Europe Day
The final item of business today is a members' business debate on motion S1M-3032, in the name of Irene Oldfather, on Scotland and Europe day.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament is proud to mark Europe Day as a celebration of the founding of the European Union (EU); endorses the fundamental principles of the EU as set out in the Declaration by Robert Schuman on 9 May 1950; welcomes the contribution that the EU has made towards peace and solidarity across Europe; notes the relevance of the EU to the working of the Scottish Parliament and to the everyday lives of Scots, and encourages the people of Scotland, young and old, to join with citizens across Europe, in the celebration of our common values and to participate in the debate on the future of Europe.
This has been a very exciting day for the Parliament and I will say a little bit more about that in a moment. I thank the business managers of all parties in the Parliament—in the true spirit of European co-operation, they allowed the motion to be taken today by juggling other members' business debates.
On this day 52 years ago, the French foreign minister Robert Schuman made his groundbreaking speech and opened the debate with the words:
"World peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it.
Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create … solidarity."
The speech that advocated the regulation of coal and steel—the raw materials of war—led to collaboration for the first time in many years between France and Germany. To the great relief of Europe's people, conflict in Europe was replaced by economic co-operation.
That speech was the genesis of what we now know as the European Union and the origin of Europe day. I do not believe that Robert Schuman could have known when he made that speech on 9 May 1950 just how timeless and visionary his remarks would be. They are perhaps even more relevant today than they were then. We have had more than 50 years of peace in western Europe and the European Union's role in that must not be underestimated. It is important that we do not take that peace for granted.
A year ago in the Parliament we had a debate on Europe day and I called for us to stand together in the face of extremism in some parts of Europe. I ask that we be vigilant in regard to the emergence of racism and xenophobia among certain fanatics, such as Jörg Haider in Austria. As we celebrate Europe day it is important that we acknowledge what I believe are the common values and principles that decent-minded people in the Parliament and throughout Europe share, regardless of cultural diversity and political affiliation. Those principles are our basic belief in democracy; our commitment to equality; our desire for better government and improvements in the principle of subsidiarity; our wish to promote opportunity for our people; and our yearning for peaceful co-existence.
The Scottish Parliament, as Europe's youngest Parliament, is keen to contribute to the debate on how the new Europe can affect our communities, our business and our people and how we can benefit from that engagement. It is difficult to imagine that only a few years ago, a day such as this would not have been possible. Today, we have opened our doors to hundreds of young people from schools throughout Scotland. We have an internet discussion group, which I hope citizens and interested parties throughout Europe will access.
Our debate today signals that, in the light of a changing and reforming agenda in Europe, we understand that Europe is relevant to our everyday lives.
Does Irene Oldfather agree that it is not just the duty of the Parliament to spread awareness of Europe throughout Scotland, but the duty of the Government?
I absolutely agree with that and I am sure that the minister will take that point up in his summing-up.
Our Parliament has been the voice of Scotland today, celebrating with citizens throughout Europe. If anyone doubts the relevance of Europe to our everyday lives, I say to them that 63 per cent of our manufactured exports go to the EU. It is estimated that 350,000 jobs depend on commerce within the internal market. As we develop and expand that further, opportunities for enterprising companies will grow. The roll-on, roll-off ferry link, which for so long was only an aspiration, will later this month be a reality. I know that the full benefits of that will quickly be realised by Scottish business.
Not only has Scotland benefited from the single market and the social progress that EU membership has brought, but we are well placed to benefit from the opportunities that enlargement will present. It is estimated that enlargement could mean an extra £175 million a year to the Scottish economy, but we must gear up to take advantage of it. The European Committee is linking up with the region of Sachsen-Anhalt in Germany, which has an innovative project with Estonia to link up German business to opportunities in the east. We are looking to become a partner and to learn from that experience.
We must also capitalise on our experience in the public administration and service sectors. Through the administration of the ECOS-Ouverture programme, Scotland made good connections with partner regions in eastern Europe. Many of the candidate countries could benefit from Scottish expertise in drawing down structural funding and from a partnership approach to local economic development. Indeed, the European Commission has in the past described Scotland as a flagship performer. Those are the kind of concrete achievements that Schuman spoke of as the building blocks of solidarity 52 years ago.
