European and External Relations Committee, 05 Sep 2006

Meeting date: Tuesday, September 5, 2006

Official Report 285KB pdf

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Pre and Post-council Scrutiny

Item 5 is the pre and post-council scrutiny, which is our regular scrutiny of the agenda and reports of Council of the European Union meetings. Members will find that the paper has a larger number of items than usual, which is due to the build-up over the recess. Also attached to the paper is the Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform's response to points that were raised by the committee at our meetings on 6 and 20 June. If I remember rightly, Irene Oldfather and Dennis Canavan had a particular interest in language teaching in schools: there is a response on that. Do members have any comments on the paper?

I will be brief and just pick out pages that interest me. On page 3, I just want to observe that we did not get a visit from the Finnish presidency of the EU this year, which breaks with tradition.

He will come at the end of this month, Phil. There will be a public event here on 28 September that Irene Oldfather will host because I will be away.

Okay, I was not aware of that. At the same time, that date is halfway through the term of the presidency. However, given the recess, it is better late than never, although we have in the past managed to have earlier visits.

I will link my comments on page 9 to those on page 39. I have general comments on the Hague programme and on communications from the European Commission on policies on freedom, security and justice. I would like to record my reservations about the paper's comments on those two areas. Page 39 has a full statement on the Hague programme, but it does not refer to the problem of youngsters being taken away from this country and parents being unable to find representation to help bring them back. I recognise that there is a current issue with respect to Pakistan, but I was not thinking about that kind of situation. I am thinking of instances in the past when the Hague convention has been used to find lawyers in the United States, believe it or not, with there being agreement across Europe to find representation without cost to parents here, who would have found it very hard otherwise. It is an important issue and we should ensure that our justice committees are fully aware of what is going on in that area.

My final point is on the issue that is dealt with on page 24, which is of greater importance. I think that you will find that to be the case, convener. The issue is the air traffic management system called SESAR—single European sky air traffic management and research. Our air traffic control centre at Prestwick is very important to Scotland. I would think that we in the Scottish Parliament would want to take an interest in SESAR and European air traffic management, and ensure that we can protect the interests of the major employer at Prestwick as best we can. I would therefore like us to find out as much about SESAR as we can. Perhaps alerting our Local Government and Transport Committee to the issue might be a good way forward.

Just to sum up, Phil, you propose that we try to get a little bit more information on the SESAR programme and pass it on to the Local Government and Transport Committee. On the Hague programme, you would like to highlight to the justice committees particular issues in relation to young people who are taken out of the country.

Yes—especially with regard to parental abductions.

Okay, I think that we can ask the clerks to look into those matters and report back at the next meeting. The convener has returned to the meeting, so I will make a point now as a committee member.

Okay.

We used to have a table at the front of the pre and post-council scrutiny paper with recommendations and so on. Have we scrapped that?

The clerk informs me that that is the case.

Right. That paper was quite handy because it used to have all the councils in date order and the recommendations for the committee next to that.

That is right.

The relevant page numbers were also on the table, which made it easy to refer to them.

Members will remember the meeting that we had in private at which we agreed to cut down on paperwork and so on. The table to which Irene Oldfather refers was one of the things that the committee agreed to cut. However, the front page of the current paper is actually quite detailed about what is in the paper. It is really the same information as appeared in the previous format.

I would not want to be one of those members who are resistant to change.

Do we have further comments on this agenda item?

The useful thing about the previous format was that it did allow us to keep an eye on the dates and it demonstrated when departments were or were not late. Members will remember that we had difficulties with the agriculture and fisheries council, which was a real problem in the early days that latterly improved beyond all recognition. The dates in the paper therefore served a purpose.

The current format would still allow us to take note of anything that was late. That should not be a problem.