European and External Relations Committee, 31 Jan 2006

Meeting date: Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Official Report 116KB pdf

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Sift

We are fair rattling through the agenda. Item 3 is our regular sift of EU and European Community documents and draft legislation. As usual, some items have been flagged up as being of special importance to subject committees. The first document is for our attention and that of all the Parliament's subject committees. It is on the operational programme of the Council during the current Austrian presidency of the EU and the Finnish presidency that will begin in the second half of the year. As I have already mentioned, Tom McCabe will tell us about the Executive's EU priorities on 28 February.

The next documents provide the results of the green paper consultation on defence procurement, which the committee identified as an issue that it wanted to follow. The paper gives us the latest position. If my memory serves me correctly, it was Mr Gallie who had a particular interest in the subject. Perhaps we should wait until the next meeting to consider the documents, so that Phil Gallie has a chance to say whether he is happy with the information that has been provided or whether he requires more.

I thought that he had given me a note of his views on the matter, but he has not. I do not know how I picked up that he was concerned about defence procurement, but I believe that he is.

The next item is for our attention. The relevant documents are about improving openness and transparency in the Council, which I understand the committee has considered in the past.

The fourth item is for the Enterprise and Culture Committee and the justice committees and it concerns the green paper on damages actions for breach of the EC's anti-trust rules, which deal with the law relating to competition policy.

The final document is a green paper in which the justice committees will be interested. It is about conflicts of jurisdiction and the principle of ne bis in idem in criminal proceedings. I ask those members who speak Latin to excuse my pronunciation. Was that the correct pronunciation, Jim?

I did higher Latin and I am sure that it was. Is that the double jeopardy rule?

Jim Wallace will now explain to us what that means.

It means that someone cannot be tried twice for the same offence.

Well done. I had that written down. That was good.

I read my briefing paper.

Do members agree to refer the documents to the committees that are indicated in the sift paper?

Members indicated agreement.

Do members have any further comments to make?

The only document that I want to highlight is the one on the proposal for a regulation on the definition, description, presentation and labelling of spirit drinks, which I am sure the Enterprise and Culture Committee will deal with appropriately. The definition of spirit drinks is particularly important to the whisky industry.