I take the opportunity today to extend the hand of friendship from the Scottish Parliament to the candidate countries and to say, "Welcome. There has been much that has united us in the past and we look forward to extending our partnerships with you in the future." The nations and regions of Europe have a shared heritage as well as their own identity and, with that, a commitment to democracy and equality. The Scottish Parliament has a crucial role to play. By fulfilling our potential as a key player in the new Europe of the 21st century, we can leave to our people, our children and our grandchildren an inheritance of peace and prosperity. In those shared values lie our greatest strength.
I thank Irene Oldfather for getting this matter on the agenda. I spent 24 years in the European Parliament and, oddly enough, was nominated for the unelected Parliament by none other than Harold Wilson. I do not know whether he ever regretted that. I was then an elected member from 1979 until I came to the Scottish Parliament. I can hardly describe the enormous thrill I felt the first time I went into the European Parliament and saw the nations that had been at war all sitting not in nationalities but in political groupings. That thrill is still with me any time I even think about those experiences.
I was a child of the war with two brothers in great danger, one of whom was missing for three and a half years. Because we lived near a synagogue, there were at my school in Glasgow Jewish children who had been rescued from the gas ovens. To me, the war was the most dreadful thing. Throughout my childhood, my mother jumped when the doorbell rang. I became a passionate European because I could see that it was only by giving up some of our sovereignty together for joint purposes that we could possibly end war, which of course we have managed to do.
I am an enthusiastic European and that is how it will always be. I have seen enormous changes. The main change, I suppose, was the European Parliament's desire to acquire more powers. Enormous powers were added during my period there. The Parliament got powers of initiative, powers of compulsory consultation and powers to cross-examine the Commission, although it does not yet have power to select the commissioners.
When people used to tell me, "The European Parliament's just a talking shop," I used to get quite irritated. Who are we comparing it with? Certainly not with Westminster, where I also spent quite a number of years on two occasions. Rather, the European Parliament is a consensus Parliament. Our enemies being our Governments on the one hand and the Commission on the other hand, we tended to move together quite a lot on such matters as discrimination, human rights, the environment and the third world.
If we did not get our way, we raised the matter again a year later and started again with the same argument. We usually got our way. The European Parliament always gets its way in the end. We cannot say that about Westminster, because if a proposal is defeated in Westminster that is it for that session of Parliament. In Europe, one just waits a year and starts all over again.
One of my causes was a code of conduct for substandard tankers. I did not succeed the first time: I succeeded by getting enough supporters with other dangerous waters beside me with my dangerous waters in Shetland, Orkney and the Minch.
The initiative of which I am proudest is the Erasmus scheme. When I chaired the culture committee, we got the Erasmus scheme through. In that, I drew from Scottish experience, because we used to send our students to other universities throughout Europe, such as Bologna, Valladolid, Paris and Leiden. I just thought, "Why not dip into the Scottish experience and open it up for all European students?"
Glasgow became the city of culture when I was chairman of the culture committee, but I assure members that that was nothing to do with me—it was genuinely a decision by the English minister. It was to be Britain's turn to have the city of culture. Bath, Oxford, Glasgow and Edinburgh were in the running. Glasgow got it, the English minister said, because its policy was all about the future and the other cities were talking only about the past.
We also got recognition of the deaf sign language of each EU member state through the Parliament. However, not all the countries have honoured that. Only three or four have done it, and Britain is not one of them.
In my opening speech in this Parliament, I urged that we follow the committee system of the European Parliament. I am happy to say that we have done that. Largely speaking, our committee system is the jewel of the Parliament. All parties are represented and everybody's contribution is valued if they have something interesting to contribute. That is the way that it is in Europe.
The criticisms of the secrecy of the Council of Ministers that we always made in the European Parliament remain more or less unchanged. We had all sorts of practical plans, such as the chairman of the appropriate committee being allowed in when the appropriate subject was on the agenda, but we never got in.
On Britain's clout for Scotland, I disagree. Fishing is the example that springs to mind. In that and many other things, Britain is the country that keeps turning down European money because it will not match it. If Scotland were, as I want it to be, a normal member of the EU, Britain would actually have more votes.
Who could forget that it was a Conservative Government that took the United Kingdom into the Common Market in the early 1970s? Europe day, if any, is a time to reflect on how the EU and its development have been a political struggle in all parties in the UK. After all, Labour campaigned against membership in 1974 and even Tony Blair wanted to withdraw from Europe in 1983.
