Official Report 288KB pdf
The second-last item on the agenda is the sift. Are there any comments on the sift paper?
The summary of documents of special importance at the beginning of the paper is useful. The communication from the Commission, "Building our common Future: Policy challenges and Budgetary means of the Enlarged Union 2007-2013", which is mentioned on the second page of the summary, is quite rightly a matter for this committee as well as for the Finance Committee. How are we to take that matter forward and do more than just read the document?
The clerk has helpfully pointed out that we should consider the issues as part of our regional funding inquiry. We should make sure that we incorporate the matter into the inquiry.
That is what I thought. It would obviously be useful to see the document.
I thought that the proposal on page 9 for a Council regulation on the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction would be particularly relevant to the Scottish Parliament. Perhaps we should find out more about that proposal. I welcome members' views on the matter.
I support that suggestion. I, too, highlighted that proposal, along with a couple of others, in view of my role as convener of the cross-party group on drug misuse. I know of the monitoring centre, but it would be useful to find out more and I am keen to see a copy of the proposal.
I thought that I might get a sympathetic comment from Keith Raffan and I welcome his remarks. I will write to find out more about the proposal and circulate what I find out to members, as we do not have enough detail about the matter.
On the documents of special importance, are the explanatory memoranda automatically passed to committee members, or must we request them?
I recall that that question has arisen before and I ask Stephen Imrie to comment.
We receive the text of European documents about 10 days before we receive the UK Government's explanatory memoranda. Copies of the memoranda are available to all members of the committee and the Parliament. If a document is selected as a document of special importance, it is automatically referred to another subject committee and the explanatory memorandum, when it arrives, is sent to that committee. However, if members of the European and External Relations Committee want a copy of any UK Government explanatory memorandum, I would be happy to provide them with one.
I would like a copy of the memorandum on the Lisbon agreement. I could say that I was interested in everything, but the amount of reading would get out of hand.
I am sure that the clerk will be happy to arrange that. If members want further information on matters that arise in their papers, they should ask the clerks to provide it. I am sure that the clerks will be able to do so before each meeting.