Tonbridge and Malling Liberal Democrats

Sharon Bowles MEP, who represents South East England in the European Parliament, has said the filing for insolvency by Petroplus -Europe's largest independent oil refiner - is a blow to the South East.

Petroplus, based in Switzerland, has been hit hard by the financial crisis and in December had $1bn in credit lines frozen - a move that has pushed the company closer to bankruptcy.

Amid fears that David Cameron's veto had isolated the UK in Brussels, MEPs from across Europe and the political spectrum have today re-elected Liberal Democrat MEP Sharon Bowles as Chair of the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee.

The committee, widely regarded as the Parliament's most powerful, is responsible for legislation in the headline areas of economic governance and financial services.

Sharon Bowles MEP, who represents South East England in the European Parliament, has been named on The Times '100 to watch in 2012' list, which includes actors, writers, musicians and world leaders.

Sharon is listed #48, ahead of Boris Johnson (#51), rock band The Stone Roses (#56), and writer Sir Tom Stoppard (#60).

The European Parliament will push the European Commission to come forward with a coordinated EU strategy to halve food waste by 2025.

MEPs in Strasbourg will vote on a report tomorrow to improve the efficiency of the food supply chain from the production stage to storage, processing, distribution, management and consumption. It is estimated that almost 50% of edible food gets wasted along the entire food supply chain each year.

Sharon Bowles MEP, who represents Sussex in the European Parliament, has joined calls for controversial gas company, Cuadrilla, to stop its fracking operations in Sussex until safety issues are resolved.

Hydraulic fracturing, or 'fracking', is a process whereby holes drilled into reservoir rock layers beneath the ground are filled with pressurized fluid which creates cracks, veins or dykes allowing gas to be extracted.

Monday

Sharon took her usual 08:00 Eurostar to Brussels.

At 12:00, Sharon attended a trialogue on the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). After, at 14:00, Sharon went to a shadows' meeting to discuss the resolution on Eurobonds.

At 15:00, Sharon chaired a session of the ECON Committee. Which included discussing ESA 2010 as well as a Monetary dialogue with the ECB President Mario Draghi. Afterwards, Sharon attended the ECON Christmas party before meeting with Guy Verhofstadt, President of the ALDE Group at 20:00, to brainstorm ideas on the treaty change.

Monday

At 07:00, Sharon took a flight from Heathrow to Frankfurt as she had to lead the ECON Committee's visit to the European Central Bank (ECB). Among the topics of discussion during the visit were the ECB's role in the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).

Monday

Sharon flew back from Jacksonville to Brussels ahead of a hearing on MiFID at 15:00. At 16:00, Sharon left the hearing and returned to her office to meet with Lloyd Blankfein, CEO and Chairman of Goldman Sachs for an exchange of views on the Eurozone crisis.

Tuesday

At 09:30, Sharon met with Othmar Karas, Rapporteur in ECON for the Capital Requirements Directive IV in the Members' Bar to discuss CRD IV. After this, Sharon returned to her office for a meeting with Ed Webber, the Liberal Democrat Special Adviser on EU Affairs.

Monday

Sharon travelled into London, but instead of catching her normal 08:30 Eurostar, Sharon attended the CoCo Bonds and Capital Innovation Conference hosted by Terrapin at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington. Sharon gave a keynote speech, 'Taming the GSIFIs (global systemically important financial institutions): What role should CoCos, hybrids and bail-in instruments play in global finance?'

Monday

Sharon caught her usual 08:30 Eurostar to Brussels. Upon arriving at the Parliament,Sharon met with her staff to discuss her agenda for the Committee week.

At 15:00, Sharon met with the Sander Schol, Director of Rates and Government Bonds for the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME), and Steven Major, a Chair of the AFME Common Issuance working group, to discuss Eurobonds.