Letter from Lord Grenfell, Chairman of
the European Union Committee to the Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP, Minister
for Europe
Thank you for your letter of 20 November which
was considered by Sub-Committee E (Law and Institutions) at its
meeting on 13 December. We are most grateful for the explanations
you have given.
The proposed Regulation establishing a JHA monitoring
mechanism for Romania and Bulgaria raises the wider issue of scrutiny
of EU delegated legislation. You will recall that we had an exchange
of letters on this subject back in the summer and I think it would
be helpful if the question of how to identify legally, politically
or practically important comitology measures could be revisited.
As regards the question of the confidentiality,
we are grateful for the efforts which the Government have made
to ensure that Parliament can scrutinise significant proposals.
We are disappointed if not entirely surprised that you have rejected
our suggestion that documents might be "anonymised".
We must continue, therefore, to rely on reports in the media describing
the positions of Member States and would encourage the Government
to be as open as possible when dealing with Parliament's scrutiny
of EU legislation.
14 December 2006
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