Official Report 248KB pdf
The final item on the agenda is the sift of EC and EU documents and draft legislation. I ask members to look at the section on documents of special importance, where the clerks have listed for us a number of points that arise from the documents.
I note the recommendation relating to the mid-term review of the Commission's legislative and work programme for 2004, and also the comment that, in fact, we might want to track documents from 2005 onwards. The 2004 Commission document is already passé; that has gone. The Commission has already held discussions with other institutions, including the European Parliament, about what is going to be in the programme for 2005. It would be much better for us to have early intelligence on what people are saying in the European Parliament, in the Committee of the Regions and elsewhere about input to the legislative programme for 2005, than it would be to waste any time having a Commission official here to discuss this year's programme.
The point that the clerks are making is that we would have that person here later in 2004 to discuss the 2005 issues.
Right.
I am certainly comfortable with that and I feel that we should have that early sight of what the Commission's priorities are for 2005.
Returning to fishing issues, there is one point that intrigues me. Paper 1433, which is relevant to the Environment and Rural Development Committee, is a proposal for a Council decision on the withdrawal by the European Community from the Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the Living Resources in the Baltic Sea and Belts. I wonder if there is any knock-on effect if we pull out. I do not know and I do not understand it. I do not know what it is about, but I am always worried about such proposals in case there is a knock-on effect somewhere along the line. If we pull out of that convention, could waters that we are interested in be affected?
I can safely assure Phil Gallie that there are no Scottish fishing interests in the Baltic, and not even in the Belts.
That is not the point, convener.
The point is that we need to know the implications of a change of that nature. I shall get the clerks to investigate and ask them to advise Mr Gallie if any issues arise.
Very briefly, convener—
I hope that you are not trying to catch my eye with some any other business, Mr Raffan.
I just wonder what we are doing about the south of Scotland alliance.
I am sorry. I mentioned when we were discussing the paper on European funding that we had had representation from the south of Scotland alliance. It is not exactly a tangential issue, but it is a slightly different issue. When we get a further response from the Executive, we will reflect on the contents of the south of Scotland alliance representation into the bargain.
Meeting closed at 16:01.
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