Memorandum by the Scottish Parliament's
European and External Relations Committee, Malcolm Chisholm MSP,
Convener of the Committee
INQUIRY INTO
THE IMPACT
OF THE
REFORM TREATY
ON THE
INSTITUTIONS OF
THE EU
The Scottish Parliament's European and External
Relations Committee welcomes the opportunity to contribute to
the House of Lords European Union Select Committee's inquiry into
the impact of the Reform Treaty on the institutions of the EU.
The Committee would like to take this opportunity to raise its
concerns about the nature of the consultation between the UK Government
and the devolved administrations during the Government's consideration
of the draft Reform Treaty.
The Scottish Government has identified 21 EU
priorities which it considers are of greatest importance to Scotland's
interests as well as six key longer term EU political objectives.
One of these key political objectives is the Reform Treaty.
As part of its role in scrutinising the Scottish
Government's delivery of this key political objective the Committee
has noted the various reports and documents that have been produced
by the UK Government on the Reform Treaty as well as the issues
that have been raised to date by the UK Parliament.
The Committee has noted that the UK Government's
position on the Reform Treaty is set in the White Paper "The
Reform Treaty: The British Approach to the European Intergovernmental
Conference" (Cm 7174) issued on 23 July 2007.[73]
This was followed by an "Explanatory Memorandum on a European
Union Document" (11625/07 COM(2007)412) dated 25 July 2007.
The Committee is concerned to note that neither
the Explanatory Memorandum nor the White Paper refer to consultation
with the devolved administrations or respective Ministerial responsibility
for those devolved matters covered by the Treaty. In particular,
there does not appear to be any reference to a separate Scottish
legal system or that aspects of Justice and Home Affairs are devolved.
In the first instance, the Committee raised
these concerns with the Scottish Government. In its response to
the Committee, the Scottish Government advised that it had made
representations to the UK Government on various aspects of the
Reform Treaty. The Scottish Government was unable, however, to
explain why the UK Government did not make explicit reference
to the interests of the devolved administrations in its White
Paper.
The Committee is concerned about the absence
of any reference to the discussions that the UK Government has
had with the Scottish Government or with the other devolved administrations
or reference to the responsibilities of the devolved administrations.
The Committee agreed that these concerns should be raised with
the House of Lords EU Select Committee in its consideration of
aspects of the Reform Treaty.
I trust you will find these comments helpful.
14 December 2007
73 http://www.fco.gov.uk/Files/kfile/CM7174_Reform_Treaty.pdf Back
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