Hansard

I think that we have done some pioneering work, especially the videoconference that we had with the president of the Fisheries Committee of the Galician Parliament. Future committees should take part in such activities more frequently.Understanding other people, rather than understanding the directives of the European Union, is the way to develop Europe. The quickest and most sensible way for us, as a devolved Parliament, to do that is to interconnect directly with the devolved Parliaments of the other states. The fact that I have seen our papers on the desks of senior political and administration figures in other states is the clearest statement of the effect that we have had beyond these walls. We may be unaware of that or believe that we have had a low profile in this country, but I assure members that our profile in other countries has been far from low.The most pressing issue for the next committee—aside from dealing with straightforward directive issues such as the food supplements issue—is, without doubt, the constitutional convention. If I have one regret, it is that the committee did not regard that as a priority at an earlier stage. I genuinely believe that we have failed to stay on top of the discussion. We have not had discussions on the issue at every meeting, as we should have done from the moment that the convention began to sit, to keep a clear view of the shifting sands of constitutional politics in the rest of the European Union.Given some of the exchanges between convention members over the past couple of weeks, it is clear that a change has occurred as a result of the broader political issues in the world and the conflicts that exist within and between European Union states. It is incumbent on the next committee to engage with the development of a constitution for Europe, which will affect all states, irrespective of whether they are member states or have autonomous Governments. The issues will stay with us for ever and will affect the fundamental law of every country and the fundamental rights of every citizen throughout Europe. Without doubt, the convention is the most important issue on the European stage at present.I have enjoyed my time on the committee enormously and, on behalf of those of us who were on the committee under the previous convener, I thank Hugh Henry, who was a damn good convener—as are you, convener. We had interesting times in the first few months, and I put on record my admiration for the way in which Hugh held the line while he was convener.