28 November 2013

EUROPEAN UNION COMMITTEE NEWSLETTER

The European Union Committee Welcome to the November edition of the Committee’s newsletter. considers EU documents and other EU-related matters in Recent reports advance of decisions being taken on them. It aims to hold the • Subsidiarity Assessment: New Psychoactive Substances, 04 Government to account for its November 2013 actions at the EU level. The work • Follow-up report on EU police and criminal justice measures: The of the Select Committee is UK’s 2014 opt-out decision, 31 October 2013 assisted by six Sub-Committees dealing with different policy areas. • The Eurojust Regulation: Should the UK Opt-In?, 28 October 2013

• Subsidiarity Assessment: The European Public Prosecutor’s Office, 24 October 2013 CONTENTS • Select Committee on the The UK opt-in to the Europol Regulation, 7 June 2013 European Union 1 Economic and Financial Affairs 2 Current inquiries Internal Market, Infrastructure Expected and Employment 3 Inquiry Sub-Committee publication External Affairs 4 date Agriculture, Fisheries, “Genuine Economic and Monetary Environment and Energy 4 Union” and the Implications for Economic and Financial Affairs Late 2013 Justice, Institutions and the UK Consumer Protection 6 The role of national parliaments in Home Affairs, Health and EU Select Spring 2014 Education 6 the EU EU Measures to Tackle Youth Internal Market, Infrastructure House of Lords Representative Spring 2014 in 7 Unemployment and Employment Subsidiarity Scrutiny 8 Transatlantic Trade and External Affairs Spring 2014 Investment Partnership HOUSE OF LORDS Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Waste Prevention Spring 2014 Environment and Energy SW1A 0PW Future Justice and Home Affairs Home Affairs, Health and Spring 2014 Programme Education EMAIL: [email protected] Select Committee on the European Union

Inquiry into the role of national parliaments in the European Union TEL: 020 7219 6083 A great deal of written evidence has been received, which is available on our website. The Committee is part-way through its oral hearings. WEBSITE: During October and November the Committee heard from a number of www.parliament.uk/hleu prominent national parliamentarians involved in European Union matters (including Ms Kjer Hansen, Denmark; Mr Neofytou, Cyprus; Mr Galazewski, Poland; Mr Leegte, Netherlands; Mr Hannigan, Ireland), two think tank directors (Mr Grant and Mr Persson), and leading academics (Professor Cygan, Professor Hix and Dr Smith). The Committee will hear further evidence, including from members of EU institutions including the and the Commission, and the UK Government, before producing a report in the spring of 2014. Continued 1

Commission Work Programme

The Commission’s Work Programme for 2014 has been remitted to the subject-specialist Sub-Committees for detailed examination, and the Select Committee plans to consider this detailed work in January.

For information on the Committee’s meetings, and to read the evidence for the Committee’s current inquiry into the role of national parliaments including transcripts of the oral hearings and a note of the informal session at COSAC, please visit our webpage: www.parliament.uk/hleu

For further details contact the Clerk of the Committee, Luke Hussey, on 020 7219 5864 or [email protected].

Economic and Financial Affairs

The Economic and Financial Affairs Sub-Committee continues its current inquiry into EU “Genuine Economic and Monetary Union” and its implications for the UK. During October the Committee heard evidence from Sir Nigel Wicks; Professor Luis Garicano, Head of the Managerial Economics and Strategy Group, London School of Economics; Lorenzo Codogno, Department of the Treasury, Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance; UK MEPs including Sharon Bowles (Liberal Democrat and Chair of the European Parliament ECON Committee), Syed Kamall (Conservative) and Roger Helmer (UKIP); and Professor Agnès Bénassy Quéré, University of Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne. The Sub-Committee has explored key issues including the likelihood of agreement of the second leg of EU Banking Union, the Single Resolution Mechanism; the role of the European Central Bank; the views of other Member states including France and Italy; and the likely implications for the UK of closer integration amongst eurozone Member States. The Sub-Committee continues its inquiry during November, including an evidence-gathering visit to Berlin and Frankfurt, and hopes to report early in the new year.

The Sub-Committee has continued its scrutiny of various important proposals, including the contentious Financial Transaction Tax proposals being taken forward by 11 Member States under the Enhanced Cooperation Procedure. The Sub-Committee hopes to publish an update report on the FTT later in the autumn. The Sub-Committee has also scrutinised the proposals to amend the 2013 Draft Annual Budget; and the proposal for indices used as benchmarks in financial instruments and financial contracts.

