Meeting Summary
The Committee considered the following documents:
EU Charter of Fundamental Rights
We consider a 2013 Commission Report on the application
of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which we last reported
on in September 2014, when we were still considering the Government's
Response to our Report entitled The application of the EU Charter
of Fundamental Rights: a state of confusion. We therefore
kept this Commission Report under scrutiny as we felt that relevant
issues may arise in the course of our consideration of the Government's
Response to our Report. Last month, we questioned the Secretary
of State for Justice on the applicability of the Charter to the
UK as part of an oral evidence session we held with both him and
the Home Secretary. During this evidence session he told us he
would be watching the question of the Charter's applicability
to UK national law "like a hawk". We continue to have
concerns about the scope of the Charter's application in the UK.
We therefore recommend that this Commission Report be debated
on the floor of the House, to provide Members with an opportunity
to discuss this important matter.
Investment plan for Europe
This week we also consider a Commission Communication
suggesting a three part plan to promote investment in the EU economy
and a draft Regulation, which would create a legal framework for
the first two strands of this plan, that is the European Fund
for Strategic Investments and a European Investment Advisory Hub,
so enabling the Commission to implement and deliver the investment
plan jointly with the European Investment Bank. We also consider
a Draft Amending Budget (DAB) which would provide the finance
for these new bodies this year. The Government supports both the
draft Regulation and the DAB, particularly noting that the draft
Regulation would be fully financed within the Multiannual Financial
Framework 2014-2020 and the DAB would have a budget neutral impact.
We recommend all three documents for debate in European Committee,
suggesting that among the issues Members may wish to raise are
whether the European Investment Bank's involvement in the plan
poses any risk to its credit standing, and what the suggested
fast-tracking of the draft Regulation might mean for parliamentary
scrutiny.
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