Health and Sport Committee, 04 Jun 2008

Meeting date: Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Official Report 210KB pdf

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European Elected Members Information Liaison and Exchange Network

I refer members to committee paper HS/S3/08/16/9, which encloses an invitation from the Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture to nominate a representative to attend meetings of the European elected members information liaison and exchange network—which has the nice acronym, EMILE—when issues of particular relevance to the committee are to be discussed. The next meeting will take place on 12 June, in Edinburgh—on a Thursday night, which I know members will find exciting. A copy of the agenda is attached to the paper. It includes an item on cross-border health services, by which I mean European borders and not the border with England. The committee is invited to decide whether to nominate a representative to attend the meeting and relevant EMILE meetings in future.

I would like to sound out Helen Eadie, who has an interest in the issues. However, she might not be happy to be our representative.

Thank you. I would be interested in attending the meetings, if that is acceptable to members.

Are there other nominations?

I would have been interested, but I am quite happy to work with Helen Eadie. One representative is enough.

I am happy to accept other nominations and for us to have a vote—it would produce a bit of excitement in our lives.

No. Given the new directives that are coming, it is extremely important that the committee is fully aware of what is happening. I am quite happy to support Helen Eadie's nomination.

That shows the bonhomie that exists among committee members.

Helen Eadie will be our nominated representative. That is grand, as we know that she has an interest in many European issues.