During October, Sub-Committee members held a meeting with members of the European Parliament Economic Affairs Committee (ECON) on its recent visit to London. Members of the Sub-Committee also met with the Governor of the Central Bank of Iceland. The Chairman of the Sub-Committee, Lord Harrison, attended on behalf of the House of Lords the Interparliamentary Conference on Economic and Financial Governance in the European Union in Vilnius, Lithuania, on 16-17 October.

For further information on the Sub-Committee’s meetings and to see transcripts from the evidence hearings, please visit our webpage: www.parliament.uk/hleua.

For further details contact the Clerk of the Sub-Committee, Stuart Stoner, on 020 7219 3616 or [email protected].

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Internal Market, Infrastructure and Employment

In November, Sub-Committee B is continuing to focus on its inquiry into EU measures to tackle youth unemployment. The inquiry concentrates on the EU’s plan to spend the eight billion Euros that EU leaders have agreed to spend on tackling youth joblessness over 2014-2020. It will look at whether the planned initiatives for these funds add value to work taking place on a national level, also considering the wider issue of whether the voice of the young unemployed is being heard by policy makers. The call for evidence for the inquiry was sent out on 9 September, and the deadline for written evidence was 21 October, although the Committee are still receiving evidence after the deadline.

On 28 October, the Committee heard from Government officials from the department for Business, Innovation and Skills on the topic of its inquiry. The following week, oral evidence was taken from three academics from very different backgrounds: Professor Sue Maguire (Centre for Education and Industry, University of Warwick); Professor Martyn Sloman (Visiting Professor of Management, Kingston Business School) and; Dr Paul Copeland (Lecturer in Public Policy, Queen Mary, University of London).

On 11 November, the Committee heard from Birmingham City Council and the Greater London Authority, which both have responsibility for the allocation of EU and UK funding in the context of youth unemployment. Other witnesses during November include: officials from the Northern Irish Assembly department charged with allocating employment related funding in Northern Ireland, and not-for-profit youth service providers involved in the implementation of initiatives to tackle youth unemployment.

On 11 November, the Earl of Liverpool attended a Meeting of Chairpersons of the Committees on Social Affairs and Labour in Vilnius, Lithuania. The meeting focussed on youth unemployment, and was of great interest to the Committee in light of its current inquiry. Delegates will also discuss gender equality in the labour market, relevant to the Committee's previous inquiry and follow-up work on gender balance on boards.

The Committee will continue its scrutiny of EU dossiers, including an EU proposal which aims to strengthen the 'social dimension' of the European Monetary Union.

For further information on the Sub-Committee’s meetings and to see transcripts from the evidence hearings, please visit our webpage: www.parliament.uk/hleub.

For further details contact the Clerk of the Sub-Committee, Nicole Mason, on 020 7219 4840 or [email protected].

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External Affairs

The External Affairs Sub-Committee are continuing their inquiry into the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The call for evidence closed on 10 October.

On 4 and 5 November, the Committee visited Brussels to take evidence from Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, EU Chief Negotiator Ignacio Garcia-Bercero, representatives of the French, German, Czech and Swedish governments, US Trade Representative officials, MEPs and representatives of the Chinese government. The Committee took evidence from the outgoing Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint, on 21 November, before he leaves office in December. Next month, the Committee are due to take evidence from representatives of the financial services sector on 5 December, and from representatives of the automotive sector on 12 December.

In the meantime, the Committee have also been pursuing their routine scrutiny work. On Thursday 7 November the Committee received a private briefing from Ministry of Defence and Foreign Office officials on the Government's approach to the discussions on the future of the Common Security and Defence Policy that are due to take place at the Foreign Affairs Council in mid-November and at the European Council in December.

On 26 and 27 November, Baroness Young of Hornsey is representing the Committee at the European Development Days 2013 conference being held in Brussels.

On 28 November, delegates from the Committee will participate in the 6th meeting of the UK-French Parliamentary Working Group on Defence, to be hosted by the House of Commons' Defence Select Committee.

For further information on the Sub-Committee’s meetings and to see transcripts from the evidence hearings, please visit our webpage: www.parliament.uk/hleuc.

For further details contact the Clerk of the Sub-Committee, Julia Labeta, on 020 7219 3616 or [email protected].

