European and External Relations Committee, 30 Oct 2007

Meeting date: Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Official Report 99KB pdf

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European Union Maritime Policy

We are on to agenda item 3, which concerns the European Commission's communication on a maritime policy for the European Union. Members will have noted that, as a follow-up to its green paper on a maritime strategy—to which the previous committee responded—the Commission has now adopted a communication together with an action plan. The action plan, which is summarised as an attachment to the clerk's paper, lists a range of actions that are to be launched before the end of 2009. Members will note that the Commission does not propose a significant amount of new legislation but, rather, focuses on co-ordinating activities that are already scheduled.

Given Scotland's significance as a maritime region—nation, I should say—and that maritime policy is one of the Government's EU priorities, the clerk's paper recommends that the committee write to the Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture to ask about the Government's proposed response to the Commission's action plan. Do members have any comments?

Are we sure that she is the right minister? Perhaps we should write to the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment.

We could write to both. We could copy the letter to the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment.

Do members agree to that?

Members indicated agreement.