Hansard

I will do so very briefly, just to give some shape to the discussion. The committee has it from the horse's mouth because I am responsible for the Executive's external relations strategy, including the work that the First Minister does in his role in Regleg. I want to be absolutely clear about who should be coming to the committee. I am sure that the decision is correct because I handle the external relations portfolio on behalf of the Executive.I will give a brief outline of what the key objectives were when the First Minister assumed the chair last November. I will then highlight the main achievements in the past nine months—in which the committee has a clear interest—before I describe the next steps, up to the fifth annual conference of minister-presidents, which is to be held in Edinburgh on 29 and 30 November, as I am sure members are aware.I begin with the overarching aims of the Scottish presidency. First, the aim was to ensure that the European convention proposals on subsidiarity and the role of the regions were secured in the new EU constitutional treaty. That meant ensuring that there was no retrenchment and that gains were protected. Some nations wanted to remove the gains, but we ensured that that did not happen. We worked hard to prevent any shifts of competencies or procedures that might be harmful to Regleg or Scottish interests. That key objective was achieved. As we discussed earlier, the treaty contains important references to the role of the regions and to subsidiarity. It also contains proposals that reflect and support the enhanced role of the regions with legislative powers in Europe. The treaty also reinforces the importance of the principle of subsidiarity in European decision making. A crucial strand of Regleg's future work will be to continue to prepare and press hard for the effective implementation of the new provisions. Secondly, Regleg has successfully represented the interests of the regions with legislative powers more generally, principally by arguing strongly for the full involvement of regions with legislative powers in the EU governance agenda, which we also discussed earlier. In particular, we seek effective dialogue with, and direct pre-legislative consultation by, the European Commission. Finally, we are building on the effective work that Regleg has carried out on constitutional issues by developing its role further. We are keen to establish Regleg as a network for strategic co-ordination and a forum for the exchange of best practice. The co-ordination committee meets regularly with a remit set annually by the conference of minister-presidents and has been particularly effective in that regard. The annual conference of minister-presidents helps to strengthen Regleg as a network and a forum.On milestones, we lobbied the European Commission for a consultation on governance issues. We have organised a number of Regleg events this year to raise the profile of legislative regions and to promote their interests. The First Minister gave a speech in Strasbourg in March to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe—CLRAE—on the priorities of the Scottish presidency of Regleg. In April, we held a very successful sub rosa—or Chatham House rules—seminar in Brussels on subsidiarity and the draft EU constitutional treaty. The event brought together senior officials and academics from Scotland and around Europe. Ideas from the seminar have been presented in a number of forums in Brussels.In May, the First Minister gave a well-received speech to the European policy centre in Brussels, when he emphasised key messages about the need to involve the regions. The audience was drawn from across the EU's institutions. On the same visit, the First Minister represented Regleg in Brussels at the inaugural meeting of the systematic dialogue between the European Commission and associations of regional and local authorities. He welcomed the Commission's initiative in establishing the dialogue, and he emphasised that it was important that future meetings between commissioners and regional and local authorities should be a genuine two-way exchange of views. He repeated Regleg's calls for the Commission to consult the legislative regions directly at the pre-legislative stage. Also in May, the First Minister represented Regleg at a conference in Berlin on subsidiarity, which was organised jointly by the Committee of the Regions' commission for constitutional affairs and European governance—COR-CONST—and the Bundesrat. He used his speech to emphasise the importance of putting in place arrangements for the new subsidiarity mechanisms that meet the needs of the legislative regions and allow the Committee of the Regions to respond quickly to new legislative proposals from the Commission. The Scottish Executive has lobbied the European Commission in other ways; for example, by writing to Mr Barroso to congratulate him on his confirmation as the new President of the European Commission. The First Minister used the opportunity to emphasise key Regleg messages and policy requirements. The Executive's EU office will organise a further sub rosa seminar on 22 October, which will cover better regulation issues and will complement April's subsidiarity seminar. It will examine the use of the Commission's new consultation arrangements and how to ensure that the impact assessments on new legislative proposals are as useful as possible. On next steps, my letter to the committee of 20 August outlined Regleg events proposed over the remainder of Scotland's presidency. The First Minister and I see our main priorities for the last three months of Scotland's presidency as follows: first, to raise awareness of Regleg and issues affecting the legislative regions among new members of the European Commission and the European Parliament; secondly, to plan for the implementation of the new constitutional treaty and, in particular, to ensure that we secure the right subsidiarity early-warning mechanism for the regions with legislative powers and take full advantage of the new provisions on consultation; thirdly, to work with the Committee of the Regions to ensure that any arrangements for handling subsidiarity that the Committee of the Regions puts in place meet the needs of the legislative regions—the subsidiarity early-warning mechanism is an important part of that work; and last, to continue to press for direct pre-legislative consultation for the legislative regions as a matter of course. The First Minister will give a keynote political speech in Brussels on 9 November. His speech will publicise the main outcomes and messages from the discussion on EU governance that the Executive's Brussels office is organising on 22 October. He will use that speech to deliver key Regleg messages in the run-up to the Edinburgh conference. The First Minister will use his time in Brussels to engage with new MEPs and commissioners.The fifth annual conference of minister-presidents, to be held in Edinburgh on 29 and 30 November, is a unique opportunity for Scotland to raise its profile further in an important European constitutional debate. The proceedings will focus on the EU constitutional treaty, subsidiarity and governance, and working with other organisations, notably the Committee of the Regions. We expect representatives from the European Commission, the European Parliament and the UK Government, and many others, to attend, as well as minister-presidents from legislative regions throughout Europe. I hope that members of this committee will be able to attend. The annual conference sees the formal handover of presidencies. I am pleased to inform the committee that Bavaria has been nominated for the next Regleg presidency. The Executive is delighted to support that nomination. That is a quick run round where we have been and where we are going. I hope that it has been useful to the committee. I am happy to take questions.