Agriculture, Fisheries, Environment and Energy

EU Energy Policy 2030: Friend or Foe to Energy Investment? – Breakfast Seminar

Upon completion of its inquiry into EU energy policy, the Committee published its report, No Country is an Energy Island: Securing Investment for the EU’s Future, on 2 May 2013. Since then, the Committee has followed up its work in a number of ways:

• engagement with policy makers in Brussels; • follow-up evidence session with the Secretary of State, the Rt Hon Edward Davey MP; • debate of the Report in the House of Lords; and • ongoing scrutiny of relevant issues, including the Commission’s Green Paper on Energy and Climate Change 2013.

The core conclusion of the Committee’s report was that, while financing to support energy generation and infrastructure is in theory available, its investment in projects is being hampered by a lack of policy clarity, particularly as regards the EU’s plans for its future energy and climate policy.

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Since the Committee reported, discussion has continued on the EU’s future energy and climate change policy, based partly on the Commission’s consultation paper. As part of this ongoing debate on future policy development, the UK hosted a meeting on 10 November of energy Ministers from other Northern European countries.

The Commission is expected to publish legislative or non-legislative documents relating to the future broad policy direction at either the end of December 2013 or beginning of January 2014. Subsequently, the European Council will adopt Conclusions at its meeting in March 2014 to send a political signal about the direction of travel. In the meantime, the European Parliament is expected to adopt its position on the future policy direction in February 2014. Underlying all efforts to make progress are the expected policy hiatus in mid-2014 resulting from the European Parliament elections and new Commission, in addition to the urgency derived from hopes to achieve an international climate deal in Paris in December 2015.

Food Waste Prevention Inquiry

As highlighted in previous editions, the Committee launched its new inquiry on the EU’s contribution to food waste prevention on 2 August. In addition to the written submissions that have now been received, the Committee has begun conducting a number of oral evidence sessions.

Some of topics discussed thus far include: the desirability of an EU target; issues surrounding the definition of “food waste”; challenges throughout the food supply chain; how to improve data collection and monitoring of food waste; and improvements that could be made to EU regulations.

So far, the Committee has heard from a range of groups and organisations, including: • the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; • the National Farmers’ Union (NFU); • the British Retail Consortium (BRC); • the Food and Drink Federation (FDF); • Feeding the 5,000; • WWF UK; and • Sodexo.

Oral evidence sessions will continue until early next year, with a number of future evidence sessions already confirmed. Future witnesses include: Sustain; Keep Britain Tidy; FareShare; the Industry Council for Research on Packaging and the Environment (INCPEN); the Packaging Federation; the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP); Waitrose; the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA); the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP); and the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA). The Committee hopes to also secure evidence sessions with the waste industry, additional retailers and the Groceries Code Adjudicator.

Between 27-29 November, the Committee also plans to visit the Netherlands. The Netherlands is considered to be a “best practice” country as regards food waste prevention, and so the Committee intends to take evidence from various Dutch sectors, ranging from government departments to consumer organisations and industry. At present, some of the potential meetings will include Voedingscentrum (the Netherlands Nutrition Centre Foundation), the Sustainable Food Alliance and the Ministries of Infrastructure and Environment, and Economic Affairs.

For further information on the Sub-Committee’s meetings and to see transcripts from evidence hearings, please visit our webpage: www.parliament.uk/hleud.

For further details contact the Clerk of the Sub-Committee, Aaron Speer, on 020 7219 4579 or [email protected].

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Justice, Institutions and Consumer Protection

Reports and Debates

On Monday 28 October, the House endorsed the Sub-Committee’s Reasoned Opinion on the proposal for the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. Enough national parliaments and chambers from Member States have sent Reasoned Opinions to the European Commission in order to issue a so-called Yellow Card. This is only the second time that national parliaments have issued a Yellow Card and the first time that one has been issued in the area of Justice and Home Affairs. The Commission is expected to respond to the Yellow Card within the next few weeks.

The Sub-Committee published a report on the Opt-in to the Eurojust proposals on 28 October. The debate took place in the House on Monday 4 November.

The Sub-Committee, together with the Home Affairs, Health and Education Sub-Committee, published a follow-up to the UK’s 2014 Opt-Out decision report on 31 October. See below for further information.

Fundamental Rights Agency

The Director of the Fundamental Rights Agency, Morten Kjaerum, gave evidence to the Sub-Committee on Wednesday 30 October alongside two of his colleagues. He was quizzed about the work of the Agency and the possible overlap with the activities of the Council of Europe. The transcript will be published on our website shortly.

