Official Report 462KB pdf
Agenda item 4 is consideration of the latest edition of the “Brussels Bulletin”, which is compiled regularly by Ian Duncan. I thank him for it.
I thank Ian Duncan, because the bulletin helps us to keep up to date. It is a nice, potted version of what is going on but, if we need to get more information, we know where to go for it. It is good to have highlights, particularly on the euro zone issues, which continue to be of key importance for us all.
I have a question on the proposal to reclassify nuclear power, which is mentioned on page 8 of the bulletin. Is it new or has it been known about for some time? It could have big implications for the funding that is available for renewables throughout Europe.
As you might be aware, nuclear power is very much a reserved matter, generally speaking, so the EU has always trodden carefully around the edges of the topic. However, as you can see from the note, there is an appetite among certain member states to secure funding for it by a slightly circuitous route—that might be the best way of describing it. I am not sure that support for such an approach is widespread among other member states. I suggest that I keep an eye on the matter and see what emerges. I do not think that it will go forward as is being suggested happens at the moment—that is my considered opinion. However, I will keep an eye out to see what happens next.
On the “Energy co-operation” section on page 8, I welcome the European Commission’s proposal to provide 500 million of the world’s poorest people with access to sustainable energy by 2030. The proposal includes a new EU technical assistance facility worth €50 billion to deploy expertise. There is a real opportunity for Scotland’s researchers and companies to share best practice in that regard, especially when we consider the work that the Scottish Government has done through its support for developing countries on climate change. For example, there is the Maldives partnership and the Malawi renewable energy acceleration programme, which has been awarded more than £1.7 million by the Scottish Government and is being led by the University of Strathclyde. There is an opportunity in that regard and it would be good to see how this develops.
Absolutely. That is not a problem.
On news about upcoming events and meetings in the bulletin, it is helpful to have all the dates laid out for us. However, we have had various appointments through the Scottish Parliament to the Committee of the Regions and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. I know that Parliament officials worked really hard to try to get briefing sessions established for us on that, but it proved to be quite difficult for a variety of reasons and there seems to be a vacuum of information. I gather that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office must approve the appointments. Have the appointments been approved? If so, when will we be given a diary schedule for the meetings? Would a substitute member be required to go to all of the meetings or only as and when required? I know that different organisations across Europe have different approaches in that regard. I would be glad to have answers to those questions, if not today then at another time.
It might be worth while for me to send out another note just to outline some of those aspects. As members will know, this committee is responsible for receipt of a briefing as per our earlier discussions, but a lot of the direction on attendance and so forth is done by the business managers of the parties. There has been a bit of a gap, in that people have assumed that the other person has taken the lead on the issue, only to discover that in fact nobody has taken the lead on it. If you allow me to go away and take the lead, we should be able to get something circulated that helps you with answers to your questions.
As a minor correction, I point out that the bulletin’s upcoming events section states that the upcoming Committee of the Regions plenary is on 2 and 3 May when it is on 3 and 4 May, although the bulletin states correctly that the Committee of the Regions bureau meets on 2 May.
Yes. Sorry.
I know that the bulletin appears on the Parliament website, but can you remind me whether it is circulated to the current members of the Committee of the Regions? I do not think that it is and I wondered whether it should be.
It is not circulated to them as a matter of course, but it should be. We can add the Committee of the Regions members to the circulation list—that is not a problem—and the delegates from the Scottish Parliament who sit on other bodies.
Do members agree to circulate the report to relevant committees?
We agreed previously to take the final two items in private, so I thank members of the public for their attendance and ask them to leave the public gallery.
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