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Chamber and committees

European and External Relations Committee, 08 Mar 2005

Meeting date: Tuesday, March 8, 2005


Contents


Sift

The Convener:

Item 2 on the agenda is the sift of documents from the European Union. I ask members to turn to the section in the paper on documents of special importance. The first item is the Commission work programme, which has been circulated to members. It was the subject of some discussion during our visit to Brussels last week, which we will say more about in due course. The proposals for the Commission's work programme will have a fairly wide impact and it is proposed to notify a range of parliamentary committees about them. As members have no points to make on the subject, we will move on.

Next is the communication from the Commission on the social agenda, which has a number of implications for subject committees. Do members agree that we should pass that communication on?

Members indicated agreement.

The Convener:

The third item is the white paper on exchanges of information on conviction and the effect of such convictions in the European Union. That has clear implications for the work of the Justice 1 Committee, to which we will pass the paper.

The final item is a communication from the Commission on climate change. That will have relevance not only for us and our inquiry, but for the Environment and Rural Development Committee, which will pay close attention to those matters as part of its climate change inquiry.

Are the documents massive or are they readable? I am sure that there is a lot of good information in them about aspects of the Kyoto protocol. I would like a copy if the documents are not unmanageable.

I am sure that the documents are worth reading. I would be surprised to find a document on European matters that was not worth reading.

I would be delighted to find one that was worth reading.

The clerks will make copies of the documents available to members. Do members have further comments on the sift paper?

Phil Gallie:

Given previous matters in which the committee has taken an interest, I would be interested to see document 2046—COM(2005) 47—on air travel for disabled passengers. I would like to know how the proposed regulation would affect our low-fare airlines.

The document can be made available to you.