Meeting of the Parliament 22 April 2015
I am pleased to be able to close the debate today for the European and External Relations Committee.
I thank all members for their contributions, including Humza Yousaf and Claire Baker. I also thank the committee clerks and other committee clerks who assisted, as well as all the people who gave evidence to the committee. It is greatly appreciated.
We have heard about what other committees’ European priorities were in 2014 and what they plan to do for the rest of this parliamentary session. As our convener, Christina McKelvie, said, last year was one of great change in the European Union. I will talk about some of the themes that came out of the European and External Relations Committee’s report.
I agree with Malcolm Chisholm and Anne McTaggart that EU funds are very important to Scotland. For example, Scottish MEPs told our committee about the €985 million for Scotland from the European regional development fund and the European social fund in the period up to 2020. We heard that those funds will go into a range of projects to help Scotland build a low-carbon economy, as well as promote international business opportunities, tackle poverty and get people back into work.
I want to mention the importance of the reformed common agricultural policy and the common fisheries policy, which are closely scrutinised by the Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee. That committee’s work on this area includes hearing from European Commission officials on the topic.
The Local Government and Regeneration Committee has been considering EU funds in some detail in relation to its continuing interest in the development of Scotland’s regional economies. In 2015, it will look at the operation of the European structural funds programmes in Scotland.
The European and External Relations Committee noted in our report that the Scottish Government has identified youth employment as a key objective for the structural funds in Scotland. The committee is taking a special interest in the roll-out of the EU youth employment initiative.
The Education and Culture Committee has been scrutinising the Scottish Government’s actions on youth employment in 2014. It considered the European Commission’s youth guarantee scheme as part of its inquiry into Scotland’s educational and cultural future, and it will follow up that work in 2015.
The digital agenda is important. The Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee told us about its continuing interest in that and it will take evidence on it directly from the European Commission. It took evidence on how Scotland is performing on the digital agenda and on what more can be done to encourage digital participation.
Willie Coffey and Roderick Campbell talked about the digital agenda and the justice challenges that Scotland faces. Our Justice Committee told us that it intends to monitor the EU’s work on e-justice, with the background of the Scottish Government’s digital strategy in Scotland. The Justice Committee intends to pursue a variety of other important issues, such as the Commission’s European agenda on migration and the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Bill. That is an area in which the European and External Relations Committee has a special interest.
The Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee continues to track developments relating to the EU 2020 climate target and the establishment of an EU 2030 framework for climate and energy policies. I know that it will follow very closely the negotiations leading up to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Paris in November.
The Equal Opportunities Committee hopes to mainstream EU issues into several work areas, such as its inquiry into the experience of social isolation faced by people in Scotland, and also in an upcoming race and ethnicity related inquiry, which is very important, because many in the minority community in Scotland feel let down.
I hope that others have found our report interesting. I look forward to another year of effective scrutiny and mainstreaming of EU issues of importance across all subject committees. Please wish us well for success in that.
I take this opportunity to wish Jamie McGrigor, who is unwell, a speedy recovery. He is missed here daily and is particularly interested in the common agricultural policy as well as the common fisheries policy. I do not want him to feel that his absence or his interest in those areas has not been noted.
I stress that the digital network is crucial for the growth of the Scottish economy. It is important that our MEPs take the fight to the European Union to ensure that we get all the support that we can in rolling out that programme.
Presiding Officer, how much time do I have?