Hansard

Thank you. It is a pleasure to be with the committee again. Although the summer recess has intervened, I think that I have been able to attend two successive meetings of the committee. I thank the committee for giving me this opportunity to discuss the Executive's priorities for the Danish presidency.When I appeared before the committee on 26 March, I provided two papers. One set out the Executive's overall objectives and priorities for its external relations work; the other set out our policy priorities for the Spanish presidency. I hope that the committee found the papers valuable and that they provided members with a useful basis on which to consider areas of the Executive's work on external relations.This time, I want to focus on one set of papers, covering the Executive's priorities for the Danish presidency, which commenced on 1 July. Each of my Cabinet colleagues with responsibility for European Union business has provided an overview of the priority issues in their portfolio, highlighting those areas where the Danes have indicated that they want to make progress.The portfolio statements demonstrate that the Executive is not only alert to the huge number of diverse initiatives originating in Brussels, but is very much engaged with and involved in those initiatives that impact on the Executive's devolved areas of responsibility. That task is not modest. The breadth and depth of initiatives that originate in Brussels are remarkable, and constant vigilance is needed to take advantage of the opportunities that they may present and to ensure that proposals do not, inadvertently or otherwise, impact disproportionately or harmfully on Scotland.In March, I indicated that I would make a start-of-presidency—or at least near-start-of-presidency—appearance, and that that should become the norm. That is another reason why I am pleased to be here today, and I hope that the committee accepts it as a demonstration of the Executive's commitment and determination to engage energetically and actively with the European Union and to share that engagement with the European Committee.As far as the papers are concerned, we have done better this time. I got the flavour of some of the exchanges to come, but I hope that the committee will accept the good will that is there and the need to explore constantly how we can improve.While each individual minister is responsible for his or her portfolio interests, I hope that the European Committee—and indeed other parliamentary committees—finds the Executive's priorities helpful in its deliberations and as it sets out its own priorities for discussion and scrutiny over the coming months.I thought that it would be opportune to inform the committee about the changes that have occurred to the Council formations as a result of agreements reached at the Seville Council on 21 and 22 June. At Seville, the leaders of the member states agreed to reform the formations with a view to enhancing the institution on the eve of the unprecedented increase in the number of member states. That reform has resulted in rationalisation of the number of Council formations from 16 to nine. The new formations are general affairs and external relations; economic and financial affairs; employment, social policy, health and consumer affairs; competitiveness, which will cover the internal market, industry and research; transport, telecommunications and energy; agriculture and fisheries; environment; justice and home affairs; and education, youth and culture. It is too early to say how member states, including the United Kingdom, will respond to those new formations but I can assure the committee that the Executive will remain fully engaged in the EU policy process.Before I take any questions that members may have on the Executive's policy priorities for the Danish presidency, I thought that the committee might be interested in a brief update on what the Executive has been doing since March in relation to external relations issues.As I explained in March, our external relations strategy had three main objectives: to promote Scottish devolved policy interests in the EU and internationally; to build mutually beneficial links with regions and countries of the EU and beyond; and to promote a positive image of Scotland overseas. We have made considerable progress on all three counts.We have been rigorously promoting Scotland's interests in a wide variety of EU policies, the most prominent of which is probably the future of Europe debate. That has been done through a variety of fora and at different levels including, at the UK level, through our active involvement in the joint ministerial committee on Europe.We are consulting Scottish civic society and I was pleased that Sarah Boyack was able to join me, on behalf of the committee, when we launched that consultation last month. I welcome the committee's constructive contribution to that activity and I look forward with interest to the outcomes of the committee's 16 September event.We have been active directly in Brussels. On 6 June, the First Minister made a speech on the subject in Brussels and, as you know, the First Minister is the rapporteur for a Committee of the Regions opinion on the matter of more democracy, transparency and efficiency, which members may recognise as one of the four headings or questions that were contained within the 2001 Laeken declaration. That opinion, together with three others concerning the other headings, will, in November, form the Committee of the Regions' formal submission to the convention on the future of Europe.We have been promoting our position through a number of networks of regions, the most prominent of which has been the group of regions with legislative power. This has already produced a joint contribution to the future of Europe debate, which will be formally submitted to the convention on the future of Europe in the form of a declaration, to be signed by regional minister-presidents in November.As well as being involved in formal organisations of regional authorities, including the Committee of the Regions and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe, the Executive has applied to become a full member of the Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions of Europe. I will be speaking at its general assembly meeting on 20 September, where I expect our membership to be endorsed.We continue to exert useful influence on the EU reform debate. We aim to build on that influence and to maintain our position as one of the most proactive and energetic regions in Europe.On the second objective of seeking to build mutually beneficial links with regions and countries of the EU and beyond, the Executive has made excellent progress since March in pursuing links with other European sub-member state Administrations and legislative regions. In May, the First Minister signed the first co-operation agreement with Catalonia, which will create opportunities for co-operation in the areas of agriculture and rural affairs, architecture, education, research, social policy and transport. We plan to launch the first phase of co-operation over the autumn and I am optimistic that that will deliver tangible benefits to Executive policy and consolidate our already fruitful relations with Catalonia. We remain on course to sign a small number of further formal co-operation agreements with other devolved Administrations in the near future.The huge issue of the enlargement of the EU has the potential to bring a wide range of economic, political and cultural benefits to us and the Executive supports strongly the accession of the candidate countries when they are ready. We are keen to promote awareness of the opportunities that enlargement presents for Scotland and we have done that through events such as the business breakfast on Europe day that the Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning and I addressed in Glasgow.The Executive has some firmly established links with central and eastern Europe. Scotland is the lead partner in a twinning project, along with France and Ireland, which is working to deliver expertise on structural funds to help the Czech Republic prepare for the receipts that it will be entitled to on accession. The Minister for Finance and Public Services will visit the Czech Republic later this month to help consolidate those arrangements and to discuss the wider implications of enlargement. We have also agreed to work with Finland to provide practical assistance to Estonia in its preparation for structural funds receipts.We have been active in relation to our third objective of promoting a positive image of Scotland overseas. Probably our most ambitious event to date, tartan day 2002 in April, was a resounding success.Our links with the United States are historically and economically of unrivalled importance. We want to nurture and develop those links appropriately. For example, there is Scottish Enterprise's globalscot initiative, which aims to establish an international network of individuals who have an affiliation to Scotland and want to contribute to and share in its success. The network has over 400 members of whom half are from North America, including expatriates and US nationals. Such a strong membership in the United States clearly reflects the continuing importance of the relationship between Scotland and the United States. There will be a major promotion of Scottish culture in July 2003 in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC.Preparations are well advanced for a ministerial programme of Scotland in Sweden that, over four days next month, will showcase post-devolution Scotland, position Scotland as a modern, knowledge-based economy with particular focus on biotechnology and promote Scotland as a tourist and business destination.I hope that the committee will agree that there has been considerable activity by the Executive on the external relations front during the past six months. Tomorrow the Scottish Cabinet, recognising the huge importance of external relations in general and the European Union in particular, will discuss our progress. Therefore, I will be able to report directly to the Cabinet on the outcome of this meeting and on the committee's particular concerns and interests. That demonstrates the importance that the Executive attributes to the European Committee's views. I look forward to working with you fruitfully and to meeting you early in the new year—no doubt there will be other meetings in between—to discuss the Greek presidency.I will now try to answer your questions.