15 Food and Agriculture Organisation
| Committee's assessment
| Legally and politically important |
| Committee's decision | Not cleared from scrutiny; further information requested
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| Document details | Commission Communication on the updated declaration of competences and new working arrangements in the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
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| Legal base | —
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| Department
Document numbers
| International Development
(34975), 10368/13, COM(13) 333
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Summary and Committee's conclusions
15.1 As a UN agency, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO)
coordinates the efforts of governments and technical agencies
in the development of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and land
and water resources. When the European Community joined in 1991,
a general division of competences between the EU and Member States
in areas under the FAO's mandate was agreed by the Commission
and Council, as well as the process for coordinating joint positions
ahead of the FAO meetings.
15.2 The Commission proposes a new declaration of
competences (Annex 1 to the Communication) to better reflect the
Lisbon Treaty and to replace the agreement of specific declarations
for each agenda item in advance of FAO meetings. This sets out
"EU competences" and "EU and Member States competences"
relevant to the FAO's activities by subject area. The Commission
also proposes new arrangements for participation in the FAO (Annex
2) with the aim of improving coherence, unity and efficiency of
representation. It wants to ensure that EU positions to be presented
from behind the "EU nameplate" and agreement of common
positions between the EU and Member States (where agenda items
are not covered by EU competences alone) can be established in
advance of meetings.
15.3 The previous Government told our predecessors
that it opposed:
· the
general nature of the updated declaration of competences;
· the preference
for "lines to take" rather than fully agreed statements;
· the proposed
enhancement of the co-ordinating "spokesperson" role
of EU delegation and/or Commission at the expense of Member States;
· national "voices"
supporting EU positions no longer being delivered from behind
the "national nameplates";
· Member States
having to inform each other as well as the EU Delegation and the
Commission about their draft positions and voting intentions in
respect of agenda items not covered by EU or common positions;
and
· the annexes
being endorsed by the Council in their original form, as they
risked undermining Member State competence in FAO and setting
an unhelpful precedent for other international organisations.
15.4 Since then some progress has been made. Competences
in the updated declaration are now more clearly and accurately
defined. It has been confirmed that the annexes will be agreed
by consensus (and not just by the Council "taking note"
as originally proposed). Despite this, outstanding matters remain
on the working arrangements. The new Parliamentary Under-Secretary
of State at the Department for International Development (Baroness
Verma) now updates us on the latest developments. She indicates
that the Commission is responsible for a lack of progress on the
relevant texts.
15.5 We thank the Minister for her very detailed
update.
15.6 We are reassured by the continued determination
of the UK and other likeminded Member States to protect their
lawful roles and competences when participating in an international
organisation such as FAO. We note that the ball is now firmly
in the Commission's court in terms of making the concessions necessary
for agreement of the current texts. We look forward to receiving
a further update from the Government on any significant progress
from September onwards.
15.7 Pending that next update, we retain this
document under scrutiny.
Full
details of the documents: Commission
Communication: The role of the European Union in the Food
and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) after the Treaty of Lisbon:
Updated Declaration of Competences and new arrangements between
the Council and the Commission for the exercise of membership
rights of the EU and its Member States: (34975), 10368/13,
COM(13) 333.
Background
15.8 A full background to and account of the current
document, together with the previous Government's initial view
are set out in our Twelfth Report of 2013-14.[ 156]
The Minister's letter of 3 July 2015
15.9 The Minister says that since her predecessor's
letter of 27 February 2015, the Commission:
· had
not provided written comments on the draft text for new working
arrangements as requested by the Latvian Presidency; and
· was ready to
support agreement on the updated declaration on competences based
on the Presidency compromise if compromise could be reached on
the new arrangements (the position set out in non-paper circulated
on 27 February on the post-Lisbon role of the EU in the FAO jointly
authored by the Commission and EEAS).
15.10 The Minister explains that Commission positions
on outstanding institutional issues relevant to the working arrangements
were highlighted in the non-paper and included that:
· all
interventions in FAO should be presented by the Commission and
EU Delegations from behind the "EU nameplate";
· Working Party
meetings should take place only in Brussels, while local coordination
meetings in Rome should be chaired by the EU delegation and "deal
with unforeseen issues" in FAO;
· there should
be a move away from a competence-based approach, and information
notes on the division of competence for each agenda item of FAO
meetings need not be submitted (despite FAO rules requiring this);
and
· statements
should be adopted by the Commission on the basis of existing EU
positions, with the Working Party only being "duly and appropriately
informed".
15.11 The Minister further recounts that the Presidency
revised text (circulated on 15 April), based on a variety of sources
including the joint paper submitted by the UK and 19 other Member
States in December 2014, was discussed at a Working Party meeting
on 22 April. Although Member States positively engaged with the
text, the Commission "simply maintained that overarching
institutional questions needed to be addressed".
15.12 To address this "impasse", the Minister
says that the Presidency prepared a progress paper for the COREPER
meeting on 21 May, with the UK and other Member States contributing
background briefing to maintain "the unity and robust lines
provided by the Working Party". The paper had the support
of the UK and 19 Member States, on the basis that they would look
at the detail of the Commission proposals but only in the context
of a competence-based approach to representation and the current
working arrangements. The Commission reiterated its concerns about
the Presidency paper, but was prepared to suggest drafting amendments.
15.13 The Minister then sums up the current state
of play. Following that meeting, the Presidency, noting the "near
unity of COREPER", invited the Commission to submit "concrete,
modest" written proposals to be taken forward in the Luxembourgish
Presidency. She adds:
"The UK has followed up with the incoming
Luxembourg Presidency. In light of the clear message from COREPER,
Luxembourg is unwilling to discuss this further in the Working
Party unless some progress can be made. The first meeting of the
semester is scheduled for 23 July but, as no comments have been
received from the Commission yet, Luxembourg does not intend to
place this item on the agenda. Any next steps will be considered
as from September and I will keep the Committee apprised of further
developments."
Previous Committee Reports
Thirty-fifth Report HC 219-xxxiv (2014-15), chapter
3 (4 March 2015); Twenty-eighth Report HC 219-xxvii (2014-15),
chapter 4 (7 January 2015); Twenty-fourth Report HC 219-xxiii
(2014-15), chapter 4 (3 December 2014); Twelfth Report HC 83-xii
(2013-14), chapter 3 (17 July 2013).
156 Twelfth Report HC 83-xii (2013-14), chapter 3 (17
July 2013). Back
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