travelled widely in the region and speaks some Mandarin Chinese. European Parliament In the 1994 European Parliamentary election he was elected for Somerset and North Devon with a majority of over 22,500. Watson was the first Liberal Democrat returned from a British constituency to serve in the European Parliament. Accompanied by Robin Teverson, elected later the same night, he sat with the Group of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR). During this term, Watson served on two committees; the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy and the Committee on Budgets, and acted as whip for the ELDR group until 1996. Second term In 1999 the introduction of the list system (a form of proportional representation) in Great Britain for European elections meant Watson's constituency was abolished in favour of a larger multi-member constituency encompassing South West England. The South West constituency would later also include Gibraltar, from 2004. Watson was re-elected in this constituency as the sole Liberal Democrat member at the 1999 European Parliamentary election. His party had gained 171,398 votes, 15.7% of the total. During this term he led the ten British Liberal Democrats in the parliament and between 1999 and 2002 he held the chair of the Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs. In that position he steered through Parliament freedom of information provisions and the legislation providing for a European Arrest Warrant. In 2002 he was elected to lead the EU-wide ELDR Group, succeeding Irishman Pat Cox MEP. Third term Watson was re-elected once more at the 2004 European Parliamentary election with his party winning 265,619 votes (18.3%). Following the election, Watson was re-elected to lead the ELDR Group and took it into an alliance with Romano Prodi’s newly-formed European Democratic Party to form the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. The ALDE group replaced the ELDR group (though ELDR and EDP existed for a while as separate parties outside the Parliament). Watson was elected leader of the new ALDE group, which was the largest group ever established in the Parliament outside of the European People's Party and Party of European Socialists. Fourth term Watson was elected to a fourth term as an MEP for the South West in the European Parliament elections of June 2009, with the Liberal Democrats winning 266,253 votes (17.07%). Following the election, Watson stood down from the leadership of the ALDE