Meeting summary: 3 September 2014

                            EU ports, Ukrain and Russia EU restrictive measures, EU general budget, EU waste, european police college 
                        

The European Scrutiny Committee met on Wednesday 3 September 2014

The Committee considered the following documents:

Ports

This week we report on the draft Regulation on ports. Through this draft Regulation the Commission seeks to establish a regulatory framework to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of EU ports and to contribute towards their ability to cope with increased demand. When we considered this draft Regulation in July, we felt that there was considerable uncertainty about the utility of the draft Regulation, and its effects on UK ports, and recommended it for a debate on the floor of the House. The Government did not accept this request. We report the Minister’s letter which explains why our request for a debate on the floor of the House was rejected. We describe the explanation as unconvincing and express regret that, yet again, the scrutiny process has been weakened. The letter hints that there has been progress in Council working party consideration of the proposal. Separately, European Committee A adjourned without debating the document this morning following points of order from Members about the Government’s decision and lack of availability of up-to-date documents. We therefore reiterate our recommendation that the document be debated on the floor of the House, and state that this debate should take place before the House rises for the conference recess on 12 September.

Ukraine and Russia: EU restrictive measures

We scrutinise a number of restrictive measures introduced in response to the Ukraine-Russia crisis, including measures on investment in Crimea and Sevastopol, and instruments which add names to those listed under the “asset-freeze + travel ban” regime. We clear these measures from scrutiny, but report them to the House as being politically important. We also consider measures which expand the criteria under which individuals and entities can be listed with Ukraine sanctions and which, as the Minister puts it, “now allow the EU to target individuals and entities with close ties to Vladimir Putin.” We explain why we recommend these measures for debate on the floor of the House and why this debate should also be used to examine the wider political context in which these measures sit and what other steps are agreed or are in prospect in the aftermath of this week’s NATO Summit. We urge the Government to schedule the debate as soon as possible.

EU General Budget

This week we report on two Draft Amending Budgets (DABs). The Commission presents DABs to the Council and European Parliament throughout the financial year, proposing increases or reductions for revenue and expenditure in the current EU Budget.

In DAB No. 3/2014, the Commission asks for an increase in payment appropriations of €4,730 million (£3,853 million) in 2014. It requests these appropriations through two routes; one of which is the mobilisation of the Contingency Margin. The Contingency Margin is a mechanism which allows for mobilisation of a certain amount of Gross National Income and is intended to be used as a last resort in reaction to unforeseen circumstances. We first considered this matter in June and asked the Government for its views on the requested increase, and whether it considered that the Commission’s case was adequate to warrant use of the Contingency Margin. In July 2014 the then Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Nicky Morgan, wrote to us setting out the Government’s position. We remain concerned that the Government’s claimed success in limiting budgetary increases is in danger of being eroded. We therefore recommend the DAB, and the draft Decision on mobilisation of the Contingency Margin, for debate in European Committee B, alongside the 2015 Draft Budget, which we recommended for debate in July.

In the other DAB that we consider this week, the Commission proposes revisions to the estimates for 2014 of Member States’ contributions to the annual budget. The Government has explained to us that the consideration of this DAB may be linked to discussions on the Draft Budget for 2015. As a result, we are keeping it under consideration pending information from the Government about further developments.

Waste

We report on a Commission Communication on a zero waste programme for Europe, which forms the centre-piece of a number of other Commission Communications addressing a range of issues relating to waste. The Communication sets out an ambitious agenda for achieving a so-called circular economy which seeks as far as possible to eliminate waste. It also proposes a number of measures on matters such as recycling rates for municipal and packaging waste, marine litter, and construction and demolition waste. We consider that the underlying thrust of this Communication raises a number of potentially important issues relating to both subsidiarity and the practicality and affordability of the measures in question. We therefore recommend the document for debate in European Committee A. Some of these measures are contained in a legislative proposal, which we report on separately and also recommend for debate in European Committee A.

The European Police College

In March 2013, the Commission published a communication proposing a comprehensive European Law Enforcement Training Scheme (LETS) to strengthen cross-border law enforcement cooperation. The Commission has recently published a draft Regulation, which envisages that the European Police College (CEPOL), will play an important role in implementing LETS. The Government’s Explanatory Memorandum sets out its objections to this draft Regulation. We seek clarification and further explanation from the Minister on some of the points made in the Memorandum and retain both the draft Regulation and Commission Communication under scrutiny. Given the Government’s reservations about the draft Regulation, and the more expansive role envisaged for CEPOL, we consider that an opt-in debate is warranted and that it should take place before the Government notifies its opt-in decision to the Council Presidency.

Other documents reported

We are also reporting on documents relating to:

Business, Innovation and Skills: Cooperation to strengthen cross-border consumer protection; Resource efficiency in the building sector; EU merger control; Application of geographical indication protection to non-agricultural products; Gender balance on corporate boards; unfair trading practices in the food supply chain; Developing an EU Urban Agenda; Communication on Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in the EU; Communication on Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Third Countries; Insolvency proceedings; EU legislation on waste;
Culture, Media and Sport: The Telecommunications Single Market; Towards a data-driven economy in Europe;
Energy and Climate Change: Energy efficiency and security: 2030
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: The EU and the post-2015 development agenda; Green Action Plan for small and medium sized enterprises;
Foreign and Commonwealth Office: The post 2015 Hyogo Framework for Action: Managing risks to achieve resilience; The European External Action Service; EU restrictive measures against the Syrian regime; Restrictive measures against Iran: nuclear issues; International Code of Conduct on Outer Space Activities; EU restrictive measures: South Sudan; EU-Algeria Relations; Common Security and Defence Policy: EULEX Kosovo; CSFP: EU support for security sector reform in the Democratic republic of Congo;
HM Treasury: European Central Bank: statistics; European Globalisation Adjustment Fund; Protecting the EU’s financial interests; Financial management;
Home Office: Europol; EU Strategy on Trafficking in Human Beings; Unaccompanied minors seeking asylum; The UK’s 2014 block-opt out decision;
International Development: European Defence: implementation road map; EU humanitarian assistance; Development Education and Awareness Raising in Europe;
Justice: Procedural safeguards for children suspected or accused in criminal proceedings; Detention, supervision and previous convictions of EU citizens; EU Charter of Fundamental Rights;
Transport: Working time: inland waterway transport;
Work and Pensions: An EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work; European aid to the most deprived.

The Committee published its Tenth Report (covering Ports) and Eleventh Report (covering Ukraine and Russia) on 4 September. The Committee’s Ninth Report will be published shortly, which will cover the remaining documents considered at the meeting on the 3 September.

The Committee’s Eighth Report of Session 2014-15 has been published, covering: Strategic guidelines for EU Justice and Home Affairs to 2020; Reforms to the EU's trade mark regime; Undeclared work; Earth observation satellite data; The Telecommunications Single Market; Minerals originating in conflict-affected and high-risk areas: an integrated EU approach; Proposing a candidate for President of the Commission; Financial management: investigations of fraud; European Globalisation Adjustment Fund; Ukraine and Russia: EU restrictive measures; High-speed electronic communication networks; The EU and Georgia: the EU and Moldova; The EU and Ukraine; EU civilian CSDP mission in Ukraine; EU Internal Security Strategy.