Hansard

These things appear in the press, on Ceefax, on the internet and in other places. [Laughter.] He accepted that he was not the greatest international traveller. That is certainly the case when he starts talking about developments in the European Union.

I want to examine the Scottish Executive's performance in Europe, how their objectives have been either confirmed or not achieved in the past few months and the initial impression of that performance. I want to discuss the euro, a subject which—given that the Government is meant to be committed in principle to the euro—Donald Dewar mentioned only en passant. I wonder why.

I want to discuss the SNP's perspective of Scotland as an independent nation in Europe. In judging the Executive's performance to date, I remind the chamber of what the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs—then shadow foreign secretary—said, at a meeting of the Scottish Grand Committee early in 1997, would be the benchmark. He said:

"Labour's plans for devolution will create a Minister for European Affairs in a Scottish Administration, set up a Scottish European office in Brussels accountable to a Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, confer on Scottish Ministers the same observer status as that of the German Länder".—[Official Report, House of Commons, Scottish Grand Committee, 13 January 1997; c 29.]

I accept—and the First Minister acknowledged— that Scotland House is a welcome development. I indeed visited it yesterday. I notice that it is styled as the office of the Scottish Executive, and not, as Robin Cook said it would be, as an office

"accountable to a Scottish Parliament".

The First Minister should, given his speech last night, remember that the Executive is accountable to the Parliament, not the other way round.

Nevertheless, as I said, Scotland House is a welcome development. It is one of 150 lobbying offices that the various regions—I use the First Minister's term—have in Brussels. It will do a good job for Scotland and it is better than what we had before. However, I do not think that it is adequate for Scotland's representation within Europe.

I was wondering who could be the Scottish minister whom, according to Robin Cook two years ago, we were meant to have in Europe. I had recourse to the Scottish Executive website. I know that the First Minister uses it and that the Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning uses it all the time—the entire Administration must now be internet compliant. On the website, I keyed in, "responsible minister for Europe". I got the answer, "various". I was then offered the chance to search, only to be told:

"Specific information is not yet available."

There does not seem to be a Scottish minister for Europe, as Robin Cook claimed there would be, unless we are to believe that every minister in the Scottish Executive is responsible for Europe.

Incidentally, I took a printout from that website. It tells us, very helpfully:

"The information . . . is Crown Copyright".

It obviously must not fall into the wrong hands. I do not know that I should be holding the printout at all.

The Scottish Executive website demonstrated the fact that there is confusion and that Labour has moved away from the idea of having a minister for Europe. What I am about to say will show why it might be a good idea to reverse that position.

During the past six months, since this Parliament was established, there have been 30 meetings across Europe—formal and informal—of the Council of Ministers. The Scottish Executive, and by implication this Parliament, has been represented at one of those meetings.

There have been three meetings of the Agriculture Council in Brussels and Finland since July. At a time when food and meat safety has been top of the agenda, European ministers debated those issues, but no Scottish Executive minister was present at any of those meetings.

With excessive petrol and diesel prices, surely members of this Parliament know that transport and environment are key issues. Those issues were discussed at three meetings of the Transport and Environment Council in Luxembourg and in Helsinki; no Scottish Executive minister was present at any of those meetings.

The claim is made—we heard it earlier today— that social inclusion and anti-poverty strategies are at the top of the Scottish Executive's agenda. When employment was being discussed at the Labour and Social Affairs Council in Luxembourg last month, no Scottish Executive minister attended the meeting.

Central to European discussions over the past few months has been justice reform, which will have a direct effect on Scotland's distinctive legal system. Roseanna Cunningham will address that later in this debate, but of three Justice and Home Affairs Council meetings, the Scottish Minister for Justice has attended none.

If Scotland is to play a role in Europe, even as a devolved region—to use the Scottish Executive's term—it might be helpful if we had been represented at more than one of 30 meetings during the past six months. The concordat that the Scottish Executive signed with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office states:

"In general, it is expected that consultation, the exchange of information and the conventions on notifications to EU bodies will continue in similar circumstances to the arrangements in place prior to devolution."

They certainly have. In general, Scottish ministers were not represented at meetings of the Council of Ministers—formal and informal—before devolution and they are not represented after devolution.

Playing a role in Europe is not just about having a lobbying office, or a week of festivities and lectures at Scotland House—where I was given a helpful brochure yesterday—excellent though that was, and much enjoyed as I am sure the week was by all the Scottish Executive ministers who attended. It is about turning up to the key meetings, representing Scotland, having the information and being involved in the nuts and bolts of European decision making. The Executive's record over the past six months shows that its idea of Scotland in Europe is a week in Brussels for Scottish Executive ministers, but no representation for Scotland at meeting after meeting at which issues are discussed, even

issues that directly affect this Parliament's legislative programme.

On the euro, I must say to the First Minister that we are involved in a joint campaign—the Scotland in Europe (part of the Britain in Europe campaign)—and, as I understand our mission statement, we have to make a positive case for the euro. We will win the argument that we are meant to be trying—collectively—to win only if we actually make that case and try not to let that case go by default.