Public Petitions Committee, 27 Mar 2001

Meeting date: Tuesday, March 27, 2001

Official Report 229KB pdf

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Convener's Report

I was one of the conveners who went to the European Parliament to examine relationships between the Scottish Parliament and the European Parliament. It was a successful trip, which showed that there are many ways in which we can establish relationships with committees of the European Parliament.

I spoke to the deputy convener of the European Parliament's Petitions Committee, who informed me that members of his committee are coming to the UK in June. They will visit one of our committee meetings and we will host a dinner for them while they are in Edinburgh. The visit will enable us to discuss the different ways in which petitions committees operate. The European Parliament Petitions Committee operates differently from ours, partly because of the sheer size of the European Parliament. One difference is that it has an open committee membership: all European Parliament members can join its proceedings at any time. I do not know whether we want to follow that example; our meetings might last for ever.

Membership of European Parliament committees used to be fixed. All members of the European Parliament can attend any committee meeting. Subject to the convener's approval, which is usually given, they can ask questions in the same way as committee members can.

That is the same as in the Scottish Parliament.

It is similar.

He also pointed out something that had not occurred to me, which is that the European Parliament's Petitions Committee has to be careful not to disclose the names of individual petitioners. We tend to discuss petitions and petitioners in public. He told me that members of his committee must be careful not to reveal details of individuals, as that would be seen as a breach of personal security. As petitions involve taking companies to court, many of the cases that they consider end up being almost quasi-judicial.

Citizens of other member states have enormous powers of privilege, unlike us.

Members will find it interesting to meet members of the European Parliament Petitions Committee. They have a lot to tell us about how petitions committees operate at other levels. I recommend that members attend the dinner.

We are still working on the proposal for our committee to visit Germany to consider the work of the Bundestag petitions committee and of some of the Länder petitions committees.

What is the proposed date for that visit?

We are considering October, but first of all we have to get permission.

Do we have a date for the visit of the European Parliament's Petitions Committee?

It will be sometime in June. The visit will be timed to coincide with one of our committee meetings.

That sounds good. We will have to get plenty of petitions in from Mr Harvey before the visit takes place. I am glad to hear that he is alive and well. I was getting worried, as we had not had a petition from him for a long time.

I thank members for their attendance.

Meeting closed at 11:37.