No one should claim the copyright on the EU or its institutions, nor should they be naive enough to believe that what is in favour with the electorate today will remain so for eternity. Until now, debate and argument on the future of Europe have been beneficial to its development. Member states have progressed treaty by treaty to where we are today, but we have never locked ourselves into commitments. That is at the heart of the debate on the future of Europe and its governance.
I was born at the time of Britain's entry negotiations. Having lived in many continental countries, I have no fear of Germans coming over the border or of French invasion, but I fear that the citizens of Europe are often left behind by political elites in the decision-making process. Most of us have seen the Europe day postcard with its symbol and the narrative on the back. It gives rise to the debate itself. It says that 9 May
"is an annual opportunity to celebrate the EU's achievements and reflect on its aims. Peace, freedom, prosperity and working together towards shared goals."
The last word in that quotation is what the debate is about. The challenge for us is to define those goals. Most of the public are not consulted on or aware of what those goals should be. I think that Europe is at that crossroads once again this year.
My party and I believe that the goal should be a wider, looser Europe, with the values of subsidiarity and diversification at its heart, and that the best way to bring Europe back to its citizens is to devolve power and decisions back to them. That is not best achieved by going over the collective heads of member states' Parliaments.
Other parties are open about their opinions, too. The European Committee heard evidence from Andrew Duff, the Liberal Democrat MEP who is also head of the federalist group. In the convention on the future of Europe, he pushes openly for the plan that he believes in: a federal Europe. That subject is open to debate and such views have been honestly put forward.
My belief, of course, is that although a federal system would theoretically allow a more direct route between citizen, elected MEP and, perhaps, European president, it would come at the expense of the nation state.
Irene Oldfather referred to the terrible rise of nationalism, which I think is a symptom of citizens' feeling frustrated and left out of the decision-making processes. Who can forget the Irish people's refusal of the Nice treaty? It struck all of us who visited Brussels that the EU Commission carried on regardless. We cannot ignore the people of different parts of Europe who are expressing their dissatisfaction with some of the things that are dealt with by European policy makers.
If the EU ignores the people of Europe and carries on regardless, people will feel more and more alienated—which is what has contributed to the scandalous rise of nationalism in recent years. Whatever we secure for the future of Europe, we must ensure that it is in touch with people and that people in this and other countries are consulted more often about the future direction of Europe.
Today, however, is an opportunity to reflect on the good things the EU has brought us: security, better trade, better culture and integration. Let us celebrate the fact that—hopefully—my generation will, as a result of the existence of the EU, not experience the wars that killed so many in the past.
I am pleased to support the motion, and so is my party.
I congratulate Irene Oldfather on securing the debate. She is absolutely right to say that first the European Coal and Steel Community, then the European Economic Community and now the European Union have made a massive contribution to peace on the continent: the longest period of peace in western European history. In particular, they have brought an end to Franco-German hostility, which erupted in three major wars between 1870 and 1945: the Franco-Prussian war, the first world war and the second world war.
As well as an unprecedented period of peace, the European Union has brought unprecedented prosperity and led to the spread of European democracy. I was fortunate enough to spend Christmas 1989 in Prague at the height of the velvet revolution and to hear Václav Havel's first speech as President of Czechoslovakia. That new year's eve I was at the Berlin wall when, to the astonishment of everybody and for the first time, the East German guards allowed people to pass freely between east Berlin and west Berlin.
That spread of European democracy is now leading to the enlargement of the Community, to the widening of the European Union's membership. It is also leading to the deepening of the Community. I hope that it will not be long before we join the euro. We in the United Kingdom should have learned by now that, by joining late, we had little say in how the Community first formed. Now, we may have little say in the way the single currency is managed.
I hope that this debate will stimulate a wider one in Scotland as a whole. More than 100 of the 129 members of the Parliament belong to parties that are committed to eventual entry into the single currency. That does not mean, however, that that view is reflected among the electorate. It is incumbent on us all to take a lead in the national debate that is to come.
