Meeting Summary
This week the Committee considered the following
documents:
Free movement of EU citizens
This Commission Communication provides an overview
of the legal framework governing the free movement of EU citizens
and their families and proposes five actions to help Member States
apply the rules effectively. It was produced following a request
from the Home Secretary and her counterparts in Austria, Germany
and the Netherlands in April 2013 for an urgent review of EU free
movement rules and their impact on local services and social welfare
systems. The Commission concludes that, in its view, EU free
movement rules contain "robust safeguards" to tackle
abuse and prevent unreasonable burdens being placed on the host
country, and that it is the joint responsibility of Member States
and the EU institutions to uphold the right to free movement "including
by countering public perceptions that are not based on facts or
economic realities". The Minister for Immigration is critical
of the Commission for not acknowledging the scope and seriousness
of free movement fraud and abuse, suggests that the sanctions
available to Member States are inadequate and adds that there
is insufficient flexibility to manage access to benefits for EU
migrants. Noting that the timing of the publication coincides
with the lifting of transitional controls on migrants from Bulgaria
and Romania on 1 January 2014, and the entry into force of domestic
regulations removing entitlement to Jobseekers' Allowance for
EEA nationals seeking employment in the UK, we seek further information
from the Government by Friday 17 January, with a view to returning
to the issue later this month.
Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in Development
This Commission Staff Working Paper is the third
progress report on implementation of the EU 2010-2015 Plan of
Action on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in Development
(GAP). The GAP contains nine objectives, 37 actions and 53 indicators.
The Minister notes that, as in previous years, the report highlights
not only the achievements made in promoting gender equality through
development co-operation by EU Member States, the European External
Action Service and EU delegations, but also frankly highlights
the persisting challenges and areas where more work needs to be
done. She describes the report's conclusion that, overall, progress
was "extremely slow" between July 2012 and June 2013
as very disappointing, and underlines the Government's commitment
to putting girls and women at the centre of international development.
We recommend a debate in European Committee.
CSDP missions in Iraq and South Sudan
The Committee cleared these Council Decisions in
July 2013 and July 2012 respectively. We have had a number of
exchanges with the FCO over the need for CSDP missions to be properly
evaluated throughout their existence and to be wound up when their
job has been done or when it is plain that, for whatever reason,
they are failing to deliver value for money. The Minister now
reports that though both missions were scheduled to close in December
2013 and January 2014 respectively the European External Action
Service brought forward proposals that they should be extended
for up to a year, which the Government successfully opposed.
We commend the Minister for the position he took, and urge him
to continue to press the EEAS and the Commission to ensure that
CSDP missions are measurably effective (by outcome, not by activity)
and focused, continue to address threats to our security and can
demonstrate that there are still valid and achievable goals to
pursue.
Reforming Europol
This draft Regulation establishes a new legal base
for cooperation between Member States' law enforcement authorities
and Europol. It includes provisions on Parliamentary scrutiny
of Europol's activities which involve both the European Parliament
and national parliaments. The proposed arrangements build on
ideas first mooted in a Commission Communication published in
2011. As in 2011, we sought the Opinion of the Commons Home Affairs
Committee, which has now been received. The Home Affairs Committee
underlines the importance of the principle that national Parliaments
are sovereign and as such that they cannot be the subject of legally
binding EU obligations, and expresses dismay at the prescriptive
approach proposed by the European Parliament's LIBE Committee.
We strongly endorse the Opinion, and publish with it our own
legal view that the EU Treaties, while recognising the important
contribution that national Parliaments make to the good functioning
of the European Union, do not — and cannot — impose
binding obligations on national Parliaments or prescribe the nature
of their contribution. In the spirit of the political dialogue
we will be transmitting our views to the President of the Council,
the Commission and the LIBE Committee.
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