Meeting Summary
This week the Committee considered the following
documents:
Financial management: audit
For the nineteenth year the European Court of Auditors
has not given a positive Statement of Assurance on the reliability
of the EU's accounts. The ECA reports that for the third year
running the error rate for payments has increased, and that errors
were identified in all categories of payment assessed, with rural
development, environment, fisheries and health the most error
prone. While some improvements have been made, particularly relating
to assurance on revenue and commitments transactions, this is
clearly a matter of ongoing concern. The Committee recommends
that the Court of Auditors' Report, along with a related Report
on the European Development Funds, should be debated in European
Committee before the ECOFIN Council in February 2014 (with the
previously-referred Commission Fight Against Fraud Annual
Report) . Our conclusions note that when we referred these documents
last year (and the year before) the Government scheduled the debate—
pointlessly — months after the Council's adoption of its
discharge recommendations. We hope that this will not be the
case for these Reports.
Regulation of tobacco and related products
The Committee has recommended this Draft Regulation
for debate in European Committee, and wrote last week to the new
Minister expressing concern about the delay in scheduling the
debate. The Minister has written apologising for the delay and
setting the date as Monday 16 December at 4.30pm. She looks forward
to explaining the progress of negotiations in greater detail.
We have received correspondence expressing concerns about the
closed nature of the trilogue process on this document. Our conclusions
note the significant difference in approach towards the regulation
of e-cigarettes taken by the European Parliament and the Council
and the absence, so far, of any indication as to how this difference
can be bridged. We ask the Minister to report back on the outcome
of the trilogue negotiations which took place on 3 December, and
make clear that further information on the scope of the compromises
being considered, as well as the factors that the Government will
take into account in determining whether an acceptable compromise
can be reached, is imperative to inform the European Committee
debate.
Banking Union: Single Resolution Mechanism
This autumn, two Regulations establishing a Single
Supervisory Mechanism, the first pillar of the Banking Union,
were adopted. In July 2013 the Commission proposed the Regulation
currently under scrutiny to establish, as the second pillar of
the Banking Union, uniform rules and a uniform procedure for the
resolution of credit institutions and certain investment firms,
a Single Resolution Mechanism. The Committee considered the proposal
in September and noted that although it would not apply directly
to the UK, it would have implications, perhaps significant, for
the UK's financial services industry. We asked the Government
for an update on negotiations and requested answers on a number
of legal issues. We consider this week the Minister's very belated
response (received the evening before our meeting), and an Opinion
on the proposal from the European Central Bank. The Minister
asked us to clear the document from scrutiny so that the Government
could agree to a general approach, if it deemed it appropriate,
if the matter came before the ECOFIN Council on 10 December.
Given the lack of time for proper analysis we do not clear the
document and advise the Minister that given the importance of
the issues at stake we will expect the Government not to support
any proposal which comes to ECOFIN next week, and — further
— will regard an abstention as merely a token regard for
parliamentary scrutiny.
Reducing plastic carrier bag use
This Draft Directive requires Member States to take
measures to reduce the consumption of lightweight carrier bags.
The Commission states that the consumption of such bags has continued
to increase and notes that the Environment Council invited it
to analyse possible action in March 2011. The proposal would
require Member States to take measures to reduce within 24 months
the consumption of plastic bags having a thickness of less than
50 microns (0.05mm) but does not set a specific reduction target,
simply requiring that account should be taken of the current consumption
level in individual Member States. The Government points out
that Wales and Northern Ireland have already introduced charges
of all single use bags at point of sale, extending beyond the
lightweight carrier bags covered by this proposal, notes that
the Scottish Government has announced that it will be introducing
a charge in 2014 modelled on the approach in Wales, and that it
has itself announced an intention to introduce a charge on plastic
bags in England in 2015. It therefore does not believe that the
UK would need to make significant changes to comply. Taking this
into account, we clear the document, while questioning its utility.
EU Development Policy and Financing post-2015
An earlier Commission Communication, A Decent
Life for All: ending poverty and giving the world a sustainable
future, set out the Commission's view on the international
post-2015 development agenda: ending poverty and ensuring that
future prosperity and well-being are sustainable. The debate
already recommended by the Committee on this Communication is
to be held in European Committee B on 12 December. We report
this week on a subsequent Commission Communication Beyond 2015
— towards a comprehensive and integrated approach to financing
poverty eradication and sustainable development, and recommend
that it is debated along with the first Communication ahead of
the December "development" Foreign Affairs Council.
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