I do not want to rehearse the arguments in detail, but I profoundly believe that membership of a single currency is in the economic interest of Scotland. It would free Scottish firms from damaging currency fluctuations and eliminate transaction costs. It would lead to lower interest rates and to greater price transparency—and so to increased consumer power and many lower-priced goods. It would safeguard more than 300,000 Scottish jobs that depend on trade with Europe. It would protect inward investment. It would safeguard and strengthen Britain's financial sector, not least here in Edinburgh, which manages the fourth largest sum of international funds—£160 billion—after London, Paris and Frankfurt.
I agree with my colleague Chris Huhne—a much more distinguished expert on the single currency than me; he was formerly a distinguished financial journalist and is now an MEP—who undertook an inquiry into the single currency on behalf of our federal party leader, Charles Kennedy. The inquiry concluded that
"the UK Government's inaction on the euro is partly to blame for the damaging overvaluation of the pound."
The sooner we have a clearer lead from the UK Government the better, but that should not prevent Scotland from taking a lead.
Just over 30 years ago, while perched precariously at the base of Nelson's column, I made my one and only speech in Trafalgar Square. I was there with such distinguished Conservatives—there was such a thing as a Conservative group for Europe then—as Kenneth Clarke, Hugh Dykes and Chris Patten. Many of them are now colleagues in the Liberal Democrats.
No they are not.
I said that many of them are, but there are more to come. Foolish men will be swept away—particularly those on my right.
A week tomorrow I will be in Rosyth to see the first sailing of the Superfast ferry to Zeebrugge, which will open up a direct sea link to Europe. Earlier this afternoon I was with pupils of Coupar Angus Primary School, who were here to learn about Europe and Scotland's place in it. I told them that when I was their age—they are 10 or 11—I was not as lucky as they are because we were not part of Europe as we are now. The future of Europe is about not only our future but, much more important, theirs.
I, too, congratulate Irene Oldfather on helping the Parliament to mark Europe day through this evening's debate. I pay special tribute to Winnie Ewing, who is Scotland's best link with Europe. If Sean Connery is Scotland's most famous film star, Winnie Ewing is certainly Scotland's most famous European. I know that they are good friends and I am thankful that both happen to be members of the SNP. The Parliament can draw on Winnie's experience and wisdom in European matters, as the SNP often does.
I welcome the debate especially because it shows that Parliament is marking Europe day. I only wish that the Scottish Government—or indeed, the UK Government—had gone out of its way to try to mark Europe day, but that has not been the case. I understand that the First Minister had a photo call today and that he will attend a reception organised by the European Commission this evening, but that is the extent of the Scottish Executive's involvement in Europe day. That is quite disappointing.
Before I came to the Parliament this morning, I listened to the BBC. The BBC talked about the English team in the world cup, Arsenal winning the English league and the Queen's jubilee, but it did not mention once that today is Europe day. That is disappointing, but the Scottish media are no better. As we all know, some of the Scottish papers have withdrawn from attempting to cover European matters in any detail. I hope that the Parliament can express the view to the media that they should do more to raise awareness of European issues throughout Scotland.
The member will no doubt be interested to know that this afternoon's "Newsdrive" has covered Europe day.
I am delighted to hear that. One can always trust the BBC's "Newsdrive".
Last week, I started to read Primo Levi's "If This Is A Man", which is the author's story of how he spent the last year of the second world war in a work camp near Auschwitz. As I was reading the book and thinking of today's debate, I thought that that book should serve as a reminder of why we are in Europe in the first place. The European Communities were founded to maintain peace in Europe and to spread democracy and tolerance throughout the continent. That should put all the other complaints about Europe into perspective. We should never lose sight of that fact.
However, the reality is that many people in Scotland think that the European institutions are remote and out of touch with opinion on the ground. One need only look at the common agricultural policy, which has spent billions of pounds, yet Scotland and Europe now have fewer farmers, who have less income. Similarly, we have hundreds of regulations under the common fisheries policy, yet Europe now has fewer fishermen and smaller fish stocks.
It is important that Scotland have a voice in Europe. As the motion says, we need to participate in the European debate. However, Scotland is missing from the convention on the future of Europe. Scotland's political leader, Jack McConnell, has no higher status than rapporteur to the Committee of the Regions, which itself has only observer status. Other small nations in Europe, such as Denmark, are at the heart of the debate over the future of Europe. Those countries have influence, but the Scottish Government does not use what little influence it has.
In conclusion, if we want to make our vision of Europe a reality, we need real influence in the heart of Europe. That means that, one day, we will need to celebrate not only Europe day, but independence in Europe day.
