Public Petitions Committee, 04 Dec 2000

Meeting date: Monday, December 4, 2000

Official Report 218KB pdf

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Europe Familiarisation Scheme

The final item is the choice of a delegate of the committee for the visit of the Scottish Parliament to the European Parliament. We are invited to nominate a member of the committee to take part in a familiarisation programme—that is being funded by the European Parliament—for a group of Scottish Parliament committee conveners and members. The visit is likely to take place next spring.

The purpose of the programme is to familiarise members with European legislative processes and the operation of the European Parliament. Much of the business of the Scottish Parliament is driven or affected by European legislation and policy and Parliament has obligations within European Community law. A good understanding of the European Union is important in helping members to work effectively in those areas. The European Parliament has a strong petitions committee, which is of particular interest to us.

I nominate John McAllion.

I second that.

Members indicated agreement.

Thank you for your confidence.

Is there any other business?

I wanted to apologise for putting the committee in the position of not being quorate at our previous meeting—that will not happen again.

I thank everyone for attending the committee meeting. Finally, I offer our thanks to Glasgow City Council for the excellent facilities that it has made available to us this afternoon.

Meeting closed at 15:59.