European Scrutiny Committee Meeting Summary: 4 February 2015
4 February 2015
European Scrutiny Committee met on Wednesday 28 January 2015
The Committee considered the following documents:
EU Charter of Fundamental Rights
We consider a 2013 Commission Report on the application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which we last reported on in September 2014, when we were still considering the Government’s Response to our Report entitled The application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights: a state of confusion. We therefore kept this Commission Report under scrutiny as we felt that relevant issues may arise in the course of our consideration of the Government’s Response to our Report. Last month, we questioned the Secretary of State for Justice on the applicability of the Charter to the UK as part of an oral evidence session we held with both him and the Home Secretary. During this evidence session he told us he would be watching the question of the Charter’s applicability to UK national law “like a hawk”. We continue to have concerns about the scope of the Charter’s application in the UK. We therefore recommend that this Commission Report be debated on the floor of the House, to provide Members with an opportunity to discuss this important matter.
Investment plan for Europe
This week we also consider a Commission Communication suggesting a three part plan to promote investment in the EU economy and a draft Regulation, which would create a legal framework for the first two strands of this plan, that is the European Fund for Strategic Investments and a European Investment Advisory Hub, so enabling the Commission to implement and deliver the investment plan jointly with the European Investment Bank. We also consider a Draft Amending Budget (DAB) which would provide the finance for these new bodies this year. The Government supports both the draft Regulation and the DAB, particularly noting that the draft Regulation would be fully financed within the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020 and the DAB would have a budget neutral impact. We recommend all three documents for debate in European Committee, suggesting that among the issues Members may wish to raise are whether the European Investment Bank’s involvement in the plan poses any risk to its credit standing, and what the suggested fast-tracking of the draft Regulation might mean for parliamentary scrutiny.
Other documents
We are also reporting on documents relating to:
- Business, Innovation and Skills: Opening up education: innovative teaching and learning through new technologies; Single-member private; limited liability companies; European Private Company;
- Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Fisheries: catch quotas and effort limitation for 2015
- Foreign and Commonwealth Office: EU Special Representative for Kosovo; EU Special Representative for Afghanistan; EU Special Representative for South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia; EU Special Representative for the Sahel; EU Special Representative for the Horn of Africa; EU Special Representative for Human Rights; EU-Turkmenistan relations;
- Health: Regulation of medical devices;
- Home Office: Forced labour;
- Treasury: Financial management; Financial services: money market funds; Protecting the EU’s financial interests; Financial services: benchmarks; Stability and Growth Pact
The Committee’s 31st Report of Session 2014-15 will be published soon, covering: Commission Work Programme 2015; Unaccompanied minors seeking asylum; Gender balance on corporate boards; Free movement and public documents; The EU’s Special Representative (EUSR) to Bosnia and Herzegovina and wider EUSR issues; Data Protection in the EU; Macro-financial assistance: Ukraine; Multiannual Financial Framework.