European and External Relations Committee, 08 Mar 2005
Meeting date: Tuesday, March 8, 2005
Official Report
223KB pdf
Convener's Report
Item 3 is the convener's report. There are just a couple of points. First, the committee's trip to Brussels last week focused on budgets and financial perspectives in the European Union; the debates and discussions concentrated on how to resolve such matters. In particular, there was concern that a great deal of the impact of the budget agreement might fall on structural funding, which would be of significance in Scotland. There was also a focus on turning the Lisbon agenda into a set of practical measures that member states can pursue, which was reflected in our discussions about the Commission's work programme. Those issues will be important in the committee's future work.
We also had a discussion with Commissioner Wallström and her officials, in which it was made pretty clear to us that the Commission is interested in having a direct dialogue with institutions such as the Scottish Parliament and is keen to develop the appropriate mechanisms to allow us to pursue issues. The approach is in line with some of what the committee heard in November during the conference of the regions with legislative power, when there was comment in the media about the possibility of direct dialogue between the Commission and the Scottish Parliament, as opposed to the normal channels of dialogue through the member state Parliament. That approach is welcome and the discussions with Commissioner Wallström and her officials were a useful part of our visit.
Will you clarify that such dialogue would be possible under the current arrangements and that we would not have to sign up to the proposed constitution for that to happen?
That is a fair interpretation of the situation. The discussion was not about statutes or constitutional provisions; it was about common sense and good dialogue, which the Commission is anxious to encourage. We can take a good deal of heart from the discussion.
The visit was useful and I hope that it will help us to shape our future work programme. I put on the record my group's thanks to Liz Holt, John Edward and the clerks for all the work that they put into what was a very useful programme.
I reiterate the committee's appreciation of the efforts that went into making the programme a success.
The second item in my report is a letter from the Deputy First Minister on regional aid post-2006. Members have a copy of the letter and the attached briefing note. The Executive has copied the note to the Enterprise and Culture Committee, which is undertaking an inquiry into EU state aids and will visit Brussels in mid-April to pursue the issues. The committee intends to report to the Parliament on the matter by early May.
I was going to mention the Enterprise and Culture Committee's inquiry. It would be helpful if we could keep abreast of developments in that inquiry, even if we just do so informally.
The information that has been provided to the committee indicates that there is a proposal to provide
"a completely new instrument, the Lesser Amounts of State Aid (LASA) test",
which I understand has been put forward by the competition directorate-general. I do not think that we came across the matter in our deliberations in Brussels. It is obvious that there are close links between the state aid agenda and the entire financial perspective and, given that the committee agreed to keep a close watching brief on developments in that regard, it would be useful if the clerks could produce a briefing on how the agenda is changing, so that we can keep up to date on the matter.
Dialogue between committees was discussed at the Conveners Group, which took the view that, if issues cross over committees' remits, informal dialogue offers the most effective approach. The committee will be briefed on the issues in due course.
The committee will meet again on Tuesday 15 March at 2 pm, when the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport will be with us.
Meeting closed at 15:51.