of a phenomenon known in group relations theory as a “parallel process.”

By: Steph

Steph — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:11:39 +0000

Today I met with one of the Members who was in this Committee Meeting. I asked what was going on with the “happenings” labeled #2 and #3. His responses confirmed for me that they are related.
The Member who spoke first in Greek and then in English is the Rapporteur of a controversial bill which is currently written to support a Commission viewpoint that is opposed by one of the larger political groups in the Parliament. Normally, the Member explained, here in the European Parliament when a controversial bill passes or is defeated business tends to go on as usual. This is unlike the national parliament, where people would typically break out in immediate argumentation. (Later today another Member also raised the difference in argumentation between national parliaments and the European Parliament.)
When I asked why the Chairmen got confused, the Member stated, “I didn’t understand that moment” and moved directly on to another topic.
These are some of the typical characteristics of a problematic moment: a sudden din, confusion, and an immediate resumption of ‘normal’ interaction.