European and External Relations Committee, 20 Dec 2005

Meeting date: Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Official Report 238KB pdf

---

Convener's Report

The final item this year is the convener's report. The first issue is follow-up correspondence. Annex A to paper EU/S2/05/19/6 addresses points that Phil Gallie raised at our previous meeting, on the environment council's consideration of aviation emissions. Do members have any comments, or are we happy just to note the reply?

I appreciate the clerks having written to the Executive, and the response. As I suspected, there is a cost, which the response states is between 20 cents and €9. That, together with disability supplements, insurance costs and taxes on airfields, adds to low-cost operators' costs, especially when their fares are very low. My point was that there will be an effect—there will be, although it is minimal at this point.

Members are content to note the reply.

The next issue is the subsidiarity test project of the Committee of the Regions, in which our colleagues in the National Assembly for Wales are taking part. At our last meeting, Irene Oldfather agreed to report back with information on subsidiarity tests. Sadly, she has had to give her apologies today. Will we, in that case, hold the item over until the next meeting?

Members indicated agreement.

The third issue is an exchange of correspondence between the committee and Tom McCabe on plan D. I am almost tempted to lead a joint chant of what the "D" stands for—democracy, dialogue and debate. We also have correspondence on the Executive's building a bridge between Europe and its citizens project. Are members happy to note the correspondence?

Members indicated agreement.

That was quick.

Next is the proposal from the Executive on changing how it reports to the committee on EU issues. Members will have noted a draft template on their desks when they arrived, which goes with this item. The approach seems to be more focused. I discussed the issue with the clerking team, who are generally happy with the style of reporting. The proposal is to examine issues on a longer-term basis, rather than to focus just on the presidential priorities. The Executive proposes submitting to the committee a series of papers on the key EU issues that it considers are of most importance to Scotland. We reckon that about 20 papers will be submitted each year, which should complement the issues that we and other committees highlight in the Commission's work programme. The clerk will provide further clarification.

Overall, the idea is to look at least a year ahead, rather than to be more focused on presidencies and short-term priorities. That is what the Executive is setting itself up to do. It will produce about 20 fiches, which will be covering notes on dossiers that will explain to subject committees exactly where particular legislation is in the European legislative cycle. That will make the process much more transparent; it will make it easier for members and committees to see when and how to interact with legislation, when to take issues up, when to engage with, or to talk to members of, the European Parliament, or to do whatever they choose in order to proceed.

Does any member have comments?

It would be nice to finish the year with something positive to say. It is a very good paper. It is an improvement and I congratulate all concerned.

Wow!

Santa Claus has arrived.

There is unanimity on that point. I take it that we are all quite content to approve the new system.

I have just had some wonderful news. Mr McCabe is coming on the 28 February to kick off the new system.

Is there a 28 February? Yes, there is.

We move on to the final item today, and the reason why the papers are quite bulky. I have brought to the committee's attention the consultant's report to the Executive on the economic impact of the G8 summit in Scotland.

Obviously everyone is aware of the recent media coverage of the economic costs and benefits to Scotland. I do not think that we can go into the subject deeply today, but I am happy to take initial comments. One simple way of dealing with the matter would be to take up Mr McCabe's offer to come to the committee. The committee agreed previously that it would like to get proper feedback.

I have not had time to look through the report in detail. Could someone prepare for us an analysis of the report before a possible meeting with Tom McCabe so that we can see whether it is consistent with the evidence that was given to the committee when we were compiling our report about the G8 summit?

That sounds like an excellent idea—members are nodding, so it looks like there is general agreement.

Mr McCabe is coming to the committee on 28 February to kick off his new reporting system, so would that be a sensible time to discuss the issue? We should bear in mind the fact that there is a recess and only one meeting in February.

Do we have a schedule for meetings?

You got it ages ago.

It has not been completely confirmed yet, but we should have confirmation any day. We know that the first meeting will be on 17 January. Members have not had the schedule yet.

It was only I who got the schedule. I take my comment back and apologise profusely.

It is for the favoured few.

Or the favoured one.

I think Irene Oldfather got it too. I am struggling now.

Are members happy to take up the minister's offer to discuss the issue in February?

Members indicated agreement.

That brings us to the end of the meeting. The next meeting will be on 17 January next year.

Before I close, I have something else to say. It is David Simpson's final committee meeting and I have to record a couple of wee facts that I have picked up from his colleagues in the clerking team. He has been with the committee from the very start in 1999 and, believe it or not, he has never missed a single committee meeting in six years. [Applause.] I am not going to read out what Nick Hawthorne wrote in brackets in his note because I would not like it to go into the Official Report.

I express my thanks to David Simpson for the support that I have had in the short time I have worked with him. It has been much appreciated. I do not know what the committee is going to do without him.

What is he going to do? Get a life?

He is going to have a great life because he is going to assist Roseanna Cunningham on the Health Committee.

He must have been a very bad boy.

Again, on behalf of us all, I thank David Simpson very much.

Meeting closed at 15:49.