I congratulate Irene Oldfather not only on today's debate, but on her boundless enthusiasm in promoting Europe. Although many of my colleagues and I do not always agree with everything that she says about Europe or with all aspects of her vision for the future, I admire the way in which she has pursued the issue. I regret that, although I had the pleasure of Mr Hugh Henry's distinctive convenership of the European Committee, I did not last the course—because the number of members was cut—to have the benefit of Irene Oldfather's convenership, which I am sure is equally distinctive.
I agree with one of Keith Raffan's comments—that an intelligent and coherent debate about Europe and Scotland's role in Europe is needed. I disagree with his views on the euro. It is clear that people can support being in Europe and being part of the European Union while not being in favour of the euro. To oppose the euro does not make one anti-European. One great progression of the past year or so is that we can move away from the viewpoint that being against the euro means being against Europe as a whole.
That discussion of issues is needed. The EU needs to develop and learn. It could learn from the Parliament. Recently, I had two very different experiences. One was with the Parliament, when the Rural Development Committee travelled to Dalry in Galloway to take evidence from people in rural Scotland about rural integration. That was a professionally managed event, in which the public were free to participate. I also attended the EU's allegedly public hearing into foot-and-mouth disease, which—for some bizarre reason—took place in a cafe in Gretna. Fifty EU personnel and three farmers were present at that hearing. That did not create a favourable impression among the population.
The other part of the debate, which we discussed when I was a member of the European Committee, is the need not to view Europe as a cash provider to Scotland. We must make serious adjustments. I know that the minister is aware of issues in relation to the common agricultural policy. We often talk about structural funding. An area such as Dumfries and Galloway may well receive £4 million in structural funding, but we receive £60 million a year in CAP funding. If we do not start to make preparations and do not understand that that funding basis will change, we will be in serious difficulty. However, at least the European Committee and debates such as today's provide the opportunity to discuss and examine the issue. On that basis, I have pleasure in welcoming and supporting the motion.
Several members have added their names during the debate to the list of members who wish to speak. I am about five minutes short, so although I will accept a motion without notice to extend the debate until 6 o'clock, I expect the debate to finish five or 10 minutes before then.
Motion moved,
That, under Rule 8.14.3, the debate be extended until 6.00 pm.—[Irene Oldfather.]
Motion agreed to.
I thank Irene Oldfather, who is the convener of the European Committee, for securing the debate. She always keeps an eye on such anniversaries, which keeps the rest of us in line. That is nice to know.
I am entirely pro-European Union, but we live in an interesting time in the EU's development. Members have touched on some of the issues. The current and most important issue in the EU for me as a citizen and as a member of a political party is the development of the constitutional convention on the future of Europe, which will give us a new passport with a new message on its inside page.
The convention will also affect our individual and collective rights in many ways. However, my fear is that because, in effect, centre-right Governments control the big five member states, their influence will affect personal and individual freedom issues and make legal frameworks more draconian than is necessary. I cite in evidence of that the behaviour of Aznar's Spanish Government toward nationalists in the Basque country, where large youth organisations, social organisations and the largest radical political party have been declared terrorist organisations.
Today, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has led me to believe that on the advice of the Spanish Government, the British Government will add all those organisations to the list of terrorist organisations that was issued in 2000. I find that deeply worrying, because I am a member of an organisation that has been declared a terrorist organisation. The organisation in question provides food, succour and comfort to political prisoners in the Basque country. To be frank, I am no terrorist and neither are the people who run that organisation.
Does the minister agree that the constant extension of the list of outlawed organisations and political groupings in no way advances democracy in Europe? The constitutional convention should be the focus—the crucible—for the development of a genuine and truthful democracy and for the creation of a Europe of the peoples, not a Europe of the nation states. I make those comments because several members have said that Britain and Europe have been at peace since the formation of the European Union, but that is not true. It is not true within the boundaries of the United Kingdom, within the boundaries of Italy or within the boundaries of Spain.
It is a false concept to pretend that the only benefit of the EU has been to prevent a major war between France and Germany. The EU has made it possible for people around the world to carry out extremely brutal and vicious wars. The second, third and fourth-largest arms producers in the world are European companies with Government involvement. We might not be experiencing war on our own soil, but we export it daily.
