Official Report 265KB pdf
The next item is the Brussels Bulletin. Does any member wish to comment on any of the issues?
My comment is on the maritime policy. I understand that the European Commission will hold a conference on 20 May on the subject, and that it is encouraging contributions and attendance from as wide a field as possible. I am fairly certain that the Scottish Government will send a representative, but perhaps we should highlight the event to the relevant parliamentary committee. A member of this committee might also wish to participate.
We should send Ted Brocklebank. He is our expert on maritime policy.
I would have enjoyed going to the conference, but I have a feeling that I am in Belfast for two days that week.
Perhaps we can ask whether the Parliament's European officer plans to attend. Do you have another suggestion, Irene?
No. I think that the paper mentions a decision and a plenary meeting, but I am interested in the wider maritime policy issues that will be discussed at the conference.
Perhaps we should ask the European officer to attend and report back to us, in the Brussels Bulletin or elsewhere.
That would be fine.
I have a couple of points, convener. Obviously, we are seeing rising food prices. People might use the food crisis as an excuse to suspend targets on biofuels. Clearly, the big debate is whether biofuels make a net contribution to the environment in terms of climate change or whether they are a liability. One of the reasons for making the Brussels Bulletin an agenda item was to look at forthcoming directives early doors. The renewables directive and the fuel quality directive are under discussion. We have a responsibility to keep a close eye on renewables.
That seems a good suggestion. You left the issue of biofuels hanging in the air. People will have different views on it. We will need to keep an eye on this, but there seems to be a disagreement between the European Environment Agency and the Commission. That is interesting, and we could have a debate about it, but this is probably not the place for it—at the moment, anyway.
No, but perhaps we should highlight what is going on in Europe to the relevant committee.
Yes, which would be the committee that you mentioned, but the committee that has already been to Brussels on these matters is the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee, which obviously is taking an interest.
I see in the Brussels Bulletin that there is a health consultation, with a deadline of 20 May, on minimising
That is a good idea.
Another idea is that we send a message to the Irish people, asking them to vote against the Lisbon treaty.
I do not think that you would get a majority on the committee for that—although you might.
Are you going to press that to a vote, Alex?
You would not do that when we were one Liberal Democrat short, would you?
No, I would never do that.
He would wait until we were two short.
It would be interesting to know where people stand.
I do not think that we will go there at the moment, John. I think that we know the answer.