European and External Relations Committee, 13 Jan 2009

Meeting date: Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Official Report 150KB pdf

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Lisbon Treaty Inquiry

The next item is our Lisbon treaty inquiry. Members have a paper that recommends reviewing the position on the Lisbon treaty inquiry in October, after the Irish referendum. Are members content with that?

Members indicated agreement.

I am content with that, but do we know when Ireland is likely to hold its second referendum?

We are talking about the referendum being held in October, but until we are clearer about that and about the outcome, it seems a bit silly to take evidence. We can certainly ask the clerks to keep a watching brief on the date of the referendum and to keep us up to date.

I have another issue to raise—I will be brief. Under what I think is called the Irish protocol, the number of members of the European Parliament will increase, which should give the UK an extra MEP—we discussed that at our previous meeting. As Scotland is to lose an MEP, perhaps the committee should consider working with Scotland's MEPs to make the case for Scotland to have the extra member.

The case has been made vociferously in the past year. The committee has written to the UK Government, spoken to MEPs and made wide-scale representations. The deal for the UK is done and dusted, but we can double-check that with our Brussels officer.

The situation was news to me when I read about it. I spoke recently to one of Scotland's MEPs, who was convinced that, because of the Irish protocol, Scotland would have seven MEPs at the coming elections, but it will not. However, our paper says that the UK Government has still to decide where the extra MEP would go if the Treaty of Lisbon were ratified. I do not know whether that fight is different from the one that we just failed to win. If it is—that may be what Jamie Hepburn is hinting—we should try to make strong representations, even if we have to initiate them. The previous time, we all signed up to what individual MEPs did. It is worth making a concerted effort to grab the extra place.

If the possibility exists, I am sure that the committee will be willing to progress it. At recent discussions, including those at the European elected members information liaison and exchange network meeting, Scottish MEPs never raised the issue, which is why I thought that the deal was done and dusted. However, if the position is still up for grabs, I have no problem with making representations. Does Patricia Ferguson want to speak?

I think so, but I am talking slightly off the top of my head. Two issues are involved. If the Irish protocol is adopted, a further increase will take place. I have always understood that the UK Government makes the final decision on advice from the Electoral Commission, so the earlier step for us is to try to influence the commission and gain its backing in the argument.

We have taken evidence from the Electoral Commission. A complicated formula is involved that can in no way be broken in any practical circumstances, although the committee has tried to do that several times to hold on to Scotland's representatives. We will examine the situation and the clerks will report to us on the position in the UK.