The most important issue for us as Scots and as people who carry a UK passport is whether Britain will get into Europe or whether it will continue with its semi-detached approach, which is exemplified by the British Government's failure to agree with the EU measures against the state of Israel for its occupation of Palestinian territories. Are we going to be in Europe or are we going to be the 51st state? We cannot be both. I suggest that to become truly European, Europe needs to stop talking about the euro and peace and needs to talk about the development of democracy and the possibility of carrying a unified European passport that allows travel and the protection of law in all member countries and in the countries that will accede to the EU.
I, too, pay tribute to Irene Oldfather for so skilfully securing a debate on Europe day on 9 May. It is a delight to work with Irene, with our colleagues on the European Committee and with our minister.
I have no doubt that my colleagues in the Executive—particularly Peter Peacock, whom I knew in a previous incarnation, when we had interesting times in carrying out European work in local government—have a powerful commitment to working in Europe. I know that Henry McLeish and his successor, Jack McConnell, have always been determined to ensure that the people of Scotland get the best out of Europe and that we contribute to Europe in the best way. I am proud to be part of a team that is helping to develop that work.
I agree with Keith Raffan—for once—that among the many things about Europe that we can celebrate is the fact that next week we will have the Rosyth-Zeebrugge ferry. The setting up of that service was an example of genuine co-operation at local government level. The name that is often given to local government in the Parliament impugns the integrity of local government officials. We should remember that local government brought members such as Peter Peacock and other celebrated individuals into the Parliament.
We should recognise local government officials' value and their contribution. My colleagues in Fife Council have continued an initiative that was started away back in the days of the North Sea Commission—which Peter Peacock will know very well. The ferry is a tremendous example of what good co-operation and collaboration can bring to the people of Scotland and I am delighted to be part of it. It opens up opportunities for business and tourism. I will really celebrate next week when we help to launch the service as the ship sails from Rosyth. I hope that it will be a success and that people will realise the opportunities that it offers.
Keith Raffan is right to say that we will have to show some leadership on the euro. Winnie Ewing was the one who convinced me about the euro on a television programme. She might remember it: she said that she was going to be given hospitality in Spain and that, to get there, she would be going through four countries, in each of which she would have to spend money. When she came back to Scotland she said that she had not spent very much money in any of the countries that she had travelled through and that she had been given lots of hospitality. She said that she had had £400—or however much it was—in her pocket but that all of it had gone on commission and bank charges.
Will the member give way?
I am on my last two seconds.
When the people of Scotland go on their summer holidays this year and start to use euros, they will really understand the difference that the euro can bring. They will save money but it will cost the banks. Hallelujah!
I endorse whole-heartedly every word of Irene Oldfather's motion. I would also like to record my appreciation for the power of work that a number of people did to organise school visits today. Eurodesk, Young Scot and the Scottish youth parliament were the youth organisations involved, together with the offices in Scotland of the European Commission and the European Parliament. We should not forget our own staff and the teachers who came with the children.
Primary school children from all over Scotland have been in and around the Parliament today, helping us to celebrate Europe day. It was great for many reasons. The kids whom I met this morning were great—some of them got up at 5 o'clock in the morning to get here. It is good to see youngsters being interested and getting involved in what I might describe as the civic responsibility of being Scots and being Europeans. What makes Governments work, and what keeps politicians honest, is an involved and interested electorate. Those young people are the electorate and, indeed, the politicians, of the future. They have a lot to teach the people and the politicians of the present. I was impressed by some of the suggestions made by the group that I was with. One especially imaginative suggestion was that school pupils from different European countries should go on joint school trips. Now, I might have thought of that, but the added twist was that the trip should be to a country that was abroad for both groups.
Other youngsters advocated e-penfriends, to help them learn the language of their counterparts in other countries. The group that I spent time with were not only definitely pro-euro but understood why they held that view.
I will not use the debate as an occasion for a political speech, but as an opportunity to celebrate the fact that an organisation that was born five years after the destruction and bloodshed of the second major war of the 20th century in Europe had ended has been a factor in the political stability and the continuing peace that we enjoy in western Europe. The organisation has gone from strength to strength. The membership has grown from the original six to the current 15 and it is set to grow still further. Its role, its structures and its way of working have changed along the way. It has given us peace, prosperity and the enrichment of having closer relationships with cultures other than our own.
