Meeting Summary: 4 June

The Committee considered the following documents:

Ukraine and Russia: EU restrictive measures

These are the latest round of EU restrictions in response to the Ukraine-Russia crisis, and include asset-freezing measures relating to a further 28 individuals and two entities, and an expansion of the designation criteria.  We clear them from scrutiny, but take the opportunity to note that the Government has not yet scheduled the debate on the floor of the House which we recommended back in March, a delay we describe as "deplorable".  We are writing separately to the Foreign Secretary on this matter.

Animal cloning

We report this week on two draft Directives, following up the Reasoned Opinion which was agreed to by the House in February on the Directive on the placing on the market of food from animal clones, and our oral evidence session with the Minister of State for food, farming and the marine environment in April.  During that evidence session the Minister promised to provide us with a detailed legal analysis on the choice of legal base for the proposal.  We welcome the Minister’s response, but are critical that it conflates two distinct avenues for challenging an EU legislative proposal: the choice of legal base and the proposal’s compliance with the principle of subsidiarity.  We draw our concerns to the attention of the Cabinet Office and the FCO, and ask the Minister to continue to keep us informed of the progress in negotiations on both documents, which remain under scrutiny.

Reforming Europol

The Lisbon Treaty requires Europol to be established on the basis of a Regulation, adopted by the Council and the European Parliament, setting out its structure, operation, field of action and tasks, and including (for the first time) provision for scrutiny of its activities by the European Parliament, together with National Parliaments.  The draft Regulation has been debated in the House and was the subject of an Opinion from the Home Affairs Committee.  The UK Government has decided not to opt in, but continues to play an active part in negotiations and to seek changes which will enable it to recommend opting in once the draft Regulation has been adopted. This is our seventh Report on this document, and is based on an update from the Government on negotiations.  We thank the Minister for her Report and agree with her assessment that in general the changes proposed in the latest Council text represent an improvement.  However, we express concerns about the latest developments in the European Parliament’s LIBE Committee, which has proposed amendments to give the European Parliament a dominant role in organising Parliamentary scrutiny of Europol, not least because it suggests that it should have the sole responsibility of convening and hosting meetings of the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny group.  We ask the Minister for an assurance that the UK Government will use what influence it has to achieve an outcome on Parliamentary scrutiny of Europol which reflects the will of national Parliaments, and to press for the publication of the text of the Council’s agreed general approach at the earliest opportunity.

Financial services: occupational pension funds

We considered this draft Directive for the first time in May.  There are around 125,000 occupational pension funds operating within the EU, the vast majority of which are located in just four Member States: Germany, the Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.  We share the Government’s concerns that the proposal as it stands infringes the principle of subsidiarity, but it was not possible for the House to issue a Reasoned Opinion within the deadline because of the prorogation of Parliament.  We therefore set out our concerns, in detail, which will be submitted to the Presidents of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council. 

Other documents reported

We are also reporting on documents relating to:

• Business, Innovation and Skills: Network Information Scrutiny across the EU; Shareholder rights; Single-member private limited liability companies; Access to published works for the visually impaired; 
• Culture, Media and Sport: Telecommunications Single Market; Internet Governance; Radio Spectrum Policy Programme; Tourism;
• Foreign and Commonwealth Office: EU Special Representative for the Middle East Peace process and wider EUSR issues; EU Special Representative for Human Rights; Citizens’ dialogues; EU and the Horn of Africa;
• Health: Regulation of medical devices; Regulation of new psychoactive substances;
• HM Revenue and Customs: Customs; 
• HM Treasury: Long-term financing, including crowdfunding; Financial management; 
• Home Office: EU return policy; Protecting the Euro against counterfeiting – the Pericles 202 programme; Task Force for the Mediterranean;
• Justice: Hague Convention (Choice of Court Agreements); EU Charter of Fundamental Rights; Application of the Brussels IIa Regulation; 
• Transport: Maritime Cabotage; Aviation: remotely piloted aircraft systems; Road haulage; Civil aviation: EU and Ukraine; Road safety: eCall.

The Committee’s Fiftieth Report of Session 2014-15 will soon be published published, covering: The EU and Georgia: the EU and Moldova (for debate in European Committee B); Relocation of the European Police College (CEPOL); Financial services: payment services; Business failure and insolvency; Implementing the Solidarity Clause; Promotion of agricultural products; The EU and the Gulf of Guinea; Integrated Border Managements Assistance Mission in Libya; Rules of Procedure of the General Court; EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo; Financial services: occupational pension funds; Money laundering and terrorist financing; Establishing the EU’s position within the International Labour Organisation; EU visa policy; Road transport: dimensions and weights.