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Chamber and committees

European and External Relations Committee, 13 Nov 2007

Meeting date: Tuesday, November 13, 2007


Contents


European Union Budget Review

The Convener:

The third agenda item is the EU budget review. On 2 October, we considered a paper on the EU priorities and objectives, and of the six political objectives the committee agreed to focus its work on the reform treaty and the budget review. The clerk's paper provides an update on the latter. Do members have any comments on it before we agree the recommendations?

Irene Oldfather:

Looking at the Commission's policy document, I think that the review is interesting, and it is welcome that the clerks have brought it to the committee's attention. For the first time in many years in Europe, there is an opportunity to consider the whole budget review process rather than just have an annual budgetary review. We can examine how we can better link resources to policy objectives, which is crucial for the committee.

The clerks are proceeding in the right way by asking the Government how it will tackle the issue, but I presume that the committee will continue to analyse how we could respond to the useful consultation paper.

Writing to the minister is intended to be the first step in that process. Members have no more comments and are happy with the recommendation.