For me, the main raison d'être of the Scottish Parliament, the European Union and in particular the European Parliament is the same—better government. It is common sense to deal with some issues co-operatively on a wider than national basis. It is also common sense to devolve power to the nearest practicable level to the citizen. We have benefited greatly, and in many ways, from our membership of the EU. There are obvious physical benefits, such as roads and bridges, and various other projects that would not have happened without European funding.
I want to celebrate the fact that the EU has been particularly effective in driving forward action on two fronts that are dear to my heart: equality and the environment. I am delighted to speak in this debate and to contribute to the celebrations. I am pleased to be able to say with enthusiasm: vive l'Europe!
I am pleased that the consultative steering group looked to Europe in establishing our Parliament. We are elected proportionally using the same constituency list system as Germany. Like most of Europe, our business is determined collectively in a bureau. For internal appointments we use the d'Hondt system, which was invented by a Belgian. We have electronic voting and we sit in the classic European hemicycle.
As the motion states, there are close working links between the EU and the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Parliament and its committees are interested in many of the same subject areas as the EU. I believe that there is no subject committee in the Scottish Parliament in whose subject the EU does not also have an interest. I have experienced that on a personal level, because I am a member of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee of the Scottish Parliament and, as a member of the Committee of the Regions, I sit on the Commission for Culture and Education. The overlap and added value is very useful.
Members of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee have just begun to get regular information about the work programme of the European Culture, Youth, Education, Media and Sport Committee. That is very helpful because our committee—and all committees of the Scottish Parliament—should be aware of EU policies and legislation as early as possible so that we can consider their impact on Scotland and influence Scottish and UK ministers if appropriate.
The motion also highlights the fact that the EU has a major impact on the everyday lives of people in Scotland. However, there is a lot of work to do to raise awareness of that and of what each EU institution does. I was sent the latest edition of the Eurobarometer, which charts public awareness of all EU bodies, including the Committee of the Regions. The figures are improving, but they are still not very good. When people were asked whether they had ever heard of the Committee of the Regions, only 31 per cent said yes, while 61 per cent said no—I do not know what happened to the other 8 per cent. Worst of all, the country with the highest awareness of the Committee of the Regions was Portugal, with 54 per cent, but the lowest awareness was in the United Kingdom, with 15 per cent. It has been suggested that not until we have a long-running storyline in "Coronation Street" in which Ken Barlow decides to run for the presidency of the Committee of the Regions, will we improve on those figures.
I will finish by making a huge cultural leap from Ken Barlow to Jean Monnet, the founding father of the European Community. He said:
"men and women who are placed in new circumstances or are subject to a new set of obligations, adapt their behaviour and become different. If the new context is better, they themselves become better."
I am sure that we all hope that that will be the case for both Scotland and Europe, now and in the future.
As Irene Oldfather and other members have said, today is a day for celebrating a remarkable achievement and the vision and commitment of our forebears in setting the foundations for the modern European Union. As Winnie Ewing and other members have said, the EU came about from the aftermath of two hugely destructive wars in the first half of the last century and stemmed from a commitment to ensure that that never happened again. Those are the origins of the European Union.
It is to Robert Schuman's eternal credit that, on this day in 1950, he took those first historic steps and called for Europe to move forward. That is still relevant today. Old enemies began to work together to resolve disputes, rather than going to war, which had been the tradition in Europe prior to that. It is fitting that Irene Oldfather has managed to coincide today's debate with the exact day of Schuman's speech in 1950.
I have made it clear before in this chamber that I am an unashamed enthusiast for Europe, in the way that Winnie Ewing described. I believe that the development of the European Union is one of the most remarkable achievements of our history. Winnie Ewing described when she first went to the European Parliament. I remember when I first walked into the European Parliament hemicycle, when I was a member of the European Committee of the Regions. I was with several hundred people who were doing the same job that I was—I was a council leader—but they were from all over Europe. I remember thinking that only 50 or 60 years before the same people were at war, lobbing shells at each other and causing massive destruction. The fact that we have moved forward in the way that we have is impressive by any standard.
The achievements of the European Union are set to continue with its impending enlargement. The EU has contributed enormously to peace and security in Europe. It has also contributed to many other areas of the day-to-day lives of our communities: to business; to the creation of jobs and trade; to fighting international crime; and to a cleaner environment, which members, in particular Nora Radcliffe, have talked about. All of that has been built upon a common marketplace for goods and services and a vibrant European economy.
