Meeting Summary
This week the Committee considered the
following documents:
The EU and Ukraine: restrictive measures:
for debate on the floor of the House
These documents (a Council Decision
and Council Regulation) have already been adopted, and impose
an asset freeze on 18 individuals identified as responsible for
human rights violations during the violent clashes in Ukraine
between anti-government protestors and security forces during
February 2014. The Minister for Europe wrote to us in February
to flag up the likelihood of early adoption of the measures, and
— given the swift pace of events — we do not object
to the decision to override scrutiny. Given the intense public
and political interest in the EU's response to the situation in
Ukraine, we recommend that the measures should be the subject
of the earliest possible debate on the floor of the House.
Posting of workers: for debate in
European Committee
This draft Directive aims to improve
implementation and enforcement of a 1996 Directive which established
a legal framework for business to send ("post") workers
from their home Member State to another Member State in order
to provide services on a temporary basis. We have held it under
scrutiny since May 2012, granting a scrutiny waiver in October
2013 to enable the Government to support a possible Council general
approach. The Government voted against the proposed general approach
in December, as it was not in line with its negotiating objectives,
and since then negotiations have continued in trilogue. The Minister
has now written with details of a provisional agreement on a compromise
text; but many questions remain unanswered. We therefore recommend
the draft Directive for debate in European Committee.
Banking Union: single resolution
mechanism
This Draft Regulation would establish
a single resolution mechanism (SRM) for the eurozone; it is accompanied
by a European Central Bank Opinion. The documents were most recently
considered on 15 January. One week later, on 22 January, the
European Court of Justice issued its judgement on the Short Selling
Regulation Case. The Minister has written to set out the Government's
view on the implications of the judgement for its approach towards
the SRM. He says that preliminary analysis by legal advisers
suggests two areas where there could be an impact. The Minister
concludes that, in practice, it currently appears unlikely that
the judgement will necessitate major changes to the general approach
text agreed by the ECOFIN Council at the end of last year. We
ask to hear in due course about progress in trilogue discussions,
and retain the documents under scrutiny.
Financial services: benchmarks
The aim of this Draft Regulation is
to create a regulatory framework for benchmarks for financial
instruments, financial contracts or measuring the performance
of investment funds. The House issued a Reasoned Opinion on 28
November last year; the Commission has now responded. There has
been wider interest in the points the Committee raised; we ask
the Government for its view of the Commission's response and for
an update on the progress in the negotiations of the proposal,
particularly whether the UK's concerns are shared by other Member
States.
Animal cloning
These draft Directives have been under
scrutiny for some time; the House issued a Reasoned Opinion last
month. We asked the Government for a detailed legal analysis,
including its considered view on the use of Article 352 TFEU (known
as the "flexibility clause") for the legal base of one
of the draft Directives. The response which has now been received
from Defra is unsatisfactory and we therefore invite the Minister
to give oral evidence.
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