Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee, 21 Nov 2007
Meeting date: Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Official Report
212KB pdf
European Union Policy and Legislation (Scrutiny)
Our fifth and final item is consideration of a paper by the clerks that provides some background on the Scottish Parliament's scrutiny of European Union issues and the committee's role in that respect, and makes recommendations on how we might conduct such scrutiny this parliamentary session. Do members have any comments?
I am keen to scrutinise various aspects of the Government's proposals through the prism of the European Union's priorities, and this valuable paper highlights many such opportunities.
I hasten to add that one issue not covered in the paper is the decision that was taken last week by the European Commission and the European Parliament to make 2008 the European year of intercultural dialogue. That will involve promotions at international, national and civic level, and it has implications that need to be examined urgently, because we have to find out how we in Scotland can make the most of the decision. I am sure that ministers will have a view on that, but the committee has to be on top of such matters. Indeed, I spoke yesterday to Mr Vladimir Šucha, the director for culture and communication at the European Commission, who has discussed the issue with representatives of the Edinburgh International Festival. This is just one example of something in which Scotland can be involved very directly. The clerks need to look carefully at what the EU is doing and find areas that we should interrogate people about.
I agree. We cannot afford to ignore this area. I am pleased that the clerks have produced this paper, which provides a helpful starting point. In the past, the Parliament has taken the lead on issues that have a clear impact on people in Scotland. For example, the Justice 1 Committee, of which I was a member, considered inheritance and divorce legislation in the EU. The legislation was going to affect a lot of people, and it could have been missed quite easily, so it is important that we keep up to date with our Brussels officer's fortnightly bulletin.
I acknowledge that the Government will be keeping an eye on the various smarter Scotland priorities that are set out in the clerks' paper, but there is no reason why this committee cannot keep a watching brief on the matter and raise issues that we feel should be highlighted. I say that, convener, bearing in mind your earlier comment about the committee's workload. Although we will probably just want to note a lot of things, it is important that we keep an eye on what is happening.
Those comments have been helpful. This item is on the agenda partly because the convener of the European and External Relations Committee, Malcolm Chisholm, wrote to me asking whether the committee is interested in any area of the EU's work so that the Scottish Parliament's Brussels officer can keep it in mind. Perhaps we could flag up Mr Gibson's suggestion and ask the officer to monitor developments and keep the committee informed to allow us to pursue the issues.
On that basis, I think that we can agree the recommendations in the paper. The clerks will keep a watching brief on the matter and make us aware of issues that might merit closer consideration.
Our next meeting will be on 28 November and, for members' information, the Official Report of this meeting will be published on 26 November. I thank members for their attendance.
Meeting closed at 11:45.