Scrutiny

The Sub-Committee continues to scrutinise proposals for a Directive on the fight against fraud on the EU’s financial interests by means of criminal law; EU’s accession to the European Convention on Human Rights; and proposals on the Community trade mark.

For further information on the Sub-Committee’s meetings and to access documents or transcripts from the evidence hearings, please visit our webpage at http://www.parliament.uk/hleue

For further details contact the Clerk of the Sub-Committee, Elisa Rubio on 020 7219 7520, or [email protected]

Home Affairs, Health and Education

The Sub-Committee’s subsidiarity assessment of Commission proposals relating to new psychoactive substances (so-called “legal highs”) was approved by the House on Monday 11 November 2013. The Sub- Committee and EU Select share the Commission’s concerns about the risk that these substances pose to all EU citizens, and support the EU’s work towards common definitions and information-sharing assisted by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, as well as Europol’s efforts to fight drug trafficking more generally. However, they do not agree that the best place to take decisions to ban new psychoactive substances is at EU level. A reasoned opinion has been sent to the Commission setting out concerns about the proposal that decision making power to ban these substances should transfer from Member States to the Commission.

The Sub-Committee has begun taking oral evidence as part of its inquiry into the Future Justice and Home Affairs Programme 2015-19. It is hearing evidence from think tanks and a panel of experts on criminal and civil justice. The Committee would consider any late submissions of evidence to the inquiry, any person or

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organisation interested in doing so should contact the Clerk to the Committee. The call for evidence is available online.

The Sub-Committee published its follow-up report on the UK’s block opt-out decision on 31 October and expects it to be debated in the New Year.

It continues to scrutinise a number of dossiers including Europol, higher education, the EU Cigarette Smuggling Strategy, the clinical trials directive, home affairs funds and visa exemptions. All correspondence between the Sub-Committee and Government is available online.

For further information on the Sub-Committee’s meetings and to see transcripts from the evidence hearings, please visit our webpage: www.parliament.uk/hleuf.

For further details contact the Clerk of the Sub-Committee, Chris Atkinsion, on 020 7219 8650 or [email protected]. ______House of Lords Representative in Brussels

COSAC

On 27-29 October, the House of Lords was represented at the biannual COSAC plenary held in Vilnius. The Chairman attended, accompanied by Lord Hannay of Chiswick (Chairman of the Home Affairs Sub- Committee) and Baroness Corston (Chairman of the Justice and Institutions Sub-Committee). The conference agenda included parliamentary diplomacy between the European Parliament and Ukraine, the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy, and the European elections in 2014. The Conclusions and Contribution agreed at the meeting are available on the COSAC website.

As well as taking evidence as part of the inquiry into the role of national parliaments (see the Select Committee’s entry above), the Chairman co-chaired an informal roundtable on the role of national parliaments in scrutinising and shaping EU legislation. A note of this informal session is available on our website.

Visits and Conferences

On 4-5 November, the External Affairs Sub-Committee visited Brussels to take evidence as part of their inquiry into TTIP (see entry above). On 14 November, Lord Hannay of Chiswick attended an exchange of views with the European Parliament’s LIBE and JURI committees regarding the draft Europol regulation.

On 26-27 November, Baroness Young of Hornsey is attending the EU Development Days conference, hosted by the European Commission.

Our representative in Brussels is Dominique Gracia. She would welcome the opportunity to discuss the forthcoming work of the EU Committee and can be reached at [email protected] or +32 (0) 2 283 1496.

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Subsidiarity: 2013-14 Session

Documents on which the House of Lords has issued a Reasoned Opinion during 2013

The process by which the House issues Reasoned Opinions is set out in detail on our website.

Document Committee’s scrutiny work Date of Reasoned Opinion 16433/12: • News article on the 10 January 2013 Proposal for a Directive of the Committee’s Reasoned European Parliament and of the Council on improving the gender Opinion balance among non-executive • Subsidiarity Assessment: directors of companies listed on Gender Balance on Boards stock exchanges and related • Traduction en langue measures française • News article on the Committee’s inquiry report • Women on Boards inquiry report 12558/13: • Subsidiarity assessment: 28 October 2013 Proposal for a Regulation on the the European Public establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office Prosecutor’s Office 13857/13: • Subsidiarity assessment: 11 November 2013 Proposal for a Regulation on New New Psychoactive Psychoactive Substances Substances 13865/13: Proposal for a Directive amending Council Framework Decision 2004/757/JHA of 25 October 2004 laying down minimum provisions in the field of illicit drug trafficking

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