European and External Relations Committee, 22 Feb 2005

Meeting date: Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Official Report 202KB pdf

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Convener's Report

The final item on the agenda is my report. I want to draw three items to the committee's attention.

First, I have received correspondence from Mr McCabe concerning our scrutiny of a Sewel motion on the European Union Bill, which was introduced in the House of Commons on 26 January after it was announced in the Queen's speech in November. As well as a copy of the bill and the accompanying explanatory notes that were provided to the House of Commons, our papers contain a Sewel memorandum from the Scottish Executive that contains the contents of the Sewel motion that will be lodged. As I understand it, the committee will debate the Sewel motion before it is considered by Parliament, but the Parliamentary Bureau will determine how the motion should be handled in Parliament once the motion has emerged from the committee.

Mr McCabe's letter indicates that he will be available to appear before the committee on 22 March, when he can give evidence both on our current inquiry and on the Sewel motion on the European Union Bill. The question for members on how we handle the Sewel motion is whether we should obtain, invite or procure further evidence in advance of hearing from Mr McCabe on 22 March. If we do, we will need to create opportunities to hear from other witnesses. Alternatively, we could ask the clerks or researchers in the Scottish Parliament information centre to prepare relevant information for us.

The Sewel motion will be on complex technical amendments to the powers of Scottish ministers, so it seems to me that we need not hear a great deal of evidence. Obviously, the bill and the constitutional treaty are much wider issues, but those are not matters for this Parliament or for our committee. It will be adequate for us to hear only from the minister for the information that we require.

We should point out to the minister that any Sewel motion would probably be acceptable providing that it does not, as has happened on previous occasions, include opinions on the merits of the bill.

I am well aware of concerns elsewhere about the European Union Bill, but I doubt that we will get the opportunity to consider the bill in detail. However, one witness that we might consider is my House of Commons Labour colleague Austin Mitchell, who is a member of a Labour Party European committee. He has, to my mind, expressed the reservations that many committee members might have about the scope of the bill. The bill does not simply provide for a referendum on the European constitution; it goes further by eradicating the need for future debate on how the constitution should be implemented if it is ever accepted.

We should point out to the Executive that the Sewel motion should not express any opinion on the bill. Let us have a simple Sewel motion.

I would be happy with that. My understanding is that we are talking about just the technical side of our legislative competence in relation to the bill. There will be a huge campaign, to which I am looking forward. I am sure that Mr Gallie and I will have many opportunities to discuss the range of issues with which the bill deals. As far as the Sewel motion is concerned, I would be happy for us to take evidence from the minister and to agree to a fairly technical and factual motion.

I assume that the Sewel motion has been lodged.

Our paper says:

"The Motion to be put to the Parliament".

So the motion awaits our deliberations. If the committee is satisfied that we should take evidence from Mr McCabe, we will do that on 22 March. We will discuss the motion when we have heard from him.

Secondly, I draw members' attention to an exchange of correspondence. Today, members have been given copies of the letter that I wrote to the First Minister on the proposed Scottish institute or forum for European and international affairs, the idea for which arose from discussions that I had with representatives of the University of Edinburgh and other institutions. We have received a reply from Mr McCabe. I invite members' views on whether the approach that is suggested is right or whether they want to take other steps.

For some time, members of the committee have had an interest in setting up such a forum. It was helpful to get a copy of the letter that you sent to the First Minister, which we obtained only today. In the past, we have had an agreement that any correspondence that was sent to ministers would be copied to all members. That would be helpful.

Okay. That is fine.

The response is reasonable. We obviously do not want to duplicate the work of the Europa institute or other bodies. I am sure that it is just a question of getting together and considering how we can make progress. In principle, the establishment of a forum is a good idea that should be supported.

I hesitate to add my support because there are so many forums. I see no evidence of what they achieve, but I have no hard feelings about them. If people want to express their views, that is fair enough.

My concern is that although a tremendous amount of expertise is available on European affairs in Scotland, I am not sure that the Executive does all that it can to draw all that together and to give it the platform that it deserves. A discussion is continuing on some of the proposals. We can pursue that further with Mr McCabe. I have no difficulty at all with copying correspondence to members.

The third and final aspect of my report concerns arrangements for the committee's visit to Brussels between 28 February and 1 March. I cannot find a paper on that.

I do not have a paper on that, either.

We hope that packs will be brought round to members by lunch time tomorrow. They will contain the full programme and a copy of members' e-flight tickets, as well as full briefings and maps.

Okay. There are no more points. The next meeting of the committee will be on 8 March at 2 o'clock. It would be helpful if I could have a brief word with members after the conclusion of the meeting.

Meeting closed at 15:44.