Two weeks later, during a group meeting, I picked up a document which informed me that our group had unanimously agreed to support a legally binding charter. I knew it had not been discussed in my presence and I had attended all group meetings. When I asked senior members of the group, two German women, if it had been discussed, I was informed that it had not and was immediately concerned. Members will have heard talk about the democratic deficit in the European Parliament, of which this is a prime example. The three of us asked for the right to discuss it in the group but we were told it could not be discussed until our summer study days, which took us through to the summer of 2000. By then, it was well under way and a convention was to be put in place.