European Scrutiny Committee Meeting Summary: 4 March 2015
9 March 2015
European Scrutiny Committee met on Wednesday 4 March 2015
The Committee considered the following documents:
Investment Plan for Europe
The Commission has proposed a draft Regulation to create a European Fund for Strategic Investment and a European Investment Advisory Hub, as part of the implementation of an Investment Plan for Europe. We recommended this draft Regulation, together with the Commission’s Communication which proposed the Investment Plan for Europe, for debate in European Committee in February. That debate has not yet taken place. The Government tells us that there has been rapid progress in Council and that it has achieved significant improvements to the text of the proposal, which enhance the Fund’s likely benefit for the UK. We conclude that it is highly regrettable that the Government has not yet scheduled the debate. However, given the improvements secured, we agree that in this very exceptional case the Government may give agreement to the General Approach pending consideration of this draft Regulation in European Committee B. We still expect for this debate to take place before dissolution.
EU General Budgets for 2014 and 2015
The Council and the European Parliament failed to reach agreement on the Commission’s original Draft Budget for 2015. Consequently the Commission presented a revised Draft Budget. Negotiations have been complicated by consideration of a number of Draft Amending Budgets for the 2014 Budget. The Government has now given us, by letter and in an evidence session, a further account of the outcome of the negotiations of the final 2014 Budget and the adopted 2015 Budget. We now clear the remaining documents not already cleared through the debate in European Committee on 15 October 2014, bar two, which we still hold under scrutiny. We emphasise to the Government the Draft Amending Budget concerning a significant retrospective revision to the UK’s budgetary contributions and the associated draft Regulation to amend the own Resources decision do indeed remain under scrutiny and it is highly regrettable that our recommendation that these documents be debated on the floor of the House has not been implemented. We also note that the Treasury Committee recently published a report on this matter.
Tackling youth unemployment
The Youth Employment Initiative was agreed by the European Council in February 2013, and establishes a dedicated youth employment budget line of €3 billion (supplemented by a further €3 billion from the European Social Fund) to support the implementation of the Youth Guarantee and other job creation measures for young people in regions in which the youth unemployment rate exceeds 25%. We have previously scrutinised the Initiative and it was debated in European Committee B in June 2013. This draft Regulation front loads payments (without increasing the overall budget) so that eligible regions are able to receive up to 30% of their total allocation in 2015, enabling them to accelerate the implementation of national or regional programmes to integrate young people into the labour market, The Government supports the proposal. Five UK regions are eligible for funding: Inner London, Merseyside, Tees Valley and Durham, West Midlands and South West Scotland. We clear the document from scrutiny.
Entry and residence of third country nationals
This draft Directive replaces earlier Directives establishing common rules for the entry and residence of third country national students and researchers. It would introduce more favourable provisions and include within its scope additional categories of third country nationals (trainees, volunteers, au pairs and school pupils participating in exchange schemes). The Government confirmed in July 2013 that it had decided not to opt into the draft Directive but indicated that it would participate actively in negotiations with a view to considering a possible post-adoption opt-in. The Minister now writes to us stating that the possibility of a post-adoption opt-in has entirely receded, and that there are significant differences between the Council and the European Parliament. We clear the draft Directive from scrutiny but ask the Government (or more likely its successor) to report back to the Committee on the outcome of the trilogue negotiations. We draw the proposal to the attention of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee and the Home Affairs Committee because of their interest in this area.
Other documents
We are also reporting on documents relating to:
- Business, Innovation and Skills: WTO protocol on trade facilitation; EU anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and safeguard activities; Unified Patent Court;
- Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Trade in seal products; Protective measures against plant pests;
- Foreign and Commonwealth Office: EU enlargement: post-accession monitoring – Bulgaria and Romania; EU-Tunisia Action Plan; An EU regional strategy for Syria and Iraq as well as the Da’esh threat; the EU and the Gulf of Guinea; Ukraine and Russia:EU restrictive measures; Free movement and public documents; EU and Bosnia and Herzegovina: Stabilisation and Association Agreement;
- Home Office: Unaccompanied minors seeking asylum; Eurojust; Forced labour;
- International development: Food and Agriculture Organisation;
- Justice: Public access to documents;
- Transport: Civil aviation: passenger protection and Single European Sky;
- The Committee’s 34th Report of Session 2014-15
The Committee's 34th Report of Session was published on 6 March, covering: EU Strategy in Afghanistan 2014-16; The EU and Bosnia and Herzegovina: Stabilisation and Association Agreement; European Competitiveness Report 2014; the Telecommunications Single Market; Conservation of sea bass; the EU and Central Asia; EU Pre-accession Assistance to Serbia; Free movement and public documents; Partnership and Co-operation Agreements: Philippines and Vietnam; EU Special Representative for Human Rights; EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia and wider issues; EU Special Representative for the Sahel and wider issues; EU Special Representative for the Horn of Africa and wider issues; EU Special Representative for Afghanistan and wider issues; EU military mission to contribute to the training of Somali security forces; European Public Prosecutor’s Office; Statistics; Carbon dioxide emissions from maritime transport; European Globalisation Adjustment Fund; Value added taxation; European aid to the most deprived; Cooperation within the European Economic Area.