EC/SWITZERLAND: SEVEN SECTORAL AGREEMENTS
(21099)
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Draft Commission and Council Decision on the conclusion of seven
agreements with the Swiss Confederation.
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| Legal base: |
Article 310 and Article 300 (2), (3) and (4) TEC; and
Article 101 EURATOM; assent; unanimity
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| Department: |
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
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| Basis of consideration:
| EM of 31 March |
| Previous Committee Report:
| None; but see (20157): HC 34-xxii (1998-99), paragraph 15
(16 June 1999)
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| To be discussed in Council:
| 10 April General Affairs Council
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| Committee's assessment:
| Politically important |
| Committee's decision:
| Not cleared; further information requested
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Introduction
14.1 The EU has been negotiating a series
of bilateral agreements between the Community and the Swiss Confederation
since 1994 and in June 1999 a package of seven Agreements, covering
specific sectors, were signed. These Agreements now need to be
formally approved, six on behalf of the Community and the seventh,
which covers science and technology, on behalf of the European
Atomic Energy Community (EAEC) as well. The other six Agreements
cover air transport, the carriage of goods and passengers by rail
and road, trade in agricultural products, mutual recognition in
relation to conformity assessment, and certain aspects of government
procurement.
14.2 In an EM of 31 March, received late
on 4 April, the Minister of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth
Office (Mr Vaz) says that the draft Decision under scrutiny here
is expected to be taken at the 10 April General Affairs Council
(GAC), by which time the European Parliament is expected to have
given its assent.
The Commission's proposal
14.3 The package signed last year[38]
was for separate Council Decisions under a variety of legal bases.
It is now proposed that these seven Agreements should, as before,
remain intimately linked to one another by a requirement that
they come into force at the same time, but should have one legal
base, Article 310 and Article 300 (parts 2,3 and 4) of the TEC,
and be approved by means of a single Commission and Council Decision.
The Agreement on Science and Technology will, additionally, have
as a legal base Article 101 of the Treaty establishing the EAEC.
14.4 Paragraph 3 of the Recital to the Decision
states that the undertakings in the Agreement on Free Movement
of Persons, which fall within the scope of Part Three, Title IV
of the TEC, are not binding on the UK, Denmark and Ireland as
obligations under Community law but as obligations arising from
an undertaking between them and the Swiss Confederation.
The Government's view
14.5 The Minister says that:
"The special position
of the UK in terms of our Protocol on Title IV of the TEC is preserved
by paragraph 3 of the Recital...".
14.6 He comments that, on the strength of
this recital, the UK will be able to maintain a consistent policy
approach to the entry and residence of third country nationals.
The other policy implications of this proposal are unchanged.
Conclusion
14.7 When we last considered these Agreements
at our meeting on 16 June 1999, we noted, but had some difficulty
in understanding, the Government's then view that the Agreement
on Free Movement of Persons ("The FMOP Agreement") was
mixed[39]
and so would require ratification by national parliaments following
signature. Although we cleared the document we requested an explanation.
14.8 The Minister has now informed us,
in an Explanatory Memorandum which we received yesterday, that
all the Agreements (including the FMOP Agreement) will be concluded
on behalf of the European Community (together with, in one case,
Euratom) by means of a single Commission and Council Decision.
He does not explain the Government's current view on the "mixity"
of the FMOP Agreement nor the reasons for its (apparent) change
of mind on that point.
14.9 The Minister assures us that the
UK's special position on maintaining passport controls at its
internal frontier is preserved by a recital. He adds that the
UK will conclude that part of the FMOP Agreement falling within
Title IV EC in its own right.
14.10 The UK's competence on frontier
controls is preserved, not by the recital to which the Minister
refers, but by the Protocol on the application of certain aspects
of Article 7a in the Treaty of Amsterdam. With commendable foresight
it established that the UK is entitled to maintain passport controls
at its internal frontier, "notwithstanding any international
agreement concluded by the Community or by the Community and its
Member States with one or more third States."
14.11 The Minister does not explain how
the UK will conclude those parts of the FMOP Agreement which fall
within Title IV EC on a national basis.
- do Member States other than Denmark, Ireland
and the UK regard adoption of this Decision as constituting ratification
on their behalf of the FMOP Agreement which they agreed together
with the Community?
- will the UK ratify that Agreement by a separate
instrument and, if so, what Parliamentary procedure will be followed?
- or does the UK regard adoption of this Decision
as constituting its ratification of its separate undertakings
with the Swiss Confederation?
- will the UK be separately represented on the
Joint Committee set up under Article 14 of the FMOP Agreement?
14.12 Until we have the Minister's explanation
of these points we are not in a position to clear the document.
38 (20157) - ; see HC 34-xxii (1998-99), paragraph 15
(16 June 1999). Back
39 Within
the competence of the EC and of its Member States and so requiring
to be concluded by both. Back
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