European and External Relations Committee, 03 Feb 2004

Meeting date: Tuesday, February 3, 2004

Official Report 171KB pdf

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Sift

The final item on the agenda is our sift report. Are there any comments on the documents of special importance that are highlighted at the front of the paper?

Paper 699 has been allocated to the Communities Committee, but it could have major implications for the Enterprise and Culture Committee in particular because there could be a knock-on economic effect to considering social inclusion. It might be worth while at least to give the Enterprise and Culture Committee the choice by highlighting the paper to it.

We should bring that to the attention of the appropriate subject committee.

That would be fine.

Which committee will that be? The paper mentions social inclusion as well as economic and social policy.

That is a fair point. There is nothing to stop us giving the paper to both committees.

There is a proposal for something on patents, and one of our committees should pick up on that and examine it. It could have an effect on enterprise.

As we are limited in the amount of work that we can do, it would be worth while to get some feedback from the other committees at some point to find out whether they are picking up on those issues as well. In the meantime, we will ensure that those issues are brought to the relevant committees' attention.

Spain is encouraging a directive on airlines releasing passenger data. Passenger lists have always been a closed shop, but Spain has proposed a directive, and I would like a bit more information on that.

On the airline industry, particularly the cheap flights with new companies that are so important to Scotland, I also draw attention to the fact that a judgment seems to have been made in Europe that goes against Ryanair's interests and certainly goes against the interests of the Ayrshire economy, if it is to be applied across the board in Europe. I passed the clerk a note about that earlier today; it might be worthy of discussion in the committee.

That is an important issue, and your comments will obviously be in the Official Report, but it is not on the agenda and it is open to you to request that it be put on the agenda for a future meeting.

I requested that it be put on today's agenda, but since I did not manage that, I make a formal request now to have that matter on the agenda at the next meeting.

I will take that into consideration.

I have a lot of sympathy for what Phil Gallie says. Perhaps we could consider it under the debate that we are going to have on the Executive's paper on a European strategy, which includes transport. I have used Ryanair for various purposes, including going to Brussels, and I agree that it is important that we consider the judgment. I was slightly disappointed that our inquiry into promoting Scotland did not have a little bit more emphasis on transport issues, because those are vital to attracting inward investment and tourism, for example. If you are prepared to put the matter on the agenda for a future meeting, I support Phil Gallie on it.

Phil Gallie has made his request, and I will take it into account.

As there are no further comments on the sift report, I will bring the meeting to a close. The agenda has been light—the meeting has been only just over an hour long—and committee members should enjoy it while it lasts, because we have a heavy work load ahead of us over the next few months. I say that in case anyone thinks that we are workshy because we met for only an hour today.

I thank committee members for attending and will see them at the next meeting in a fortnight's time. I ask them to remember the meeting next week when the Irish ambassador is in Parliament. Committee members should have had the details already, but we will send round another e-mail to make sure.

Meeting closed at 15:03.