European Committee, 26 Feb 2002

Meeting date: Tuesday, February 26, 2002

Official Report 158KB pdf

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Scrutiny

The last item in public today concerns the new scrutiny process. The clerks have classified all the documents according to the committees to which they relate. We will send the list to each committee and bring the most appropriate documents to each committee's attention. It is for committees to decide whether to investigate or take matters further, as they see fit.

I would like to ask the clerks for copies of some of the papers, as they raise fundamental issues. I would like us to add a tag to certain documents. I will restrict myself to dealing with those documents that relate to justice and transport. The documents relating to justice raise some issues of major significance that I am not aware of the justice committees' having considered. It is proposed that some of them be referred to the Justice 2 Committee, but it is for the justice committees to decide which committee should consider them. Documents SP 2978 and SP 2979 relate to potentially important matters that tie in with some of the issues that Jim Wallace is pursuing in the Executive. Documents SP 3022 and SP 3040 relate to issues that are worth keeping an eye on.

The biggest issue is the European Police Office—a concept which the Parliament has not yet scrutinised. It is for the justice committees to decide when and to what extent they want to scrutinise the matter, but I would like to flag it up. At some point we will want to scrutinise it.

I also encourage the Transport and the Environment Committee to examine some of the documents listed on page 13 of the paper. They include a raft of documents relating to railways. I know that the Transport and the Environment Committee intends to conduct an inquiry into railways; I suggest that it includes in that inquiry the issues raised by these documents, as they are of major significance to the development of railways in the UK and will have implications for Scotland. Of particular importance are documents SP 3020, SP 3028, SP 3034, SP 3036 and SP 3037. We should be tuned into the issues. We should also ask questions about the remit, functions and funding of any future European railway agency. I would ask the Transport and the Environment Committee to pursue those matters anyway, but given that it is conducting an inquiry into railways, I think that we should ask it proactively to consider the documents.

I know that the Transport and the Environment Committee has a European away day next Monday, in part to enable it to interface better with some of the issues to which Sarah Boyack refers. The committee wants to establish ways of selecting the documents that are relevant to the work that it is doing. It is important that the committees begin to develop processes that will enable them to decide themselves which documents tie in with their priorities. Sometimes I worry that committees put to one side the list of documents for scrutiny that they receive from us. It is important that the committees consider actively the implications of some of the documents that are referred to them.

We may want to include document SP 3038—which is entitled, "Communication from the Commission to the Spring European Council in Barcelona: ‘The Lisbon Strategy—Making Change Happen'"—in the documentation for our proposed inquiry into the European employment strategy. Perhaps we can discuss that at our next meeting.

I agree with you, as the document provides a useful overview of a large number of issues. It relates to the inquiry that you recommend we undertake.

I suggest that we flag up some European directives to other committees. I am conscious that most other committees do not have the time to engage with Europe, so we should ask them to report back to us on the issues that we highlight. The documents relating to EUROPOL and the railways are fundamental. I read the document relating to rail freight and it was almost like revisiting the Caledonian MacBrayne issue. In a couple of years' time, a new directive will appear and we will say, "This will totally reorganise the way in which we deal with rail freight in Scotland, but nobody has discussed it." Now is the time to engage with what is coming down the tracks.

We could asterisk certain documents and ask committees to attach high priority to them.

It is for committees to decide whether to examine the documents that we bring to their attention, but we should flag up important issues that we think they need to be aware of.

I would love to see a copy of document SP 3009, entitled "Initiative of the Kingdom of Spain setting up a European network for the protection of public figures".

I can tell John Home Robertson all about that.

It sounds gloriously bizarre.

It is really nasty stuff.

That brings us to the final item on our agenda, which we agreed to take in private. I thank members of the public for attending.

Meeting continued in private until 15:05.