Meeting
Summary
The Committee considered the following documents:
Investment Plan for Europe
The Commission has proposed a draft Regulation to
create a European Fund for Strategic Investment and a European
Investment Advisory Hub, as part of the implementation of an Investment
Plan for Europe. We recommended this draft Regulation, together
with the Commission's Communication which proposed the Investment
Plan for Europe, for debate in European Committee in February.
That debate has not yet taken place. The Government tells us that
there has been rapid progress in Council and that it has achieved
significant improvements to the text of the proposal, which enhance
the Fund's likely benefit for the UK. We conclude that it is highly
regrettable that the Government has not yet scheduled the debate.
However, given the improvements secured, we agree that in this
very exceptional case the Government may give agreement to the
General Approach pending consideration of this draft Regulation
in European Committee B. We still expect for this debate to take
place before dissolution.
EU General Budgets for 2014 and 2015
The Council and the European Parliament failed to
reach agreement on the Commission's original Draft Budget for
2015. Consequently the Commission presented a revised Draft Budget.
Negotiations have been complicated by consideration of a number
of Draft Amending Budgets for the 2014 Budget. The Government
has now given us, by letter and in an evidence session, a further
account of the outcome of the negotiations of the final 2014 Budget
and the adopted 2015 Budget. We now clear the remaining documents
not already cleared through the debate in European Committee on
15 October 2014, bar two, which we still hold under scrutiny.
We emphasise to the Government the Draft Amending Budget concerning
a significant retrospective revision to the UK's budgetary contributions
and the associated draft Regulation to amend the own Resources
decision do indeed remain under scrutiny and it is highly regrettable
that our recommendation that these documents be debated on the
floor of the House has not been implemented. We also note that
the Treasury Committee recently published a report on this matter.
Tackling youth unemployment
The Youth Employment Initiative was agreed by the
European Council in February 2013, and establishes a dedicated
youth employment budget line of €3 billion (supplemented
by a further €3 billion from the European Social Fund) to
support the implementation of the Youth Guarantee and other job
creation measures for young people in regions in which the youth
unemployment rate exceeds 25%. We have previously scrutinised
the Initiative and it was debated in European Committee B in June
2013. This draft Regulation front loads payments (without increasing
the overall budget) so that eligible regions are able to receive
up to 30% of their total allocation in 2015, enabling them to
accelerate the implementation of national or regional programmes
to integrate young people into the labour market, the Government
supports the proposal. Five UK regions are eligible for funding:
Inner London, Merseyside, Tees Valley and Durham, West Midlands
and South West Scotland. We clear the document from scrutiny.
Entry and residence of third country nationals
This draft Directive replaces earlier Directives
establishing common rules for the entry and residence of third
country national students and researchers. It would introduce
more favourable provisions and include within its scope additional
categories of third country nationals (trainees, volunteers, au
pairs and school pupils participating in exchange schemes). The
Government confirmed in July 2013 that it had decided not to opt
into the draft Directive but indicated that it would participate
actively in negotiations with a view to considering a possible
post-adoption opt-in. The Minister now writes to us stating that
the possibility of a post-adoption opt-in has entirely receded,
and that there are significant differences between the Council
and the European Parliament. We clear the draft Directive from
scrutiny but ask the Government (or more likely its successor)
to report back to the Committee on the outcome of the trilogue
negotiations. We draw the proposal to the attention of the Business,
Innovation and Skills Committee and the Home Affairs Committee
because of their interest in this area.
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