But the EU is much more than just an economic phenomenon. It is the only trading bloc in the world that has an explicit policy to bring about economic and social cohesion and solidarity among the members of the European Union, wherever people are within the Union. The EU is about working together in partnership to make Europe a more harmonious place, which is better balanced, cleaner, more prosperous and safer for all the peoples of Europe. The members of the European Union are much stronger together than they were apart, prior to the Union's creation.
As a number of members have said, despite all the positive aspects of the European Union, challenges face it at present. Ben Wallace and Richard Lochhead touched on that. The view of the Union is changing in parts of Europe. Part of the reason for that is that people believe the Union to be distant from the citizen. A lot of work is going on to address that.
The minister will appreciate that one of the debates on the future of Europe is about where executive power should lie, that is, whether it should lie with the European Parliament or the European Commission. What is the Scottish Executive's view on that?
I will draw some of those points out as I proceed.
The forthcoming enlargement of the EU, which we support strongly, will increase the population of the EU by approximately 130 million people, but it will also open up huge opportunities for Scotland in trade and development. Enlargement has the potential to make the institutions and the workings of the EU seem even more complex and distant from the people, who already perceive the EU to be distant. That has led to the current debate on the future governance of Europe.
The EU is a complex, interwoven, multi-layered democracy. It has two or three layers of local government which—in particular on the continent—are built around communal government and power being passed to regional and state governments. The EU also has sub-member state administrations, with either legislative powers or purely administrative powers, member state Governments and the European Parliament itself. The machinery of the EU is extremely complex, and includes the Council of Ministers, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions, and the European Court of Justice among others.
Scotland has strong representation in the EU at all levels of decision making—through the UK Parliament, via the UK Government, through the Executive directly into institutions and in the European Parliament itself.
Will the minister give way?
I wish to make progress.
Scotland has influence in the European Economic and Social Committee and in the Committee of the Regions. It also has influence in lobby groups around the European Parliament and the European Commission, for example the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions. In that context, Scotland is represented at the top table of all institutions and groups in Europe. Scotland punches well above its weight in the European context. It has the twin benefits—and I disagree with Winnie Ewing on this point—of being part of one of the strongest member states, that is the UK, while at the same time it has access to every level of the Union's decision making.
I regret that Richard Lochhead, unlike others, brought a discordant tone to the debate with regard to powers. He mentioned that the First Minister was making a contribution to the European debate today. In addition, this debate is taking place and I am going up to Inverness to speak on behalf of the Executive at a debate on European matters.
The minister talked about Scotland punching above its weight in Europe. Scotland should be punching above its weight in the Council of Ministers. Under the devolved set-up, how many meetings of the Council of Ministers has the Scottish Executive been represented at this year?
That question shows that Richard Lochhead fails to grasp the crafted analysis that I am trying to make. The Executive is represented at all levels of the European Union. Scotland is represented in the UK Government and the issue therefore does not arise.
Securing a new Europe requires a partnership where government at all levels, whether it is the UK, EU, the Scottish Executive, our MEPs or local government, works closely together with the trade unions, the business community and the voluntary sector to respond to the challenges that Europe faces. That partnership has to continue to develop and build on the huge progress that has been made to date.
Our aim is to make the European Union more open, coherent, effective, accountable and relevant to the ordinary men and women of Europe. As part of its principles, the EU should be committed to subsidiarity. As others have mentioned, the Scottish Parliament and the Executive have a role to play in the process of helping to bring about greater understanding, participation and benefits from the European Union.
No. The minister must wind up.
We want to secure a Europe that is genuinely closer to the citizen and that enables us all to benefit from European growth. As others mentioned, I am sure that the Scottish Parliament will welcome the fact that the First Minister will draft the Committee of the Regions' main opinion paper on the reform of the treaty.
I would like to return to the Schuman declaration, which is referred to in Irene Oldfather's motion. In its time, the declaration was visionary. It was a declaration that was incredibly far-sighted and creative. We are here to celebrate the achievement of that vision, which is the creation of the European Union and the priceless benefits that it has brought to the people of Scotland. The Executive fully supports the sentiments expressed in the motion lodged by Irene Oldfather.
Meeting closed at 17:56.