European and External Relations Committee, 25 Mar 2003
Meeting date: Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Official Report
111KB pdf
Scottish Parliament European and External Relations Committee Tuesday 25 March 2003 (Afternoon)
[The Convener opened the meeting at 14:34]
Welcome to the fifth meeting of the committee in 2003 and its final meeting of the session. We have received apologies from John Home Robertson, who hopes to come to the meeting, but might be a little late.
I record my thanks and appreciation to current and past members of the committee. Members have worked well together over the past four years—there has been co-operation, good will, dedication and commitment. I thank Hugh Henry, who convened the committee in the first couple of years. Other groups have testified to the good work that has been done, which we have recorded in various reports. I was delighted when the President of the European Parliament said that the Scottish Parliament's European Committee is where it is at. That was recognition from mainland Europe of the work that we have done on the future of Europe debate, on structural funds and on a whole raft of matters in the past four years.
Although Ben Wallace is not yet here, I thank him and Colin Campbell, who will not join us in May. All of us are unsure about which committees we will return to, but Ben Wallace and Colin Campbell will leave us. I thank them for their work and effort.
I also thank the clerks. All members will agree that in the past four years we have received tremendous assistance from Stephen Imrie, David Simpson and—more recently—Nick Hawthorne. I thank Christine Boch, who is our legal adviser, and staff in the Scottish Parliament information centre. No one from SPICe is with us today, but its staff have continually supported the committee by providing background research papers for our inquiries. I know that all committee members will endorse the sentiments that I have expressed. [Members: "Hear, hear."]
Over the four years, many people have given a lot of their time to the committee in submitting written and oral evidence. There have been fairly regular visitors from the European Parliament and the European Commission, who have supported us in external events over the past four years. It is appropriate to recognise their contribution to our work.