European and External Relations Committee

Meeting date: Thursday, June 25, 2015

Official Report 535KB pdf

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Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

Item 5 is a paper on the transatlantic trade and investment partnership. We have a letter from Cecilia Malmström, with an update and a response to the committee’s inquiry.

The Scottish Parliament information centre will publish a research paper for the committee for when we return on 3 September, which will provide an update on what has happened in the intervening months since the completion of our committee inquiry and since we received the letter from Cecilia Malmström.

We have yet to receive a response from the UK Government to our committee inquiry paper. I may seek the committee’s support to write again to the UK Government, asking it for a response. We have had a response from the EU, so one from the UK would be helpful.

11:00  

I note that point. I lodged a question on discussions that might be taking place concerning Cecilia Malmström’s possible meetings with representatives of the Scottish Government. I believe that I have not received an answer to that question yet. When I do, I will share it with committee members.

It will be good to have that SPICe update in September. We know that the EU Committee on International Trade will meet on 29 June to consider whether the more than 100 amendments that were to be considered by the full European Parliament this month will be discussed in September or whether some other arrangement will come to pass.

That is a postponement from the meeting that took place a few weeks ago, is it not?

Yes. I understand that the trade committee will meet on 29 June.

As our European representatives are at the cutting edge of the issue, it would be helpful if we could include in our work programme a session with members of the European Parliament, either by videolink or otherwise, to discuss where we are with regard to TTIP. Perhaps we could schedule that for early in the autumn.

That would be valuable.

I do not know whether this has been covered, but there has been an offer from Cecilia Malmström to meet the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy, John Swinney. Has a date for that been set?

That was the point of the question that I just mentioned. I wanted to focus on the current position. However, that question is, as yet, unanswered.

Is it possible that Cecilia Malmström could meet the committee after her meeting with Mr Swinney?

We can ask. Given that she has been good at communicating with us, I hope that, if she were in Scotland, she would take advantage of the opportunity to meet the committee either formally or informally.

On the other point, I agree with Roderick Campbell that it would be a superb idea for the committee to be involved with our MEPs, whether we do that via videolink or in face-to-face meetings.

We have a visit coming up.

The group of us who are going to Strasbourg in October have managed to secure a sit-down with the MEPs who are out there. There will be a plenary session at the time and I think that there might be a focus on some of the issues that have been raised today.

Cecilia Malmström’s letter says that she would be

“delighted to consider arranging a visit to Scotland”.

I wondered whether we had had any further communication with her office regarding a possible meeting.

I think that we should offer her accommodation here.

Or in Glasgow.

In her letter, Cecilia Malmström says that she made a joint declaration with her US counterpart, confirming that TTIP will not

“require EU or US governments to privatise any service”.

That is not quite the same as saying that they have no intention of doing so. Not requiring privatisation does not mean that, ultimately, it will not happen. That is where the public concern lies. It is not abundantly clear that the people behind the treaty have no intention of doing that. That might be to do with the semantics of the letter, but I hope that we can further tease out the issue if Cecilia Malmström comes to the committee.

We can consider that and try to clarify it. However, the next sentence in the letter is about not being able to comment on

“whether there is a need for the UK Government to offer any additional protections.”

That is where the issue arises for us in this Parliament. Does the UK Government have to ask for that reservation on behalf of Scotland or is that handled by our intergovernmental communications in the UK? It is not clear whether, unless the UK specifically asks for that reservation, we will be left open to some of the requirements of any policy paper or policy intention. That is the key question for me.

We can ask all those questions and invite the commissioner to Scotland so that, I hope, we can have a much more in-depth discussion on all those issues.

We will set up a meeting with members of the European Parliament as early as possible after the summer recess and we will ask further questions of, and seek clarifications from, Commissioner Malmström and invite her to attend the committee. Does that cover everybody’s requests?

We are also going to ask SPICe for advice.

Yes, and we will chase up the UK Government’s response to our inquiry report.

Are members happy with that?

Members indicated agreement.